Chapter 245: Depth (12)

TL/ED – Miso

Unfortunately, it didn’t seem like the thing was listening to my commands.

[Ah- ah- ah!]

If anything, it was closer to the opposite.

The seawater caught in my Current Sense gradually began to take on a definite shape.

-The form of a giant so massive I couldn’t even look up at it.

[Yo, u…]

That giant lowered a finger and pointed it directly at me.

[How dare, you… us…]

“…”

I stepped backward, retreating from the approaching giant.

The giant was merely a shape made visible for the sake of appearing. With every step it took, the surrounding Water Pressure grew steadily stronger.

It wasn’t that I was sinking; it felt as though the world itself was rising up to meet me.

The Middle Layer was crawling out from within that form.

‘This won’t work.’

The judgment came quickly.

With my plan to insert bait and somehow seize control already broken, taking on something that wasn’t even a fixed lifeform, but simply the position designating Depth itself, was beyond me.

If there was one fortunate thing, it was that I had at least succeeded in planting threads.

That meant there was room to keep things going through dialogue.

“Stop right there. One more step and things won’t end well for you.”

It was questionable whether words would even get through, but I held out a hand to ward off the approaching giant.

[…]

Astonishingly, the giant stopped walking.

I hadn’t even presented any conditions yet. As I tilted my head in puzzlement-

[Ha.]

[Ha. Ha. Ha…]

[Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha. Ha….]

A skin-crawling laugh came drifting in.

A voice layered with the voices of countless people, not a single voice but many.

A voice so vast it rang inside my skull came pouring in from every direction, and at the same time, my Water Barrier crumpled.

“…!”

The one and only lifeboat that had been protecting me in the Deep Sea, gone as if it had never been there to begin with.

Naturally, the Water Pressure I felt multiplied by hundreds in an instant. As I forcibly swallowed back the blood rising in my throat, my whole body feeling like it was about to burst, the giant kept advancing, still mocking.

[-You’ve endured well, little life.]

[You’ve sharpened your own weapons to survive down here.]

[Did you trust in those weapons enough to defy us?]

[Did you truly think your weapons would work even in deeper places…]

The closer the giant came, the more fluent its speech became.

Even while being agonizingly crushed by the Water Pressure, I could tell it wasn’t simply because the thing had grown better at speaking.

Quite simply, the will held by the surrounding seawater was resonating just a little more clearly.

[Pull them out.]

[Do not test my patience…]

“Then…”

[…]

“Try and kill me…”

I forced the words out, struggling desperately not to lose consciousness.

I had expected this to some extent. The Water Barrier was a small diving suit meant for facing the Deep Sea. A diving suit for submerging in water.

But from the Middle Layer onward, an entirely different liquid flowed. If I were to compare a liquid that held will to lava, then no diving suit could let one swim through lava.

That was precisely why I’d had to slip the Fish-Man in as bait.

“The mo, ment I die, you’re finished too.”

Lava, after all, would fear having its heat go cold.

It was the same as with the Fish-Man. The thing had already been infected by the Puppet. A foreign substance had already entered its body.

But, ultimately, the only reason it was sustaining itself was because it was preserving its purity. No matter how hot the lava, pour water in and it would cool.

This thing was even worse than lava. If even the tiniest bit of seawater flowed into the Middle Layer and contaminated that purity, it would burst apart in an instant.

That was what the Fish-Man had told me. And I had verified it once again in the process of bringing him down.

Because that was what this thing was, it could not simply let the situation of having a foreign substance inside its body slide.

In such a situation, there was no way it would tolerate the variable of killing me. Compared to a mere human like me, this thing had far too many lives layered together.

[….]

The silence stretched on.

Gradually my vision blanched white, and my bones began to make a brittle clicking sound.

Of course, I still endured without doing anything.

If I really pulled out the Puppet here as it demanded, it would be over.

In the end, along with my vision blacking out, the sensation of consciousness slipping away closed in-

[…Insect. Little life that does not know its place.]

“Cough, hagh-”

The Water Barrier abruptly returned.

As I lay collapsed on the Deep Sea floor trying to gather myself through the pain, I realized the Water Barrier hadn’t actually disappeared. The Water Barrier had been protecting me the whole time.

It had simply failed to hold back the Middle Layer’s seawater.

[Speak…]

“Hck, what?”

[State your reason for waking me…]

“…”

Even as I felt my body about to be ripped apart, I forced a smile.

The fact that the overwhelming superior was willing to talk meant my gamble had ultimately paid off.

‘Good thing I put them all in…’

Inwardly, I let out a sigh of relief. If I had been stingy with the threads thinking they didn’t seem to be doing much, it would have just pulled them out itself, wouldn’t it?

The threads woven into the giant’s body were so much like a spider’s web that even it seemed like it would have to give up countless quantities of seawater to pull them out itself. Thanks to that, we could at least exchange words.

After collecting myself a little, I stated what I wanted.

“Send me down below.”

[…You mean you wish to join us?]

“No.”

I refused with a frown.

I had no desire to live as seawater, not now and not ever.

“Lower than you. There’s somewhere below the Middle Layer, isn’t there. Where the things called Outer Gods live.”

[…]

The Middle Layer didn’t answer for a while.

Even within that silence, positioned in the Middle Layer as I was, I could feel the absurdity the thing was experiencing.

[What did you say…?]

“I have to descend all the way to the bottom of this Deep Sea. You should be able to send me, right?”

It was nearly ten minutes before the thing, still deliberating, opened its mouth.

[Descending below is impossible for insects…]

[Sinking requires weight. You are far too light.]

“…Weight?”

[To reach what lies below, you must first pass through me. You cannot do that.]

What is this thing on about.

I frowned and shot back.

“What’s that supposed to mean? You can just send me through, can’t you.”

[I’ll say it again: you are far too light to pass through me. That is not a problem I can solve for you.]

[You must possess sufficient qualification to pass through me…]

“What in the…”

I held back a string of curses for a moment, then sighed and threw out a different question.

“And how do I get this qualification.”

[Acquire greater qualification…]

“Will gluttony do it?”

How many Deep Sea Creatures would I need to devour.

The Middle Layer shook its head as if it pitied me.

[I do not refer to physical weight…]

The moment it raised a hand, my body was instantly squeezed tight.

[I shall test your qualification, see how far you can enter…]

“I’m asking what this qualification even is.”

[Can you see?]

The Middle Layer didn’t answer and instead suddenly threw out a strange question.

Naturally I couldn’t see anything, so I scrunched my face and shook my head.

“No.”

[Now, can you see…]

“No.”

[Now…]

“What are you doing? I said I can’t see.”

[Still, you cannot see.]

“Ah…”

About to reflexively snap that I couldn’t see anything, I shut my mouth as I caught sight of something flickering at the very edge of my Current Sense.

A wavering, watery light. Roughly the distance from one end of the Capital to the other.

In other words, at the maximum range of my Current Sense.

“…You don’t mean that light, do you?”

[How light you are.]

The Middle Layer let out a sigh deeper than my own and frowned.

[At your level, you cannot enter even a quarter of me. This is not a problem I can do anything about…]

“So this ‘qualification’ you’re talking about is the ability to handle this Deep Sea.”

[Until you can see twice as far as you do now, and turn stones to sand, you cannot enter. Now, if you have your answer, this foreign substance…]

“…”

I let the Middle Layer’s words go in one ear and out the other and ground my teeth.

So I had to expand my Deep Sea ability to enter.

It would be possible to grow it through devouring Deep Sea Creatures, but in the end there was a limit to how many I could devour.

More than anything, I was in a hurry. The longer I stayed in this place, the more I would gradually transform into a Deep Sea Creature.

“Is there no other way?”

[Whatever method you use, you must pass through me… that is the law. I cannot vanish, nor can I be extinguished. I simply exist…]

“Tch…”

So the only way was the straightforward one in the end.

As I was thinking that I might have to return with at least webbed fingers grown on me, the Middle Layer spoke first.

[However…]

“Hm?”

[Even if it would put you in danger, there is a way to gain qualification quickly…]

A way to gain qualification quickly.

In other words, a crash course for expanding my Deep Sea abilities.

I perked up and asked back.

“It’d be great if there was. What is it?”

[Dodge.]

-Slash!

Along with the sensation of something hot slicing past, my cheek was carved open.

“…?”

I touched the cheek with hot blood streaming down it, then slowly stepped backward.

“…Fuck, what is that?”

[What you wanted…]

The Middle Layer had already withdrawn down toward the bottom and was no longer visible.

What had attacked me was something else.

-Click, click…

[Heh. Hic. Kihihik.]

It was a Jellyfish with a thousand mouths. Assuming it was still a Jellyfish, given that long teeth grew where its tentacles should have been.

The Jellyfish’s gaze was fixed on me.

It was something I hadn’t seen at all up until just a moment ago. So strange that I hadn’t noticed it, because I could feel that it was stronger than any Deep Sea Creature I had ever encountered.

-Clatter, those invisible teeth began rattling once again, taking aim at me.

“What is this thing.”

[In this Deep Sea, there are those with qualification similar to yours.]

[I shall bring them to you, so handle obtaining what you seek with your own hands…]

“Hmm.”

So basically-

The Middle Layer was saying that, using its enormous body, it would bring only the most horrifying Deep Sea Creatures from across the vast Deep Sea right in front of me, and I should hunt them to raise my abilities.

But from my standpoint, that obviously wasn’t good news.

“Couldn’t you just catch them and turn them into pill form for me?”

There was a far easier path available.

It was a hair-trigger situation, with the thing looking ready to lunge at any moment.

The Middle Layer nodded and offered an opinion.

[Certainly, that would deepen you faster than facing them yourself.]

“So…”

[Deepening without qualification is utterly useless… you still wouldn’t be able to pass through.]

Refusal.

[Heh, kik.]

In the end I gritted my teeth and pulled up the Water Pressure.

The Jellyfish, as if mocking me for it, fired off a tooth.

-Whump!𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

“Ngh…”

The tooth I barely dodged left a gash on my thigh this time, and at the same time the Middle Layer slowly continued.

[Treat your life as precious… if it seems you are about to die, I shall protect you…]

“Just how many of these am I supposed to catch?”

[It would be wise to take your time. To gain sufficient qualification, you will need to bring down more opponents than can be counted.]

The Middle Layer replied leisurely, as if it were no concern of its own.

[It will take you about a month to bring down this one. After that, summon me again…]

A month to bring down this one Jellyfish.

Considering I would have to face other Deep Sea Creatures as well, that meant it would take on the order of years.

That wasn’t going to work.

“Whew…”

Once I steeled my resolve, I pulled my Current Sense together as much as I could-

[…Kik?]

-Crack!!

I caught the tooth the Jellyfish had fired with my hand.

The tooth, far sharper than any decent blade, carved a wound. Whatever, I yanked the thing toward me with all my strength before the startled Jellyfish could even grasp what was happening.

“…Hurts like hell.”

Of course, what had pulled it in wasn’t my muscle but the Water Pressure.

The Jellyfish came in without any resistance whatsoever. That was what it had been hoping for in the first place.

Its lower jaw, lined with countless teeth, gaped open in delight, ready to swallow me whole.

The moment when a predator thinks everything is over, the moment when it becomes most vulnerable.

I drove a blade of Water Pressure straight inside it.

[Khuk-]

-Pop!

The Jellyfish split in two and burst.

The Water Pressure immediately punished it, compressing it down into a pill smaller than a fist.

With my hand still streaming blood, I picked up the Fish Pill and shot a remark at the somewhat surprised-looking Middle Layer.

“Next, hurry up. I don’t have time.”

[…Hmm.]

Years, my ass.

Even a month was far too long for me.

*****