Day 10 in the Phase World
I've been crying and sobbing for a long time.
The fear and sadness of no longer being able to see the person I love was beyond what I could bear.
For Franc, she was left alone, and if we got this far apart, what would happen? How would her soul maintain itself? Was she perhaps supplying Phase Power to maintain her soul from the soul stone?
......
A bad habit had surfaced again. The more I thought about bad situations, the more I recalled bad situations.
Because of this habit, when I was young, I would often have terrifying dreamscapes even while sleeping, wake up in fright, and run to my sister to cry in her arms.
Every time, my sister would stroke my back and ask what was scary, and when I blubbered out the story, she would praise my rich imagination, saying that imagination was just imagination and couldn't harm me, comforting me.
Then, she would kiss my forehead, saying this would make me braver, and I would forget the fear and sleep peacefully in her arms.
The touch of my sister's kiss came to mind, as did the sweet scent and warm feeling from when I slept in her arms.
"......"
I guess I was still a scared little kid.
I wiped my tears with my sleeve and quietly looked at Franc's soul stone.
Yeah, that bastard Imugi's lightning had been tough even for me to endure. I had barely managed to hold on by redirecting the Phase Power in my body. But what about Franc, whose soul was completely exposed without any defense?
Franc was probably just asleep from the shock. Thinking that, I quietly gazed at the soul stone and lightly kissed it.
"I'll do my best too... Franc, hang in there."
The faint gray light in the center of the water-like soul stone sparkled.
I thought I must have misseen it and put the soul stone in my pocket, tightly closing the entrance, and hung it around my neck. Then, stabilizing my mind, I focused on recovering the Phase Power.
I thought 100 minutes would fully recover the empty Phase Power, but it took 20 minutes longer than expected. Probably because of my weakened body and mind.
Instead of departing right after the Phase Power was full, I circulated the Phase Power to enhance recovery, blew away the minor fatigue, and ate the emergency ration belt and the moisture leaves to fill my hunger.
Once my body was in good condition, Phase Power full, and hunger satisfied, it felt like a little light was seeping into the entirely gray world.
"......Good. Shall we start?"
While resting, I cut the end of the resting tree with the horned needle to make one more log, but when I threw it into the water, it slowly sank, and I shut my mouth.
The log I had used to get here had all its internal moisture drained and was dry, and the log I just threw was a living tree with a lot of moisture, so it sank.
Why did it have so much moisture? If this kind of rain was common and the area below the cliff became a lake, it would naturally evolve to store water to survive.
"Can't be helped."
I thought about attaching two logs to make it easier, but I guess I had to do it the way I've been doing so far.
I grabbed the log that helped me get here and jumped into the water, starting to swim again. The sound of the pouring raindrops hitting the surface and breaking was still noisy, but now it felt bearable.
With full Phase Power and stable mind, securing the recovery amount of Phase Power, I sent out 11 Phase Power per minute from my legs and started swimming 1.4 times faster than usual. This way, I could go farther and longer than when I used 5 Phase Power per minute, moving 3 times faster per minute.
140 meters per minute. That meant I could go 2.4 km more per hour. I steeled my heart, promising to swim all night today.
The subtle control of Phase Power erased my stray thoughts from me. If I focused a little too much, the consumption of Phase Power increased, and if I focused too much, the consumption decreased and speed dropped.
Naturally, I felt my control over Phase Power growing rapidly.
"Puuwoo."
I tried to spit out the rain water that entered my mouth, but then wondered if I needed to, and just swallowed it. It wasn't seawater, and since I drank a lot of water, if I had to pee, I could just do it in the water.
"Kikik."
I thought there must be no one else in the Phase World who had to deal with the same thing as me.
More than 200 million people had disappeared in the Phase World, so there must have been people who suffered worse than me, but somehow I sensed there was no one who survived and strengthened their abilities like me.
Compared to what I had experienced so far, the manuals in the isekai survival books didn't even come close to the tip of my feet.
Facing giant aberrant species, the huge mole that was a person who became an aberrant, and finally the Imugi, the highest rank aberrant.
If even a little bit had gone wrong, it would have been a situation where I would have died. That's stating the obvious.
So, I can't die now.
I will return alive. With Franc.
Definitely!!
After about 3 hours, around noon, the raindrops were decreasing slightly, as per the detection ability.
I squinted my eyes and looked up at the sky, frowning my eyebrows. Adapting to it, huh. It would be better if it rained a bit more...
The Imugi that hadn't been chasing me yet was probably because of the rain, so I felt a bit of regret but thought it couldn't be helped, and paddled my legs busily.
By enhancing my strength until the remaining Phase Power was 300, and then swimming with the remaining Phase Power for condition maintenance from the 4.73 recovery per minute, I was able to move nearly 40 km in 3 hours.
How far do I need to go to be out of the safe zone from the bastard Imugi?
"......"
...Don't think about it.
Hunger came, so I loosened the emergency ration belt and tore off one bite, chewing hard. The length left after eating a lot while swimming was only about 1m. Not one meal, but every time my body demanded calories, I ate 4cm... so 20 times?
The faster the belt shortened, the more the anxiety grew in reverse proportion.
"I need to reduce the amount I'm eating."
No choice. If this pace continued, it would be all eaten in two days, so even for insurance, I had to reduce it.
Even if my body wasted away, how much would it waste in 5 days. Instead, I would eat a lot of moisture leaves.
Ah, by the way, there's something called water poisoning, right? Instead of eating a lot at once, eating a little steadily might be better.
After hesitating, I pulled out the horned needle and dived to cut off a branch with many moisture leaves. Forty... two sheets? Maybe one sheet every 3 minutes?
I placed the branch on the log like that and ate one sheet at a time while advancing, and with detection ability, I discovered a animal carcass floating on the water.
It was a long-snouted lean wolf. Judging by how it was bloated in the water, it probably couldn't escape the land tsunami and rain and drowned.
After that, I steadily started discovering carcasses of animals like rabbits, deer, squirrels, raccoons, foxes, or creatures that looked like aberrants floating on the surface or sinking in the water.
"......"
My stomach was upset. I was worried if the water was contaminated. When I analyzed, different components were detected around the carcass than elsewhere. Whatever it was, drinking it wouldn't be good. And as time passed, the water would definitely rot.
...I had better be careful not to drink the water.
I activated the telescopic ability and quickly swept the surroundings. Then, a place with significantly lower depth than elsewhere appeared.
Were these carcasses the bodies of animals that had taken refuge there? Then, wouldn't there be a higher hill nearby?
Tsk... Even without rain, it would be easy to find it, but with only 450m telescopic ability, it was a pity.
I sighed unconsciously.
After swimming for another 3 hours, distributing the recovery amount of Phase Power, condition maintenance, and necessary Phase Power for swimming speed, it was around 3 PM (estimated).
It seemed like the distance and the fight with Phase Power had changed because of the bastard Imugi, and a wry smile came out.
I had moved the distance that should have taken 8 hours in 6 hours, so I had 2 hours saved, and moving 15.6 km forward in 2 hours would mean, if I move until 5 PM (estimated), I would move an additional 28 km. So, at 5 PM, I would have moved 64.6 km that day.
Adding yesterday's movement distance, I had moved 142 km by swimming alone!
Wow, 142 km. It feels like I've done a lifetime of swimming in one day. If I told mom and dad, they wouldn't believe it. Maybe my sister would hit my back saying not to lie?
... I want to see mom, dad, and sister.
After 5 PM, around 6 PM, the surroundings started to get dark. The rain lines were noticeably decreasing, and if it was a downpour before, now it was just ordinary rain.
I thought the rain would stop when I returned to reality... but was it just decreasing a little? Yeah, if that much rain fell for a week, it would be like the great flood from Noah's ark.
"Haa..."
I sighed while fiddling with the pocket containing Franc's soul stone. There didn't seem to be any resting trees.
The rain lines had thinned and the visibility had widened a bit, but with fog, the view was still bad...
I guess I had to give up on resting.
I had decided to swim all night, but...
Splash... splash...
The movement of the water had been a bit strange since earlier. Previously, it was just waves created by the wind, but now there was a clear wave pushing from the front left.
Looking at the rain, it was almost straight, and there was almost no wind.
I put question marks in my head, wondering what the hell, when suddenly the rain stopped and thick fog began to roll in.
"......?!"
The familiar rain sound disappeared and the surroundings were enveloped in silence. The heart thumped in the uneasy silence and the surroundings covered in faint fog.
I swallowed hard and quickly looked around...
Boom...
"Huh."
A dull vibration passed through my heart like standing right in front of a 15-inch woofer speaker. As soon as I saw the surface vibrating up and down in sync with the vibration, I almost spat out curses.
W-what was this time!
Whoosh-!
"Ouch!"
A sudden gust of wind blew from the front and created waves of several meters on the surface. I hugged the log tightly with my eyes closed and endured the violently shaking surface, then opened my eyes when I felt the oscillation calming down.
The fog that had disappeared as if washed away.
Dew-like fog fragments scattered here and there on the surface like a calm hot spring in winter. Beyond that... something hazy wrapped in fog at the very end of the distant horizon came into view.
...Swallowed hard.
But something was weird. The fog... looked like clouds. And that fog was gathering at the feet of something... .
Now. The height of the surface was 10m. Because of the wobbling, based on the lowest point, 10m.
But that something was... incomprehensibly high in height. Without anything to measure distance, I couldn't tell, but... the highest point seemed to be so high that I had to tilt my head way back to look at the sky... ...Not sure, but.
What the hell? Is it a structure? A tower... no?
Something taller than a mountain was scary, and somehow uneasy, so I tried to turn away from there...
"Eh, eh?"
T-that also moved! And... it's coming this way?!
No no, it's not coming towards me, looking at the shape of the waves, it seems like the direction I came from. That is, towards the cliff. But, but it looks extremely far, ignoring perspective, yet the speed of movement is visible!
At that moment, from the something that was only visible in shadow, a shadow retreated, and its form was revealed.
"A turtle...?"
Eh... so, not a sea turtle, but one that looked like a land turtle.
The shell was just a normal turtle's, but... the size of the shell, what... seemed to be carrying a mountain. The front and back legs were thick and large like a pestle for pounding rice, the head was stretched out high into the sky, not the small head of a normal land turtle, but like the World Tree that grows to the universe.
And black pearl-like completely black and transparent eyes.
The moment I saw the eyes, my body trembled with a mental shock as if lightning had pierced through.
Swallowed hard.
The shock disappeared quickly, and somehow I didn't feel like looking at those eyes again, so I looked at the turtle again.
"......"
That, isn't it... not snow-capped?
In the middle of the turtle's shell like a mountain, there was white piled up, and no matter how I looked, it was snow-capped.
My mind was getting weird. A turtle carrying a snow-capped shell? The depth was normal 10m, but for this turtle, it looked no different from a pool after rain.
...The waves and vibrations I had felt as strange were caused by the movement of this super giant turtle!!
How is the length of those hammer-shaped legs? No, not a hammer, it's like a building! Super high-rise buildings! Hundreds of floors! And the thickness of four of them combined!
Since the surface height was roughly oscillating 10-15m, so there was a rough comparison length, the analysis ability quickly measured the size of this super giant turtle, and the estimated length came out to 36km with shell height 31km.
The moment the Imugi aberrant becomes a minnow.
I was standing there blankly like a mountain was moving, staring at the turtle, when suddenly I thought the turtle was looking at me.
I tilted my head as much as possible to look at the turtle's black pupils.
There was no dizzying shock like before. And there was no feeling of threat or curiosity, it just seemed to be staring at me, the existence called "I", quietly.
I was amazed by that majestic appearance...
The voice of the Supergiant Turtle echoed in my mind.
"Human."
"Please do not hate them."
"I will do so."
The turtle moved smoothly without sound or vibration, passing me and going away.
I kept looking at the turtle until it passed, but since it had no iris and I couldn't tell the direction it was looking, strangely I felt it was still looking at me.
It was embarrassing.
T-this aberrant?
It's an aberrant, and it found me but left me alone? And it even spoke to me?
No, an aberrant that speaks? Suddenly, Franc, who was English and understood my words, came to mind. Was it similar? Telepathy?
But why "do not hate them"? Who? Why?
With various thoughts coming to mind and confusion, the super giant turtle left as intensely as its appearance, leaving behind only the curved waves, and disappeared into the fog.
"......If you're going, I hope you punish that bastard Imugi and don't let it chase me."
I muttered unconsciously, wondering why I said that, but since it was weird, a laugh leaked out...
"I will do so."
Ugh?!
Eh, eh eh. I-is it really talking to me? Even if I can't, hundreds of km? Thousands of km away, and I heard it muttering to itself?
The tip of the super giant turtle moving smoothly with a much smaller figure appeared. However, the super giant turtle that completely hid its figure in the slowly approaching fog...
I don't know how to express this.
But one thing was certain.
A strange feeling made my heart tingle.
That bastard Imugi...
Shit.
After the super giant turtle hid its figure in the fog, another gust of wind came, and when the wind subsided, the rain had completely stopped, and the thick fog and dark clouds had all hidden their figures.
A slightly tilted half-moon and countless stars appeared, illuminating the surface.
"......"
I looked up at the starry night sky and had nothing to say.
What the hell was that just now... ? Huh? But it's 6 PM, why is the moon already up there? If it's at that position, it's around 1 AM?
Curious, I checked the time with detection analysis, and it showed 6:20 PM. The time it took to meet the turtle was only 20 minutes. But the moon was in the middle of the night sky?
Suddenly, the super giant turtle that appeared with fog came to mind.
"......Time distortion?"
When I tilted my head at the incomprehensible situation, a faint sound of lightning striking from very far away came to my ears. Not once or twice, but dozens or hundreds of times, the sound of air tearing with "zzzaa..." came non-stop.
Was the bastard Imugi following? I looked around, but... nothing was visible.
Kuu...uu...uu... uuu...
Right after, a vibration similar to a huge bell ringing slightly shook my chest, and the surface started to undulate a bit higher.
Somehow, the image of the Imugi stepped on by the pillar-like front leg appeared before my eyes.
"......Bastard Imugi, you're screwed."
But somehow I didn't think the Imugi had died. The super giant turtle probably punished it as I said.
Yeah, rather, that was better.
This grudge, I would have to return it with interest a hundred times over since I was the one who suffered!