Chapter 478: A Step Forward
Chapter 478: A Step Forward
Damn it. I was too careless.
Only after things had gone this far did I realize just how complacent my judgment had been.
Come to think of it, it had always been this way with the previous sub-layers.
To get to a sub-layer that connects a previous layer to the next, you need a monster's penis as a key.
But to go up from a sub-layer that connects the next layer to the previous one, you don't need a key.
It meant that as long as you had the ability to defeat the fake boss in the sub-layer, that was enough.
And yet, until we discovered the ant nest, no one knew about the existence of these sub-layers.
You would think at least one person would have stumbled upon one by now.
Why was that?
The answer was simple.
The passage leading from a sub-layer to the next was hidden so well that it was impossible to find unless you knew its exact location.
When we descended to the 2nd layer through the kobold cave, the passage was buried deep under the sand, and we had to break through it.
When we descended to the 3rd layer from the ant nest, the passage was blocked by snow, and we had to melt our way up through it.
So, how would the 4th layer, a place entirely submerged in water, hide its passage?
This powerful current was the very thing hiding the passage from the ice cave to the 4th layer—a watery barrier, so to speak.
Now that I thought about it, Diana had mentioned something when we were exploring the 4th layer.
She’d warned us to be careful not to get swept away, as the currents near the floor were complex and strong.
Damn it. I heard her say that, and yet I’m only putting it all together now.
But no matter how much I regretted it, it was already too late.
Even as these thoughts raced through my mind, my body was being swept away by the current, getting farther and farther from my party.
I quickly summoned a water spirit and tried desperately to block the flow of water pushing against me, but my meager spirit power had no effect against this massive current.
This might be getting seriously dangerous.
If I get separated from the girls and end up drifting away like this…
I’ll be fine.
My defense stat isn't so low that I'd die from being knocked around in a place like this, and I have my map and inventory.
Even if I were stranded alone, I could probably survive for days if all I had to do was hold out.
The problem was my girls.
The food, the camping supplies—I had everything.
Besides, they don't have a map.
Of course, we came straight down to get here, so maybe they could find their way back up without getting lost.
And they could probably get by eating the wings from the penguins they hunt.
Still, I couldn't help but worry.
As the situation worsened, I found myself becoming calmer than usual, my thoughts clearing.
No matter how I looked at it, being separated from my girls seemed inevitable.
I had to figure out a countermeasure…
That’s what I was thinking, but it seemed my girls hadn't given up yet.
Suddenly, centered on where they were, the water began to disappear from the space.
No. To be precise, air began to form, pushing the water away.
And that massive air bubble gradually expanded until it finally reached me.
Even from a distance, I could clearly see Diana's face was deathly pale.
After using so much mana in the boss fight, she was now pulling a stunt like this.
She must have been pushing herself, squeezing out every last drop of her remaining mana.
Seeing her pale face, I felt a pang of pity, but right now, it was more important to take advantage of the opportunity she had created than to feel sorry for her.
“Guwooooon!”
Sara shouted my name and started to run toward me.
No, it wasn't just Sara.
Leia was also looking back and forth between the pale Diana and me, stomping her feet and crying, unsure of what to do.
Silvia and Matilda were also shouting my name, looking ready to leap out of the passage at any moment.
“No! Don't come! Stay there! I'll come to you!”
Seeing them, I hurriedly shouted to stop them.
Diana wouldn't be able to maintain this state for long.
If her strength gave out after they left the passage, it would only increase the number of victims.
Leia had no combat ability to begin with, and while Silvia and Matilda were high-level, they didn't know how to swim.
Even Sara, the only one who would be fine if she fell into the water with me, couldn't use her characteristic agility underwater. In the long run, her chances of becoming monster food would only increase.
In other words, if the number of victims grew, the situation would only spiral into the worst possible outcome.
Having made that judgment, I stopped my girls and planted my feet on the now-dry ground, sprinting toward the passage at full speed.
Thanks to the Assassin levels I’d gained, my agility stat had risen considerably. My body shot forward like an arrow, and in an instant, I was almost at the passage…
Thump.
Just as I was about to reach it, something grabbed my ankle.
It was a seaweed-like monster that had been lying limply on the ground.
Damn it! Of all the times! This thing can move even without water?!
Panicked, I kicked at the seaweed, but as expected, attacks based on physical impact did no damage to it.
My Saint skills didn't work either. This was truly the worst possible matchup.
“Guwon! Stay still!”
But I had reliable companions.
Sara quickly nocked an arrow and fired it at the seaweed holding my foot.
With that single shot, the seaweed that hadn't budged from my attacks was torn apart.
“Cough!”
“D-Diana!”
But at the same time, blood gushed from Diana's mouth, and the area began to flood with water again.
It's okay. It's still okay. If I just hold on tight to the ground and crawl, no matter how strong the current is… As I thought that and tried to run toward the passage before it was completely submerged, a massive shadow suddenly fell over me.
It was a whale.
The whale was so enormous I couldn't even guess its size. As if drawn to the remaining pocket of air, it charged toward me with a speed that defied its massive body.
Seeing it, I instinctively knew what was about to happen.
“You all go back and get help! With my defense, I can last for days, so don't worry! I'll try to make my way back to the 4th-layer town on my own! If any of you do something stupid, saying you can't leave me behind, I swear I'll never see you again for the rest of my life, so just do as I say!”
Before the whale could crash into the air pocket, I spat out those words, pulled the male ant's penis from my inventory, and, using my Assassin skills, threw it with all my might.
Just as I saw the penis fly accurately toward my girls, the massive shadow, bringing with it an immense volume of water, crashed down on me.
The wave created by the whale ravaged my body even more violently than the previous current. Feeling the powerful impact battering my entire body, I slowly lost consciousness.
How long had I been out?
A loud, grating sound tickled my ears, and I slowly opened my eyes.
What? I shouldn't be able to hear anything on the 4th layer.
As I thought that with a groggy mind, I looked down at my body and finally understood.
A school of piranha-like fish had attached themselves to my entire body and were chewing voraciously on my equipment.
Of course. If the sound was coming from my own body, it would travel through me and be audible even underwater.
The good news, I guess, was that my gear, reinforced with materials from the 5th layer, was completely unscathed by the piranhas' attacks.
It felt like the honor of my leg armor, so easily torn by the Emperor Penguin, had finally been restored.
As I entertained that foolish thought, I activated the Saint's full power in my body, which still felt sluggish from the shock.
The piranhas began to bite me even more fiercely, but the attacks of small fry like these could never penetrate my armor or my defense stat.
Paying them no mind, I sank into thought.
What happened to my girls?
To be honest, I was deeply worried about whether they could make it back up without me.
But my final judgment must have been correct.
At the very least, having them find their way back up would be far safer than letting them recklessly jump in to save me.
It's fine. They've fought enough penguins to handle them on their own, and the path back up is just a straight line anyway.
Leia's staff can open the passage to the 3rd layer, and once they're out, the town is relatively close.
If not, they can just use the male ant's penis I threw them just before we were separated and go to the ant nest.
There are people from the Mage Association there investigating the giant magic stone.
And once they safely arrive at the mansion, my rescue is only a matter of time.
After all, our mansion is home to a whole group of mages who could be called the strongest in the world, second only to Diana.
Trying to shake off the lingering anxiety in my heart, I decided to focus on what I should do now.
Looking at the map, I saw that I had been swept quite a distance from the ice cave's exit.
Should I consider myself lucky that I didn't wake up already ensnared by a plant-type monster?
No. Before that, I was lucky to have escaped that current.
I’d heard that in places with such complex water flows, you could get sucked into a vortex and just spin in place forever.
Maybe I was able to escape because that whale crashed into me, bringing that massive wave with it.
Well, if it weren't for that damn whale in the first place, I'd be in the ice cave with my girls right now, so I'm not thanking it.
In any case, now that my body is free, I have to do something.
They say that when you're stranded alone, it's best to stay put and not move around recklessly, but that wasn't an option for me.
I'd already been swept far from the ice cave's exit.
Besides, if I went back there, I'd obviously just get swept away by the current again.
If that happened, I might really end up drifting in that complex current forever.
That's why I told my girls I would head for the town on my own.
Even now, I think that's the best option if it's possible.
There's just one problem… to be honest, I had no way of knowing exactly where the town was.
No, I do have the map I bought from the guild.
But the 4th layer is entirely filled with water.
People generally avoid the areas near the floor because of the complex currents, like the one from before.
Besides, if you wanted to, you could just swim in a straight line anywhere.
The map is a mess.
At best, it was a map on the level of something you'd use for a treasure hunt, showing the approximate distance from one point to another and drawing a few distinctive geographical features in between.
How the hell am I supposed to find the town with this?
No. Think positive. At least knowing the distance is something.
Besides, I've been to the 4th layer through the official route before.
If I zoom in on my map, estimate the distance from the 4th layer's entrance to my current location, and apply it to this map… yup, it's an uncharted area.
I just put the map back in my inventory.
Rather than trying to find the town with a piece of junk like that, it seemed far better to use my own map to find the 4th layer's entrance and escape to the 3rd layer.
Though it looked so far away that I couldn't even guess how many days it would take, even assuming I swam all day.
But it's not like I could just sit here and rot in this uncharted territory.
I brushed off the piranhas that had, at some point, died of pleasure and were now floating around me, and decided to start moving.
While traveling through the 4th layer, the thing I needed to be most careful of was, without a doubt, the plant-type monsters.
I could eventually beat any other monster by tanking their hits with my defense and continuously spamming my Saint skills, but I had no way of dealing with the plant-type ones.
Physical attacks and Saint skills were ineffective, and my Elementalist level was too low to attack with spirit magic.
The only attack that might work would be to cut them down using my Assassin skills, but the only equipment I had for that was a knife for harvesting magic stones.
In other words, it was best to just not encounter them at all.
And avoiding them wasn't difficult.
Plant-type monsters are fundamentally rooted to the ground, ceiling, or walls, so all I had to do was stay suspended in the water.
Before, I had to walk on the floor because of Silvia and Matilda, who couldn't swim, but now that I was alone, there was no need for that.
Having decided on my course of action, I began to swim slowly toward the passage to the 3rd layer, visible in the distance on my map.
A solo dungeon exploration… I wonder how well this will go.