[Continue.]
From that point on, the mid-layer began bringing deep-sea creatures in a bizarre way.
Like a cow regurgitating cud, its body writhed, and from what could only be called a mouth, it spat out all kinds of grotesque deep-sea creatures.
[Ah, ugh, uh. Eh……]
"Fuck.”
I lost track of how many tis it repeated.
Without even knowing how this was supposed to help, I crushed sothing like a sea saniul covered in barnacles, oozing thick liquid.
-Crunch...!!
At least in this endless battle, I’d started to notice sothing like weakness in certain species. So I imdiately shattered its shell.
It was the right choice. The tentacles that burst out of the broken shell only managed to wrap weakly around my right arm before the body, already destroyed, collapsed into a fish ball.
The fight ended the mont it appeared, but the mid-layer had no intention of stopping.
[...]
"Don’t tell I have to keep doing this?"
No matter how much I complained, the mid-layer simply watched. Or pretended to while searching for more creatures.
During the brief silence, I peeled off the tentacle that had barely managed to latch onto my arm and frowned.
A sharp pain ran through it. When I tore it off, I saw a purple stinger attached.
'This is getting dangerous…'
My sense of ti was wrapped, but the fatigue in my body wasn’t.
On top of that, my whole body was already being crushed by pressure.
If this still wasn’t enough to satisfy the mid-layer—if I still lacked the ‘qualification,’ then pushing further would more likely get killed pointlessly.
If there was another option—
It would be to go straight for the main body.
'Can I sohow force my way through?’
The mid-layer remained completely silent. It almost looked careless.
If it disappeared, maybe a path would open. Of course, that was close to impossible. But if it kept throwing deep-sea creatures at without letting descend, the end result would be the sa. Death.
Just as I was considering that possibility, it finally spoke.
[It’s not sufficient, but it cannot be helped…]
It released sothing like a sigh, a stream of bubbles rising up, and slowly began to shrink.
"Can I take that as you letting pass?”
[As long as your life is tied to the stability of my existence, I cannot do that.]
"?”
Was this thing insane?
I started drawing up currents, thinking I might have to clash with it, when it once again pulled sothing up from within itself.
-Gurgle...!
[Take this...]
"...What is this?”
I had tensed, thinking it might be another deep-sea creature, but instead, several tiny lifeforms popped out. Creatures so small they didn’t even seem capable of using currents.
They weren’t monsters but just a clump of jellyfish. And even those were slightly smaller than normal jellyfish.
They drifted aimlessly without any will and then slowly approached . They didn’t move on their own, but because the mid-layer dragged them with currents and rubbed them against my body.
A sharp, stinging sensation made frown as I twisted away.
"What are you doing?”
[This will allow you to endure longer below.]
After saring the jellyfish over , the mid-layer pulled in with currents.
[Rember this.]
Then it produced a glowing anglerfish lure from within itself and handed it to as it spoke slowly.
[Whatever you seek below, you will not obtain it. Your expectations and hopes will end in realizing you sought the wrong thing.]
"Thanks for the advice, but I’ll handle my own business."
I frowned at the sudden ominous warning but didn’t resist its currents. I didn’t know why it had changed its attitude, but it seed like it had stopped trying to torture and was now actually going to send down.
[Listen until the end. Before you die, let it go. If you do, you will realize where you truly need to go. I will be waiting.]
"...What?"
[And rember this. You are still unqualified…]
After spouting incomprehensible nonsense to the very end, it suddenly vanished.
It wasn’t just that it stopped speaking, but the seawater that ford it simply evaporated, leaving nothing behind.
Wait, how the hell was I supposed to go down, though? Annoyed, I kicked the ground, after which my foot sank straight through.
Startled, I rubbed the area and realized a small, circular passage had ford inside the mid-layer.
Just large enough for alone. Understanding its intent, I cald myself and prepared to jump in.
[Jern.]
Malo, who had been silent even during all the fighting, suddenly spoke hesitantly.
Since it was impossible to fight without getting injured, it must have had enough of my blood to stay awake for so ti. Its tone was unusually serious, so I tilted my head.
"You’re still awake? What is it?”
[That, I don’t know what it is, but I think what it said is probably true. You shouldn’t go in right now.]
"What are you talking about? Are you going to give stupid riddles as well now?”
I was already tired of the way the deep-sea creatures spouted cryptic nonsense only they could understand.
My tone sharpened slightly, to which Malo hesitantly explained.
[I-I don’t understand what it was saying either. Honestly, I can’t even see or feel it.
"Ah..."
That made sense.
Malo wasn’t a deep-sea creature. It could only see faintly in this pitch-black abyss. It couldn’t perceive the mid-layer’s form at all.
It continued, still greatly uneasy.
[The thing I can see most clearly right now is you. You’re changing.]
"Yeah. I’m turning into a deep-sea creature, right?”
[No…at first I thought that too, but now I don’t think that’s it.]
"?"
What was it saying?
[You’re not adapting to the Abyssal Sea to beco like those creatures. If that were the case, you’d be becoming similar to them. But you're…adapting to sothing else. That is probably what it ant by ‘qualification.’]
"I seriously don’t get what you’re saying. If this is the Abyssal Sea, what else is there to adapt to besides the Abyssal Sea?”
[Hmm, maybe…]
Malo muttered that as it looked down into the passage.
[...another world...?]
"?"
[No, I don’t know… In the end, it’s your choice.]
With that, Malo let out a sigh and fell silent.
I didn’t fully understand, but one thing was clear.
It was my decision.
And honestly, it wasn’t a hard one.
"I can’t just stay here forever.”
That reaching the very bottom would reveal a way out was the only thing I had left to believe in.
I shrugged and threw myself into the passage.
*t*t*
—Cold. Freezing.
That was the closest way to describe the sensation.
"Hmm..."
I stayed still, shivering slightly as I felt the cold for the first ti in a while.
It was unpleasant. But the more important thing—the crushing pressure that had always threatened —
'This is surprisingly manageable, right?'
It was weaker, no, far weaker than I expected.
The pressure the mid-layer exerted on had been dozens of tis stronger.
And more than that, my Tide Sense and current control were still working. No matter where I checked, aside from the clod, this palace wasn’t much different from the normal Abyssal Sea.
Calling anything here ‘normal’ was kind of ridiculous though. But as I scanned the surroundings, I noticed sothing else.
"I’m alone."
Silence.
Up above there had at least been life, even though they were hostile predators.
Here, there wasn’t even a single deep-sea creature. Not one. Not even a bubble rising through the water. It was complete emptiness. I had half-expected sothing like that giant octopus to be lying in wait to kill , so after standing still for a few minutes, I let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"Hey, Malo. What do you think?”
[...]
I tried talking to Malo, who had seed quite worried before.
No answer ca back. Even after waiting for quite so ti.
At first, I thought it might be scared, but then I realized that Malo was completely asleep. I slightly cut my finger with a current and sared blood onto the robe.
"We’re here. Wake up.”
[...]
But no matter how much blood I fed it, and no matter how long I waited, it didn’t wake up.
If anything, I started to feel like a lunatic, talking to a robe and feeding it blood.
Did it die sohow? A flicker of concern rose within , but I wasn’t exactly in a position to worry about anyone else.
'I need to stay sharp.’
It might look peaceful, but this was the very bottom of the Abyssal Sea.
It was most likely a place filled with beings that wanted dead as well.
If those things noticed , I probably wouldn’t last even a second.
So that ant I hadn’t been detected yet, but that, in itself, didn’t make sense.
Even when I was up there, they noticed . So why not now?
'Well, I’ll take it.’
THis safe mont wasn’t going to last forever, so I needed to make the most of it.
And what I had to do was obvious.
The bottom.
Heavenly balance told to reach the very bottom. This place could be called that, sure, but if this was the Abyssal Sea, then there had to be another bottom beneath it.
Without hesitation, I dove downward.
For a long ti.
10 minutes.
30 minutes.
3 hours.
And then—3 days.
"What the hell—?”
At so point, I stopped swimming and stared upward in disbelief.
I didn’t know the exact ti. But I had been swimming downward for nearly three days straight.
At least that was what it felt like. Maybe it had been 30 days or just 3 hours…
...?
I frowned and pressed my forehead. Sothing was wrong.
It felt like I had just started descending and, at the sa ti, like I had been descending for an entire month. Those sensations kept overlapping as if sothing in my mind had broken.
Nothing had changed. There was still nothing in these depths.
For now, I should probably go back up, leave so kind of marker, and stretch out a thread to secure a path.
I had assud I’d reach the bottom quickly just because this place seed to be the deepest layer, but if I had known it was this deep… Thinking that, I turned to go back up and suddenly froze.
"...Which way is up?”
I couldn’t tell the difference between up and down.
Only then did I fully grasp the situation I was in. Clenching my teeth, I let out a bitter sigh.
"At my age…”
I—
was completely lost in the Abyssal Sea.
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