Wizard of the Deep Sea Chapter 238

For a while, I clutched my splitting head before finally regaining my senses and organizing the situation.

"So that’s why…”

The reason the deep-sea creatures went insane the mont they discovered .

More precisely, the reason they convulsed the instant even a single drop of my blood spread through the Abyssal Sea.

My pheromone must be sothing that’s simply unbearable to them.

"Ugh."

That thought dragged back to reality along with a throbbing headache.

As ridiculous as it sounded, the sa applied to .

Technically, it was my own scent. Yet just inhaling my own pheromone stirred up mixed emotions I had never experienced in my life.

Awe, rage, killing intent, and infinite euphoria. I’d never taken drugs, but I imagined this was what it would feel like if one used the worst, most addictive substance imaginable.

But I couldn't keep my nose blocked forever. So I spent several minutes calming myself down, gradually getting used to the pheromone I was emitting.

"It’s not working…”

Unfortunately, since this wasn’t truly a scent in the normal sense, it didn't seem like sothing I could ever fully adapt to.

Sighing, I stopped consciously inhaling it and shook my head.

'First, I need to restore my abilities.'

I couldn’t avoid using the pheromones entirely.

So, enduring the repeated pounding in my head, I began hunting by following unfamiliar pheromone trails left by new deep-sea creatures.

-Crunch!

[......]

[...!!]

Thankfully, the pheromones never lied.

If I followed them, I would soon find the creatures, and by consuming them, I could recover my abilities.

What’s more, the more I hunted, the stronger my detection ability beca. Now I could even gauge how far away sothing was just by the density of the pheromone trail.

"Alright, so after this one, next is…”

I stared at the countless pheromone trails tangled throughout the sea and calculated the optimal route.

After that, everything flowed smoothly. Using those routes, I managed to move quite efficiently, and in just 3 hours, I hunted and consud over 50 deep-sea creatures.

As a result, my abilities had recovered to about 70% of their normal level.

"Phew."

That was much better.

With a satisfied expression, I loosened my body and surveyed the now far more comfortable Abyssal Sea.

My Tide Sense had expanded enough that I could now detect new species without relying on pheromones. More importantly, I no longer had to fear sudden attacks from the darkness.

It felt like I’d finally opened my eyes after being blind. As I let out a relieved sigh, I started to feel like sothing was off.

'Why am I so fine?'

I narrowed my eyes and repeatedly clenched and unclenched my hand, staring at it.

I didn't feel any particular pain. The pressure was manageable, and there was no resistance when I moved my body.

That was the problem.

It had already been well over 10 hours since I entered the Abyssal Sea.

And during that ti, I had continuously descended to deeper depths.

Before, I could also endure over 10 hours. But in the process, the pressure would continuously increase, and by the end, my entire body would be under enough force to fracture my bones.

But now—

"...It feels too comfortable."

It didn’t an the burdens were completely gone. The weight of the Abyssal Sea was still pressing heavily against my entire body, and it grew stronger the deeper I went.

But the accumulation of my burdens over ti seed to have disappeared.

Objectively, that was a good thing. It ant my ti limit had disappeared.

But—for so reason, a sense of unease crept in.

Was the Abyssal Sea ever a place free enough to suddenly change its rules like this?

Rules that had never once changed before this point all seed off during this dive.

Deep-sea creatures that could detect , the disappearance of the ti limit, pheromones, and being able to sense them…

"I don’t get it."

There was no answer to be found right now, no matter how much I pondered.

With a sigh, I opened my sense of sll again.

First, I needed to fully recover my abilities. I was only at 70% right now.

As I resud tracking pheromones, a headache struck again.

"?"

After hunting deep-sea creatures, my pheromone detection had reached a fairly high level. I could even tell that sothing had passed through this area days ago from hundreds of kiloters away.

And yet, a distinct, tallic scent of blood reached my nose.

It wasn’t the strange, multicolored blood of the deep-sea creatures but sothing I was familiar with from the surface world. Human or animal blood.

There was a human sowhere in the Abyssal Sea? Tilting my head, I considered it when sothing echoed in my mind.

[Is anyone there…?]

"What is this?”

I grimaced and covered my nose.

Within that blood scent, there was intent.

In other words, pheromones.

That wasn’t human.

*t*t*

A scent of blood and pheromones.

What it ant was obvious.

A pheromone left behind by a deep-sea creature that had consud human blood.

[Is there anyone who can understand, and follow?]

"..."

And it was even asking for rescue.

Unlike other deep-sea creatures, that ant it had intelligence.

I hesitated for a mont, thinking about how to handle this situation.

It wasn’t that this thing was especially unique. I already knew of beings in the Abyssal Sea that could communicate and hold conversations.

'Outer Gods.'

But would an Outer God ask for help?

Thinking rationally, it could just be trying to lure in idiots who would read the intent in the blood scent and co looking.

However, that scent wasn’t coming from deeper below but from these depths. It was too shallow a place for an Outer God to exist.

"Haah..."

Or it could be reverse fishing.

Just like people cast fishing lines into the sea from above, maybe this thing had extended a limb upward from the depths to fish for prey.

Of course, I couldn’t be certain until I saw it myself.

[Is there anyone…?]

Pheromones weren’t really a communication tool but were closer to one-way ssages. I couldn’t infer anything beyond what I sensed.

The decision was mine.

In the end, I scratched my head and started moving.

"Tsk, I don’t know anything anyway.”

Right now, all I felt was a sense of unfamiliarity toward this completely changed Abyssal Sea.

Even if checking that blood scent raised new questions, it wouldn’t change much.

[Ugh...]

On the way, I hunted more deep-sea creatures, gathering their clusters to restore my abilities as much as possible.

The closer I got, the stronger the scent of blood beca.

[Is anyone there?]

[Is anyone there?]

[Is anyone there…?]

As if desperately calling for help.

The more it repeated, the more it felt like a trap. If it could send such a strong signal, it had to be a powerful being, so how could sothing like that be dying at this depth?

Just in case, I surrounded myself with compressed pressure and approached the source. What I found was a volcano.

"What…?”

It was literally a massive volcano, large enough that I couldn’t even fully detect its base with my Tide Sense. Black stone, a crater, spewing boiling water that was clearly scorching hot.

Around it, all kinds of strange lifeforms writhed, forming an ecosystem. I might’ve been impressed before, but after what I’d seen in the canyon, I just frowned.

This too was probably just the back of so massive creature or sothing.

I examined it more closely, wondering if this was the source of the blood scent, but it didn’t seem to be.

The scent was coming from sowhere on the mountain itself. Carefully approaching the source, I spread my Tide Sense.

The current flowed, mapping out the shape of the mountain. Halfway up there seed to be a cave.

From a crack in the boulder, I could see blood seeping out.

"..."

I cautiously approached the cave.

I had already half-assud this was a trap, so I didn’t get too close. More importantly, my Tide Sense couldn’t detect anything in the cave.

I could only detect empty air, as if there were a high-class Knight inside. Even though sothing was clearly there.

Should I attack first? Or observe? After a brief hesitation, I decided to speak.

"Are you the one calling for help in there?”

[...]

"If you’re trapped and can’t get out, I’ll break the rock. If you’re behind it, move aside.”

I compressed my pressure as much as possible.

As a sharp blade of pressure began scraping against the stone, a hurried reply ca from within.

[W…ho……]

It sounded like sothing forcing words out with a short, thick tongue, like a mouth structure completely unsuited for human speech.

[Who…who are you…?]

Well, deep-sea creatures usually sounded like that, so I didn’t pay it much mind.

Instead, I paused the pressure cutter and answered out loud.

"I ca because you called. So you answer first. What are you, and why are you in a place like this?”

[...]

"No answer?”

As I brought the pressure cutter back toward the boulder, an answer I never expected ca back.

[...Go back.]

"Huh?"

I had been expecting an attack next but instead got a sudden dismissal, making frown.

I thought it was just talk, but then the blood scent suddenly vanished, and even the remaining gap sealed shut.

I waited, but no attack ca. It really wanted to just leave. Dumbfounded, I scratched my head.

So it wasn’t a trap? I had co prepared to deal with it even if it was so Outer God’s trap.

It felt too strange to just leave like this, so I pushed once more.

"Hey, you called here, so what’s with this? Do you know how far I ca?”

[...]

After several minutes of silence, as I still didn’t leave, it reluctantly spoke again.

[You are not the one I was looking for. It’s too late.]

"...What?”

[You have already fallen. Just like …]

-Creak...

The stone shifted slightly, and it peeked its face out.

It was far more grotesque than any deep-sea creature I’d ever seen.

A face covered in barnacles, tentacles crawling out from between ruptured eyes, countless tendrils sprouting from its head. A human face with a gelatinous body.

[Go back. Seek salvation sowhere unlike .]

"What the hell…”

A chill ran down my entire body as I stepped back.

Both instinctively and rationally, I understood.

This thing—

'Even my Master couldn’t save this…'

...was my senior.