บท 602: The depths of the abyss
After everyone jumped into their own Flying Slime Fish, they started their descent. Unlike what one would see in normal oceans, even with the sun high in the sky, the water was pitch black. Not because of some coloration to it or anything like that, but because the surface was so reflective that light was mostly unable to pierce through the mirror-like layer that faced the sky. Another thing that was easily noticeable was the cold. In the raft, even when they were being protected by the bubble created by slime, everyone could feel the hot air around them, Like those annoying summer days when one would want to either stay under the AC unit or inside the fridge. Yet, as soon as they dove, everyone felt like the temperature had dropped considerably.
Inside her bubble, Hera already had all of her court out, just in case something happened, looking like an intern in a weapon shop that just got way too much work at once while carrying all the weapons. When she looked up, she could see the hundreds of slimes attached to the bottom of the raft. If it wasn't for the two monster-repellent stones that everyone attached to their waist, they might have been attacked right away. The trip continued, and Hera noticed that her map was able to tell her how deep she was. She never noticed that since it never was relevant, but it was an interesting function that she would talk with Shane and Adriel about later. Her entire court was on high alert, even if Hera was already using the diving goggles made by her friends. With them, she could see more than just the small lights that were coming from the other Flying Slime Fishes and see their actual shape since the entire party was close to each other.
Five minutes went by when they stopped, but it didn't look like they had arrived. Instead, some characters appeared in the barrier. It was the same type of writing they saw in the room before the Progress Day dungeon.
"Why did we stop?" the words appeared in a yellow light around them, showing that it was Helena's Illusory Script.
"I'm not sure. Are you seeing these words?" Shane's red writing came through.
"The ones we can't understand? Yeah, I am," Alex replied in green.
"Hera, can you ask Yarnball what's going on?" Blue's blue writing appeared in front of them. It was a bit weird. They were all casting the spells in front of the entire group, almost as if the entire party was in a drive-in.
"I can. Just give me a moment," using 100 thousand mana, she asked why they stopped and how long they would stay that way. The reply came quickly, saying that the Flying Slime Fish were compressing and it would take five minutes before they moved again. After getting that information, Hera used her purple writing to convey it to the rest of the group.
"Right, so we're just waiting?" Bonnie asked, using her white letters.
"Hang on. Isn't decompression something you only have to do when you are going up? Not when you are going down?" Adriel asked in orange.
"I don't know. Mylo, you used to dive, didn't you?" Shane asked.
"No. I used to go snorkeling. Never had any training for diving deep," Mylo replied in a soft pink color.
"Well, since we have to wait. We could have a Karaoke night to break the tension. I'll start! The seaweed is always greener…." Adriel tried to lighten the mood. It was a bit impressive how he knew the lyrics by heart, but Hera wasn't paying too much attention to that. She started talking with her court about what they could do down there and the types of skills they would have to avoid. Dao, for instance, couldn't use anything, or he would risk hitting someone else by accident.
Far away, out in the water, something noticed the bright lights coming from somewhere close to the city. It knew that this would be an opportunity to catch some easy prey. However, it also could tell that it would come soon, and that would give it an even better chance at catching them. So, for now, it would just prowl around and wait for them to either get too far away from each other or get in a more vulnerable position before making its move.
The party soon started moving again, but it didn't take long for them to stop one more time. Hera could tell that they were now 20 meters deep.
'Empress? What is wrong?' Frost asked, feeling her grip on the shaft of the glaive strengthen.
"Sorry. It's just… I don't remember the limit of depth for diving. I know that after a certain point, regular people can't withstand it."
'Well… It's not like you are a regular person, Hera,' Nimbus added. He was in his tonfa form since there wasn't much space inside the bubble.
"That's… Fair. I mean, I should be able to deal with close to double what a regular person could deal with. So we might be ok. But I know that's not the case for everyone," Hera glanced toward where she believed Bonnie was. The researcher had the lowest endurance out of everyone in the party.
"Mum, don't worry. If you want, I can buff everyone to increase their endurance for a while. Or to reduce the pain, your call."
Hera smiled and patted Daskka, "I'm glad you are feeling better about what your role is in the group. But the combination is still odd."
"I don't think so. Do you know what's scarier than a strong monster? One that can heal himself while he fights," Daskka replied with a smirk.
Hera chuckled, and soon the Flying Slime Fish started moving again. But this time, it was moving forward more than it was heading down. With the goggles, the Empress noticed a few structures in the distance that looked like a massive spine, but they looked unnatural. Not like it was actually from a creature, but as if it was an eerie natural formation. Suddenly, a display appeared in the front of the bubble showing a view of the area as if it had light. The first thing Hera noticed was that the 'spine' was just a stone structure that made an arch. Sure, it still could resemble bone, but you had actually to force yourself to notice that. The houses here were very colorful. They seemed to be made out of seashells, corals, and other materials that you would find in the ocean, but with vibrant colors, almost like a man-made coral reef. Another thing that Hera found quite unique was how the houses were actually made. They looked like the types of huts one would see in a swamp. With tall pillars that would keep the structure away from the ground, allowing people could move around underneath it without any problems.
But the most interesting part was that every house had a large pillar resembling a tree. Each of those trees had different decorations hanging from them, including things that reminded Hera of fruit. In fact, many fruits looked similar to what she saw growing on the plants in the greenhouse. Funny enough, the trees held the fruits as if they would go up to the surface when they fell. That being said, no one ever saw those fruits floating in the water. Hera quickly came up with a few theories about that. First, the slimes could catch it before the fruit reached the surface, but at the same time, there would be no reason for them to wait until it became ripe. Second, they weren't able to reach the surface. Maybe the pressure or lack of pressure of the water as it got closer to the ocean level wouldn't be enough to let it maintain its shape. Third, and this was what scared her the most. Maybe there was something here that would catch the fruit before it could reach the surface.
As they approached the city, the Flying Slime Fish moved to what looked like a port of sorts. When it came time to deactivate the barrier, a small hole appeared on the bottom, and water started filling it up. Hera knew that she was safe, but the entire situation still was scary, to say the least. Seeing the water slowly fill the barrier felt like a nightmare, and the Empress was sure she had one just like that at some point. The worst part was that she was at the bottom of the ocean. There was no way out. Her only option was to wait until the water completely covered her. She waited for another three agonizing minutes before the water finally got up to her waist, covering part of her entire armor, or what was left of it anyway. During the past months, there were parts that broke or were destroyed in dungeons, so now she only had a sleeveless chest piece with some tattered shirt under it. She was hoping for a dungeon drop to let her change her armor, but it apparently wasn't in the cards for her.
When the water reached her chest, Hera decided to speed up the process and dunked her own head in the water. As it was when she tried the choker for the first time and how she tested it before coming down, it took a lot of willpower to force herself to breathe in. She felt the water filling her mouth and lungs, and every fiber of her body was telling her this was a bad thing. However, Hera fought back. She held on and felt the liquid reaching her lungs. After waiting until she felt it was enough, the Empress breathed out, pushing the water from her body. It felt extremely weird, as if the air had turned into honey, but she could still survive despite that.
'Mum, are you ok?' Daskka asked, which made Hera smile. During this trip, she would be the only one who could still talk with someone normally.
'I am. This just feels really weird. And like you said, Nimbus. I don't feel the effects of the water pressure so much. Not right now, at least.'
'Speaking of which. Should I stay in my weapon form?' Nimbus asked.
'I think you can become humanoid. Lurize, you were really slow underwater, right?' the Empress turned to the Zweihander.
'I did. It wasn't fun. I feel like I don't have a way to help when I'm like that,' Lurize replied.
'Ok, stay in your weapon form. Everyone else, get ready to spread out. I want a perimeter around us all the time. If anything gets inside our range, we need to know,' Hera tried to focus on something that wasn't the water inside of her. She turned to the side and wrote in the water, "Is everyone ok?"
There was a delay, but eventually, the rest of the group said yes. When the barrier was finally full of water, it opened and released the passengers into the ocean. Unfortunately, this also meant that they lost the visual of the area illuminated. As they stepped out, Hera felt her body being pressed by the water pressure, but it was much weaker than she expected, and everyone seemed to move around well enough. The goggles were also working, even if they gave everything a green color.
"Can I do my thing?" Mylo wrote in his pink script that it still showed the right color through the goggles.
"Go for it," Shane replied, but Hera didn't know what they were talking about.
The fighter waved his staff, and several small petals flew out of it. They fell to the ground giving a very low glow that those near it could only see, almost like some type of bioluminescent plant. That wasn't enough to show the entire city or even a house, but it at least allowed them to see each other and see the path they were taking.
"Should we start?" Helena asked.
"Sure," Blue replied, but Hera knew the controller wasn't that excited about this. Either way, this was the fabled Abyssia, and the Empress wanted to figure out more about the place.
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