Hello! Sorry for missing friday's chapter, got a bad fever that lasted all weekend, still dealing with a headache right now, but doing well enough to write (though slower than usual), hope you enjoy, and have a nice start of your week :)
Abyss Urchins… Did we get them all? Alith queried through the bracelet.
I think so. Unless they’re particularly good at playing dead. Sofia answered.
Pestle brought back one of the corpses to show the others, it was an octopus-like creature, about three meters tall, with a transparent soft gelatinous body that hid nothing of its skeleton and organs.
The projectiles weren’t magical… Do they harden their tentacles and shoot that?
What it looks like yeah.
Pestle, you can have it.
You’re not gonna harvest the skeletons? Alith asked.
No time to waste. And Bookie’s pages are already overcrowded. Let’s move through the walls again for a moment, just to be sure we won’t run into more things attracted by the fight.
Without the skeleton fishes outside going through the walls meant missing out on potential wrecks, but Sofia had a feeling that the correct one would be further in the depths.
Letting the Nymphs carry them down, the group was silent, the previous battle had gone fine, but had the monsters been just one filter higher and the situation might have turned out disastrous. They returned to the dark waters just about one kilometer deeper into the fault.
Sofia. Alith said, stopping the group just as they left the safety of the cliffside. I’m feeling… Something. I couldn’t tell you what, but something isn’t quite right.
I’m not feeling anything strange. Are you sure it’s not just the deep sea? Anyone else?
Pesle think maybe is feel too.
Sofia turned to Pareth, You as well?
Pareth answered with a light skull shake.
Let’s not let that stop us. Alith concluded with a shrug, We’ll tell you if the feeling changes, I guess, I really have no idea how to even describe it at the moment.
The descent continued slowly, and against all expectations, found no more conflict or danger in the complete darkness of the abyss, only a heavy oppressing silence in between two stone walls that kept coming closer to each other.
The space between the two sides narrowed and narrowed until Pareth, even scaled down as he was, could no longer easily swim down.
Are we at the bottom? Alith asked, I can’t feel shit below, the mana is too chaotic.
Same, Sofia answered, reminds me of the third trial’s currents around the planet. It’s right about where the two sides would touch. Can’t really see anything past that point either, there’s absolutely no light coming from down there, not even a little.
Sending our own light’s a bit too reckless I think, do we try going sideways first? Spirit plane’s not gonna let us get through this safely.
Can’t you eat magic now? Sofia asked mockingly.
That’s way too much! Taking me for a damn phageid or what? I say we just send princess leg first and go from there.
Pesle am princess of leg?!
Can you safely scout down there Pestle? Sofia asked, fully ignoring the princess topic.
Safe no. Feel current danger, if go Pesle is am die.
Saying this, Pestle proceeded to rapidly fly down, squeeze through the narrow gaps between the cliffsides, crash into the mana current, and die.
Sofia was worried for an instant, but did not feel anything wrong with Pestle’s page, so she resummoned her right away.
Are you crazy?
Am Pesle.
… Did you die just to prove your point?
Why Sofia is think Pesle am Klepra? The fairy answered, sounding rather vexed, Pesle am say if go am die. Not say if go am idiot! Pesle see down before die! Wall is end, only big water.
The cliffs end?! That’s gotta be it. We really have to continue down…
Alith looked down, First is gonna be getting down there, then getting through the current without getting pestled. I could probably just roll through it if it’s not too deep.
No reason to take any risks. You all get inside, I’ll get us down there pretty easily.
Alone at the bottom of the ocean, Sofia flipped around to dive head first into the narrow gap between the cliff walls. It had been easy for Pestle, but for her she had to slowly squeeze through. The mana density at these depths was already high enough that these mere stone walls were not easy for her to break through, not without causing a ruckus that would alert the sea monsters that they had been lucky enough to avoid, at least. She had to use her dagger to cut through, carving a human-fitting passage in between the cliffs.
Then, reaching the boundaries of the turbulent mana, she poked it with a finger, and watched her entire left forearm get ripped off and snatched away by the current.
Wild.
She had gotten scared of another blueprint injury for just an instant, but her forearm grew back in under a second, good as new.
We’re probably not even halfway to reaching the forbidden layer’s depth and the mana is already like this.
There might be an actual entrance through this somewhere… But why bother?
Sofia poked the howling currents with her other hand. It was like touching still water, the dragon scale armguard completely impervious and unimpeded.
It’s not even that thick. Easy.
Sofia stored her things into her ring, pushed her mana heart into the armguard just to be safe, and explosively plunged headfirst into the current.
Only her head and right arm made it out to the other side, thanks to her equipment immunities.
Her body quickly regrew, and she got clothed before calling the others out.
You got us through faster than I thought, Alith commented. And now, see anything? It’s still pitch black…
It is even worse without the walls… I cannot tell if this is an ocean under the ocean or some kind of cave. Either way, no bones nearby.
After some quick deliberation, the group opted to continue straight down. They were surprised to find that this new cavity, or whatever it was, was rather shallow, at under two kilometers deep. They landed on what they dubbed ‘the real seabed’ which was exactly like the one above the fault, just darker.
Faced with a lack of options, they could only start randomly exploring. This seabed was cold and dead. With not a trace of life be it plants or animals, there were no bones, no crushed shells, only muddy sand. It felt too clean, unnaturally so.
Pestle came back from an unfruitful scouting attempt when she noticed something. The wrong feeling Alith mentioned earlier was back.
Alith felt it too. It lasted a bit, grew stronger, then disappeared again.
It’s like… It just passed us by, Alith explained. Got a clearer reading on it now, it’s like a pull on my soul, but from the inside. You’re really not feeling it?
Not even a little bit, Sofia answered, maybe the philosopher’s is preventing it?
Pareth shook his skull again, he did not feel it this time either.
Then… Spiritual affinity, I guess? You’re a ghost and Pestle’s previous life was a soul-grafting magic practitioner. Either way the question is do we chase it or run away from it.
All eyes landed on Pestle.
Pesle am not sharing if it leg.
Sure.
Sofia kept track of Pestle’s movements as she chased that strange feeling, and saw her turn back really quickly just a few seconds in.
We might be in for another fight! She warned Pareth and Alith.
But Pestle returned with different news. It boat. Is moving.
This could be what we’re looking for! Anything on board?
Pesle not looked.
Alith grabbed her weapon. Let’s go, that has to be it.
The entire group was still only relying on the very minimal light of Pareth’s eyes, not to attract unwanted attention, so they heard the ship long before they could see it. The sounds spread perfectly well through the silent waters: planks creaking, sails flapping, low pitched noises of heavy things colliding underwater.
Then it came into view of their mana sense first, blurred by the strong density of mana of this abyss, and yet, a relatively clear image against the monotone background of the dead seafloor. This was a ruined ship, not missing its rear half, for once, but ruined nonetheless.
That is one massive ship.
Excluding the Ark, which for all intents and purposes was not a real ship, this was the largest human-design vessel Sofia had seen yet, of a size multiple times larger than Zarrow’s which she had accidentally destroyed.
I don’t think I feel any strange mana movements in there… But…
Bones? Alith guessed.
Yes. One skeleton. Human-size.
Well if nothing else you’ll have that.
Continuing forward, they finally reached the side of the hull. The lined up rusty cannons did not fire, the ship, in fact, did not seem to react to their nearby presence at all, continuing to drift slowly through the darkness.
The skeleton is toward the back, captain’s quarters, probably, Sofia informed the others.
I can’t believe it was actually a ghost ship.
Pestle looked at Alith with a weird expression, It wood, not ghost.
While they both carefully scanned the insides of the ship with their magic, and tried to lower the tension with their bantering, the group let the ship advance which would take them to its rear side.
Gradually, a band of carved wood bearing the name of the ship came into view, it was badly eroded and in the lost epoch human language, but Mr.Scribe still managed to decipher the meaning.
[The defier of fates]