The Deep Sea City
Sweat poured from every inch of my body, without any will of my own.
The wounds stretching down my back burned my heart with heat.
A slash that wanted to tear anything to shreds.
That feeling of it slicing overhead I could not describe.
Chirick.
A red-skinned Cyclops stared straight into my eyes.
Prey before the predator.
My body froze like a tiger had roared.
The Cyclops’s claws began to move slowly but surely.
-Truth Seeker: Please!
The comment popped up before my eyes, and my body reacted on instinct. I threw myself sideways.
Zajak!
The flesh scraped over sand, blood spilled, my clothes got buried in sand, but I paid no mind and ran.
I equipped my entire body with mana and sprinted toward the submersible.
Only a few steps remained when—
Chirick.
A chilling instinct screamed.
I immediately rammed my legs into the sand and slammed to a halt.
“Ugh!”
Because I stopped too suddenly, my chin slammed into the sand floor.
But the cracked sand right in front of my nose sank the pain deep into my core.
The Cyclops’s attack.
I had no way to counter it.
‘The submersible is right in front of me…!’
Right as the Cyclops’s attack froze, I wanted to leap to the submersible, but—
My instinct screamed in panic inside my head.
Something very bad would happen the moment I reached the submersible.
The death sense rang its warning bell.
The Cyclops’s single eye seemed to see straight through every action I would take.
The Cyclops’s hand moved.
The Cyclops’s sharp claws were about to cut me—
Kkuddeuk.
A disgusting sound rang out.
The flesh was being crushed.
Not mine.
It was the Cyclops’s flesh being crushed.
Zziik. Zziijiik.
The Cyclops’s single eye tore away from its body.
I looked up along the blue tentacles that had created the scene.
A reversed head rising over the old city.
Hundreds of tentacles stretching beneath it.
An octopus.
Those tentacles easily tore and devoured the Cyclops.
Did we strain when eating shrimp?
The sight was exactly like that.
A massive gap.
The Cyclops’s claws tried to slash the octopus’s tentacles, but—
Chwack!
The severed tentacles split into two, then the cut ones split into four again.
The Cyclops was swept away and killed without proper resistance.
The octopus, satisfied with its meal, rose slowly through the barrier.
The barrier did not block exit; it simply let the octopus pass.
Even in the darkness, the octopus glowed brightly.
The sight was overwhelmingly oppressive.
The octopus swam leisurely through the deep sea.
But.
That thing.
The red-scaled snake-like creature that had gnawed the barrier swallowed the octopus lightly.
Despair spread over my whole body.
If I had to leave the deep sea, I would have to face it.
An octopus that defeated the Cyclops lightly.
A thing that chewed that octopus lightly.
Survival of the fittest.
Yes, that was exactly it.
An invisible but undeniably existing intangible pyramid.
I lay at the bottom of that pyramid.
“…Let’s not think about it.”
I knew remembering my position would bring no help, so I walked toward the submersible with my tail tucked.
I decided to think positively.
Since the Cyclops was cleared, I could enter the city.
I entered the submersible, turned off the broadcast, and prepared to spend the night.
I turned off the lights inside the submersible, took a blanket and pillow from the drawer separate from the food and water cabinet, and laid them on the cold submersible floor before lying down.
I captured the faint green light of the barrier coming through the window, then closed my eyes completely.
The day was over.
…That night, I dreamed of the Cyclops chasing me.
***
Warm sunlight streamed through the window.
Looking out the window, I saw a gathering of various species, the empire’s face.
My feet were at the empire’s height, clear ruler’s eye level.
The place where the envy of citizens equal to the imperial family gathered, the magic tower.
At the very top of here, a woman flipped through documents filled with characters.
Difficult terms mixed with every kind of political incident.
In such problems, finding a wise answer would be difficult.
“This… I think we should support it, what? They requested? This one we have to remove once.”
The tower’s owner sitting at the top sipped warm coffee and quickly disposed of the documents.
Her processing speed was truly astonishing, but she moved her hands as if it were natural.
Thus, all documents disappeared.
She brushed off her focus and leaned back in the chair.
The soft chair’s sensation naturally made her feel good.
She savored that feeling for a moment, then decided to take a personal hobby.
She imagined the word “gallery” in her head.
A simple thought.
She had only imagined the letters.
LT__div style="text-align:centerborder:3px solid #00ff88padding:15px 20pxmargin-bottom:15pxSEMI__background:linear-gradient(135deg,#1a1a1a 0%,#0f0f0f 100%)">