Third vessel

Ryoichi didn't expect that he could get the second vessel – Poseidon's trident in megalodon's stomach. He turned around to check the monster, who was hurt and quietly stayed there. But, right now, he could not sense the malice from it.

Ryoichi madly questioned the old man: "Why was the chain broken? I thought I was supposed to chain the beast to win. How come you gave a broken chain?!"

The old man didn't say anything and floated to the megalodon and gently touched its head. The beast acted like a spoiled child and made a low voice. Within a few seconds, the wound was healed immediately as it never existed. Then, the megalodon looked at Ryoichi and seemed to nod to him; afterwards, the monster scattered and disappeared into starlight.

Ryoichi took the trident and came over: "Did you just kill it?!"

"Don't worry. It's not dead. I just sent it to a hyperspace. You can call it whenever you need it."

"I can call it? So, does it mean that I have completed the first mission? What about this trident? Is it the real Poseidon's trident? Did I just find the first and the second vessel? What about the third vessel?"

The old man smiled and led Ryoichi to the very first place where they met.

Then, he said to Ryoichi: "Congratulations! Kid, you did get the vessels."

He was confused and asked: "I don't understand. What about the third vessel?"

"The beast accidentally ate the trident once when Poseidon was playing with it, so he just left it there. You did complete the mission. You get the trident, and You had the chance of killing the megalodon, but you didn't. You did remember the mission of taming it instead of killing it. Now, the megalodon is also voluntarily at your service. You can call it from the zone by shouting its name, Shree. Now you may go. The net above the Mariana Trench won't stop you anymore. You could break it with the trident easily." The old man explained with a secret smile.

"…"

"You seem to hesitate. Why?"

Ryoichi said: "I haven't got the third vessel, and…"

"What?"

"You haven't told me how to turn the spiders into human."

"I didn't say they can turn back to human, kid."

Ryoichi was astonished: "Then how can I end the curse? If I break the net and set them free, wouldn't they go out and eat more people?! If so, I'd rather stay here and never go out."

The old man nodded with an appreciative smile: "You're a good boy. Since you asked, let me give you a little hint. The third vessel is your body."

"Me?"

"Right. By the repeated times of being killed and reborn, part of Poseidon's power has been poured into your body, which makes you the third vessel. Now, you've got the power to kill the curse of Aranea. However, the question is, will you kill them before you break the net or after?"

"What kind of question is that? Before, of course."

"You sure? You still got things to do, right? You might need an army, and the spiders are the perfect choice for you now."

"I can call the megalodon, can't I?"

"Oh, sure you can. But is it enough? One single man and one single monster vs. the army with countless weapons. Or, an invincible army that can only be killed by you."

"… are you Poseidon himself?"

The old man laughed and said: "Does it matter? If I say yes, would that be any difference?" Then, the old man gave himself a shake and changed into another image. Instead of a stopping figure, God of the ocean was glorious and magnificent. He was surrounded with holy light and some small ocean creatures. He casually used his hand to play with those fishes.

"If you are the God of ocean, then why you act so cruel to your people? You know I can't let the curse of Aranea out to harm more people. Yes, I could just kill them to end the curse for some of them are just the monster of cannibal. But, there must be some people, who have been turned to spiders but haven't hurt anyone. What about them? And, to be honest, except for the original spider, others did not turn into such monsters out of their own will. Moreover, even for the original aranea, what had he done wrong? He just accidentally ate some food in famine."

After hearing Ryoichi's speech in excitement, the God of ocean seemed not to care much. He looked at the fish swimming around his hand, calmly saying: "I don't really care. My people are all the ocean creatures, not humans, who messed up with their land and ran to my kingdom. Not killing them all is my mercy, but I do enjoy playing with them. The curse of Aranea is only one of my little jokes. But you, ummm, you're different. You ain't like the normal human here. That's why you can reborn and even become one of my vessels."

"You remind me of one old saying: Heaven and earth are inhumane, taking all things as cud dogs."

"Whatever, I'm just curious of what you'll choose. I'll tell you honestly. If you give up the spiders' army, you will win the war with Pulchritudinem and the previous queendom, but you will be destined to lose someone important. Although I've authorized you to drive my beast for riding, you can take care of everyone. Vice versa, with the army of spiders, you can easily win the war, but you have to sacrifice some innocent lives before you can kill them all. Think, my kid, what are you gonna choose? After leaving this place and go back to the spiders group, you'll have to make a decision. I just love to see such dilemma. Byebye, my kid."

With no time for Ryoichi to question or argue, he was sent out of the sacred zone. He was standing in front of the portal with the trident in his hand.

What should he do? Who would die if he chose wrongly? Did he have to suffer from pain of losing friends again?