Chapter 48 Falling into the deep sea was too coincidental.
The surging seawater submerged his mouth, ears, throat, and nose. As an ordinary person who couldn't swim, East was caught off guard by this sudden accident and involuntarily began to thrash about.
"Glug glug..." Salty seawater rushed into his not-quite-closed mouth, his lungs frantically contracting, trying to provide another breath of air. The despair brought on by the threat to his life engulfed Esther.
Before East was a vast expanse of colorful spots of light, the colors forming a chaotic and disordered pattern. Slowly, all the colors faded, leaving only darkness.
Just before Esther's consciousness was about to completely sink, he vaguely heard curses.
"Hoo~!" East breathed a sigh of relief, and the next moment, "Cough! Cough cough cough!" he coughed heart-wrenchingly.
A few specks of blue light fell upon him, and Easter felt all the discomfort in his body disappear. He looked up blankly, tears and seawater mingling in his eyes, blurring the scene before him. This blurriness added to the dreamlike beauty of the creatures before him.
Easter gasped. No wonder the mermaid theme has remained popular for so long, inspiring so many people to yearn for it. After actually witnessing it, Easter couldn't deny its unique charm.
A captivating blue fish tail sways gently before your eyes, its color gradually deepening from the waist down, the tail fin resembling layers of cascading blue gauze—undoubtedly beautiful.
"Boom!"
"Splash!"
After a loud bang, the seawater surged and trembled.
A flurry of fish darted past East, and only then did East realize that he was inside a large bubble, keeping the seawater out.
Easter looked at Pearl and saw that he was frowning. "Thank you, but could you explain it to me a little?"
Pearl glanced at East, "As long as you don't blame me for almost killing you, we'll talk about it later." A magic wand appeared in his hand, the top of which was inlaid with a magnificent sapphire, and he chanted a magic spell in a low voice.
The scenery before East's eyes changed rapidly, becoming a blur.
After an unknown amount of time, the scenery before East became clear again: a coral reef with various fish swimming peacefully among it.
Pearl looked into the distance, her pupils turning a deeper inky blue. "It should be alright now."
Following Pearl's gaze, Easter saw only an endless expanse of blue, and nothing else.
“You can’t tell, it’s quite far from here,” Pearl took a deep breath, swallowed a lot of profanities, and continued calmly, “It seems that two mages were fighting, and their power affected the magic circle, causing the current situation.”
East was dizzy, unsure whether it was from the lingering effects of the alcohol or from being stunned by the seawater. He forced himself to ask, "Can we get back to land?"
"We'll have to wait a little longer; they're fighting fiercely right now."
As soon as Pearl finished speaking, several loud explosions rang out in succession. The sea surged and huge waves rose up, and all sorts of strange monsters appeared out of nowhere, with traces of red blood drifting and merging into the seawater.
The situation was chaotic, and in the chaos, Easter and Pearl were separated.
Easter rolled around in the giant bubble, and flashes of colorful scenery appeared before his eyes. His already dizzy head became even dizzier, and he almost threw up. But that wasn't the worst of it.
As the giant bubble finally came to a stop, countless monsters quickly swarmed around it. Ister stared at the monsters outside through the bubble, his brow furrowed with exhaustion. Was there some kind of "restriction" preventing him from going out? Why did he always run into trouble whenever he went out?
"Crackling sound" is the sound of a large bubble.
East remained silent; bad luck was upon him.
"Host, we need to summon the players immediately," the system urged anxiously.
Easter, "Will the players be able to breathe underwater?"
"Yes," the system replied hesitantly.
"But I can't breathe." Ister remained calm, gazing indifferently at the monsters outside the bubble, showing no fear or trepidation about the impending danger.
【What...what should we do?】The system panicked. Everything had finally gotten back on track, but the unexpected event came too suddenly.
"Pop..." The big bubble burst completely.
East was once again enveloped by seawater, and the monsters, smelling the flesh and blood of the living, swarmed forward like madmen.
Easter closed his eyes, offering no resistance or struggle, literally going with the flow and letting himself sink into a near-death situation.
A faint sigh escaped her lips.
The space twisted and folded for a moment, as if a frame of the picture had suddenly been dropped.
"To control, to dominate, to make them submit—it's instinct, it's pure instinct..."
East's current state is strange; he is floating, as if his soul has left his body, empty and without a place to land.
It's impossible to tell if it's a male or female voice, or whether it's a human voice echoing in your mind.
East felt a sense of relief, as if the dust had settled. The vortex on his chest was no longer under his control; it appeared on his chest and changed shape. Starting from his heart, it meandered up the right side of his chest, down from his shoulder, and spread all the way to the back of his hand. The lines were twisted and disordered, creating a bizarre scene.
Aside from the vortex, East himself also changed. His loose, warm white hair grew wildly, reaching his waist, legs, and ankles, and its color subtly changed, like the cool, silvery moonlight flowing down; his pale pink eyes, the pink gathered into a dot hidden deep in the pupil, a tiny red dot, not even the size of a pinhead, falling on a white expanse, like red blood in the snow.
You can no longer find any gentleness or harmlessness in him; all you can find is inhuman indifference.
White bubbles escaped from between his lips; it was his lips moving, but it was impossible to tell what he was muttering.
Fog rose from the depths of the sea, something that shouldn't have happened, yet it did, in a way that seemed perfectly reasonable.
East opened his eyes. The monster before him was frozen in a thin white mist, while the gently flowing sea supported him as he floated.
The white mist eroded and devoured everything until all the demons disappeared, leaving only the thick white mist. Ister watched all of this happen without any joy or sorrow, his eyes devoid of any human emotion.
The white mist gathered and condensed, slowly flowing back into East's heart.
The seawater became clear again, and sunlight shone through, making the sea surface look like a flowing blue galaxy, beautiful, dreamlike, and unreal.
East lay on his back in the sea, gazing at the sky so close yet unmoved.
Some bold fish swam over and gently pecked at the strange creature, Easter. One fish took a step, and many more followed suit, unaware of what was happening.
A subtle tactile sensation travels from the skin to the brain; it doesn't hurt, just a slight itch.
"Sigh~" That faint sigh sounded again.
East's eyelashes trembled slowly, the red dots scattering color, and her pupils returned to a faint crimson.
Ester struggled to regain consciousness and heard the system's voice, seemingly coming from a great distance, repeating "Host, host, host..." over and over again, tirelessly, but also on the verge of despair.
Easter struggled to accurately describe his current state—an unprecedented sense of relaxation, an unprecedented tension. The only clear thought was that he was in deep trouble.
"I'm fine," no matter how big the trouble was, the priority was to reassure the system. "I just did a small experiment."
"Host!" the system called out angrily, then softened, its voice almost pleading. "Host... don't take your life so lightly. Think of the players, and think of that man. You have countless bonds with you; you're no longer alone."
East silently floated upwards with the seawater, followed by the bewildered fish, which then dispersed after a while.
"Splash!"
East broke through the surface of the sea and took a deep breath of fresh air. The sun in the sky was scorching hot, but this was the feeling of being alive, incredibly vivid and clear.
Easter swung his legs slightly to maintain his posture. "There won't be a next time," he said softly, but the promise he made was not light.
[Ugh...hiccup...] The system sobbed, [Host, hiccup...I was so scared.]
"Alright, alright, everything's alright now," Easter said gently, soothingly. "I only dared to do this because I was confident. I just wanted to see how that ability would work." He raised his right hand, which was covered in black patterns, and gave a rather emotionless smile. "It seems more interesting than I imagined."
System, [...] Why is his host showing this "breakdown" feeling again?
“But this is too conspicuous.” Under East’s gaze, the eerie blackness disappeared beneath his skin, and his hair returned to its original length and color.
"Stop overthinking, just give me some directions. I don't want to get dried out like a fish jerky." Easter looked himself up and down to make sure there was nothing wrong with him.
[Oh~ Oh...] The system vaguely gave directions, so that's how it ended? Why did he feel like something was off?
Never mind, he can't control me anyway. He did his best to say, "Host, we're not far from the beach. At your current speed, it should only take about ten minutes."
"Don't worry, I can breathe in the sea now." Easter gave this warning before submerging himself in the water.
The cool seawater dispelled the sun's scorching heat, and East sighed, never imagining that he, a landlubber, would one day feel like a fish in water.
It was exhilarating, wonderful, better than ever before. The figure swam by leisurely, like a mermaid coming ashore.
[Host, hide quickly!] The system hurriedly reminded.
East quickly dived down, and coincidentally, there was a reef nearby. He let the seawater carry him close to the reef, concealing his figure, before asking, "What's wrong?"
"Boom!" Huge waves surged up from the sea.
The commotion was so loud that East didn't even need the system to answer. What bad luck had befallen him? He was only one step away from the shore, yet the system had forced him to stop right there.
"Stop hitting me, when will this end? Don't force me to get serious." The voice was slightly immature, but it carried a chilling malice that was so thick it was almost dripping with ink.
"Bard, I only want to know, whose soul was used to water that pot of evil spirit flowers?" The deep, mature male voice was filled with sorrow and pain.
East raised his head slightly. What a coincidence! Putting aside the evil spirit flower, why did the bard even come here? His appearance was not a good omen.
"You think you can just tell me everything I want to know? Who do you think you are?" the bard said mockingly, his youthful voice adding to the eeriness of the situation.
"I can give you money or anything else, otherwise..." The pain was so intense that even the threats he wanted to utter seemed powerless.
“Hehe, not bad, not bad. I love seeing the most determined people like you break down,” the bard said, looking down at the spectacle. “You must be called Seraphine, haha. Why don’t you go and ask your captain to stand up for you?” He offered the choice with malice.
"Don't be too arrogant."
"Oh my~ After fighting for so long, haven't you realized the difference in our strength yet?"
The sea area has become turbulent again.
East clung to the reef, hoping the two would leave quickly and that the trouble wouldn't get on him.
“I haven’t seen Aripelago for a long time. Why don’t you try to ask him for help? Report the matter of the Evil Spirit Flower, he will definitely come. After all, he is your captain, and I think he once led you. Are you really not going? I’ve recently come across an interesting story, and I’m wondering how I can meet the person involved. What a coincidence.”
Ister wanted to say those last three words from the bard, and he wanted to say them through gritted teeth.
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