26 – Fish
It feels like a whole day has passed since Cael practically healed his wounds and went off to find supplies.
Right now, I’m being carried to somewhere he found. I barely have the strength to say anything, just coughing from time to time because of my dry throat.
— Cof… I’m dying…
— Can you stop being dramatic? We're here. — he says, setting me down on the ground. — Drink a little; you'll feel better.
Looking around the place Cael brought me to, I see an underground lake with crystal-clear water.
— Water!
Even with my body aching, I struggle to gather the liquid with my hands and drink it. Slowly, I begin to feel revitalized, which reminds me that I haven’t eaten in days either.
— Take it slowly, this water isn’t going anywhere. — Cael says, looking at me as he sighs.
— You're just saying that… Gulp… Because you drank the water before I did!
— …Anyway, I think there's something inside that lake.
Only after a few sips does my body give out from the pain, and I lie back down, breathing deeply.
— Something inside the lake? Are you sure it's not a monster? — I ask, a little apprehensive.
— Maybe? But if there are fish here, we’ll have food for a while… — he replies as he walks slowly above the water.
I don’t remember what the hero’s magic was like, since he simply stopped checking his panel right at the beginning of the story, but I know it’s quite versatile.
— Meanwhile, my magics are all weird…
Thinking about that, I turn toward the direction the hero is walking and see a light coming from inside the water. It isn’t very big, but since we’re in a completely dark place, it stands out easily.
— Cael! I think this is really a monster! — I exclaim to the protagonist.
— How can you be so sure? — he asks, clearly doubtful.
— Because the other monsters would have been drawn to that light and would have already snatched it up… if there weren’t anything there.
— You’re right… But then, what are we going to do?
As I watch the light, I try to remember if there was any monster that glowed like that.
— Was there something like that in the story? A monster that glowed… Ah, I remember!
Although I don’t know if that monster glowed, I’m sure there was a monster that looked like a giant fish. The protagonist fished it out using the meat of another monster in the story, but right now we don’t have anything we can use.
— That monster must be a huge fish… — As I start explaining about the monster to Cael, my stomach begins to growl with hunger. — Want to try catching it?
— …Isn’t that dangerous?
— It’s dangerous to starve to death! Or do you want to try finding another monster that might be edible in this end of the world!?
— …All right, let’s catch this fish.
Cael returns to my side and pushes me away from the lake, probably so I won’t get caught if a battle breaks out.
— I’ll be giving you moral support!
— Haa… Sure…
In Cael’s hand, a considerable amount of water from the lake condenses, shaping itself into a crystalline, transparent sword, with a faint magical glow enveloping the blade.
Since it’s a sword created from nothing, its attack power isn’t high, but this is the only option left.
If this were the story, he’d be wielding his steel sword, forged by a blacksmith from the kingdom over several months, before it broke, but now Cael has lost it on the very first day.
— Where can we get him a new weapon… — I think, watching the protagonist.
As he approaches the center of the lake, I see the light begin to shift slightly, probably sensing that someone was above it.
— What’s he going to do? — I try to guess. — Is he going to attack right away? But would this attack even reach that fish?
At that moment, Cael dips the tip of his sword into the water, causing it to ripple slightly as the blade begins to glow.
— Attracting one light with another light… It might work, — I think, watching the still-calm lake.
But then something happens.
Waves spread across the lake from the spot where the sword touches the water, as if something were rising from the lake’s depths.
The small light at the center of the water grows larger and larger, accompanied by a huge shadow following it.
Without a second thought, Cael drops the sword and jumps aside, completely alarmed.
Suddenly, the lake’s surface explodes in a violent gush. Something emerges from the depths with a wet, heavy sound, swallowing the sword whole.
Its body is elongated and grotesque, with large, sharp teeth and covered in translucent scales that reflect the sword’s light.
Where its eyes should be, there are no pupils, only dark stones, opaque as coal.
And, in the center of its forehead, a single sphere glows intensely, connected to an antenna that swings like a whip.
— This fish is really ugly… — I mutter, looking at the grotesque appearance of the creature that could kill me in seconds.
While carefully observing the fish, Cael creates another magic sword, preparing to fight the creature.
As soon as the fish looks in the protagonist’s direction, its antenna lashes out violently, slicing through the air toward Cael.
I can barely see the fish’s movements, only sensing that this strike could easily kill us, but our protagonist manages to narrowly escape.
— As expected of the hero… Your reaction speed is very high.
Cael slides a few steps backward, keeping his distance while continuing to dodge the lashing strikes, not daring to advance.
His eyes are focused on analyzing the creature’s movements.
— If we keep this up, that fish will end up returning to the depths… — I think, but I don’t know how to actually help.
The monster emerges even further from the water, the lake’s surface bubbling around it, rippling as the creature moves.
In that instant, the fish’s strike simply vanishes from my view. It’s so fast I can’t even see it.
I don’t know how Cael managed to react to that, but his sword bursts back into water, while his arm is bleeding.
Probably realizing he couldn’t just stand there dodging, the protagonist starts running around the fish, carefully keeping his distance. His steps across the water’s surface are agile, but purely defensive.
— …Are you okay!? — I exclaim, finally understanding what happened. — Is there any way to defeat this…
Since there aren’t many options, the best approach would be to go with a plan that makes sense.
The more I analyze this monstrous fish, the more it reminds me of a lanternfish, but a much more grotesque version, seeming to rely entirely on vibrations and that luminous whip.
— Cael! Can you jump over it!?
— …Now?! What if I get hit! — he replies, without slowing down for even a second.
— I’m trying to find its weak spot!
A brief silence falls, broken only by the sound of the water and the creature’s erratic attacks.
— …Ok, I’ll try!
Taking advantage of the momentum from a dodge, Cael tenses his leg muscles and jumps. He performs an acrobatic leap, spinning in the air as he gains enough height to pass over the monster.
If he kept this up, he’d be able to reach the fish’s blind spot.
But this monster is smarter than I expected.
The creature watches Cael’s jump closely, and before he can react in midair, its massive tail hits him squarely.
BAM!
— Ugh?! AAHH!
The impact throws Cael violently, causing his body to spin uncontrollably before crashing into the surface of the lake with a muffled thud.
WHUMP!
— Eh? Ah! Cael, are you alive!? — I exclaim, trying to lean on some debris, but my spine protests immediately, sending waves of throbbing pain through me that make me break out in a cold sweat and give up on moving.
The silence that follows is agonizing, broken only by the sound of waves lapping against the shore.
A few seconds pass, making me fear the worst, until Cael surfaces.
He’s gasping for breath, struggling to keep his body above water. His clothes, now soaked and heavy, are stained red with blood trickling down them, and I can see his shoulders shaking, though it’s hard to tell if it’s from the cold of the lake or the pain of the impact.
— Ufa, he’s alive… — I murmur with relief, but then I turn my thoughts back to the fish, which is slowly swaying its antenna, probably wondering whether to attack or not. — ...Maybe there’s a way.
After a brief moment, the fish seems to decide to attack and swims toward Cael. The protagonist, seeing this, starts running and backing away, struggling because of his injured body.
— It sure would be nice if this protagonist could awaken some otherworldly power right now, right? It would make my life easier… — I mutter, dragging myself with great effort to the edge of the lake. — Cael, give me your sword!
— Why do you want it!? — he asks as he struggles desperately to get away.
— Actually, even a little ball will do, just something created with your magic!
Still unsure, Cael decides to follow my plan and throws a small ball formed from his sword.
If it hadn’t been for the fact that it was coming straight at me, I probably would have lost sight of it in the darkness.
— Right, let’s start with [Trail]… Done. — I murmur, watching the little ball. — Cael, can you throw that into that fish’s mouth?
Glancing briefly at the enormous fish with its mouth wide open behind him, the protagonist makes the water ball return to his hand, as if something were pulling it back toward him, and then throws it into the monster’s mouth.
— Done… Now what!? — he says, nearly at his limit.
— On three, you jump on top of the fish and cut off its antenna! — I exclaim, preparing myself with the magics [Connection] and [Remembrance].
I’ve used these magics a lot to transmit images I see and sounds I hear, creating an illusion that works only through my senses, but I’m starting to think I was wrong.
In fact, [Remembrance] can record what my brain perceives, but since it was at a very low level before, only the most notable things were recorded.
So, the plan is simple now.
— One!
— Wai-
— Two!
— Expla-
— Three!
— Ok!
Finishing the count, I stretch my back with everything I have while activating the [Remembrance] magic, causing me immense pain that makes me dizzy and causes me to fall to the ground, unable to move or scream from the pain.
— I think… I pierced… Some organs. — I think briefly as I cast the magic [Connection] directly along the path created by [Trail].
With my eyes half-open, I watch Cael in the air as the fish writhes in agonizing pain. Without wasting any time, the protagonist cuts off not only its antenna but also pierces one of its eyes.
Feeling all this pain and with its senses, probably, sounding the alarm, the fish decides to return to the bottom of the lake as quickly as possible.
The only problem is that, having chosen to attack Cael earlier, it ended up in a very shallow corner and now needs to turn its entire body to retreat.
That brief moment was an opening that Cael took full advantage of. Dropping his sword into the water, he controlled it along with the lake’s water, creating a huge wave.
A wave would be nothing to a fish if it were facing it head-on, but, with the fish turned sideways, it had no choice but to be swept away.
After that, I can no longer keep my eyes open and decide to rest, just listening to a fish thrashing about and the sound of footsteps on the water coming toward me.
— …Good night. — I hear, before the sound of something falling on top of me.
— …That hurts! And you’re getting me wet!
With that last jolt of pain, I pass out too.
[To be continued…]
[???]:
— …Boss, what’s going on?
[ ]:
— Looks like two idiots started fighting in some corner of the universe…
[+++]:
— Eh? Really? Can I go see!?
[ ]:
— No, you still have work to do!
— I’m going to solve this and I’ll be right back.
[???]:
— If you hadn’t watched the soccer game last time, the boss might have let you go.
[+++]:
— As if I’d want to watch two idiots fight…