Chapter 611: Pimple In The Earth (1/2)
Life in the Marrissa wasn't too bad. There were some good days and some dull days but never any bad days.
Ottley and his crew decided to follow Docky's first route as it was the shortest and easiest to navigate. After getting over their initial shock at finding out the pet lizard was a powerful summoned creature and Zero's bottomless inventory, they settled into a new routine of eating, working out, diving and charting.
As the sinking ship explored new seas, Pepper worked without a break to record everything, and Ottley helped. Truen remembered how Zero was tempted to go catch the new species he saw to dissect them. It was a chaotic moment, but thankfully, Bob dissuaded Zero from trying to open the Marrissa's lock-tight door when they were almost two hundred meters underwater.
That incident was two weeks ago. Back then, they were only two hundred meters beneath the water. It was fun for a while recording new marine life, but now that they were investigating the potential Indra Seagloo route, the Marrissa was two thousand meters deep. The sea creatures started appearing lesser, and it was almost always dark outside. Checking out of the window wasn't as interesting as before. Now, Zero mostly tells Mii to let them know if something appears on the mini-map.
”How close are we to the first checkpoint?” Zero asked at lunch.
Ottley and Pepper attacked the chicken without mercy. It has been so long since they had chicken, even though the other food Zero prepared was usually delicious. Chicken just hits differently.
Over the last two days, things started to work differently. The sea otters now work on a rotating shift to monitor their ship's course and alert the captain should anything out of the ordinary happen. There was an unspoken tension now that they were approaching the treacherous zone. Without any light this deep underwater, the sea otters had to rely on other abilities to discern danger. Of the sea otters present, only Ottley had the Weatherman ability to listen to the voices of the sea. As a result, the captain was the most sleep-deprived person with Pepper being the second most sleep-deprived person.
”It is still quite the distance,” Pepper explained and burped loudly.
They cleared the table and Ottley brought the map out to show Zero where they were. Pepper definitely made a new map because the one Docky passed them was too lacking in details. Nobody imagined that the undertow was less strong the deeper they got. Also, the Marrissa's air pressure was something to worry about the deeper they went. The sinking ship might not be able to sink all the way to the bottom of the ocean if it gets any harder to breathe. While the undead wood was very sturdy and the gnome technology will hold up, the fragile bodies of the sea otters would not.
”Here is where the trouble location was rumoured to be. We're following the trail from this corner and moving in a clockwise direction to make full use of the undertow that we found in the three hundred meter zone. However, this is the latest map with the discovered underwater currents.”
The map drawn by Pepper with Ottley's help was very detailed but Zero's brain shut down at the math portion. Seeing how the doctor gave up on thinking when he saw numerals, Wii took over and translated those numbers into simple explanations.
In short, they couldn't dive any deeper than five thousand meters in the Marrissa without risking internal organ explosions. Even then, Ottley did not know if the sinking ship was sturdy enough to dive any deeper. Hence, they could only take calculated risks now.
”This trouble spot could very well be Indra Seagloo but we cannot steer the Marrissa right into the zone carelessly,” the captain explained. ”If a sea monster appears or if the ship gets caught in a strong surge of current, we're going to get smashed.”
Zero agreed. The risks are too great for the sea otters. Even if the voyage was going to be a relatively long one, Zero made a promise to ensure every single crew member made it back to land alive.