ăăWas Agares intending to go out to sea to fight with such a big monster alone?Â
ăăâHey, wait a minute!â When I finally reacted, I rushed over in big strides, but Agares had already thrown himself overboard, and his entire upper body created a loud splash in the cold water. Agaresâs tail at the same time, swept across the cabinâs door, slamming it shut, blocking my way of exiting.
But my moving feet didnât stop in time, and I ended up slamming my forehead against the solid metal door with a
ăăI shook away the water droplets from my face. The moment I caught sight of the ship in the midst of the barrier created by the waves, I abruptly felt the movement of a large current coming straight behind meâI didnât even need to look back to guess that it was the tentacle that had just dragged me into the sea!
ăăâS-shit!â
ăăI cried out due to the stimulating fear and began to paddle using both arms and feet, as the rising waves immediately propelled my body forward for a short distance. I, who always had terrible swimming skills, was surprised to find myself swimming adeptly and flexibly like a pro swimmer. My legs were closely stitched together like a fishtail, and I was able to maneuver up and down against the waves with great control. I was quite sure I could swim faster than the olympic-winning swimmer of freestyle!Â
ăăOh my god⊠how did this happen?! I was deeply shocked, but there was no time for me to contemplate for a reason. At this moment, my desire to live had occupied my brain and nerves. I just moved by instinct, and the moment I was near the shipâs hull, I imitated Agaresâs effortless jump from the water and stretched out my hand to grab the closest mast.Â
ăăHowever, just when my finger touched the boat, my back was suddenly tightened by something, and an indescribable sharp pain infiltrated deeply in my bone marrows, stabbing my entire nervous system. I screamed out in anguish as my finger slipped, and my entire body was forcefully dragged down by an unknown force on my back!
ăăThe icy water suddenly drowned my body from every side, and just as my head was about to fully submerged, the oppression of death made me cry out, âAgares⊠Agares!âÂ
ăăBefore I could speak any further, my voice was cut short by the influxing seawater engulfing my mouth and nose, as my body was being dragged deeper and deeper into the water by a strange force. The suffocating feeling from drowning made me desperately shake my head, and the water pressure on my eyes made things worse. At this time, a long and black shadow charged from my right side out of nowhere, and the very long tail swung out a curve. Like a deep-water torpedo, it approached me quickly. I could only see a pair of bright, narrow pupils in the turbid sea. In nearly a blink of an eye, the familiar figure came closer to me, and the webbed claws tore through the darkness-like lightning and attacked the ghostly object on my back.
ăăAgaresâs attack was so quick and fluent that I wasnât able to see what he did to get rid of the terrible thing that had bitten me. All I felt was my back being loosened, and my body was caught between his long tail and was brought back up to the surface.Â
ăăInhaling back the deprived oxygen made my mind blank for a couple minutes, while my eyes darkened as if I was still under the sea. My ears were also loudly buzzing. I knew that I was suffering from the stress of being under the deeper part of the water for so long. At this time, if I hungrily gasped for breath, it would easily lead to sudden death, so I had to desperately control my breathing frequency and dared not move around. Like driftwood, I allowed myself to silently float along with the waves. I looked at the dark blue night sky with my eyes, trying to calm myself.
ăăI didnât know how much time had passed, but I gradually managed to stabilize myself. Through my still blurry vision, I saw that the pirate ship had already sailed far away from me. The figures of Agares and the eel monster battling had disappeared from the surface of the water. There was a huge whirlpool not far away that was gradually sinking into the depths of the sea, and a dark shadow could be seen vaguely churning in the whirlpoolâs center.
ăăI didnât know whether Agares had taken the victory in this sea battle. Although I hated and feared this beast, I still didnât want him to end up in the monsterâs belly at all. This strange concern even exceeded my fear right now. Even though I knew that I should swim back to the ship to be far away from the whirlpool, my eyes were unable to move from it, as if they were caught in the whirlpool.
ăăBut my back was stinging in pain, and the more intense it got, the more I forced myself to move toward the direction of the ship. Yet the moment my eyes swept ahead of the seaâs surface, my entire body became frozen.
ăăâIn the gradually calming dark sea, in the boundless water, a number of dotted lights emerged, and then several human-like outlines peeled away from the darkness of the water, slowly surrounding me.