Chapter 39: Volume 3 – Chapter 37 – Depths

It feels as though I've been asleep for a long time... How many times has it been now that I've woken up expecting to be dead? I was busy hacking up salty water while dragging my body up away from the water my feet were still in, when Licht chimed in.

Licht: "Maybe dying twice has done something to our sense of self-preservation" Licht suggested

I groaned and rolled over onto my back, as I was laying face-down on the damp and cold floor of a cave.

Iris: "Or maybe we really can't die anymore? More importantly, what happened?"

Licht: "Well, we drowned."

Iris: "Enlightening. Except we didn't drown, we almost drowned."

Licht: "Do you expect me to hold all the answers? how about taking a look around?"

After enjoying some banter with the resident in my head, I slowly sat up, my body creaking with pain and chilliness. My clothes were soaked and freezing, along with the rest of my body. The first thing that came into sight was a pool of water, and the roof of the cave slowly dipping down towards it, until going under.

Iris: "Did we emerge from this pool of water...?"

Licht: "Then we were sucked into a whirl pool underwater. Should we claim to be unfortunate, or fortunate?"

I stood up slowly and leaned against the wall of the cave, turning to face the other way. It led deeper in, a one-way tunnel. "I think we should claim to be dry and warm." I retorted, starting to use magic to dry myself off. Licht agreed, and channeling an orb of magical light, we began to walk forward. The only path to survival.

We kept walking through the cold and damp cave. Once my equipment was dry enough, I channeled a small flame and brought it close to my chest to warm my freezing body. Which soon changed from freezing to aching, the pain was unbearably distracting, but i endured and kept moving.

The cave soon came to a split, going in a few different directions. I considered my options carefully, in which i pointed down each path and counted until i reached an arbitrary stopping point. I went down the left path, which was cramped and snaked around awkwardly.

Licht: "So, iris, I am able to experience the world through your senses. I can see what you can, feel what you feel, and so forth."

Iris: "...Get to the point before I report you" I grimaced a bit. What a random comment.

Licht: "By extension, I can pick up on certain things you may not be able to. Such as the strange structure of this cave. Look there."

I understood where he wanted to focus of and looked up at the roof if the passage. It simply seemed like stone of different materials were mixed together.

Iris: "What about this spot is so interesting?"

Licht sighed in my head, increasing my annoyance, before explaining. "There's fossilized remains in the stone. Not only that, but it looks like eroded stonework too."

Hearing that, I reached out and took a closer look. The surface of the stone felt cold, and somewhat smooth from the water coating the surface of the passage, but now that I was aware of it... The surface certainly looked like stonework. And the part that stuck out... Certainly looked like a bone. An old, ancient bone.

Iris: "Is... This an ancient ruin then...?" I asked, surprised at the discovery, before continuing to walk through the narrow passage.

Licht: "That seems to be the case, however it seems long lost to ruin. The collapsed structure has become nothing more than a cramped, cold, and wet cave."

Iris: "How glum. Are you going to go on a tangent about the hopelessness of human civilization next?"

Licht: "No, actually. I was going to suggest there may be ancient treasures within this ruin, if we can find them."

Iris: "Or ancient horrors that have made this place their new home." I said, crawling out of the thin tunnel and into a wider area, with no point to carry on from. On one side of the room was a flat wall of stone.

Licht: "More than likely both, right? That's a classic for these kinds of stories"

Iris: "I wish you wouldn't curse our luck anymore with your suggestions." I retorted. Seriously, it's almost like we didn't just come close to drowning and freezing to death at the same time. But at least I was feeling a bit better from the company. I sighed and sat down against the flat wall of the room.

I decided to take a short break and take stock of my equipment.

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The shortsword I had rented was gone, seemingly lost to the current when I fell into the water. Along with that, my steam gun had also been lost. My armor remained, along with some damage from the explosion in the train car. The grappling hook was still attached to my forearm, so I could use that and my clawed gauntlet as melee weapons.

Thankfully the contents of my bag were dry. I suppose there was a waterproof magic on the bag. I still had some bread in there, and I had as much clean water as I did magic. Despite not explicitly studying any elemental combat magics, I was capable of evoking basic elements to fit my needs. For example, fire and water, two important needs for survival.

As for other supplies, I had rope, important books, the map of the GSU, and my money. All important items, I'm glad I still had my bag. I leaned back against the wall, letting out a sigh.

Iris: "Its just one unsurvivable situation after the next, isn't it? It'd be nice if I could just live peacefully and not have to worry about anything." I said, staring it the ceiling. It would be strange not to feel tired after everything I've gone through in a short span of time.

Licht: "But we still have to struggle and get stronger. Only when we're strong enough can we worry about living peacefully."

Iris: "And when will that be?"

Licht hesitated briefly before speaking matter-of-factly. "When we can fight god?"

I let out another sigh as my head fell. "We have a long road ahead of us then, is that right?" I asked, as I felt something crack behind me, and I fell backwards--

Iris: "oww..." I bumped my head, falling backwards onto the rubble of the wall that was supporting me. Suddenly, I could see much higher than the short ceiling of the antechamber I was in. Sitting up and looking around, I was now in a much larger room, like an audience hall. There were two rows of many large, tall columns extending up into the shadows.

I stood up and cautiously entered the room, passing by the closest column and into the center of the chamber. My magical light had trouble illuminating everything, but from what I could see, this felt extremely similar to a throne room, or audience chamber. On this side of the columns, I could see torn cloths hanging from poles attached to the upper parts of the columns. I could only assume they were once flags.

Iris: "What a grand chamber... It's hard to believe something like this is so far down under the mountains."

Licht: "Perhaps humanity once lived much closer to the oceans at the base of the mountains. Or perhaps these structures weren't made by man?" Licht suggested. The thought lingered in my mind unsettlingly.

More importantly, I proceeded further in, towards where the throne would be. Rubble piled in precarious places within the chamber, which I had to navigate over or around. It was then I saw it... A glint of something metal, sticking out from some rubble where the throne would be. Upon getting closer...

Iris: "Is that... An arm...? Is it a piece of armor?" I studied the metal arm sticking out from the pile of stone. It was intricately crafted, with malleable material on the joint, and strong armor along the arm. The hand had long, claw-like fingers with razor-sharp edged. Despite the age of everything else, this alone looked almost pristine, if not for the scuff marks and dust.

Licht: ".....Well, waste not want not. Take it." Licht suggested, or maybe close to demanded, after some time of me inspecting it. I figured there was no reason to refuse, and so grabbed the fore arm, pulling it off-

Except, the entire arm came with. I grimaced and looked at the gauntlet, only to see- "Wait... This armor, it's an arm in and of itself?"

At the elbow extending to the upper arm, was a circular ring of metal, and inside was something of a socket, like a prosthetic arm. I looked down at the hole I pulled it up from, but there were no other remains. I suppose the owner long rotted away. Offering a silent and brief prayer in my head, I stuffed away the arm in my bag.

"kckckckck..." A clicking sound, accompanied by a soft scraping noise reached my ears, and I spun around to see a massive, bulky creature covered in chitin and countless black, beady eyes staring at me. Almost like the body of a crab covered in black orbs, hanging suspended by a thick, long chitinous tube extending up into the ceiling. The sight returned the cold from earlier to my bones, and I recoiled a bit in surprise. Then plates from under its body shifted and out shot several thick, slimy tentacles ending in double-layered chitinous blades. In an instant I activated my primal enhancement and evaded as many tentacles as I could, deploying my grapple-sickle and parrying the ones I couldn't outright dodge.

I leapt backwards to put some distance between myself and the creature. There's only one thing it could be... A Deep One. To encounter a horror like this while underequipped... What a stroke of misfortune.

Iris: "I blame you."

Licht: "Me? What did-"

Unfortunately we had no time for banter, as the creature shot its tentacles out at me once more. I lunged sideways, parrying the ones that tracked me and slashing out at the exposed flesh, only- "It didn't cut?!" My blade simply slipped over the fleshy tentacle instead of cutting through.

The tentacle whipped back past me, the blade at the end gouging into my side armor, easily slicing through it. I regained my posture as I stared down the creature. I remembered another item in my bag... The pile bunkers. If I couldn't sever the tentacles, my weapons likely couldn't pierce its chitin either. But the pile bunker may have the force... I released my sickle and let it retract into its compartment. Then, I reached into my bag and took hold of a pile bunker. It was a fairly sizeable contraption, while still remaining portable.

Then, as another flurry of bladed tubes were flung at me, I lunged forward between them, breaking into a sprint. The unexpected maneuver threw the monster off guard and I leapt up as it reared backwards, attempting to put distance between us. Yet, I grabbed onto the edge of it's shell and heaved myself onto it.

As it gave a furious and shrill shriek, I primed the pile bunker by pulling a pin and slammed it into the shell of the monster. It attempted to swing it's large body around in vain, as the anchor bolts dug into the shell and- "Tick Tick Tick Tick Tick... BANG!" The pile bunker detonated, gunsmoke flying out as the spike dug into the beast's shell, a shrill cry escaping from it as the thrashing stopped.

I slowly stood, coughing against the plume of smoke from the detonation, waving it away. As it began to clear, I saw the remains of the pile bunker, and black scorch marks radiating out in a cross pattern across the shell.

Iris: "Is it...?" I muttered with trepidation. If only I learned from Licht's mistakes. As my next sight was my left arm flying away from me, and a bladed tentacle passing through where my arm was supposed to be.