Chapter 15: Humans exist here!?

Having killed the Abyssal Lagiacrus, Arvinakon looked at it licking the chops he has per usual instinctively needed to roar which he did. It was a deep howl, mixed with short clicks and crackles, and a snort at the end.

This resonated half a kilometer around him and even could be heard from the surface but it sounded distorted making it almost demonic.

Then the next instant he could be observed feasting on its corpse. As per usual it was messy, silver wares were sadly inappropriate for fish and he quite preferred eating this way to how humans do.

Brain, heart, a strange crunchy gem filled with one if not the purest Thunder element he felt, it tasted strange but good all the same, liver, intestines and other juicy internal organs were not spared. He even cracked and sucked some of the bones.

One of his best meals up to today. Perfect amount of visceral fat, concentration, and quality of bioenergy, texture, taste, and smell.

Rarely was something he found he didn't like, from animals of course.

His tastebuds were different than that of a human, for example, he cannot taste salty or bitter. As long as it filled his belly he was happy.

His mind was too preoccupied with the food to care about the pain that his injuries caused. It was less than a human would feel for the same types of wounds for sure but it was still painful.

Two and half an hour later he was full, and sadly couldn't finish, at some point, his stomach simply said no, and no means no. Not like it's going to waste, one fish's trash is one other fish's treasure.

And later entire mini ecosystem will be able to rise from these remains, thus also attracting other species and enriching the area.

The Lagiacrus' death is far from useless for the ecosystem.

Nothing dared to approach him during that time, the storm raging above did calm down but his roar and storm created a wall that isolated Arvinakon from most species that were already pushed away or in the middle of fleeing.

'Ah… the right flipper is broken and I lost a pelvic one. Oh, it feels strange… like it should be here but isn't. It's peculiar… and it's already hitching. So it's regenerating, good.', he analyzed his current physical conditions. He might have had too much fun and he was feeling a sort of post-nut clarity.

Yawning he turned to the carcass laying on a bed of mostly shredded green algae, they moved to a sea prairie close to an island without realizing it, so dozen of kilometers from where the fight started.

Even if a part of the prairie will need some time to regrow back to its full size the place was quite pleasant. A nice change of scenery from what he was used to.

His broken flipper uselessly lay on the side of his body, he turned around and studied his surroundings his ears perked up and his eyes widened in surprise as in the far east he saw a strange but familiar shape.

'Is that a boat…? For real… a shipwreck here. It isn't exhaustion that causes me to hallucinate, right? It's a freakin ship...', he thought and swam in its direction with difficulty.

Not used to moving around with essentially two-member leas. But he rapidly got the hang of it and swam as if nothing had happened even if he was slower and had some problem balancing himself.

It was indeed not a hallucination as the detail of the rotting ship came clearer. It was old, the hull was eviscerated, and half of the wood was rotten beyond recognition only held together by corals, sea creatures, and algae.

One mast of the three it used to have still stood, one was buried and the other lay on the sand.

Metal pipes connecting the strange paddles on the side to the stern and others that poked out of the captain's cabin gave it a steampunk vibe.

Yawning again he entered the hole in the hull, there held by a rusty chain was a mysterious heart-shaped lantern that somehow still glowed and possessed a high and extremely pure concentration of bioenergy that was strangely relaxing and made his wound pleasantly tingle.

Behind was what he supposed is a crest, maybe a royal one. Embroidered on it is a faded classical western dragon with six limbs, four legs, and a pair of bat-like wings. It was golden and curling around a sword in its scabbard of the same color, all of this on a back faded red that veered to brown.

Next to it was a massive golden lance with a castle tower melded between the handle and the end of the weapon and next to rested a strange golden shield that was shaped like the front of a castle fort.

It seemed impractical, if not impossible to use if you weren't superhumanly strong. There also was a half-destroyed armor with the same theme not far from it.

Ne could feel the remains of Fire elements emanating from them, it felt has it was forcefully forged into the weapon but it was made in such an intricate and strange way that it almost would pass for natural.

His sense might be molded by the ongoing Elder Crossing but they were still sharp.

'This certainly looks ridiculous for a weapon but what do I know about how weapons work in this world… at least I can expect to see originality in designs, and it's clearly oversized in comparison to the armor.', he internally remarked, a part of him getting excited by the prospect of seeing and maybe fighting ones capable of wielding such ridiculous weaponry.

Sniffing he paused, the water smells fruity and with a light tinge of smoky ness to his sensitive nose, a smells he never experienced in this life but remembered from his last one.

His yellow-slitted trailed as he remarked dozen upon dozen of comparatively small barrels on the side, the smell was escaping from one who visibly wasn't as spared by time as the other.

'Is that wine? Uh… okay… those barrels are scarily resistant. I bet that this ship was here for at least half a century. Not like it's bothering me as it's not unpleasant and it mixes quite well with the smell of blood I might say.'

Four seconds later after clearing a bit of the mess with a flick of one of his good flippers he delicately laid his body on the soft sand.

Careful that his stump didn't touch the sand and that his broken flipper was spread to force the bones' insides to align the way they should be.

It wasn't particularly pleasant to feel the flesh inside scrap against the broken bone but he did it anyway. Having his bones heal the wrong way is worse than this.

He wasn't a 'softie' either and it was majorly his fault that he got this injured, he played a lot during the fight and paid the price for it.

And in this somewhat awkward position, he fell asleep like a baby.

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[Arvinakon's POV]

'Hmmm! That felt great… Nothing can be better than having a good fight, a good meal, and then a good sleep.', I thought, the muscles in my throat involuntarily shifting and vibrating making me pure in satisfaction.

Yawning I saw and felt seven small tapered fish with two yellow stripes swim out of my mouth and gills. Silly fish, as if wasting my time, and energy to eat them was worthwhile.

They must have entered while I slept for who knows how long. I am a heavy sleeper, and my time sleeping seems to get longer as I age, or I'm just a lazy fish. Food for thought.

I then stretched, my tail touching the back of the ship. I don't know my exact size, I suppose I should be around a big orca in size and general bulk.

This ship certainly isn't the biggest but I wonder what sinks it? Likely the lightning lizard or just a random storm or something else many things can happen in untamed seas.

I folded and unfolded my left dorsal flipper and couldn't but purr louder as the broken bone inside was nearly fully mended and I know that it will be a bit stronger than before.

It's as if everything in my body gets forged through battle and tempered to be better, and stronger through healing, and eating high-quality meat rich in bioenergy helps too.

Also, in my opinion, it is one of the reasons why I am so strong. I doubt if my body didn't have that peculiarity I would surely have had a harder time against the lizard.

But even without this, I am supernaturally strong compared to animals of the same size and ecological niche from Earth. And I can say with certainty that this feeling of power coursing through my body is unbelievably enjoyable.

'Still weird to miss a limb…', I remarked, in one night my amputated flipper evidently didn't fully grow back but a specialized layer of skin and scales grew above the ugly wound, a sort of scab, sealing it for better healing and reducing the chance of infection to zero.

What I was feeling was a bit like phantom limb syndrome, I can mentally feel how it should move but there was no real-life feedback and it was weird but I was calm about all of this. The fact that it wasn't permanent certainly played a major role in how I was living through this.

Yes, I lost a limb and it will be limiting my range of movement for some time, like flight but I didn't become crippled for life

I turned my body to the side, my eyes set on a dirty and broken mirror where I could see my body. On my belly were fading teeth and claw marks, the same as for most of my back and dorsal fin.

Looking at my body I couldn't help but wonder how my body 'puberty' will work and affect me. I'm male, may be impossible to remark from the outside everything is hidden on the inside, as far as I know, I am the first and last member of my species.

'Anyway, I will see what the future holds for me… on that aspect.', I thought with mild dread, and my ears responded to that by flattening against my head.

I didn't pay much attention before since I was exhausted and in the afterglow of the battle but the presence of a steampunk ship and the things inside say a lot about my lack of knowledge about this world and how much more I can learn, fight, and explore. And it's super exciting!

I swam out, appreciating the ray of sunlight that managed to bathe this area. It's beautiful. How the seaweed swayed in the soft current, species I didn't know existed and so much more. I was really blessed to reincarnate as what I'm.

I would have missed out on so much if I was human in this life again and I would have never known what. I was not ignorant of life in the ocean but of being a part of it in another world. It's an indescribable feeling that I will cherish and enjoy for the rest of my whatever how long my lifespan is.

I smelled amidst the wine in the ship, the now familiar smell of the electric lizard and blood. Following the scent, I came across a feeding frenzy of the size I could have never imagined possible.

Sharks, giant blue hermit crabs, a school of small predatory parakeet fish, and more were devouring each other and the corpse like it was their last meal which for some it is indeed the case.

My presence as I swam by didn't bother them one bit. I didn't join in as I prefer my meat fresh, and the carcass is at least three days old from the smell.

Going up I noticed a reef, slightly damaged by the storm I generated but nothing time won't be able to heal. The water was pleasantly warm and the water was shallow. My movements were limited, if I didn't bulldoze my way through that is.

'Is that humans!? But how the fuck are they! It's another world! Ah yes, it's another world… Why would their existence be that surprising? And maybe these are not humans but a species physically similar in appearance and intelligence to homos sapiens, yay lets just call them humans…', I thought, shocked by this discovery.

A ship was one thing but that didn't mean that humans were the ones who made it.

But this… I poked my head out of the water and I could see on the beach a crowd of them, they looked like islanders but leaned a bit on the steampunk style, farther into the island was a village, at least what remained of a village that blew by a storm.

'So they are the castaway from this ship… and what are they doing… oh it looked like a funeral ceremony … Is it my fault?', I thought, and I was conflicted on how I should feel.

I didn't feel bad or had any guilty feelings, even when I saw children and others cry over the loss of their loved ones.

It was like I couldn't connect with them emotionally like I was an alien to them, which isn't that far from the truth. And it's somewhat bothersome… I didn't get any enjoyment from what I caused, however.

Again, I don't know how I should feel about this, my empathy took a hit… not like I was a saint before but I was not going out of my way to be an asshole, I never killed or really harmed any humans, and other animals in general so killing dozens of human-like this would have broken me mentally before. I guess they are the 'animals' in this case… Strange.

It's incredibly sad for them but that's about as much as I could care, emotionally. They are collateral damage… And even if I were to feel guilty.

What would it have done but torture me and eat me from the inside? It's not as if I was going to let myself be killed to appease their anger.

Does that make me bad? I don't know, maybe for them and I don't actually care that much if at all about this.

I won't go out of my way to attack them without any reason but won't bother myself to take useless risks to save them if they are at the wrong place at the wrong time. Though studying them is an interesting prospect but later.

Their bioenergy is strange, setting them apart from even the tiny yetis, in particular ways but I don't know how to explain it.

If only my sense wasn't that blurred, I concentrated more, the base of my tusks tingling and I noticed some had noticeably higher in bioenergy, the raw kind that could only enhance physically. Bioenergy is very similar to fuel.

What I assume is a teenager, one of the 'higher concentration ones' looked in my general direction and pointed in my direction quickly followed by the crowd panicking as all hell broke loose. I snorted and dived back into the sea, my gaze followed the ceremonial boat and I simply swam away.