Wizard of the Deep Sea

TL/ED – Miso

-Clack.

It was the first time I had ever confirmed something with my naked eyes in the Deep Sea.

In truth, seeing was impossible. Under normal circumstances, there were no light sources whatsoever, so no image could form on the cornea. Most of the time, I could only perceive things by using Current Sense, or occasionally make out faint shapes by the glow of passing Anglerfish.

So if I couldn’t use Current Sense, I couldn’t see a thing.

That was exactly the situation I was in now.

“…”

I could definitely feel something swimming ahead of me.

But my Current Sense, which served as my eyes, detected nothing.

It told me there was only empty Deep Sea before me, but… -Clack.

The sound of sharp pincers clashing together and reverberating through the ocean told me that my most powerful ability had been sealed.

‘So it’s coming at me like this from the start.’

I had somewhat anticipated this, given that my blood was used as a medium to summon it, but it seemed to have no intention whatsoever of descending to a level where my Current Sense could detect it, the way it did during feeding.

Current Sense was of little use in the Deep Sea for this purpose, but I conjured a faint light above the back of my hand to at least identify my enemy with my own eyes.

I could see the pincers.

“!”

-CRACK!

My head, thankfully, didn’t burst. Only because I jerked my body out of the way just in time.

Silently aghast, I hurled the Flapjack Octopus into the surrounding water, then poured every ounce of strength into forming a Spear of Water Pressure.

But I was far too late. The creature’s weapon wasn’t just its pincers.

“What…!”

The instant I dodged the attack, as if it had anticipated that, legs thick as steel encircled and seized me.

They began crushing my entire body with tremendous force, like some kind of industrial press. My Water Barrier existed solely to block the Deep Sea itself, so it couldn’t protect me from the pressure of those legs.

Through the sensation of my bones being ground to dust and a mind going blank white, the one thing I barely managed to dredge up was a feeling of relief.

‘…At least it’s my body taking the hit, not something worse.’

If my Water Barrier had been compromised, that would have been an instant game over. Feeling a wave of dizziness, I struck the joint of the incoming pincer with my Spear, putting everything I had into the blow.

-Grrrrrk…!

“Tch.”

As expected, it didn’t work. This was a shell that had withstood even that whale’s Water Pressure. No matter how sharp I made it, a blade forged from my Water Pressure was never going to cut through it.

All it did was scrape off a bit of shell dust. The pincers were perfectly fine.

But Ji-eo reacted violently.

[??]

As if it had seen a snake, it hissed and immediately flung me away, then began clacking and shaking its pincers.

[…????]

-Clack, clack.

After bumping them together a few times, it tilted its head almost like a person.

As if it couldn’t comprehend what had just happened to it.

“First time experiencing that, huh?”

I forced the corners of my mouth upward and scraped my Spears of Water Pressure across its exoskeleton, letting it get a good look.

[!]

Each time I did, it slowly retreated backward.

It had never seen a Deep Sea Creature that attacked using sharpened Water Pressure like me, so it was showing a degree of wariness.

Yes, a degree.

‘How long until it figures it out…’

The current situation was nothing more than a brief opening born of ignorance.

It was like a bear hunting a beehive for the first time, recoiling in surprise after being stung, not because it hurt, but because something had pierced its hide and the sensation startled it.

Within mere minutes, the bear would realize what its hide was for. Maybe it wouldn’t even need a full minute.

Leaving my pounding heart as it was, I stole a glance to the side.

[…Gkk, gurgle…]

The Flapjack Octopus I had tossed nearby was swelling up.

Very slowly, but unmistakably.

Fortunately, Ji-eo paid it no attention at all. That, too, was only natural. What kind of apex predator would fear something as small and cute as that little octopus?

I had to buy time until that Flapjack Octopus finished its mutation.

The standoff continued for a while. Ji-eo circled around me, constantly probing against my Spears, and each time, I kept grinding away at its exoskeleton.

-Scrrrch.

[…]

Ji-eo never rushed in recklessly.

It would slowly close the distance, and the moment I checked it with a Spear, it would instantly leap backward.

‘…What’s going on?’

Tilting my head at how much more cautious it was compared to when it hunted the whale, I continued the exchange.

If it was going to play it this way, that suited me just fine. I was even starting to feel a trace of relief watching it back off, when…

-Clack!

The creature, which had been biding its time despite its wounds, suddenly clenched the empty water in a powerful grip.

Right on the exact surface where the Water Pressure was being projected.

“Wha…”

I watched my Spear of Water Pressure dissolve, utterly unable to close my mouth.

Of course, I had never underestimated Ji-eo. After watching it hunt that whale, I had been as vigilant as I possibly could. Underestimating it would have been foolish.

But even accounting for all of that, this was beyond comprehension.

‘Did it… pinpoint it?’

The thought crossed my mind in an instant.

The Spear of Water Pressure, which projected pressure through an extremely narrow surface to create a blade that could slice through steel in a brief moment.

But no matter how sharp a famed sword might be, it was meaningless if it couldn’t pierce the opponent.

In this domain, my ability was unrivaled.

The enemy’s eyes, throat, any vital point at all.

I could manifest a blade there instantly, without any warning. As long as I could see.

Yes, without any warning.

I gritted my teeth once more and tried to carve into its body from every direction, top, bottom, left, right.

-Clack, clack-clack!

“That’s impossible…”

And I watched, dumbfounded, as Ji-eo moved in a flash, precisely severing the surface where the Water Pressure originated, preventing the Spears from even manifesting.

It wasn’t a fluke.

These were blades that gave no warning. They had to at least manifest.

So Ji-eo was confirming the instant a Spear began to form, then cutting off its origin with its pincers at an absurd reaction speed, forcibly expanding the surface area.

The Spear of Water Pressure could only exist when overwhelming pressure was applied through a narrow surface. If that surface widened, it was no different from an ordinary Current.

“What kind of name is Ji-eo.”

Slow Fish. It wasn’t even funny as a joke.

This creature was unquestionably the ruler of these waters.

And I was the prey.

-Clack, clack.

Our encounter hadn’t been long, but somehow, the sound of Ji-eo’s pincers seemed to express joy.

Despite bleeding, the only creature near me was Ji-eo alone.

The entire area where my blood had spread was its territory, so no one else dared approach.

How many Deep Sea Creatures had it hunted this way?

An opponent weak enough to kill outright, yet it went out of its way to analyze everything before delivering the kill, all for the sake of a perfect hunt.

The reason was singular.

‘To make the next kill easier… is that it?’

The fact that it had endured even that whale’s Water Pressure.

The reason it had done so when there was no need.

It must have been to gauge what its opponent was capable of.

To find the easiest way to hunt.

…But.

“Sorry, but what you’ve been doing isn’t hunting.”

[?]

I murmured low, backing away, regardless of whether Ji-eo understood.

“Checking how much it hurts when a deer charges, or how fast a leopard runs, that’s not hunting, it’s closer to sport. Being able to kill something on the spot but choosing to wait for next time, that’s not hunting for survival. That’s hunting for pleasure. Not that I expect you to understand the difference.”

Ji-eo, who had no idea what a deer or a leopard was, surely couldn’t have understood my analogy.

But it seemed to realize I was mocking it, because it clacked its pincers together more threateningly.

-Clack.

The pincers coiled inward. Its legs, coiled tight as if ready to spring at any moment, declared that the next instant, my head would leave my body.

A declaration that would come true.

If it were a true hunter.

“Guess you’ve gotten used to a life with no rivals. A skilled hunter should have loosed the arrow before the prey even noticed.”

-Clack.

“You played around too long.”

I deliberately needled it, stoking its rage. Its pincer swept in a horizontal arc.

-Grrrrrumble… POP!

[..??]

Until it heard something burst from the side.

Startled by the sudden rupture, Ji-eo hissed and retreated backward, finally looking at what it had been ignoring all this time.

The Flapjack Octopus, once no bigger than a fist, had swollen up like a balloon into a grotesque shape.

[Guu… guuuk…]

The writhing body was covered in shells clinging to it as if it had suffered some kind of fever. Half its tentacles were transparent, and the other half were those of an octopus. Purple liquid oozed from its mouth, and its body was literally inflated to the point that a single prick from a needle would pop it.

Taken altogether, it was horrifying. The cutest creature in the Deep Sea had transformed into its most grotesque balloon.

[…???]

Even for something that lived in these waters, Ji-eo had never seen anything like this. It clacked its pincers restlessly at the unfamiliar form and the pressure it radiated.

I wasn’t entirely sure, but what it just said was probably something along the lines of, “K-kill… me…”

The appearance was unexpected, but a sidelong glance confirmed that everything that needed to be in there was present.

‘Success.’

A Flapjack Octopus absorbs the traits of all Deep Sea Creatures to a lesser degree, which in turn meant it could endure having any trait layered onto it.

If I had to make a comparison, it was a blank canvas on which anything could be drawn.

What I had drawn on that canvas was a bomb.

“Go.”

The Thread was still connected, so the creature obeyed my command and moved.

The Flapjack Octopus painfully raised its tentacles and launched them at Ji-eo.

[!]

Perhaps because the teeth lining each tentacle were so threatening, Ji-eo nimbly dodged every single one that shot toward it.

To be honest, they were slow enough that even I could have dodged them. But their sheer number was overwhelming, so Ji-eo responded by cutting down every tentacle that flew its way.

“That won’t help.”

[Gu, gworrr… urk…]

But there were simply too many, no matter how many it severed. Clusters of tentacles drifted through the Deep Sea, and once Ji-eo realized there was no end to them, it took decisive action.

-Tap. With a light leap, the creature tore through every oncoming tentacle and aimed for the octopus’s body.

The thing’s form was as bizarre as could be, and its massive bulk blocked the path, so Ji-eo must have judged it had to be dealt with first before it could hunt me.

That it could endure whatever else might come.

Whatever kind of Water Pressure, Current, or Current Sense. That it would withstand it all. That was what it believed.

That had always been Ji-eo’s approach to hunting.

And the very reason it was not a true hunter.

“Thank you…”

I let out a sigh, paying my respects and admiration to the hunter walking right into the trap.

-Snap!

[?]

Ji-eo cocked its head slightly at how effortlessly the body split open.

And the next instant.

-Splrrsh!

[!!!]

Realizing that the inside of the body was packed with an incredibly sticky, viscous fluid and tentacles made of that same substance, it yanked its pincers out in a hurry.

The massive Flapjack Octopus was dragged along with them.

Despite its size, it was inherently light.

[Gururuk…]

It didn’t end there. The Flapjack Octopus, or rather, the Jellyfish that had been inside its belly, pressed their clusters of tentacles against Ji-eo and slowly, with every ounce of their strength, clung to its entire body.

-Clack, clack, clack! Ji-eo sliced at the Flapjack Octopus’s body so fast its pincers were a blur, but the creature clung on to the very end.

And then, gradually, my Current Sense began to open.

The Flapjack Octopus’s sticky fluid had adhered to Ji-eo’s entire body, dragging it down into my field of perception in this dark ocean.

“Now I can see you.”

Watching the clearly perceptible outline of the creature panic, I raised my hand.

The Flapjack Octopus’s belly hadn’t been filled with Deep Sea Creature Pellets alone.

What I had fed it were traits solely meant to make it swell to the point of bursting, and tough hides to ensure it didn’t actually burst, literally ingredients for a bomb and nothing more.

The true purpose lay in the Jellyfish I had placed inside.

There was only one reason I had put the Jellyfish in there.

To fight on equal footing.

“Now live up to your name.”

[…]

I swept a Current across Ji-eo, whose form had become nearly impossible to make out beneath the coating.

Its soft underbelly came into view.

The one part not encased in shell.