Chapter 67 - Searching for the boss

After the short conversation between Saemi and me, we both went to sleep. As soon as we woke up the next day, we ate some fish that had been left over and were soon ready to explore again.

"So... what are we doing today?"

Fujiwara asked as he finished eating his fish. Everyone seemed to have the same doubt, so upon hearing Fujiwara's question, all eyes turned to me.

"Let's explore again, I want to get out of here as soon as possible"

I said as I ate my fish.

"I want you three to explore the forest again; we may not have looked at everything yet"

I said as I looked at Saemi, Fujiwara, and Aoi-sensei.

"But is that you?"

Saemi asked with a worried look on her face. Hearing Saemi's words, Aoi-sensei also looked at me, waiting for my answer.

(Well, I don't blame her; last time I went exploring alone, I came back being of another race, after all)

I thought as a wry smile appeared on my face.

"This time I won't do anything too dangerous... probably"

Hearing my words, Saemi and Aoi-sensei frowned.

"Well, it was just a joke, I won't go into the forest this time. I want to see what's in the sea and the other islands"

I said with a soft smile on my face. Hearing my words, neither Saemi nor Aoi-sensei seemed to become less concerned but just nodded.

"Fufufu, you two are quite careful with him. I wonder if anyone is in love?"

Said Fujiwara with a smile on her face, playing with Saemi and Aoi-sensei. Both were completely red hearing Fujiwara's words but neither denied nor confirmed anything. After that, the girls went towards the forest, while I remained on the beach, sitting, and looking at the sea. The waves that came and went brought with them the cold water that hit my foot. Looking at this landscape, a doubt came to my mind.

(Are there aquatic monsters?)

Although I had this doubt, I decided to state it as a given. On land, the sea was already scary enough even without monsters, so I didn't really want to discover the monsters that might be living down there. Getting up, I started walking towards the seawater. As soon as my feet touched the water, I looked down and noticed something strange.

The water of this sea was extremely clear; it just didn't look natural, or rather, if you stop to think about it, none of the floors we had been on so far looked natural. Although Aurora-sama had told me before that this place was created by the other gods, I had never stopped to think so deeply about it until now.

(Really, where the hell did we end up?)

I thought while looking at the horizon on the sea. Afterward, I looked again at the water and saw my reflection: black hair and black eyes, an average face, neither handsome nor ugly. My appearance was quite normal in Japan.

"Mimicry"

I said. As soon as I uttered those words, my body was enveloped in a black mist, and within seconds, my form changed. Looking at the water, I saw a humanoid face with blue eyes spiraling like a vortex.

(This form reminds me a lot of Aurora-sama when I first met her. Besides, although I haven't seen it before with this, I'm sure. I don't feel anything even though I see myself like this. It seems that my sense of identity got a little fuzzy after I fainted)

I thought as I looked at my face. Getting these thoughts out of my mind, I started walking toward the sea again. As soon as I reached a part where the water was hitting my chest, I jumped into the water and started swimming to the bottom. I decided to stay in Netherborne form because there was no reason to stay in human form.

Besides, I better get used to this form since it turned out to be my real one anyway. With this thought in mind, I started to swim to the bottom. Several corals stretched to the horizon along with several fish swimming beside me. There were also some other animals like crabs and lobsters in the water.

As I swam, I looked carefully to the sides, visualizing the new world that opened up before me. Another fact that I realized as I swam is the fact that I still need to breathe underwater. As my race has changed, I initially thought that things like eating and breathing would be unnecessary, but this proved to be the opposite in the end. Even in this form, I still feel hungry and need to breathe.

Obviously, I also feel thirsty. So although I'm no longer human, I haven't completely moved away from humanity. While swimming, I noticed some fish of strange appearances swimming around, but as they all ran away as soon as they saw me, I dismissed the possibility that they were dangerous.

Running out of air, I start to swim upwards. As soon as I reach the surface, I breathe as much air as I can while looking around. Behind me was the island I had come from, and it was quite far away, showing that I had already swum a good distance. While looking around, I noticed that there were some islands nearby, but I wasn't particularly interested in them.

After that, I sank back down and started swimming a little deeper. I didn't really know what I was looking for or if I would find anything, but since I had no idea where the boss room was, I decided the best thing to do would be to look around. While looking around, suddenly I felt something wrapping around my foot. Without having time to see what was happening, my body was suddenly pulled down, causing me to move further and further away from the surface.

(What the fuck is this?)

I thought as I turned my gaze downward. As soon as I looked at my foot, I saw that there was a tentacle wrapped around it.

"Dark manipulation"

I spoke as I held out my hand. But as soon as I did that, water started to enter my mouth, causing me to start to feel short of breath. However, as soon as a black sword materialized in my hand, I quickly cut the tentacle that was trapping me. Once I was free, I tried to swim quickly back to the surface. My lungs felt like they were burning as I felt the excruciating pain, but quickly, I felt something grabbing my whole body this time and pulling me back to the bottom of the sea.