TL/ED – Miso

If I had to ask someone to do something that might send them to hell, who would I go to?

Family? A loved one? No. If we went and died together, it would only make things more painful for both of us.

So the person I would seek out was already decided.

“…The situation has become serious.”

The moment Dersia heard everything I had to say, she let out a sigh, nodded, and held out her hand.

“Let us go and see for ourselves first. Take me there.”

Right. Someone who placed little value on her own life, yet was extraordinarily powerful.

I knew she would say that. I smiled and took hold of her fingers, then deployed my Water Barrier.

And then,

“…Ngh.”

I immediately grimaced at the Burden that came crashing down.

Something was wrong.

Every time the Water Barrier traveled further up Dersia’s hand, the pressure bearing down on my entire body grew worse.

I had barely covered a single joint of her finger, and yet- the Burden had multiplied several times over.

It had been a long time since I felt pressure intense enough to make my head ring. I hastily withdrew the Water Barrier, and Dersia looked at me with a puzzled expression.

“Is something the matter?”

“The moment I tried to bring you into my Water Barrier, no, I didn’t even get that far, but the Burden suddenly surged. I have no idea why.”

“…”

Dersia tilted her head, then soon arrived at some realization and rang the bell sitting on the table.

Before long, Karos appeared through the door with a sour look on her face and fired off a rapid string of complaints.

“Dersia-nim. Didn’t I tell you clearly? This bell is meant to be rung only when it’s truly dangerous, not for running errands and… Jern?”

“There is something I wish to test. Jern, would you try it on Karos?”

“Huh? Try what.”

I took her bewildered hand, and her expression grew even more peculiar. Paying it no mind, I tried covering it with my Water Barrier, and the headache struck again.

“It’s the same. No, I was able to do it with other people before. Why all of a sudden…”

“As I thought. It comes down to whether or not your Water Barrier can handle it.”

“Handle… it?”

“Yes.”

Dersia waved her hand dismissively, shooing out a dumbfounded Karos, then formed a droplet of water above her palm.

Inside the droplet, an even smaller droplet was spinning around and around.

“This is your Water Barrier. The small one inside is you. Since it is your world to begin with, you are not so much a foreign object as you are one and the same with it. Even if it shrinks like this…”

The outer droplet squirmed and shrank under the pressure of the air. Eventually it compressed down to the same size as the inner droplet, but neither one burst. They both held.

“Because they are ultimately the same, there is no great issue with contact. The problem arises when you put something else inside. If it is a being from within the Deep Sea, something of the same nature as that water droplet, the Water Barrier can endure it- but what if it is a completely foreign object?”

This time, Dersia pulled out a clothing pin and placed it inside the small droplet. At first it seemed to hold, but then the outer droplet shrank under Water Pressure, and- pop, both the Water Barrier and the small droplet burst.

“That is what happens. And I am no mere clothing pin. If I had to draw a comparison, I would be something closer to an awl.”

“What about Elysia?”

“She is a being who cannot yet even distinguish what she is. Your Water Barrier is clearly too small to handle even you alone, but it should be able to carry a mage who is little more than an ordinary person with no particular distinction.”

It felt like a rather harsh assessment of Elysia, but nothing about it seemed wrong.

In other words, for the time being, I could not bring anyone into the Deep Sea.

My surefire plan had been blocked. As I sat there sighing, Dersia pulled a few volumes from the nearby bookshelf and murmured.

“Let us organize the situation first. Currently, the Deep Sea Creatures are gaining ‘eyes’ because of something you have named ‘Barnacle.’ Is that correct?”

“Yes. It seems that once those are attached, they can see me.”

“Fascinating. Wake Mallo. I would like to hear from someone directly involved.”

Dersia handed me the clothing pin. Furrowing my brow, I jabbed it firmly into my shoulder, and the thing that woke up rubbed against my collar.

[Ahem. I believe one of those creatures called Deep Sea Creatures became entangled with the True Blood and achieved a form of evolution as a living being.]

“Setting aside this ‘evolution as a living being’ business, what exactly is this True Blood?”

[It is the Holy Blood of the Creator. We received it and fulfilled our wish to protect the world. To go a bit deeper, the fact that the Barnacle grants the ability to find its master may be connected to the desires of the Deep Sea Creatures themselves.]

“…Desires?”

[The strongest desire those Deep Sea Creatures harbor… might it not be the wish to find you, Jern?]

“What an utterly bizarre thing to say.”

“…”

Listening to Mallo’s uncertain words, something felt like it was on the verge of clicking into place, yet just out of reach.

As I sat lost in thought, Dersia turned her gaze back toward me.

“In the end, it is clearly an enemy that must be brought down. You said it was enormous. But how enormous, exactly?”

“About the size of a small mountain.”

“Were there any weak points you could strike at?”

“…Honestly, when I think of it as an enemy, I have no idea how to fight it.”

Winning against a mountain was a bit of an absurd proposition.

Overwhelming mass, in and of itself, was a factor that made something impossible to overcome.

“Of course, since we are inside the Deep Sea, it is not as though Water Pressure or Currents could not deal damage- but there is no way that thing would just sit still like an actual mountain.”

“I agree. We will need to use tools.”

“…Tools?”

“Yes. Even if you cannot bring people in, you can still bring objects from this world into the Deep Sea, can you not? That alone would be a great help.”

“Ah, that’s true.”

It felt like a light went on in my head. Bombs that could detonate underwater, scents that Deep Sea Creatures might find repulsive, things like that. If I could bring those along, they would certainly be of tremendous help.

“However, your Water Barrier does have its limits, so you will not be able to carry enough volume to demolish a mountain. Splitting the mountain apart is something you, Jern, will have to do yourself.”

“Should I just practice splitting things here? There’s even a mountain behind the capital.”

To my joking remark, Dersia replied in all seriousness.

“Perhaps you may have to.”

“…”

At those chilling words, just as I was about to say I had been joking-

goosebumps rose across my body.

“…Jern?”

[Is something the mat…]

-Slash!

At that same instant, a deep gash was carved across my face.

“Jern!”

Dersia, in a rare display of shock, shot to her feet and snapped her fingers.

I immediately felt the air around us ignite with searing heat. But I was clutching my face, and I raised my other hand to stop her.

“This attack didn’t come from here.”

“Then…!”

“Yes…”

Gritting my teeth, I felt the blood dripping down and realized it was far colder than I had expected.

In the world of the Deep Sea, which Dersia could not see, a shark with a long tail covered in Barnacles had slashed my cheek with its blade-tipped tail and was now thrashing it wildly.

‘At least I’m lucky no blood got on that thing over there.’

It had been so sharp and fast that the blood only burst out after the cut was made. Because of that, no blood had spread into the Deep Sea.

If my blood were to spread into the Deep Sea, every last Deep Sea Creature would come rushing in for a feast. I scanned my surroundings carefully. Six… no, eight sharks of a similar kind had encircled me.

‘I need to run.’

There had been only one reason I was able to so easily dominate and handle the sharks, dismissing them as stupid creatures all this time.

I could see them, but they could not see me.

I always landed the first strike, and even if that first strike failed, no matter how much the Deep Sea Creatures searched around them, they could never detect my presence. So even follow-up attacks were, in effect, first strikes.

If that overwhelming advantage were to disappear?

It would mean I had to fight a one-against-hundreds-of-millions battle against beings that had lived their entire lives in this place, wielding Currents and Water Pressure with total freedom.

“Jern, get out of there at once! There is no way for me to help!”

“I would love to. I really would.”

“…!”

Looking at Dersia’s face, gone deathly pale, I stated the reality plainly.

“…I am in the Real World right now.”

-There was no running from this.

Not Water Pressure, not breathing. The Burden, which I had always considered the most dangerous threat of all, was only now drawing its blade.

Whether it was natural or unnatural, this was always going to happen eventually.

I had to see it through. I seized the ocean’s Currents with every ounce of strength I had.

[….—!….–!]

[….!!!!]

Had they been underestimating me?

Or had they simply let their guard down? The Waterspout that erupted swept several of the sharks away.

Only half remained. The ones that were left came hurtling toward me as if they would not give me a single opening.

I caught one with Water Pressure and sliced its belly open with a blade of Water Pressure.

The second, I twisted the Current to wrench the direction of its tail off course.

The third… I could do nothing.

That was my limit.

-Crunch!

“Kh, gkh…!”

I had dispatched six in an instant, but the remaining two showed no mercy, raking their tails down my spine.

The agony that always comes when a blade meets bone, the kind where you cannot even draw breath, flooded through me and I collapsed facedown. The carpet of the Imperial Household was stained and ruined with blood in an instant.

[Oh no…!]

“Let me tend to your wounds first.”

Dersia, who had been watching me bleed and collapse with her jaw clenched, bound my back and shoulders with bandages and then asked.

“How many are left?”

“Two… no, tens of thousands now.”

“?”

“They got my blood.”

This time, luck was not on my side.

Blood remained on the sharks’ tails.

And that blood was slowly spreading through the sea.

“Shit…”

Before long, thousands of Deep Sea Creatures would come swarming in for a party.

How many of them would have eyes? I was going to have to fight until my mind went blank.

“Jern.”

I saw something mixed into Dersia’s expression. I did my best to reassure her.

“It’s not over yet.”

This was something I had been prepared for.

Yes. Something that could have happened at any time.

I rose to my feet with her support and pushed my Current Sense to maximum.

A plan?

When this Blood Scent spread through the Deep Sea, I would slaughter them so thoroughly that they would never dare appear again.

Kill them to that extent. With no other option left, I clenched my fist and took in the sight of every last Deep Sea Creature rushing toward me in a frenzy.

[————–!]

[——–!]

[—–!]

[–…]

[…]

“…Huh?”

And then.

I watched them slowly disappear.

The resolve I had so painstakingly steeled began to blur. It was not until the very last Deep Sea Creature vanished from my Current Sense that I could accept what was happening.

“What in the…”

Suddenly, it was all over. Frowning, I turned my head and noticed a warm sensation against my back.

It was the area where the shark tails had cut me and drawn blood, so it could have felt warm from the temperature of the blood.

But it was far too hot to be my own blood.

“…I heard everything.”

“E-Elysia?”

-Elysia was clinging to my back.

Elysia, who should have been asleep, had gotten up at some point and was right behind me.

Her white dress stained red with blood, her clear eyes met mine as I turned to look.

“I’ll go.”

“…What?”

“I’ll help Jern. I’ll go to the Deep Sea with you.”

The expression on her face as she said something so outrageous,

held a will so fierce it made my own resolve look like nothing.