Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 236

Chapter 236: Depth (3)

TL/ED – Miso

There were only two reasons I had been able to survive in the Deep Sea with a human body.

The Water Barrier that protected me in the Deep Sea, and my ability as a Deep Sea dweller that let me stand against other creatures. Those were the two.

And one of them had vanished.

‘Well, it hasn’t completely vanished…’

A little of it remained, enough that I could at least move, and the Water Barrier was still holding too.

There was just one problem.

“…”

I couldn’t see a thing.

Which made sense, since this was the pitch-dark Deep Sea. With the naked eye, I couldn’t see an inch ahead.

That was exactly why the fundamental principle was to use Current Sense to grasp a wide area around me. And even using a wide range like that was dangerous in itself.

But now my Current Sense had been cut down to an extreme. By the time I registered something dangerous, it would already be right in front of me.

What good was a landmine detector that only worked once it had been stepped on? Naturally, I stood frozen in place for several minutes without moving.

In situations like this, moving first was more dangerous. I observed my surroundings cautiously and waited for some kind of change.

[…]

Before long, even within my narrow range of Current Sense, a small enough change came through that I could pick it up.

I wasn’t entirely sure, but- I confirmed one Deep Sea Creature swimming nearby.

It was a pufferfish with dozens of things resembling human eyes attached to it instead of spines. An extremely unpleasant thing, but this wasn’t the time to be picky about looks.

I hurriedly bound it with Puppet’s Thread, connecting its tail to my body.

[??]

It resisted briefly, then immediately began swimming obediently under my command.

I had a ride. But with my Current Sense in this state, nothing much had really changed.

Why the hell was all this happening? I thought about it for a long time, but couldn’t come to a conclusion.

In the end, the only thing I could do was the one thing Cheon-hwa had told me.

Go deeper.

“Hoo…”

Even in a normal state, I wasn’t confident I could reach the very bottom.

Still, nothing was going to change by sitting here. I moved the pufferfish and began descending to greater Depth.

About thirty minutes into sinking,

“Ugh-!”

Something sharp came hurtling at my face.

A tentacle, and at its tip was something resembling a blade.

I wrenched my head aside so hard I thought my neck would snap, just barely keeping the blade from grazing my cheek and drawing blood. Once I collected myself, I looked toward what the tentacle was attached to.

[…ca, came. ca. ca…]

An Anglerfish the size of about ten grown men put together was glaring at me, five or so tentacles writhing, each tipped with a blade instead of a lantern.

I hadn’t detected it until it was right next to me. No, more important than that…

“…It can see me?”

This was bad.

It wasn’t just my Current Sense and Water Pressure that had been reduced; even my Water Barrier had weakened.

The Anglerfish’s cloudy eyes were locked onto me and me alone. At the same time, the Currents around us began to writhe ominously.

It was trying to crush me with Water Pressure.

‘Is this… even going to work?’

I pushed the pufferfish off to the side and clenched my fist.

My focus was on the cheek that had just nearly been sliced. With my Water Pressure, Current, and Current Sense all diminished this badly, could I take it down without shedding a single drop of blood?

If those things could sense me and even one drop of blood spread out, what came next didn’t need to be imagined.

[Came, has, come, now…!]

There was no time left to just stand and think.

After a very brief standoff, all five tentacles shot at my head at once.

At the same moment, the Deep Sea water clamped down on my body like steel shackles. Tight enough that I couldn’t move a single finger.

“Urk…!”

I squeezed out what Water Pressure I had left to briefly stall the tentacles aimed at my head.

A momentary stay of execution. In that gap, I blinked.

And then- stars rose in my eyes.

-Kwaang!

[…!!!]

A blade of wind, fired lightly through the water, created something like a Current and sliced one of the tentacles roughly in half.

The Deep Sea Creature’s green blood spread through the water. I clenched my teeth as I watched.

I’d meant to cut it clean off, but it was far tougher than I’d expected.

As I’d thought, at a lowly 2nd-tier, in an environment where I couldn’t even use magic properly, that kind of wound was the best I could manage.

Even so, it was far better than fighting without any such weapon at all.

“If I die in thirty measly minutes, I won’t be able to face anyone…!”

-Gagak!

I gathered every last bit of Mana I had and slashed at the Anglerfish dozens of times.

[Co, cough…]

They were only shallow cuts grazing its flesh, but- the Deep Sea did not forgive wounded things.

The Anglerfish began to cave in on itself, and with its last strength, it flung the tentacles that were still intact.

There was no dodging them. With no other choice, I gave up on something else.

-Pubububuck!

“…Guess I need to find another one.”

The pufferfish, which had taken the tentacles in my place, had its belly crushed in and compressed into a small pellet.

As I let out a sigh, the Anglerfish ended up the same way.

What remained were two Deep Sea Creature Pellets. And me, unable to move again.

Rubbing my ribs, which felt like they might be slightly cracked, I took stock of the situation.

‘So, my Water Pressure, Current Sense, Current, and even Water Barrier are all malfunctioning. And because of that, any Deep Sea Creatures that get close enough can sense me just fine, huh…’

And on top of that, I still had to head toward the deepest part of the Deep Sea.

Wasn’t this just pure hell? The Water Pressure that had already been prickling at me kept growing stronger.

When no solution came to mind and I was just sighing, the Deep Sea Creature Pellets drifting nearby caught my eye.

“…”

I gritted my teeth.

Same as back with the Jieo, I really didn’t want to eat these things.

How was anyone supposed to live with gills or a tail growing out of their body? No, even setting all that aside, there was a side effect where eating one could prove fatal on the spot.

When I’d tested it, several Deep Sea Creatures had failed to withstand the Pellet they’d eaten and had burst apart.

Obviously, I had no desire to put something like that in my mouth, but-

“Right now, I think I need even that damn tail…”

Gills, a tail, webbing, whatever.

At the very least, to swim without Water Pressure, I had to attach something to my body.

If I trusted only a single Deep Sea Creature to carry me and went any deeper, it could burst down there and leave me stranded alone.

If some weird body part grew on me, could Dersia surgically remove it? Sighing, I picked up the Anglerfish’s Deep Sea Creature Pellet.

After studying it for a moment with a complicated expression, I put it in my mouth and swallowed.

Praying that anything was fine as long as I didn’t grow gills. Those would look truly hideous.

It didn’t taste like sashimi, and there was no fishy smell. If anything, it melted away the moment it entered my mouth, like cotton candy.

“Urgh…”

I squeezed my eyes shut and ran my hands all over my body.

What grew? Tentacles? A tail? Webbing? Gills? Or maybe those cloudy eyes?

-None of the above.

Not a single change had appeared on my body.

It was just a plain old human body, exactly as before.

I scratched my head with an ambiguous expression. Was that a good thing? Hard to say, since the whole point had been to grow something in the first place, so nothing happening wasn’t really ideal either.

With a sigh, this time I looked at the pufferfish’s Deep Sea Creature Pellet. What would this one do, make my belly swell up or grow multiple eyes on my body?

“Huh?”

As I went to grab the pufferfish’s Pellet, I tilted my head when I realized it was already in my hand.

It had been several meters away.

And without being able to use Current, I couldn’t pull it over…

“Don’t tell me…”

I frowned and tried moving a Current.

My body moved.

Not as much as usual, but far better than when I’d first entered this Deep Sea.

Almost by instinct, I used Current to shift the Pellet around in various directions, and suddenly noticed that the range of my Current Sense had expanded a little too. I immediately chewed and swallowed the pufferfish’s Pellet.

This time, because I was paying attention to all my senses, I was able to clearly observe my Current Sense range expanding slightly.

It was only a little, but a wider area came into my awareness.

Naturally, there was no change to my body.

No eyes sprouted, no belly bulged out grotesquely.

In other words.

“If I eat these guys, it comes back…?”

Apparently, eating Deep Sea Creatures brought some of my Water Pressure and Current Sense back.

As I wondered how on earth that was possible, I soon realized this wasn’t the time to be pondering such things.

If nothing strange was happening and there was no immediate problem, I should make the most of it.

I immediately started swimming and slowly looked around, and I spotted a school of stingrays swimming together.

A wide target. Perfect to take on.

“All right, let’s give it a shot.”

This time, keeping a decent distance so I wouldn’t be spotted,

I threw blades of wind and cut them all down in one go.

-Seogeok!

[???]

[!?]

In an instant, the stingrays were shredded without a trace and compressed into Pellets.

I went over to them right away and swallowed one without hesitation.

“…As expected.”

I felt my Current Sense slowly expanding and broke into a wide smile.

And there were dozens of them to boot. At this rate, I’d have my original abilities back in no time, I thought, as I swallowed the next stingray Pellet.

And then,

“Ugh.”

I felt something different.

Not my Current Sense expanding, but just… just a really nasty feeling.

At the same time, a horrible pain shot through my hand.

“Guh, what the hell…”

I furrowed my brow and lifted my hand.

Between the knuckles of my hand- a thin membrane had formed.

It was a little shallow, but there was no mistaking it: webbing.

“??”

I stared at it for a moment, then immediately cut it all off with a blade of wind.

I felt some pain, but fortunately no blood flowed. I looked at my hand, returned to normal, and let out a sigh.

“So the same kind doesn’t work.”

Apparently.

Hunting only weak things wasn’t going to cut it.

Well, it was a shame, but it didn’t really matter. I’d found a way, in the end.

“Hmm…”

I checked on the Deep Sea Creatures swimming within my now-wider Current Sense and cracked my knuckles.

Once I’d decided on a direction, all that was left was to act.

-It was time to open the Deep Sea buffet.