Chapter 274: 44th Floor: The Deep Sea
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 274: 44th Floor: The Deep Sea
Thud! Thud! Thud!
I propelled myself forward, stomping on the foothold panels with enough force to send massive shockwaves through the water.
“[Good! You're descending! 12 km. Keep it up, Do-hee!]”
“I'll show you that ghosts can't beat robots.”
“[You're not a robot.]”
“Shh.”
Once every six seconds, I tensed my thighs and—wham!
I cut through the water, undulating like a fish.
And again, I tensed my thighs and—wham!
I descended endlessly into the dark deep sea.
A space where no light penetrated, where nothing could be seen.
I moved forward, instinctively sensing the direction of gravity.
Here, where only an endless expanse of water churned, I began a battle with an unseen foe.
“[Go beat that stupid ghost! Aaaahhh!]”
Spurred on by the cowardly Ludger's cheers, I descended faster, more powerfully.
I could feel my body starting to accelerate.
The effects of Acceleration kicked in, and my body, already swift with Strength and Agility stats of two and three thousand, accelerated even more.
“[20 km. Good! Can you maintain this pace?]”
“Yes, Captain! I'm about to get even faster.”
Whoosh!! Whoosh!
Momentum is determined by mass and velocity.
My velocity, in particular, was increasing like crazy as I descended beneath the unknown surface.
Endlessly… I descended ceaselessly, bravely parting the silent, vast, and lightless sea of darkness.
It was then that something strange began to happen.
I could now feel the movement of the water.
Something… something was pushing me up!
‘So it's finally showing its hand!’
Deep underwater, one’s senses grow dim.
An obscured field of vision. The presence of buoyancy.
Even when staying still, it’s hard to tell if I’m floating, rising, or falling.
But moving this fast, I could feel it. It felt as if the entire ocean was rising, desperately trying to expel me.
‘The sea itself is moving… No wonder I didn't notice.’
It was like how humans don't perceive the massive forces of the sun's gravity or the Earth's rotation when they are sustained by inertia.
It had orchestrated the entire sea to prevent me from feeling anything amiss, moving the planet itself to stop me.
Now I could feel it.
A gaze watching me.
The source of an immense power could be felt from everywhere in this sea, from all around me.
I couldn't be certain yet, but the presence of a great transcendent being could now be ‘felt.’
‘You're getting desperate, aren't you?’
A movement that seemed almost panicked.
In response to my speed, which wasn't just a moderate descent but a rapid plunge like riding a torrent, it had begun to use its true power.
‘Right… I think I'm starting to understand.’
*
Last night.
I'd had a discussion with the viewers, trying to piece together the enemy's identity like a puzzle with the clues we had.
“Alright, here are the conditions. It's not a living creature, it has the form of a monster, and it has clear hostile intent towards us. Our objective is to mine a mineral called 'Jiro.' Who is the enemy? Guess the answer!”
- ??
- How would we know
- A mystery of the universe
- What's Jiro
- Jiro? You mean premature ejaculation?
- Heu-eung, endless sex with a premature ejaculator's cock...
- Ludger looked like he was packing, though
Most of the comments were just weird, but there were some who made logical deductions.
[Observer has donated 10,000 won]
The key is what the unknown monster did. It ran away when you came flying in like a crazy bitch on your pussy rocket. That means it's intelligent.
“Intelligent, you say... How can an intelligent being, a highly intelligent one at that, exist on a planet with no life?”
- Hmm…
- A pussy rocket is something worth running from
- If you see that and don't run, you're not a living thing for real lol
- Aliens?
- Something like the Cthulhu Mythos?
- Aliens seem most logical. Aliens that live on water.
- I don't know?
[Observer has donated 10,000 won]
You need to study up on Jiro again.
“Jiro...? I heard some talk about it being a life stone or something, but I don't know the details.”
‘Who is this person? Something's off about them.’
It felt a little different from a quack, charlatan, sex-offender scholar like Dotamuk.
It was like they were saying, 'I know everything, but I can't tell you directly, so figure it out yourself.'
Jiro.
When I saw it in my past life, it was used as a substitute for an ultra-high-output magic stone.
I had seen it used as an emergency engine for a space battleship several kilometers long.
But it was an incredibly rare mineral, and I had never touched it myself.
- Heh heh, you don't know that? (I don't know either)
- Why isn't it on the internet
- When I search Jiro, some weird old space game is all that comes up
- Ah, that game where you fuck aliens lol
- A space game? I just get a utility bill payment site.
“Hmm… what is it?”
As I spent several dozen minutes pondering and spouting nonsense, he must have gotten frustrated, because he just gave me the answer.
[Observer has donated 10,000 won]
Sigh, how are you climbing the Tower when you don't even know that? Jiro's other name is Soul Stone. Any civilization that uses it for a warship engine is idiotic; it's the only mineral to have reached the realm of the gods. Just 1g can grant self-awareness to an AI machine or give birth to life from the inanimate.
“Huh...? How do you know that?”
‘Come to think of it... wasn't the title of the mining operation plan 'In Search of Jiro, the Origin of Life'...? I just skipped over it, but I think something like that was at the beginning?’
- Is it information secretly gathered by a Giant Guild?
- What the, how do you really know
- ???
- Why does that exist
- Haven't you read too much sci-fi?
I got suspicious and secretly did a background check on his ID later, but he didn't seem like a weird person.
However, he had never typed in the general chat, only sent donation messages.
So I looked at the donation messages he had sent before...
They were all just sexual harassment, filled with incredibly lewd words that I can't even repeat.
‘Tsk… Is he just a pervert who likes to act smart?’
I was a little confused.
*
That's what I thought yesterday, but things look a little different now.
It's not certain yet, but what if a massive amount of this mineral, which can create miracles with just 1g, was buried here?
It wouldn't be strange at all if something... something huge had been born.
‘But for now, it's just water. Is it hiding its identity somewhere?’
“[Alright, Do-hee. You've passed 50 km. Misailris performance is the real deal!]”
“[Just like a company that says 'fuck ethics' and prioritizes performance. I love it!]”
“Yes, this is the technological prowess of Misailris. Don't forget to leave a 5-star rating when this is over!”
I could feel gazes full of anger from all around.
It was the anger of instinctual resistance, as if to say, 'How dare you! How dare you invade my space!'
But beneath it was fear.
The creature was clearly afraid of me.
It was like a kitten, fur on end, hissing and trying to be threatening.
And for good reason. My Divine Power is currently over 80,000.
Stats may look like simple numbers, but they have their own meaning.
Surpassing 100 means you've broken past human limits, opening up the potential to become what's commonly known as a Swordmaster.
Surpassing 1,000 means you're approaching the level of a transcendent being. From here, depending on one's martial path, one can attain enlightenment and become an extraordinary, transcendent human like a Grand Swordmaster, reach the Profound Realm, or become a 9th-Circle Archmage.
Surpassing 10,000 means you become a being approaching the status of a god.
This is the stage where one can perceive the existence of gods and even ascend from the human world. My Divine Power reached this level easily through freeloading, but most people on the 70th or 80th floors don't have a single stat over 10,000. If I had to name some, maybe the masters of the Giant Guilds? They might have reached that point by now, but even if they did, it would only be for one main stat.
Surpassing 100,000 means you're treated as a demigod, a being approaching true divinity.
Of course, this is all assuming one has achieved a certain harmony of mind, body, and spirit and attained enlightenment. Do-hee, who copied her stats through Lewd Power and Breeding Sex, has yet to attain the proper status for it.
Even so, when a being with demigod-level power suddenly came flapping down from the sky and dove into the water, this unidentified aquatic monster got scared shitless in advance.
And now… the resistance was gone.
‘Is it trying to lure me in and then attack? Or... has it decided to back off for now?’
I couldn't know its intentions, but it had failed to stop me.
And it had even been detected by me in return. It probably knew that, too.
‘If it's intelligent… maybe I can resolve this through dialogue? That would be for the best…’
To be honest, I could feel that I was screwed.
It was easy to descend now because it was scared of me, but… if it felt its life was threatened or something and attacked the Marine Facility... I could easily predict that some kind of overwhelming mass-based attack would be unleashed, one we couldn't block.
Besides, I still didn't know its true identity.
I don't know if it's a 100-kilometer-long super-giant sea monster, a 50,000-year-old water dragon that controls nature, the planet itself, or just the water.
But one thing was certain.
It wasn't a particularly aggressive creature.
If it were a fighter, it would have picked a huge fight with me on the first day I descended.
Didn't it even send some strange creature, maybe a subordinate, during the first run?
Until just a moment ago, it was only using strange tricks to stop me from coming, without revealing itself.
I could tell it was a pretty passive and gentle creature.
‘But should I tell them this?’
Honestly… this was all just my speculation.
And it was speculation I could only make because I had seen the first run.
“[Do-hee, you're almost at 60 km.]”
“Yes, the resistance is gone, so I'll keep going down. But… is this really okay?”
“[Hm? All of a sudden?]”
“[What is?]”
“...Never mind.”
I should go back up and carefully explain my theory.
*
A short while later.
My head hit something soft, yet hard.
Thump.
"Oh. Arrived, Captain."
Since I couldn't see anything, the hard floor told me I had reached the bottom of the sea.
“[Depth: 89.5 km. Congratulations. You made it safely? Any problems with your gear or your body?]”
“My body feels a little compressed, Captain. I can still move.”
Answering, I rotated my body and landed both feet on the ground.
Then, I used the divine magic [Light] to illuminate my surroundings.
In the deep, dark sea, a single bright light lit up the area.
And finally, the seafloor world was revealed…
Contrary to my ominous premonitions, there was nothing there.
The bottom was like sand or cement powder, but it had been compacted by the ultra-high pressure, giving it a strange texture that was both squishy and hard.
The water also felt slightly warmer and heavier. It was as if it had some kind of… viscosity?
‘Is this that 'supercritical fluid' thing? Or just compressed water?’
Around the 10 km mark, the water had become almost ice-cold, but then its temperature had gradually risen. It definitely felt like it was over 100 degrees, but the water wasn't boiling, remaining in a heavy, viscous state.
"This is strange… There's nothing here. Should I head back up?"
I'd pushed myself a little, and my limbs were quite sore.
“[Alright, good work. We'll observe the strange phenomena with our precision instruments, so come on up for now. Oh, and grab a soil sample for geological analysis.]”
“Yes, Captain. I'll ascend slowly.”
I changed my weapon into the shape of a shovel and scooped up the ground.
It was very tightly compressed, but I was able to dig it up by stomping on it with my foot.
For now, the first exploration objective was complete.
Hugging the chunk of rock, I jumped high off the ground.
The moment I ascended, a strong upward current formed and pushed me along.
‘Yeah, yeah, I'm leaving.’
The creature's unpleasant, angry gaze changed slightly.
It felt like it was chasing me out, saying, 'Get lost! And don't come back!'
I still couldn't tell where the feeling was coming from.
From all around.
From everywhere.
It was watching me.
‘What a visual rapist!’
This feeling of the water touching my ass must be my imagination, right?
*
After being sexually harassed (?) by the water, I quickly arrived back at the facility.
I got lost on the way, but the unidentified monster kindly guided me here.
‘Is it actually a nice guy? No, it must have gotten nicer.’
I still couldn't forget the sight of our crew members dying brutally during the first run. It was definitely scared of me now.
"You worked hard. Rest up today. Tomorrow, we'll start by investigating the strange phenomena, so if you have any hunches, feel free to speak up. The person who experienced it firsthand would know best."
At Rodmill's words, I explained the theory that my viewers and I had come up with over dinner.
I explained the special properties of the mineral 'Jiro' and the shady, unidentified pervert creature that kept visually raping me.
"Aw, come on, isn't it just a ghost?"
"What ghost... People just get mental problems when they go into the deep sea. There's no way a monster like that exists."
Ludger and Mickey dismissed it as nonsense, but...
"That makes sense. The survey estimated the Jiro deposits to be around 100kg. That's planetary-scale energy. It's entirely possible."
"For real? A ghost can be created?"
"Haven't you read too many novels?"
"Right, no, you guys... you haven't even read the first page of the mining plan, have you...? It's only six pages long..."
Rodmill stared at the other crew members in disbelief.
"Ahem... I'm the pilot, so..."
"I-I'm the equipment engineer, so..."
‘That bastard Mickey, he gave it to me without even reading it himself? Then again, I didn't read the other parts either...’
Isn't it standard procedure to skip the boring, pedantic parts about the mining objective and technical details?
In any case, thanks to the wise and knowledgeable Rodmill, we were scheduled to deploy a large number of exploration instruments tomorrow.
*
And so, another refreshing morning arrived.
We were scheduled to stop by the spaceship to pick up our exploration gear, but...
“[Hand over the money and the broads quietly!!! Then we'll spare your lives, khahahahahaha!!!!]”
Our spaceship had been hijacked by space pirates.
Fergus's face was black and blue as he begged for his life, while pirates with various cybernetic modifications cackled and postured in front of the screen.
‘Ah, fuck, what is this bullshit unfair targeting now?’