Chapter 299: Devil's Sea |
"You!" Elizabeth tried to reach for Li Yang, her shadow tendrils extending far beyond her normal reach to catch the man on a canopy of shadows before he fell to his death, but the man was gone.
The waters swallowed him and covered him from her sight.
He left her just behind as old stories do.
Fables repeating themselves.
[ The Observer 'Soleil Island' Scoffs at the Failure to Fulfill Requirements For Eternal Companionship ]
[ The Observer 'She Who Conceals' Mourns The Separation Between Two ]
[ The Observer 'Change' Hopes for The CEO's Safety and Is Less Resentful ]
Bao's lips were pressed thinly together as it stared at the Vampire who was more or less… well, it was fucking hard to put an individual like them under the dichotomy of good or bad. Elizabeth Hawthorne was morally gray to it.
Even the sudden appearance of these Observers were more or less just focused on the hopes of seeing a story changed to a better outcome. A happier ending.
[ Owl Brain: Everyone is expected to get along well with each other. That requires far more work than anything ]
[ DatPeach: Now's not really the time to say that your ideal ending is better than others if the guy doesn't survive this one ]
[ TheOneWhoSlaughters: This is in the domain of water. There's not much to worry about ]
[ Trite: Well… contrary to expectations, not all bodies of water are under one domain ]
[ DatPeach: If we see an Ancient or Old One right now, he's fucked. ]
Bao watched the chatroom empty after that and it quickly erased the evidence of such things being mentioned at all. Then without another moment's hesitation, it plunged and followed Li Yang down into the waters.
—-
The waters that covered and enveloped him were far from the comforting arms of an ocean seeking to offer him solace or sanctuary. There was no relief or salvation to be found in the waters when he escaped the Vampire's grasps.
It was a powerful whirlpool and torrent that tried to drag him downwards into the depths.
Strong undercurrents unlike anything Li Yang experienced before, it far more worse than what he encountered when trying to fight the Nian beast in the past. Even if he tried to use his Yao Slayer, there was no enemy to be defeated.
The waters that pulled and pushed against him almost seemed to have a mind of its own.
A vicious one at that.
There wasn't enough time for him to breathe and even as he tried to reach for the inventory screen in front of him, storing away the Yao Slayer and then reaching for the remaining pack of the LSO's chewing gum to help him breathe underwater—it was far from easy.
Once he got it, cruelly, as if the waters were taunting him, a sudden current struck him and knocked the man back.
Several sticks of water-breathing chewing gum pulled into the depths without any hesitation.
If he lost the next one or failed to reach the surface at all, the man was a goner.
Whether or not Li Yang was someone who slept with an Undine—a Mermaid to be exact—He was no friend, but a foe to those who dwelled in the dark waters of the Devil's Sea.
The sea itself was no ally to any single being alone.
There was no time to question and all that was left was to struggle.
Li Yang's gaze darkened as he reached for the pack of chewing gum just within his fingertips, as he kept up trying to stay afloat. Pushing back against the strong currents, Li Yang grasped the stick in his hand.
And yet he couldn't help but feel a wave of irritation.
Was this what the System assured him with the chances it presented earlier?
Was Li Yang's luck all that bad?
Li Yang tore off the wrapper and then pushed the candy into his mouth.
Chances of Leaving and Getting Washed Upon A Familiar Shore (52%)
Chances of Leaving And Getting Plunged Into The Depths (35%)
Chances of Returning To The Very Same Island (13%)
—-
On the contrary, Bao deemed that they were truly somewhere else.
A familiar shore close enough to the island of Japan where Li Yang once teleported back from Telriah, except this time, he was submerged into the waters.
The man was half-drowning and swimming, and despite there not being any actual monsters trying to pull him down… it was just the water, the consciousness of it, that did its job.
One man versus the entire ocean was not an easy question to conquer, but at last, Li Yang stuck in the chewing gum and felt the water finally provide him oxygen.
Li Yang's body started to absorb the oxygen from the water without any more troubles.
That was one problem solved, but it didn't stop the waters unending struggle to pull him down. When Li Yang glanced down, even with his improved vision and senses—all he could see was darkness.
There was no light in the waters at all, no source that could provide him even a glimpse of what lay beneath him except for a gaping abyss that awaited to devour him whole.
Even trying to find something in the System was enough to make Li Yang's lose concentration. If he slipped up just once, it was to be the end.
Li Yang struggled against the water's currents.
That was until a movement suddenly emerged within the depths.
A large figure suddenly swam around Li Yang, circling around him. He tensed for a moment, but then quickly resumed swimming—reclaiming sword from the Inventory as he slowly but surely aimed to go up.
The man did not have any idea as to how much further up it was to get to the surface. Maybe it was countless hundred feet deep, but Li Yang could no longer stay here.
There was no time for it.
The creature rammed itself towards Li Yang even as the man tried to dodge across the waters. Without Narissa's skills however, it was far more difficult to achieve what he had in mind and before he knew it, Li Yang was on top of the fish.
If one could even actually call it a fish.
It was far greater than his own size with scales that were sharp against Li Yang's skin. But when Li Yang raised his sword to attack it—a voice suddenly invaded its mind.
'Yo.'
"What?" Li Yang blinked at the deeply masculine voice. The fish was sentient and could speak, communicate telepathically with Li Yang, that much he could already sense… and it was far from hostile—at least it wasn't eating him or dragging him to the depths.
But it didn't mean that he wasn't stunned.
'It's Pinkie. Your brother dumped me into the toilet a year ago.'
Li Yang stared at the extremely huge fish in question and wondered for a moment if it was the salt water getting into his brain. Some kind of jellyfish parasite that inserted itself into his head and made him see delusions.
"Okay."
'Not much of a talker even for a reunion, huh?'
"No. Not really." Li Yang stared at the fish with a completely blank face and decided not to question it at all. It was also at that moment that he finally saw Bao in the distance. While struggling to live earlier made it hard to find the hidden 'Transmitter'... it was now laughing its entire butt off.
"Oh fucking—this is good." Bao wiped a salty tear out from its eyes.
Compared to Li Yang who was completely submerged and immersed into the water, the Panda was in some kind of 'phase' mode where it was partially translucent as it swam up alongside the now-gigantic salmon.
"This is really not all that funny," Li Yang dryly said. But then it looked at the fish… and struggled to ask. "How exactly did you happen to be here when I needed you? There's no logic to that at all and I refuse to take this at face value."
'Devil's Sea.' Pinkie answered.
"So you're telling me that this is the Devil's Sea..." Li Yang frowned and summoned up the System's screen to get some answers. Bao was still laughing the entirety of its ass out and Li Yang hoped it wouldn't attract anything worse than it already was.
[ Devil's Sea ]
A paranormal region of the Pacific Ocean, south of Tokyo that is linked to the Bermuda's Triangle and contains a host of wildly different and various entities residing in its depths.
All life began at sea and most of those seeking to grow stronger are pulled deeper in its terrain to survive and acquire unknowable power or die in the watery graves.
"I see…" Li Yang frowned hard and tried to wrap his head around it some more.
'Got dumped into septic sewage and then swam all the way here. I'm sure Chunhua's sad about me disappearing, but a fish life is a fish life.' Pinkie the salmon fish replied without any hesitation at all.
"The Devil's Sea is still a vast water, I still can't imagine that out of all the possible spots—"
"I am a fish of wisdom. Fate has allowed us to reunite again."
"I'd be the first to say bullshit—but this is too good to let up." Bao sat on top of the oversized salmon's head. "How'd ya feel about your life being saved by some sushi?"
"I refrain from saying anything else now for my own peace of mind."