Chapter 916: The White Line (1/2)

It was a massive shadow swimming in the ocean. Thanks to the blurriness of the waters, Krune was unable to make out its appearance. All he managed to see was a massive shadow slowly swimming past where he was.

Followed by it was an elongated sound dragged to the limit, resounding like a train's whistle heard from far away. Krune shuddered, feeling the intensity of the other party's presence. In his current state, he didn't even qualify as a snack.

The Escapist curled its tail into a spiral before starting to rotate it, making use of the fin attached at the end of its tail to push the water. This way, it created some torque, allowing it to move on the ocean waters.

It was capable of flying.

Sadly, flying in such a place was tantamount to suicide. After all, from the middle of the air layer, it was divided into two regions of gravity acting in opposite directions. In other words, even a single flap of the wings through the other half meant extra strain.

Not to mention flying, the Escapist didn't even have the confidence of not crashing into the ocean a second after it took flight. Therefore, all it did was move its tail like a motor paddle and row through the waters.

This was the most economical way to travel while conserving their stamina. As they neither had a destination in mind nor a direction to travel towards, all they could do was sail aimlessly.

In the meantime, Krune tore off parts of his clothes and tied them to create some makeshift rope. He then clutched the ends and prepared a solid lock. He planned to use this rope to attack anything that might try to harm him.

More than attacking, it was better geared towards defense. Nevertheless, anything at this moment was better than remaining unarmed. There was a gentle light in the place, illuminating everything in a dull yellow. Though, Krune was unable to make out the source of the light.

It seemed the water allowed the light to travel this long from the source through a series of reflections, refractions, and diffractions. Though, whenever Krune peeked into the ocean before him, he wouldn't be able to see anything beyond 10 meters.

Everything below was too dark for him to spot anything. Honestly, it was unnerving for him. Surprisingly, he could also only spot a depth of 10 meters in the ocean above him. Beyond that was pitch black.

The fact that he was sandwiched by two bodies of water and he couldn't see past their surface layer made him jittery. If he was still able to use Godly Energy, Krune wouldn't have been like this. But now, he didn't have any methods to protect himself.

To avoid emitting any Godly Energy, he had stored all his equipment in his spatial rings. Krune then summoned the tablet by double-tapping his glabella. He then grabbed hold of it, moving it around using his hands.

A thought struck him as he gently placed it on the water surface. He hadn't relaxed his hold over it too much, still making sure he was able to grab it. The moment he placed it on the water surface, Krune realized that it wouldn't float. Instead, it seemed it would head straight into the depths of the ocean.

Moreover, in the current situation, he couldn't retract it with a thought. He had to double tap it to retract it. Unlike before, the tablet didn't hover in the air before him. He had to grab hold of it. Otherwise, it would just fall to the ground.

Well, in this case, it would plunge into the ocean and disappear from view. Without the tablet, he wouldn't be able to check any information or even use Godly Points to purchase something. The tablet was the most valuable item in the Sub-Realm.

”Well, if something life-threatening arrives, I can at least use it to defend myself. It seems sturdy enough,” Krune muttered as he fiddled with the tablet for an hour, sighing as he retracted it, unable to obtain any other information from it.

Even the place displayed in the region, Epic Hell, had disappeared. As the Escapist rowed through the ocean surface, Krune sat in thought while drying himself up. He had no other choice if he didn't wish to fall ill, a concept that was odd but was his current reality.

He had to instill the concept into his mind that he was now a mortal again. He wasn't the Krune that was able to mow down foes easily. He was a being made out of flesh and blood that would bleed when hurt and can fall sick easily when not taken care of.

”At least, the water's drinkable,” Krune muttered. He had drunk quite the lot of it when he plunged into the ocean at the start. So, he knew he could stay hydrated just by drinking it.

Just as he thought of it, Krune frowned, noticing something through their shared thoughts. The Escapist wasn't feeling well. Its body temperature was dropping. Frowning, Krune dipped his hand into the water, retracting it immediately as he yelled out subconsciously, ”Cold!”

”When did it become this cold?” He frowned with a hint of panic since he didn't have any other means to change the situation. To protect him, the Escapist was on the ocean floor, paddling through. As the ocean water turned colder, it was losing body heat continuously.

The Escapist made a turn immediately, retracing its travel path. Soon, a couple of minutes later, its condition turned normal. Krune touched the water once again, sighing in relief when it was warm. The warmth caused the Escapist's faintly trembling body to warm up.

”That direction is dangerous,” Krune said as he pointed at his back. But a second later, he tilted his head to the side, wondering if that was the direction towards where the water turned colder.