Her sudden solemnity caught Ray off guard.
After all, in his impression, Cantarella was always elegant and composed, with a hint of languor, as if everything was under her control.
But at this moment
she had laid her vulnerability bare before him without reservation.
Perhaps...
she truly had no other options left.
The Fisalia family's centuries of guardianship, generation after generation struggling through blood and trials, only to sustain that faint spark of hope.
If that spark were to truly be extinguished, what would the sacrifices of dozens of generations mean?
Cantarella would never allow such despair to become reality, she had long been prepared to give everything for this.
Therefore, when she learned from her subordinates of the existence of one who could devour the Dark Tide, a plan was born in her heart.
This was no longer an enemy an ordinary person could face. The Fisalia family's centuries-old obsessions, twisted and polluted by the Leviathan, had condensed into tangible madness.
Even she, upon approaching this area, could clearly feel her sanity being eroded inch by inch.
Leviathan, it was a plague spreading on the spiritual level.
But Ray was different.
Even the Dark Tide could not erode him.
The Fisalia head of the family lowered her head, waiting for his answer.
Time passed second by second. The surrounding chill continuously eroded her very marrow, and the whispers lingering in her ears gradually grew clearer.
And he still remained silent.
Cantarella rubbed her slightly cool fingertips, her gaze somewhat vacant.
"I understand," he said. "I'll do my best. I'll give it a try."
Cantarella looked up at him, somewhat surprised. "You actually... agreed? I thought you might refuse."
"Refuse? How could I?" Ray smiled lightly. "Didn't you say this thing has already become the Resonance's vanguard? If it gets out, the whole of Ragunna will face catastrophe. Though I'm not a native Ragnunan, this place has long been my second home."
"You're right, Cantarella."
"Human emotions and attachments are indeed the greatest weakness."
"But when threatened, this vulnerability also transforms into fearless courage, making people willingly risk everything for what they cherish."
"Even facing death head-on, never retreat."
"In this city, I have friends, and I have those I cherish."
"Precisely because of this, I will never stand by and watch it be destroyed. Even without your request, I would surely step forward."
"This resolve, I believe you, as the Fisalia head of the family, understand even better than I."
"So, from now on leave it to me."
Cantarella gazed at the young man before her, unusually lost in thought.
Her reaction wasn't the expected surge of emotion, but rather like a gentle breeze, silently resting upon him.
In this impenetrable darkness, no one could glimpse her expression at this moment.
Until, a barely audible soft laugh finally broke the silence: "Saying such things now is a bit unfair."
"I'm like a jellyfish accustomed to deep-sea pressure and darkness... now that I've rarely encountered a glimmer of light, I can't guarantee I won't greedily cling to this warmth."
Cantarella lightly raised her fingertips, sprinkling a small vial of secret medicine over Ray's shoulder. The deep purple powder instantly turned into mist, as if possessing a life of its own, lingering without dispersing.
"This is a family-specific secret medicine, able to help you resist Leviathan's whispers." Her voice sounded somewhat ethereal in the mist. "From now on, it's up to you."
Ray nodded, then turned and strode without hesitation toward the depths of the corridor.
With each step, he felt himself drawing closer to the abyss.
That resentment, almost condensed into substance, turned into a storm, frantically tearing at his sanity. His ears were filled with the piercing screams of countless maddened consciousnesses.
He forcibly suppressed the nausea that threatened to overwhelm him and pushed open the heavy door. What lay beyond was the outline of Port-Veno castle's hall, but the space had bizarrely expanded several times over, as if he had stepped into a distorted mirror world.
The moment Ray stepped inside, the maddening whispers that had been bugging his ears abruptly ceased, replaced by a more unsettling dead silence.
Whoosh—!
A violent tremor erupted from ahead. The entire space twisted. A vast shadow, like a breached dam of black tide, surged toward him.
"Anby!"
The Tacet Mark on the back of Ray's hand blazed with light.
"Leave it to me!"
Anby materialized on cue, opening its maw without hesitation, greedily devouring the centuries of accumulated family resentment.
But the shadow was simply too immense. Anby alone clearly couldn't completely contend with it.
"Roar—!"
The shadow let out a deafening howl. Its massive form rapidly solidified, ultimately taking on a outline, one could vaguely discern the form of a giant fish.
It angrily lashed its enormous tail, swinging it with overwhelming force at Anby.
But just as the tail fin was about to strike Anby, a sudden golden radiance bloomed, forming a domain of stasis that completely imprisoned it.
It was the authority of time, bringing this fatal blow to an abrupt halt a mere instant before it could touch Anby.
Ray leaped into the air, his longsword plunging down with precision, burying itself deep into the giant fish's head.
However, such physical attacks had little effect on an existence condensed from pure resentment.
It had no true flesh and blood; pain was merely an empty echo.
Ray knew this full well.
His true purpose was never to inflict damage, but to become the most conspicuous target to draw all of its fury and create an opportunity for Anby to devour.
Without Anby, Ray wouldn't know how to defeat an enemy without a physical form.
But obviously, Abny's ability was precisely its bane which also explained why even Cantarella was powerless against it.
The black fish writhed madly in the shadows, while Anby greedily tore and devoured its form, visibly causing it to wither.
Though it struggled desperately, it was futile under Ray's full-force suppression.
Perhaps realizing there was no hope of escape, in its despair, it began to utter some broken, fragmented syllables.
At first, Ray dismissed them as mere death throes and didn't listen closely.
Until, in its final moment before disappearing, Ray heard a blurred word—
"A...bu...ra..."
Ray's whole body stiffened. His sword momentum faltered, had it just... called Anby's name?
Did he mishear?
"Burp~"
"Stuffed."
Anby rubbed its round little belly, smacking its lips with satisfaction. " but the taste wasn't bad!"
It floated slowly over to Ray, tilted its head, and looked at his frozen expression with confusion. "What's wrong? Why do you look so weird?"