BXBX NOVEL Chapter 156 To Atlantis
Day 44
I was currently sitting down in front of Sunalla with Yokino to my side. We were at the riverside where she and her other friends stayed. Yokino told me that she had a way to help me. So, we explained the situation to her and were currently trying to convince her to help us.
“So, what do you say, Sunalla? Wanna help us out again?”
Yokino asked, uncharacteristically joyful.
“A-Aren’t you a bit too cheerful today?”
Sunalla seemed to be just as confused as I was. The spider was smiling and humming, swaying from side to side.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about~”
Sunalla looked very weirded out and nervously laughed, before taking on a completely different demeanor.
“Sorry, but I can’t help you out with this.”
“Oh? Why not?”
“You should know why.”
“We can help out with that problem if that’s the reason.”
“Hmm, can you breathe underwater?”
Sunalla forwarded a question to me.
‘U-Um… I d-don’-‘
<<You can>>
‘I can breathe under water.’
I told her. She looked at me skeptically, then shrugged.
“I’ve heard that you’ve grown exponentially powerful since we last met.”
I nodded my head quickly.
“Fine. You should be of some use to me then.”
‘What does she mean?’
I asked Yokino.
‘Oh, nothing much. We’ll just be escorting someone back home is all.’
‘Hmm… just an escort service? In a river?’
“Not just a river. But fine. The people back home should be able to find Minerva easily.”
‘Back home? But isn’t that your home?’
I pointed to the glistening river behind her. She looked back, then scoffed.
“That’s a nursery.”
‘A n-nursery?’
“Yes. Somewhere we keep the infants, allow them to grow before sending them off into the Mass Blue.”
‘The Mass Blue?’
“Yes. I believe, the humans call it the sea. The first fishmen called it The Mass Blue though.”
‘Right. I completely forgot that there could be a sea in this world. And fishmen, eh? You come from Atlantis or something?’
I mused about where she came from, but my joke led to me facing ten sturdy looking water spears in the face in a second. Sunalla was glaring at me, which make me gulp.
“How do you know about Atlantis?”
She growled. I felt like destroying her spears in that instant, so I did just that. By sending a little bit of mana into the air, I caused the mana to interfere with the water mana particles, causing the water spears to destabilise and then drop to the ground.
Well, I said it like that, but it actually wasn’t that easy to do. Took a few seconds, but I still managed to do it, since I was apparently very talented with magic. Sunalla looked at what I had happened, then sighed.
“I don’t know how you know Atlantis, but given how you aren’t trying to kill me, I’ll assume you are just a neutral party in this matter. Very well then. Let us make haste. I need to pick up the target soon.”
‘W-Wait. You weren’t joki-‘
“We must head out immediately.”
She said, then jumped into the water. Yokino grabbed me by the neck then walked into the water.
“This is going to be fun.”
She was humming.
‘E-Eh? What’s happening? Atlantis is real?’
“Of course, it is. Now stop being a wimp and let’s go.”
“Maawwssteewwrrr!”
Kawaii screamed out of nowhere. I was surprised by a slimy hug to the face, and me simply being dragged into water.
‘Kawaii?’
“Mawstewr! You haven’t looked for me.”
She said, while I activated my [Aquatic Form].
‘R-Right. I’ve been sort of busy.’
My mind went back to the events of the past few days. When I thought about the night before, I could feel my face turning hot.
“Where are you going?”
She asked.
‘Um… to get Minerva back.’
“I want to help.”
I was submerged under the lake. The feeling of having my body be able to breathe underwater was weird. Taking in the oxygen from the water I consumed. And holy crap, I was ugly. From the disgusting blend of gold and blue scales, to the rough face and crooked horns. My claws were now more like duckbills and beak had grown a bit bigger, but with a broken partition. If I wasn’t in my own body, I would have puked for sure.
‘What the hec- this is ugly.’
I thought to myself. Kawaii got off my face then scanned my body.
‘Why do you look ugly, master?’
‘Kuk-… a little subtlety would be appreciated.’
I told her then sighed.
‘Hmm, if you want to join, sure. From the looks of things, Sunalla might need as many powerful people as she can get.’
‘Then let’s get the others.’
‘No… You’re fine. Let’s just go, ok?’
‘Owkay!’
She clung to my back in her slimy form and I swam all the way up to Sunalla, leaving Yokino behind. After dragging me into the river, she ran off somewhere. Maybe she used me talking to Kawaii as a chance to escape? But why would she do that when she was the one dragging me here.
‘Yo. Chicken. Wait up.’
I heard her voice. When I looked back, I saw Yokino coming after me. She had changed her outfit, into a scuba swimsuit? Quite the tight fitting one, with her hair tied up, probably so she doesn’t get distracted. That led me to ask a question.
‘You can swim underwater?’
‘Well… yes. I’m an undine… part water spirit.’
‘Eh? Seriously?’
‘Yep. From the looks of it, I’ll end up a storm spirit, LOL. That’d be wild.’
‘Huh. I see.’
‘Also, what’s that blob doing on your back.’
She scowled, pointing to Kawaii. The slime hissed on my back.
‘Watch it, you spider legged fucker.’
‘Woah, woah. Try to keep it PG here, Kawaii. Where did you learn that word?’
‘From the human I ate.’
‘Ah….’
“Are you guys coming or not? The portal will close up very soon.”
Sunalla called out from above. We rushed to her side, where she led us through the river.
The river was a bit big and I kept seeing new monsters. There was the good old Rainbow Raid Splurt. They are actually beautiful when they aren’t dead. Several guppies were swimming about playfully under the watchful gaze of some water nymphs. There was the occasional excen frog – brightly coloured frogs with horns. The river diners, freaky lot that wore giant fish heads. Gold dagger fish, icy eel, water serpent youngling and so on.
Almost all of them ignored us as we moved on, probably because we were with Sunalla. At the bottom of the river, there was a glowing portal. Sunalla swam through, signaling for us to follow. So I went in right after her. Next, there was all the spinning, like I was being dragged through a whirlpool.
‘Ugh. I’m going to start feeling like Levy Tackerman from Strike On Giant.’
I could hear large gushing, like waves crashing against a cliffside. I needed to clear my head in order to avoid getting sick. I had lost any control of my body in that moment. I just needed to tough it out till I popped up in the other side of this.
DING!
[You have entered a place with high pressure]
[All your stats will be lowered by 10%]
[Some of your attacks will not carry the same level of power as they do normally.]
[The unique skill [Evolver] is acting up to enable an easier movement]
[You have developed the skill [Pressure Resistance]
I opened my eyes after a system message played out in my head. My body felt heavier and it was getting a bit harder to breathe. I looked around and noticed that the others were already swimming ahead. I tried to catch up to them, but I was slower than I normally was outside of water.
‘Master, they are going ahead.’
Kawaii said on my back.
‘It’s a bit hard to catch up to them.’
‘Eh? Why?’
‘Pressure and other stuff. I’m slower now than I normally am.’
‘Is that so? In that case, I think I can help.’
She was fidgeting around on my back, but I decided to ignore her for now and try my best to catchup. By using [Flash Boost] I should have been able to catch up to them at least. However, when I activated the skill I only managed to go a short distance before my stamina reduced drastically. About a fourth of it had gone into me catching up to the others. I never had this problem before, but I guess underwater was really different.
Suddenly out of nowhere, I could feel Kawaii trembling on my back, followed by a tremendous force that propelled me forward.
‘Eh? What’s happening?’
<<The servant Kawaii is using the skill [Jet Propulsion] to move you forward so you can keep up with the others.>>
‘Eh? Won’t she get drained though?’
<<Slimes do not get tired, although in her case, if she ran out of mana she would be in trouble.>>
‘I see. Good job Kawaii.’
<<However, I would advise that you swim on your own>>
‘Why?’
<<In order to raise your all your physical stats. I estimate a dramatic increase in stats if you spend one day in this location.>>
‘How dramatic are we talking here?’
<<Normally, you should receive at least 100 stat points in addition. But with the unique skill [Evolver] I estimate at least 300>>
300?! Each individual physical stat would raise by 300 because I swam in here for one day? Of course, I would take up this opportunity.
‘K-Kawaii, thanks. But you can stop now.’
‘Hmm? Ok.’
She stopped and I kept pushing forward through the pressure. It was honestly one of the most draining experiences I had ever had. In the end, I was not able to catch up to both of them till they decided to take a break next to some cave.
‘Why are we taking a break? Not like I mind, at all.’
I asked them as I drew in close and leaned against the wall to catch my… breath? Water?
“It’s nighttime. The monsters that come out at this time are too dangerous.”
Sunalla said, breaking some of the corals then chewing them down. Yokino took a piece and ate as well, leading me to believe that this was probably not her first time going to Atlantis. She offered me a piece and so I took it with my beak, having no choice but to swallow it whole. Tasted like a pretzel actually. I didn’t like pretzels, but I had no choice but to eat it.
[You have consumed a Dix Coral]
[Your stamina has recovered and your stamina stat will go up by 10]
‘W-What? Something that recovers stamina instantly?’
I felt absolutely normal, filled with energy once again. And even my stat had actually risen up by 10 points. I looked at Yokino who kept chowing down on it like there was no tomorrow. I could more or less make the assumption that either the night was going to be long or we had a long way ahead of us tomorrow.
DAILY ACHIEVEMENTS
[Tori put 200 stat points into strength]
[Tori put 200 stat points into defense]
[Tori put 300 stat points into speed]
SKILLS
[The skill level of [Stealth] raised to [Stealth Level 8]]
[The skill level of [Aquatic Form] raised to [Aquatic Form Level 2]]
[The skill level of [Pressure Resistance has increased to [Pressure Resistance Level 3]]
[The skill level of [Low Cold Resistance] has increased to [Low Cold Resistance Level 7]]
SKILL FUSIONS
[Flash Boost] + [Hyper Mobility] + [Gallop] + [Horse Power] = [Super Speed Engine]
[Black Ursula’s Deafening Roar] + [Lion Head Roar] + [Golden Hen Screech] + [Timber Wolf King’s Howl Level 1] = [Deadly Beast Roar]
[Black Ursula’s Obsidian Claws] + [Spiky Claw] + [Chimera’s Deadly Claw Attack] = [Lethal Black Claw]
FAMILIA
[Arisu added the [Silver Back Pumas] into the Familia]
[There are currently 50 Silver Back Puma minions and 1 Silver Back Puma servant]
[Your familia has grown by a tiny bit]
[Your familia has received 50 experience points]
<A/N: Please leave a comment or review to help in getting more readers! Also join the discord here: https://discord.gg/Ew44jhbVym or message me on discord here: Rados47#5271 to get invited>