Godzilla could feel the energy within his body surging like an unstoppable flood, rising continuously as the enormous quantity of power from the sacrificed Spirit Rings poured into him.
“Seventy-five percent…”
“Eighty percent…”
“One hundred percent…”
The energy inside his body climbed at an astonishing speed.
The tail that had originally been destroyed by the Deep Sea Demon Whale King began changing as well.
The wound at the rear of his body started expanding outward, with flesh and energy rapidly regenerating around the damaged area.
Then, under everyone’s astonished gazes, a completely new tail gradually took shape.
The enormous appendage continued growing until it finally became fully formed.
“Roar!”
Godzilla released a deep, comfortable roar.
The sensation of his energy being completely replenished made his entire body feel unusually relaxed.
For the first time since losing his tail, he finally felt whole again.
But the changes did not stop there.
The strange red dust that had originally remained attached to the Deep Sea Demon Whale King’s body suddenly began trembling.
It seemed to have sensed some kind of invisible summons.
The red particles rapidly detached from the Demon Whale King’s body and began gathering toward Godzilla.
They flowed through the seawater like an enormous crimson current before converging upon the dorsal plates along his spine.
Godzilla’s red crystal-like dorsal spines immediately began glowing.
The red dust was absorbed directly into them.
At that moment, Godzilla discovered something unexpected.
He could actually control the Red Dust.
Of course, his current understanding and control of it were still extremely limited.
The Red Dust could promote the evolution of living creatures, but it was nowhere near the terrifying levels of manipulating reality, distorting space, or predicting the future.
Those abilities were far beyond what Godzilla could currently achieve.
Still, the fact that he could now control the Red Dust itself was already an enormous improvement.
As the energy within his body continued accumulating, Godzilla’s enormous physique began expanding once again.
His muscles became increasingly massive.
His bones continued strengthening.
His dorsal plates grew more imposing.
His entire body seemed to be undergoing a fundamental transformation.
In the end, Godzilla’s height reached an astonishing two hundred meters.
The gigantic body stood within the deep sea like an ancient mountain that had suddenly awakened.
Even the surrounding Spirit Beasts could not help but tremble beneath the pressure.
Meanwhile, the Deep Sea Demon Whale King’s condition was becoming increasingly miserable.
The madness that had previously consumed him finally began fading.
His enormous body floated weakly in the seawater.
Occasionally, a painful sob escaped from his throat.
The sound was far weaker than before.
It was as though even the final traces of strength within his body were slowly being consumed.
Eventually, the Demon Whale King’s enormous body could no longer remain suspended.
He began falling toward the seabed.
He had completely lost the ability to resist.
“Thank you, Lord Sea God!”
“Thank you, Big Guy!”
The Demon Empress and Lan Fozi repeatedly expressed their gratitude.
They immediately moved forward to support the weakened Demon Whale King.
Although their voices were filled with gratitude, both of them still carried profound unease and guilt within their hearts.
The Demon Whale King’s injuries were simply too severe.
His body was already approaching complete collapse, and without rapid treatment, there was a very real possibility that he would never recover.
At that moment, the Demon Whale King himself felt like crying without tears.
He had heard the conversation between his wife and daughter.
He had never imagined that after hiding for twenty thousand years, he would nearly bring about his own destruction.
And the cause was even more ridiculous.
He had attacked the Ocean Holy Beast.
Worse still, he had actually bitten off part of the Ocean Holy Beast’s tail.
The thing he had never expected was that the devouring ability he had always been proud of would nearly kill him.
Regret filled his heart.
If his wife, daughter, and dozens of clansmen had not been willing to risk their lives and sacrifice their cultivation, he would probably have ended up exactly like Poseidon.
Dead.
Killed by the so-called Ocean Holy Beast.
The Demon Whale King took a deep breath.
Pain and regret intertwined within his heart.
He struggled to control his weakened body before slowly transforming into human form.
For a powerful Spirit Beast, transforming into human form was not merely a change in appearance at this moment.
It was an expression of his weakness.
And his submission.
“Thank you, Ocean Holy Beast, for sparing my life.”
The Demon Whale King’s voice was weak.
He lowered his head and sincerely expressed the regret that had filled his heart.
“I know that my race has committed countless grave sins, but I am willing to make amends for everything we have done to the ocean and to you.”
“Please allow us to prove our repentance through our actions.”
Godzilla quietly looked at him.
Then he nodded.
Although he had lost one tail, he had consumed a huge number of hundred-thousand-year Spirit Rings.
His energy had not merely been replenished.
He had also successfully undergone his second evolution.
When everything was considered together, this transaction had not actually been a loss.
“Roar—”
Godzilla suddenly turned his head toward the Sea Princess.
The Sea Princess immediately understood that he wanted her to translate.
“Lord Sea God says that, apart from himself, no Spirit Beast in this world can become a god simply by reaching Rank 100.”
She paused before continuing.
“You should abandon your desire to become a god.”
The Demon Whale King and Demon Empress exchanged a glance.
The Sea Princess continued translating Godzilla’s meaning.
“Lord Sea God will not interfere with the ordinary hunting activities of your Demon Whale clan, but he will not permit you to continue slaughtering Spirit Beasts on a massive scale and destroying the ecological balance of the ocean.”
“Certainly!”
“Of course!”
The Demon Whale King immediately nodded.
He was agreeing far more quickly than before.
The Demon Empress also nodded beside him.
The couple had clearly understood the warning hidden inside those words.
They could continue hunting.
They could continue surviving.
But they could no longer treat the entire ocean as an endless food source that existed solely for their clan.
And most importantly…
They could no longer pursue the impossible dream of becoming gods through endless devouring.
The Demon Whale King’s mood became increasingly complicated.
Regret and frustration intertwined within his heart.
For the sake of that distant and seemingly unattainable goal of becoming a god, how many evil deeds had he committed?
How many creatures had he slaughtered?
How many times had he destroyed entire ecosystems simply because he wanted to increase his cultivation faster?
Perhaps he had been wrong from the beginning.
Godzilla smacked his lips.
Then he turned around and prepared to leave.
He had spent an entire month beneath the sea.
No sunlight.
No comfortable place to lie down.
No proper sunbathing.
For a creature like Godzilla, that was almost unbearable.
“Wait!”
The Demon Empress hurriedly called out.
Godzilla stopped.
“I don’t know where Lord Sea God intends to go, but our clan is willing to follow you!”
Lan Fozi also swam closer.
Her expression was noticeably sad.
“Big Guy…”
Godzilla turned his enormous head in confusion.
He had not expected the little whale to be so reluctant to part with him.
Something stirred within his mind.
He began recalling what he knew about the future.
According to the original course of events, the Deep Sea Demon Whale King would eventually be killed by Tang San.
The Demon Empress would later die at the hands of Tang San’s son, Tang Wulin.
Lan Fozi’s fate would be even more tragic.
She would eventually be killed after the Demon Empress was possessed by the Abyss Sage.
Although Lan Fozi would later be resurrected by Tang Hao, the fate of her family would still end in destruction.
If that was the case…
Keeping this little whale by his side did not seem like a bad idea.
At least she was lively.
At least she was not afraid of him.
And most importantly, she was entertaining.
The Sea Princess thought for a moment before speaking.
“Since the Ocean Holy Beast is Lord Sea God, then he should naturally reside on Sea God Island.”
She glanced toward the Demon Whale clan before continuing.
“Our Mermaid clan also needs to migrate.”
“I wonder if we could follow you, my Lord?”
“Whatever.”
Godzilla gave a dismissive snort.
He actually quite liked having someone around who could act as his translator.
Without the Sea Princess, communicating with these creatures was rather troublesome.
But there was one small problem.
If this Mermaid race woman continued reading his mind without permission, that would become rather annoying.
Several images appeared within Godzilla’s mind.
The Sea Princess’s beautiful face immediately turned bright red.
She quickly bit her lip before speaking.
“Please rest assured, Lord Sea God.
Without your permission, I will not read your thoughts without authorization.”
Her gaze toward Godzilla carried a faint trace of embarrassment and resentment.
“Hmph~”
Godzilla responded noncommittally.
He was not particularly afraid of her reading his thoughts.
At worst, whenever she approached him, he could simply imagine this and that…
Then that and this…
He refused to believe that she could continue enduring those thoughts forever.
Of course, Godzilla was perfectly innocent.
At least, that was what he told himself.
The reason the Sea Princess had proposed migrating with Godzilla was not solely because she wanted to escape the Deep Sea Demon Whale clan.
She had already sensed what had happened at the Coral Palace.
The reinforcements summoned by the Mermaid race had almost certainly been intercepted and slaughtered.
The situation around the Coral Palace had therefore become extremely dangerous.
Furthermore, the Far North Frozen Sea was already approaching ecological collapse.
Although it had not yet become a completely dead sea, it was not far from reaching that state.
But those were not the real reasons she wanted to follow Godzilla.
The real reason was something else.
The Red Dust.
The Sea Princess had paid particular attention when translating Godzilla’s explanation earlier.
The Red Dust could promote the evolution of living creatures.
It was a projection of the power of the Universe’s Origin.
And according to Godzilla’s explanation, even God Kings would be helpless against its fundamental power.
Those pieces of information immediately gave the Sea Princess a bold idea.
If Spirit Beasts could not naturally become gods…
And Lord Sea God was already the Ocean Holy Beast…
Then perhaps there was another path.
Could Spirit Beasts continue evolving by following Godzilla and absorbing small amounts of the Red Dust?
The Sea Princess had personally witnessed what happened to the Deep Sea Demon Whale King.
He had swallowed an enormous quantity of Red Dust all at once, causing his body to collapse under the excessive evolutionary force.
But that did not necessarily mean the Red Dust itself was unusable.
Perhaps the problem had simply been the quantity.
If she avoided greed and did not attempt to absorb too much at once, perhaps she could slowly benefit from its evolutionary properties.
She did not need to devour the Red Dust directly.
Even the remnants left behind by Godzilla might be enough.
The Sea Princess silently calculated the possibilities.
If she could remain near Lord Sea God…
Perhaps she could obtain more opportunities.
Perhaps she could even discover a completely new evolutionary path for the Mermaid race.
“Thank you, my Lord.”
The Sea Princess first bowed toward Godzilla.
Then she ignored the members of the Deep Sea Demon Whale clan and began leading the mermaids away to clean up the aftermath of the battle.
Before leaving, Li Ya and Li Jing also approached Godzilla.
The two sisters respectfully bowed.
“Thank you, Lord Sea God!”
Godzilla casually waved one enormous claw.
He signaled for them to leave.
Once everyone had departed, Godzilla slowly rose toward the surface.
After spending so long beneath the ocean, he finally wanted something far more important than food.
Sunlight.
His gigantic body broke through the surface.
The surrounding ocean instantly erupted into enormous waves.
Godzilla ignored them completely.
He found a massive iceberg floating nearby and climbed onto it.
His two-hundred-meter body slowly settled onto the frozen surface.
Then he stretched out comfortably.
The sunlight fell directly upon his enormous scales.
Godzilla closed his eyes.
For the first time in a month, he could finally enjoy a proper sunbath.
His newly evolved body quietly absorbed the sunlight.
The red crystal-like dorsal plates glimmered faintly.
And somewhere deep within Godzilla’s body, the enormous energy accumulated through his second evolution continued settling into his cells.
This time, he had not merely recovered what he had lost.
He had taken another step forward.
The second evolution had officially been completed.