The reason I could survive in the Abyssal Sea with a human body came down to just two things.

The Water Partition that protected me and the abilities of a resident of the Abyssal Sea that let me fight other deep-sea creatures.

One of those was now gone.

'It’s not completely gone, but still…'

There was still a bit left, enough to move around, and the Water Partition still existed.

But there was one huge problem.

"..."

I couldn’t see anything.

I was in the Abyssal Sea, so of course it was dark. I couldn’t see even an inch ahead of me with my naked eyes.

That was why my basic rule was to use Tide Sense to grasp a wide area around me. Even then, it was extremely dangerous.

But now, my Tide Sense had been drastically reduced. If I detected something dangerous, it would already be right in front of me.

What use is a mine detector that only works after you step on the mine? Naturally, I stayed completely still for several minutes.

In a situation like this, moving first was even more dangerous. I carefully observed my surroundings, waiting for any change.

[...]

After some time, a small change entered even the narrow range of my Tide Sense.

I wasn’t completely sure—but I detected a deep-sea creature swimming nearby.

It was a pufferfish, with dozens of human-like eyes attached instead of spikes.

A was a disgusting-looking creature, but now wasn’t the time to judge its appearance.

I quickly bound it with puppet threads and connected its tail to my body.

[??]

It resisted for a moment, then immediately began swimming obediently under my command.

I had transportation now. However, with my Tide Sense in this state, it didn’t change anything.

What the hell caused this? No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure it out.

In the end, all I could do was follow the one thing Heavenly Balance had told me.

To go deeper.

"Phew..."

Even in normal conditions, I wasn’t confident I could reach the bottom.

But nothing had changed. I moved the pufferfish and began descending further into the depths.

After sinking for about 30 minutes…

"Urgh—!”

Something sharp rushed toward me.

A tentacle with something like a blade at its tip.

I twisted my neck so hard it nearly snapped, barely avoiding it as it grazed my cheek. I steadied myself and looked toward where the tentacle came from.

[...C-came. Came. Came…]

A creature the size of 10 grown men loomed there. Instead of a lantern, it had about five writhing tentacles tipped with blades, all aimed at me.

It had been right next to me, and yet I hadn’t noticed it. No, more importantly…

"...It can see me?”

This was bad.

It wasn’t just my Tide Sense or pressure control that had weakened. My Water Partiton had been reduced as well.

The anglerfish's dull, unfocused eyes were solely fixed on me.

At the same time, the surrounding currents began to writhe ominously.

It was trying to crush me with pressure.

'Can I…Do this?”

I pushed the pufferfish aside and clenched my fist.

With my pressure, currents, and Tide Sense all weakened like this, could I kill that thing without spilling even a single drop of my blood?

If even a single drop spread while these things could detect me, I wouldn’t need to think about what would happen next.

[You’ve come. C-come…]

There was no time to just think.

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

At the same time, the seawater of the Abyssal Sea tightened around my body like iron shackles. I couldn’t move even a finger.

"Ugh...!"

I drew up every bit of water pressure I could and barely halted the incoming tentacles for a split second.

A brief reprieve from death. In that instant, I blinked.

Then, stars appeared in my eyes.

-Boom!

[...!!!]

A blade of wind shot through the water, forming something like a current and slicing halfway through one of the tentacles.

Green blood spread through the sea. I gritted my teeth seeing that.

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

As expected, at my low level of 2 stars, and in this environment where magic barely functioned, that was the best I could do.

Still, it was better than fighting without any weapon at all.

"I can’t die in just 30 minutes. I’d never live that down…!”

-Slaaash!

I gathered every bit of mana I had and shredded the anglerfish dozens of times.

[K-khg...]

They were only shallow cuts, but the Abyssal Sea didn’t look upon wounded prey mercifully.

The anglerfish’s body began to collapse, and with its last strength, it lashed out with its remaining intact tentacles.

I couldn’t dodge. So left with no other choice, I abandoned something else.

-Poooooow!

"...Guess I’ll have to find another one.”

The pufferfish that took the hits in my place had its body crushed, turned into a small lump.

As I let out a sigh, the anglerfish met the same fate.

What remained were two corpses. And me who had become unable to move again.

I rubbed my slightly cracked ribs and assessed the situation.

'So, pressure, Tide Sense, currents, and even my Water Partion are all barely functioning. And because of that, nearby deep-sea creatures can detect me just fine…’

And on top of that, I still had to head deeper into the Abyssal Sea.

This was pure hell. The pressure was already stabbing into me, and it was only getting stronger.

Unable to think of a solution, I sighed when the floating corpses of the deep-sea creatures caught my eye.

"...”

I gritted my teeth.

My sentiment that I didn’t want to eat those things remained unchanged.

How was I supposed to live if I ended up with gills or a tail growing out of my body? No, even putting that aside, there was the risk of dying the moment I ate one.

From my own experiments, some deep-sea creatures had exploded because they couldn’t handle the remains of another one they consumed.

Naturally, I didn’t want to put something like that in my mouth—

"But right now, I think I need even a damn tail…"

Gills, a tail, fins.

At the very least, if I wanted to swim without relying on water pressure, I needed something attached to my body.

If I kept relying on a single deep-sea creature to carry me, it might burst at greater depths, leaving me stranded alone.

If something weird did grow on me, would Dercia be able to remove it with surgery?

Sighing, I picked up the anglerfish ball.

I stared at it for a moment with a conflicted expression, then shoved it into my mouth and swallowed.

I seriously prayed that it would be anything but gills, since those would look hideous.

It didn’t taste fishy, nor like raw meat. If anything, it melted like cotton candy the moment it touched my tongue.

"Ugh…”

I shut my eyes tightly and felt around my body.

What changed? Tentacles? A tail? Fins? Gills? Or those dull, eerie eyes?

—It was none of them.

There were no changes at all.

My body remained completely human.

I scratched my head with an uncertain expression. Was that a good thing?

Not really, since I’d done this hoping to gain something, so getting nothing wasn’t exactly ideal.

With a sigh, I turned to the pufferfish ball. What now? Would my body swell up? Or grow a bunch of eyes?

"Huh?”

As I reached for it, I noticed it was already in my hand. I tilted my head in confusion.

It had been several meters away.

Without the help of the currents, I shouldn’t have been able to retrieve it…

"No way..."

Frowning, I tried moving the current.

My body moved.

Not as smoothly as before, but far better than when I first entered this place.

Almost instinctively, I used the current to move the ball around and then suddenly realized the range of my Tide Sense had expanded slightly. I immediately bit down and swallowed the pufferfish ball.

This time, I focused on every sensation. I could clearly feel my Tide Sense’s range expanding. It was slight but definitely an increase.

And again, there were no physical changes.

No extra eyes, no grotesque swelling.

In other words…

"So eating these will restore my abilities…?”

It seemed that consuming deep-sea creatures partially restored my control over the sea and my Tide Sense.

I briefly wondered how something like this was possible, but then immediately realized I didn’t have time to think about it.

I started swimming again, slowly scanning my surroundings.

Before long, I spotted a group of stingrays swimming together.

A large target. Perfect.

"Alright. Let’s try this."

This time, I kept some distance so I wouldn’t get detected.

Then I threw out blades of wind, cutting them all down at once.

-Slice!

[???]

[!?]

In an instant, the stingrays were shredded into nothing, turning into fish balls.

I immediately approached and swallowed one without hesitation.

"...As expected."

A wide smile spread across my face as I felt my Tide Sense slowly expanding.

There were dozens of these things as well. At this rate, I could restore my abilities to their original state in no time. Thinking that, I swallowed another stingray ball.

And then—

"Ugh."

Something felt different.

My Tide Sense didn’t expand this time. Instead… I just felt incredibly sick.

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

"Ugh, what is this…?”

Frowning, I raised my hand.

Between my fingers, thin membranes had formed.

They were shallow but unmistakably webbing.

"??"

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

There was some pain, but thankfully no blood flowed. Looking at my hand, now back to normal, I let out a sigh.

"So duplicates don’t work.”

Apparently, hunting only weak creatures wasn’t enough.

Well, it was a bit disappointing, but it didn’t really matter. I had found a method.

"Hmm..."

With my expanded Tide Sense, I scanned the deep-sea creatures swimming around and cracked my knuckles.

Once I’d decided on a direction, there was only one thing to do.

—It was time to open an all-you-can-eat buffet in the Abyssal Sea.