Volume 9, from p_093 to p_126 52-01 {Title} Large River 52-06 =4========== >What a rough reception. >If you take your practical jokes too far, =5========== >I'll make your back go bald. 52-07 =1========== >Hup =2========== >Which is it? >Right now, >Are you Ek Chuah, the jaguar? >Or Noh Ek, the human? =3========== Woah, don't smile! >That's creepy! 52-08 =1========== >First off, how much self-awareness does a wild animal have? >Is there a clear distinction between their minds? =2&3========== >But if that animal was raised by humans since it was a cub, >and underwent training to accept a person's consciousness and thought patterns, >then its cerebral cortex might grow larger than normal. =4========== >That could pose a problem, as its cranial weight would disrupt its entire body balance. >Humans have dealt with that by balancing our heads vertically on top of our bodies. 52-09 =2========== >But for quadrupeds to overcome this issue within one generation, with just one specimen... >The only possible answer would be to develop its entire body in the same proportion! =3========== How's the taste? >Almost disappointingly bland. =4========== >Humph... At least it doesn't seem poisonous. >Although I suppose Itoh-san's got Rasputin's vitality, so... >If we avoid eating the guts, skin and blood, >Then it's probably safe. =5========== >Almost disappointingly.It's a little weird asking after cooking it, but... bland. >What even is this thing? >The fact it doesn't have eyes is so unsettling... 52-15 =1========== >It looks like an axolotl, a neotenic* mexican salamander, >though a bit too big for one. =2========== >A survivor of an extinct species, >Or a new variety? =3========== >Well, if the habitat is suitable enough for amphibians and reptiles, >they can ignore their usual lifespan and grow abnormally large. =4========== {handwritten by Watanabe's head} A cobra-man? >To put it simply, those guys have a very strong life force. >In that case, you're also some kind of amphibian, Itoh-san. >After falling from that height and not breaking even a single bone... {Under panel} *The phenomenon of retaining child-like characteristics even in adulthood. Some specimem of axolotl are born albino, these are referred to as uparupa. Some say that humans are neotenic when compared to primates. 52-16 =1========== >Good thing there was water at the bottom there. >Whenever there's a pit like this in the Yucatan Peninsula, >It's usually a cenote. =2========== >Cenote? >Hmm, to explain in super-simple terms... =3========== >Underground rivers erode the limestone soil, >Then for one reason or another, the ceiling collapses, forming a pit. >That's a Cenote. =4========== >Civilizations develop along the banks of large rivers. >The Tigris-Euphrates, Nile, Indus, Yellow River, Dotonbori... >I've heard of that. Some civilization on the Amazon river was in the news recently. >Thing is, the Yucatan Peninsula doesn't have any rivers. 52-17 =1========== >Not even one? >A branch of the Usumacinta river still reaches this area, >But as you go north, even small rivers disappear. >So the water sources that supported Mayan civilization were >these cenotes! >Was that enough to support them? >Oh yeah! There are no less than five thousand cenotes in Yucatan! >To top it off, those subterranean rivers are tied together in an underground network! >It looks like these cenotes in the northern part form a semicircle, why is that? >That's correct! Im glad you noticed! 52-18 >That's the Cenote Ring encircling the Chicxulub Crater. >Crater? >The "Mother River" of Mayan civilization was a huge underground network of water channels. >According to mayan mythology, they are connected to the underworld realm of the dead, Xibalba. >The world of the dead nurtures and cultivates the world of the living... >And the object responsible for creating this world structure... >Was the asteroid that collided with earth 65 million years ago!! {Handwritten} Our planet is so interesting!! 52-19 =1========== >Wait...! >The same celestial body that >caused the mass extinction marking the end of the Cretaceous period!? {Footnote} * There's also a "Comet theory". Nowadays the "Asteroid theory" is the most well accepted. 52-21 =1========== >An asteroid ten kilometers in diameter smashed into Earth at Mach 77. =2========== >The impact did... >Owah! =3========== >A cave-in!!? =4========== >This is bad!! >It's collapsing!! 52-22 =1========== >Run!! >I-Itoh-san, is running towards the back a good idea!? >Can we get out like this!? >No idea!! =4========== >I... Itoh-san! blub blub >Na... Nabe... gurgle gurgle 52-23 >I'm... dying!! >This time... for sure... I'm gonna... di...e... 52-24 =2========== >Good. With an explosion of this size... =4========== >Now it's a race against time. >Let's hurry, "K". 52-25 =3========== {バシャ} *splash** 52-26 =3========== >Pah! 52-27 =3========== >Cough cough =4========== >Cough >gasp/wheeze (x3) =5========== {ハア} haa >A... >Arigatou >Thank you >Gracias =6========== >You're japanese? 52-28 =1========== >Eh? >You know japanese? >Who >Who're you!? =2========== >Are you mestizo or... >Indian... >No, that's not exactly it... =3========== >Right back at you. >Who are you and what are you doing in a place like this? =4========== >Well, you see... >That's a long story, I can't really put it into few words... >Same for me. >Hmm? 52-29 =2========== >A... >Boat!! =3========== >This time >It's civilized people!! =4========== >Oooooiii!! Heeeeellp!! >"Help me!!!" (in english) 52-33 =1========== TN: they're speaking spanish from here on. >You're here, Mikado. =2========== >I knew you'd come. 52-34 >Noh Ek. >How about you explain to me why I'm sensing some kind of dangerous scent right now? >Tch! Translation Notes https://media.8kun.top/file_store/4a56019519222e7c663dc7ee336969af1721f6cb40b499019709b35fcbe1759a.jpg Title page: The first page of this chapter is a clear reference to the painting "Oedipus and the Sphinx", by Gustave Moreau, 1864. https://media.8kun.top/file_store/247060b117a66c2ae5ed782948cbcbe7740089ae253cd8d35b7a26a5382d54cd.jpg Manjushri: The Buddha holding a sword and sitting on a lion on page 9 seems to be a reference to this character from Indu buddhism. He is depicted as a male bodhisattva wielding a flaming sword in his right hand, representing the realization of transcendent wisdom which cuts down ignorance and duality, and bearing a scripture supported by the padma (lotus) held in his left hand, the Prajñāpāramitā sūtra, representing his attainment of ultimate realization from the blossoming of wisdom. Manjushri is often depicted as riding on a blue lion or sitting on the skin of a lion. This represents the use of wisdom to tame the mind, which is compared to riding or subduing a ferocious lion. In Chinese and Japanese Buddhist art, Manjushri's sword is sometimes replaced with a ruyi scepter. Considering both Noh Ek's ability and the fact that Mikado is literally riding Ek Chuah puts them both in a similar position to Manjushri in this case. https://media.8kun.top/file_store/e985d8d5493b630bd50fad3246159df91c70614da6baa9fb1b675c7d35224731.jpg https://media.8kun.top/file_store/5089fde194c212a5fc711760c917c0f2850c0197d03cf58929eca1c761091a18.jpg Chicxulub crater: An impact crater buried underneath the Yucatán Peninsula in Mexico. Its center is located near the town of Chicxulub, after which the crater is named. The date of the impact coincides precisely with the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary (commonly known as the "K–Pg boundary"), slightly less than 66 million years ago, and a widely accepted theory is that worldwide climate disruption from the event was the cause of the Cretaceous–Paleogene extinction event, a mass extinction in which 75% of plant and animal species on Earth became extinct, including all non-avian dinosaurs. The numerous cenotes (sinkholes) clustered around the trough of the crater suggest a prehistoric oceanic basin in the depression left by the impact. The crater is estimated to be 150 kilometers (93 miles) in diameter and 20 kilometers (12 miles) in depth, well into the continental crust of the region of about 10–30 kilometers (6.2–18.6 miles) depth. It is the second largest confirmed impact structure on Earth, and the only one whose peak ring is intact and directly accessible for scientific research. Second picture shows a Gravity Anomaly map of the Chicxulub impact area. The coastline is shown as a white line. A series of concentric features reveals the location of the crater. White dots represent cenotes (water-filled sinkholes). A ring of cenotes is associated with the largest semicircular feature, although its exact origin remains unclear.