"So, what will you do now, Ryuk?" Isha suddenly asked.
Ryuk turned his gaze to the side, finding Isha lowering herself, her gaze fixed on the endless sea.
"You know, I might not have really liked that place we came from before, but I can say, we did have quite the adventure."
"You still remember when your ass almost got stung to death by the bees? You looked absolutely pathetic. Hehe," Isha recalled as Ryuk laughed out loud.
"Yes, Isha. Yes, I do. And I also remember when you ran so fast away from that RattleConda, sweat pouring down all over your scaly face. It was like you had seen your worst horror," Ryuk shot back.
Isha remembered the running she had done from the Rattelodna and couldn't help but giggle.
"Yes, Ryuk. As hellish as that place was, there was still a sense of adventure, you know? We were doing something."
"But now, we've gotten back to the academy. Time has passed so fast, and you're so ridiculously strong. I don't feel any challenge at all ever since we arrived back here. It's like we're at the top of the food chain now," Isha said.
Ryuk turned his gaze back to the sea and nodded his head.
"You're right, Isha. That feeling of your life being in danger can be pretty intoxicating, you know. Now that it's gone, it feels like I've lost something really dear..." Ryuk replied.
He could feel it too.
Although, when he had arrived, he had faced the Knulls and infiltrated the base. He had still gotten that bit of a feeling of danger.
But the more he thought about it, the more he felt it was all slowly slipping away.
Now, he was as strong as a Cataclysm-stage expert. One could even say he was one of the strongest on Endearth right now.
With the absence of immediate danger and fear, it brought the question of what to even do with his life.
But he also knew he wasn't completely lost.
"Right now, Isha," Ryuk said telepathically as Isha turned her gaze to him.
"Right now, I need to find one Knull."
"A Knull?" Isha asked, and Ryuk nodded.
"Yes, a Knull. A pretty special one, and I need to get rid of it."
"Since it's so strong, or at least as I saw it back then, I think it should be able to tell me what to do next..." Ryuk mused to himself.
He knew well that the more one grew in power, the more intelligence one possessed, and he could guess the same was true for the Knulls.
That Knull attack on his settlement—Grade A—was definitely not a random attack. It was targeted at Uncle Bob.
So, if Ryuk eventually met that bird Knull, he should be able to siphon some answers from it.
When he did that, he would have achieved one of his major goals and even have a clear path on where to go next.
"And where does this Knull live?" Isha asked as Ryuk gently shook his head.
"I'm not sure. But with the Knull war against humanity beginning, it's only a matter of time before it reveals itself," he said, his plan already forming in his head.
Of course, Ryuk didn't know where it was yet.
But if the Knulls began to attack, it would one day reveal itself, and Ryuk knew well how it looked.
In fact, those symbols in its eyes were still fresh in his memory.
"I will find it, Isha. I will find that Knull very soon," Ryuk mused to himself.
"But for now?" Isha asked as Ryuk turned back to the sea.
"For now, we both simply lay low and let the world keep running itself. A step back from all of the noise."
"I know it's hard and won't be as adventurous as we know, but I'm afraid it's the best thing we can do now.
"The world doesn't need one more Dominion-stage guy and a Grade A beast. It already has enough of those—that I can foresee from when I went to the High Points Interdimensional Gates. I think Endearth has enough strong Cataclysm-stage experts.
"One more addition would be almost of no value. So instead of being unneeded or causing chaos, we sit back and let the world keep running on its own.
"Until I find that Knull and get our next objectives..." Ryuk explained at length to Isha, who nodded her head before she flew up into the air.
With a flap of her wings, she glided down to the sea surface below, her claws dragging on the water while winging around in the air.
Ryuk simply watched from his sitting position with a smile before he heard the sound of footsteps behind him.
Raising his head, he found Morgaine with a beaming smile, a tray of dishes in her hands, which she laid on the grass before sitting by his side.
"I figured you'd like the sight of a sea in blue and gold. You seem to have a thing or two with large water bodies..." Morgaine said to Ryuk, who nodded his head.
"The view is nice. I didn't think someone as brutish as you would want such a quiet place, though..." he added, causing Morgaine's eyebrow to quiver a little before she huffed.
"I'm not brutish!"
"Whoever told you that is a big liar," Ryuk completed, as golden energy erupted from Morgaine's hair.
"Listen here, you dickhead."
"Your guardian ain't here to protect you, meaning you're under my absolute control."
"You'd better behave!" Morgaine said with a bit of threat and sinisterness, as Ryuk turned his gaze to the side and smirked.
Morgaine followed his vision and saw that even though Isha was gliding in the sea about a hundred meters away, its eyes were currently looking at Morgaine with quite the amount of focus.
"Don't tell me Isha can hear us from so far away... and understand you!" Morgaine said with a bit of shock.
Ryuk nodded.
"It can. So you better behave..." he replied.
Morgaine huffed and sat down, opening one of the dishes and stuffing food into her mouth angrily.
"Don't worry. I'm just one more stage before reaching the Cataclysm stage. Then, I'll put both of you in your place."
"Hahahahaha!"