Chapter 423: The Drowning Mind?
Lillian clung tightly to the edges of the Leviathan’s hollow but bleeding. She clenched her jaw and gritted her teeth as she felt herself become submerged.
Water rushed up her nose, covered her eyes, and rubbed up against her skin as it clung to her limbs like a tight latex bodysuit.
By manipulating the water around her eyes, she managed to get a good look at what was going on. And what she found was the water around them rapidly becoming darker the longer the Leviathan dragged both her and the Captain deeper into the abyss of the sea.
She gripped the edges of the Leviathan’s scales, almost losing her grip. Luckily, her sword, which was still stuck in the eye of the seabeast, gave her another added spot to hold onto.
By now, the Leviathan must be feeling the pain and shock that came from the thin layer of electricity wrapped around her body and sword due to its enchantment.
However, that wouldn’t mean much, as time went on, for they were now nearing the Dysphotic Zone inside the depth of the sea—otherwise known as the ’Twilight Zone’.
If a regular human were to plummet and sink into this zone without any specialised gear, any air-filled spaces within their body—like their lungs—would be instantly crushed by the pressure.
Although Lillian was a couple of tiers above a regular human, even she would perish at this level.
She still wasn’t confident that even her Water Element could save her with her current mastery over it, and that was especially so due to the fact that she hadn’t yet adapted correctly to the gradual increase in pressure.
And that was because...
’THIS THING ISN’T SLOWING DOWN!’
The Seawater Leviathan continued to drag them deeper and deeper into the sea. With its current injuries, any smart and experienced living organism would run away and save itself.
However, from what it had analysed, the two humans clinging to its body would undoubtedly be able to catch up to it, especially when it was now losing a fatal amount of blood.
And... Because it knew that the two humans would follow after it and kill it eventually, it knew that the best case scenario was to kill it with something it had adapted to—evolved to.
The water pressure in the Twilight Zone won’t kill it, but it will definitely kill Lillian and the Captain.
Currently, Lillian was hanging on with all her might. Her mental strength was now reaching its limit.
Not only does she need to keep a hold on the Leviathan to not risk her falling off, but she also has to manipulate the water around her so that it will not rip her apart.
Such parallel thinking was beginning to become too much for her!
’And not only that... But I’m starting to lose oxygen...’
Due to her training with Marionette, she could safely say she could hold her breath up to 20 minutes—30 minutes if she was really trying. The perks of being in the 2nd Tier.
But due to the pressure weighing down on her, she was beginning to lose it quickly, suffocating even! She needed the Leviathan to stop its descent and get back up to the surface!
She took a glance back down and found the Captain to be holding up well. That was because of a Trait he had called ’Sea’s Blessing’, which not only made him stronger out at sea, but also gave him the ability to breathe underwater.
So, unlike her, he would be far more resistant to the water pressure, not only due to his trait, but also because of his experience out at sea!
’How... How do I get it to go back up to the surface of the water!?’
In the game, this gambit that the Leviathan pulled was a death sentence for the player, unless they managed to kill it fast with a set number of moves. Unfortunately, this was reality!
She couldn’t pull off something you could only do in a game!
’However... Since this is reality, you have complete freedom of choice!’
There was definitely a way out that she hadn’t noticed yet...
With the rate that they were moving, she only had a minute or so to think up something!
As the water crashed against her face, she was reminded that... She was still wearing the Mask of Deceit!
’I know what to do now...!’
The Leviathan continued to swim down towards the darkness in the sea; it was getting closer now. By entering it, the humans on its back would be swiftly killed and/or incapacitated—allowing it to devour them and regain some of its mana back!
The thought gave it some ease, distracting itself from the fact that it had lost its brother in this battle, it should’ve won. And because of that, it swam even faster, reducing the time for their destination into the Twilight Zone.
But then...
It stopped dead in its tracks.
It felt something.
A sense of unease...
At first, it tickled the back of its mind, as though requesting to be let in. But then, in a split second, the foreign feeling broke through the doors of its mind and led it.
And that was this feeling of unease that rapidly grew into a towering emotion of pure hesitation—it gripped at its large heart and took it hostage.
Why was it feeling this way?
Was this gambit truly the right move?
As thoughts like that bubbled inside its mind, the feeling only grew worse and worse... The walls of the fortress built inside its mind rapidly crumbled, and for some reason, its remaining mana was being used up at an obscene rate.
Until eventually... Its mind completely shattered.
Perhaps it should do something less taxing on its body.
Lillian, who had activated the enchantment [Fractured Resolve], watched as the Leviathan suddenly took a sharp turn towards the surface of the water.
As pleasing as this was, the act of avoiding certain death wasn’t without cost...
From every orifice on her face, blood bled out at an exceeding rate, causing her mind to reel in and spin as she felt like she was hurling. She felt tired and sick to her stomach, like she was hit with a sudden motion sickness that was 10 times worse...
Due to the monster’s obscenely powerful mental fortitude, she was hit with a powerful backlash. If it wasn’t for her Parasitic connection to the Leviathan, she wouldn’t have been able to change its point of destination...
As blood exited her mask through the gaps and holes in her mask, Lillian’s mouth opened and closed rapidly—desperate to breathe and calm herself, but was instantly met with gulps of her own blood mixed in with water.
Lillian felt the world close in, strangling her and suffocating her of oxygen.
Was she... Was she experiencing claustrophobia or some kind of intense variation of it?!
Lillian shivered, only now realising the freezing temperature that clung to her body. If she could look at her fingers, she would find that the tips had already become a deathly blue.
As Lillian continued to shiver, it only seemed to bring her pain as a migraine washed over her mind in waves, causing her to become blank and...
Blackout.
...
She had accidentally let go, drifting away from the face of the Leviathan, which accidentally knocked her away with its rapid ascent towards the surface...