For a while, I clutched my splitting head before finally regaining my senses and organizing the situation.

"So that’s why…”

The reason the deep-sea creatures went insane the moment they discovered me.

More precisely, the reason they convulsed the instant even a single drop of my blood spread through the Abyssal Sea.

My pheromone must be something that’s simply unbearable to them.

"Ugh."

That thought dragged me back to reality along with a throbbing headache.

As ridiculous as it sounded, the same applied to me.

Technically, it was my own scent. Yet just inhaling my own pheromone stirred up mixed emotions I had never experienced in my life.

Awe, rage, killing intent, and infinite euphoria. I’d never taken drugs, but I imagined this was what it would feel like if one used the worst, most addictive substance imaginable.

But I couldn't keep my nose blocked forever. So I spent several minutes calming myself down, gradually getting used to the pheromone I was emitting.

"It’s not working…”

Unfortunately, since this wasn’t truly a scent in the normal sense, it didn't seem like something I could ever fully adapt to.

Sighing, I stopped consciously inhaling it and shook my head.

'First, I need to restore my abilities.'

I couldn’t avoid using the pheromones entirely.

So, enduring the repeated pounding in my head, I began hunting by following unfamiliar pheromone trails left by new deep-sea creatures.

-Crunch!

[......]

[...!!]

Thankfully, the pheromones never lied.

If I followed them, I would soon find the creatures, and by consuming them, I could recover my abilities.

What’s more, the more I hunted, the stronger my detection ability became. Now I could even gauge how far away something was just by the density of the pheromone trail.

"Alright, so after this one, next is…”

I stared at the countless pheromone trails tangled throughout the sea and calculated the optimal route.

After that, everything flowed smoothly. Using those routes, I managed to move quite efficiently, and in just 3 hours, I hunted and consumed over 50 deep-sea creatures.

As a result, my abilities had recovered to about 70% of their normal level.

"Phew."

That was much better.

With a satisfied expression, I loosened my body and surveyed the now far more comfortable Abyssal Sea.

My Tide Sense had expanded enough that I could now detect new species without relying on pheromones. More importantly, I no longer had to fear sudden attacks from the darkness.

It felt like I’d finally opened my eyes after being blind. As I let out a relieved sigh, I started to feel like something was off.

'Why am I so fine?'

I narrowed my eyes and repeatedly clenched and unclenched my hand, staring at it.

I didn't feel any particular pain. The pressure was manageable, and there was no resistance when I moved my body.

That was the problem.

It had already been well over 10 hours since I entered the Abyssal Sea.

And during that time, I had continuously descended to deeper depths.

Before, I could also endure over 10 hours. But in the process, the pressure would continuously increase, and by the end, my entire body would be under enough force to fracture my bones.

But now—

"...It feels too comfortable."

It didn’t mean the burdens were completely gone. The weight of the Abyssal Sea was still pressing heavily against my entire body, and it grew stronger the deeper I went.

But the accumulation of my burdens over time seemed to have disappeared.

Objectively, that was a good thing. It meant my time limit had disappeared.

But—for some reason, a sense of unease crept in.

Was the Abyssal Sea ever a place free enough to suddenly change its rules like this?

Rules that had never once changed before this point all seemed off during this dive.

Deep-sea creatures that could detect me, the disappearance of the time limit, pheromones, and me being able to sense them…

"I don’t get it."

There was no answer to be found right now, no matter how much I pondered.

With a sigh, I opened my sense of smell again.

First, I needed to fully recover my abilities. I was only at 70% right now.

As I resumed tracking pheromones, a headache struck me again.

"?"

After hunting deep-sea creatures, my pheromone detection had reached a fairly high level. I could even tell that something had passed through this area days ago from hundreds of kilometers away.

And yet, a distinct, metallic scent of blood reached my nose.

It wasn’t the strange, multicolored blood of the deep-sea creatures but something I was familiar with from the surface world. Human or animal blood.

There was a human somewhere in the Abyssal Sea? Tilting my head, I considered it when something echoed in my mind.

[Is anyone there…?]

"What is this?”

I grimaced and covered my nose.

Within that blood scent, there was intent.

In other words, pheromones.

That wasn’t human.

*t*t*

A scent of blood and pheromones.

What it meant was obvious.

A pheromone left behind by a deep-sea creature that had consumed human blood.

[Is there anyone who can understand, and follow?]

"..."

And it was even asking for rescue.

Unlike other deep-sea creatures, that meant it had intelligence.

I hesitated for a moment, thinking about how to handle this situation.

It wasn’t that this thing was especially unique. I already knew of beings in the Abyssal Sea that could communicate and hold conversations.

'Outer Gods.'

But would an Outer God ask for help?

Thinking rationally, it could just be trying to lure in idiots who would read the intent in the blood scent and come looking.

However, that scent wasn’t coming from deeper below but from these depths. It was too shallow a place for an Outer God to exist.

"Haah..."

Or it could be reverse fishing.

Just like people cast fishing lines into the sea from above, maybe this thing had extended a limb upward from the depths to fish for prey.

Of course, I couldn’t be certain until I saw it myself.

[Is there anyone…?]

Pheromones weren’t really a communication tool but were closer to one-way messages. I couldn’t infer anything beyond what I sensed.

The decision was mine.

In the end, I scratched my head and started moving.

"Tsk, I don’t know anything anyway.”

Right now, all I felt was a sense of unfamiliarity toward this completely changed Abyssal Sea.

Even if checking that blood scent raised new questions, it wouldn’t change much.

[Ugh...]

On the way, I hunted more deep-sea creatures, gathering their clusters to restore my abilities as much as possible.

The closer I got, the stronger the scent of blood became.

[Is anyone there?]

[Is anyone there?]

[Is anyone there…?]

As if desperately calling for help.

The more it repeated, the more it felt like a trap. If it could send such a strong signal, it had to be a powerful being, so how could something like that be dying at this depth?

Just in case, I surrounded myself with compressed pressure and approached the source. What I found was a volcano.

"What…?”

It was literally a massive volcano, large enough that I couldn’t even fully detect its base with my Tide Sense. Black stone, a crater, spewing boiling water that was clearly scorching hot.

Around it, all kinds of strange lifeforms writhed, forming an ecosystem. I might’ve been impressed before, but after what I’d seen in the canyon, I just frowned.

This too was probably just the back of some massive creature or something.

I examined it more closely, wondering if this was the source of the blood scent, but it didn’t seem to be.

The scent was coming from somewhere on the mountain itself. Carefully approaching the source, I spread my Tide Sense.

The current flowed, mapping out the shape of the mountain. Halfway up there seemed to be a cave.

From a crack in the boulder, I could see blood seeping out.

"..."

I cautiously approached the cave.

I had already half-assumed this was a trap, so I didn’t get too close. More importantly, my Tide Sense couldn’t detect anything in the cave.

I could only detect empty air, as if there were a high-class Knight inside. Even though something was clearly there.

Should I attack first? Or observe? After a brief hesitation, I decided to speak.

"Are you the one calling for help in there?”

[...]

"If you’re trapped and can’t get out, I’ll break the rock. If you’re behind it, move aside.”

I compressed my pressure as much as possible.

As a sharp blade of pressure began scraping against the stone, a hurried reply came from within.

[W…ho……]

It sounded like something forcing words out with a short, thick tongue, like a mouth structure completely unsuited for human speech.

[Who…who are you…?]

Well, deep-sea creatures usually sounded like that, so I didn’t pay it much mind.

Instead, I paused the pressure cutter and answered out loud.

"I came because you called. So you answer first. What are you, and why are you in a place like this?”

[...]

"No answer?”

As I brought the pressure cutter back toward the boulder, an answer I never expected came back.

[...Go back.]

"Huh?"

I had been expecting an attack next but instead got a sudden dismissal, making me frown.

I thought it was just talk, but then the blood scent suddenly vanished, and even the remaining gap sealed shut.

I waited, but no attack came. It really wanted me to just leave. Dumbfounded, I scratched my head.

So it wasn’t a trap? I had come prepared to deal with it even if it was some Outer God’s trap.

It felt too strange to just leave like this, so I pushed once more.

"Hey, you called me here, so what’s with this? Do you know how far I came?”

[...]

After several minutes of silence, as I still didn’t leave, it reluctantly spoke again.

[You are not the one I was looking for. It’s too late.]

"...What?”

[You have already fallen. Just like me…]

-Creak...

The stone shifted slightly, and it peeked its face out.

It was far more grotesque than any deep-sea creature I’d ever seen.

A face covered in barnacles, tentacles crawling out from between ruptured eyes, countless tendrils sprouting from its head. A human face with a gelatinous body.

[Go back. Seek salvation somewhere unlike me.]

"What the hell…”

A chill ran down my entire body as I stepped back.

Both instinctively and rationally, I understood.

This thing—

'Even my Master couldn’t save this…'

...was my senior.