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As we glanced at the statue, I suddenly noticed Nephi's face, it was filled with a slight amount of discomfort, as if she was feeling something by staring at this small statue made of gold and others stranger materials.
And when I took a peek at it with my Divine Eyes…
Ding!
[The Level of [Heavenly Eyes] is not enough to fully display the item's information.]
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[Monolith of the Sea Nymphs (??? G r a d e)]
A Special Monolith made by the Gods long ago, in the Age of the Gods. It contains an unseen Divine Power, and it is the Key to the Ruins of the Nymphs, opening the Path towards its Depths.
It was made using a mixture of Orichalcum and the Soul Fragments of Nymphs. As one of the Divine Monoliths, it can activate the true power of Divine Artifacts, imbuing into them the Element of Water.
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A special Divine Artifact? So something like Nephi in a way… Though it is used on other Divine Artifacts? Now that's weird. Wait… Nephi could use it, maybe?
"I've used my Heavenly Eyes…" I said, quickly giving everyone the brief description I got.
"Wait, what?! This is big!" Zack said.
"A Divine Artifact!" Celeste reacted.
"Amazing… To think we could find this in our first dungeon trip!" Zephy said in surprise.
"It has the Soul Fragments of the Nymph Goddesses?" Aquarina wondered. "And it can enchant other Divine Artifacts, like swords or other items? But how did they use this? And… is this the Gods treasures?"
"We are most likely the first ones to find this treasure, and it has indescribable value as well, if its really a Divine Artifact…" Aquarina suddenly touched the artifact, as the monolith reacted to her.
"Wait, Aquarina!" I tried to stop her, but light covered my eyes.
F L A A A A A S S S H H H!!!
An enormous flash of bright blue light engulfed all of us, including Aquarina.
…
When I opened my eyes again, I found myself within the depths of the sea. Wherever I glanced, there were beautiful coral reefs, large forests of algae, schools of colorful fishes swimming everywhere… Is this a dream?
As I continued gazing my surroundings, I found everyone else here, they were with me. We were all startled at what we were seeing, it felt like a living dream.
"We are… in the depths of the ocean?" Zack asked.
"No, this place is… it's something else." Aquarina said.
Suddenly, a crest shaped as a trident began shining brightly in her left hand, this was… something related with her Divine Protection, most likely. The light of her crest quickly began to influence our visions, as the things slowly started to change, moving forward to a different vision. It felt like a projection.
We saw an enormous white castle in the middle of the sea, beautiful yet strange looking, "futuristic" as Alice would call it. The place resembled a construct of the gods. Inside of this beautiful castle, we found a large amount of people and animals living together.
They all looked like Aquatic Anima, with fish-like parts. They swam around bringing all sorts of materials and items, serving larger and more majestic people, similar to them, yet with a different air of majesty.
Within this group of people, we saw three beautiful mermaids, these were the Nereid Goddesses in person too. The same ones I remember seeing long ago, which have also given their Divine Protection to Aquarina.
"Lady Amatheia, the preparations are soon to be complete!" A merman said.
"Lady Amphinome, the Treasure Vault is almost empty of Materials…" Sighed a mermaid.
"Will this truly work, Lady Amphithoe?" Asked a second merman.
The three sisters looked at one another, sighing.
"You're merely creations made to serve us, children. Please do not doubt what we're doing." Sighed Amatheia rudely.
"Amatheia, don't be so rude, they're simply concerned." Sighed Amphinome.
"I everything goes alright, we'll be able to gather the Essence of the Sea, perhaps this way, we will have a higher chance at winning against the Demon King and reclaim the rest of the seas, which our Father owns…" Amphinome said.
As they said that, all of us felt speechless.
"Wait, those three are goddesses?" Zack asked.
"Did they said the Aquatic Anima, the Mermen and Mermaids… They were just made to serve the Gods of the seas? Perhaps humans and even elves… Do we descend from slaves?" I wondered, being revealed such a truth, it made me felt slightly… well, it made me hate the gods a bit more now.
"I don't know but… Those three, they're the trio of nereid goddesses… They're acting way too serious though, I only remember them as cheerful a slightly childish…" Aquarina said.
"How odd, what is this leading us to?" Celeste asked.
The visions slowly changed, as we found ourselves watching a ritual in the depths of these seas, inside a large temple room, the three goddesses gathered around a giant monolith containing a Primordial Power, a small drop of what was called Essence of the Sea.
"Extracted from the Primordial Sea Core, this Planet is truly filled with many treasures." Sighed Amphinome.
"What a beautiful sight… If this truly works, we might even be able to rise into Great Goddesses." Said Amatheia.
"But if it doesn't work… It would bring our dooms." Sighed Amphithoe.
The three Nereid Goddesses gathered their power together, as shining lights emerged from their chests, at the same time, over a hundred Mermen and Mermaids maintained a massive Magic Circle using all their magic.
"For the Nereids! Aghh!"
"For our Goddesses triumph! Ungh!"
"I give my life for my mothers! Gyaagh!"
"Uunnggh…! For… the Nereid Goddesses…!"
The more their divine light fused with this drop of Essence of the Sea, the more mermen and mermaid dropped into the floor and began floating lifelessly, as their mana and life force were completely emptied by the magic circle.
What… what the heck is this?!
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