CHAPTER 518: CHAPTER 518 - JOURNEY TO CERYNEIA (PART 2)

It has been an hour now since we descended from the edge of the sea cliff. We have been descending quite leisurely since I expressed my intention to Marius earlier that I need to get samples of sea plants and different types of sea creatures as well. I honestly told Marius that everything I harvest (alive) will be sent over to the new world tree realm to fill up the ocean that will be built there to recreate a new Ceryneia.

He happily pointed out to me the places where different types of sea plants, shellfish, mollusks and fish were like an ever reliable and trusted tour guide. He even named them one by one and made sure to tell me if any one of them are poisonous or can physically hurt me, not that it would work on my skin that looked deceivingly thin and sensitive. This skin is like that of a tank, mind you.

As I immediately sent the things I harvested to the shared space that I had with Laerad, he started admiring the different colors, textures and varieties of things I was sending his way. He even started requesting for possibly getting a bigger this and a brighter or different color for that like I was just shopping for things for him at the supermarket. Just thinking about that comparison made me chuckle a bit like I was in my own little world.

Marius noticed my weirdness and he couldn’t help but ask me what seems to be funny all of a sudden. I simply said that the one managing the world tree realm was requesting things from the ocean but he made it sound like it was so easy to find things under this vast ocean. He looked at me with a raised eyebrow and smirked at what I just said.

Just when we were cheerfully chatting about the things that Laerad was requesting for and the next places that we will be visiting, I sensed a presence that is approaching us at very fast speeds and as for the size, it was quite huge too. We are currently at around 800 meters deep in the ocean and we are still continually descending. At these depths, could it be like something gigantic like a shark or something else? It must have thought of us as some small fries that can be eaten for breakfast.

Too bad for this aggressive critter, I always have my senses up especially in this vast ocean that you couldn’t see anything much but a few meters from where toyou are. As the creature reached the point where it was just a few meters from us, I pulled the guy who is swimming happily nearby inside the bubble. At the same time, I hardened the outer surface of the bubble barrier and enchanted it with a simple deflect but it was one that gives the force of the attack back by three times.

In just a matter of a few seconds, a pointy thing akin to a sharp arrow can be seen zooming towards us but when it finally came to our full view, it was a giant squid! It was not as big as the Kraken in legends but it is definitely at least 40 feet. This is a female one which means, there should be smaller ones in the area. We must have entered its hunting grounds and its nest must be nearby.

As for fear, I don’t feel any. I actually feel hungry and coincidentally, I feel like eating some crispy calamari rings, honestly.

Marius was a little shaken due to the fact that I pulled him inside the barrier roughly through telekenesis. He was about to complain as if wanting to figh me but before he could do that, he saw what was darting through the water towards our directionat great speeds. I saw the moment where he closed his eyes tightly as if preparing to die but he suddenly darted then hid behind me as if I was a shield or something.

This coward! Shouldn’t he be guarding in front of me to protect me? Well, I don’t mind him depending on me as well on these things and I just realized roles are switched here. I am fickle minded like that. Don’t mind me.

At the point of impact, my foo- *coughs* the giant squid abruptly stopped in its tracks. Its mouth was the first part that hit the bubble we are in since it wanted to eat us. This caused some of its teeth to become crushed and lost due to the impact. The squid was visibly stunned by the deflected force that went back to hit its huge body. While it looked disoriented, I sent it over to Laerad as a surprise gift so it can produce more squid in our new ocean in that new realm.

Not even a few seconds passed when I heard a telepathic scream in my head. Laerad must have received my surprise then. I teased him a bit more and told him to make sure that the giant squid makes a lot of baby squid so we can eat a lot of fried calamari rings.

I simply heard an exasperated sigh from Laerad’s end but he no longer complained. He just requested for more types of beautiful fish since he doesn’t like squid that much because they are kind of ugly.

Well, I don’t care much about how they look like. They are just delicious. That’s what is important for me.

I turned around and tapped Marius shoulder and asked him that he can open his eyes now. He reluctantly did as I told him but afterwards he immediately looked around trying to find where our attacker was but could not find it. He looked at me in panic so I whispered to him that I sent it away to a far away place so he can enjoy swimming outside the bubble again.

Instead of resuming his activities, he slowly turned his tail back into their feet form and hung onto my sleeve tightly, refusing to leave my side. I then smiled at him and asked where we can most likely find the smaller baby squids for food. When he heard what I said, his eyes widened in fear but he still pretended to be brave and guided me to the area where the nest was. He never went out of the bubble again afterwards, though.

He must have forgotten how dangerous this area was as he was enjoying the feeling of being under the water again. It is a little funny since he was the one that warned me that this route was the most dangerous of all the routes to Ceryneia.

After another half hour, we finally reached the ocean floor I resumed my act of harvesting other animals and plants again. I caught a fish here and there as per Laerad’s request. Oh, and I sent different types of shark and some types of jellyfish to him too!

We leisurely went left and right instead of going straight to Ceryneia, not leaving any nooks or crannies. Marius simply agreed to my whims, to whatever I wanted to do or where I wanted to go. We finally saw some distant lights of what seems to be a village on the ocean floor after about 6 hours since we left that beautiful beach this morning.

When we were only a few meters from what seems like a dome covering the outer areas of Ceryneia, a group of mermen went out of the protection of the dome and approached us hurriedly. I can see that their faces are in panic. I thought they will attack us but when one of them finally reached near our position, he shouted, "Hurry into the dome! This place is dangerous! The creatures here are aggressive and too huge to hunt on your own."

I think they were pertaining to the sharks and squids we encountered earlier during our trip. I did not want to contradict their goodwill and it is not like I could tell them that I stole some of them and sent them far away so I simply hurried to follow them into the dome with a quiet Marius in tow.

When we finally got inside the safety of the dome, some elderly people approached us as well as a few young ones. They immediately greeted Marius with a sense of familiarity and asked why he had to come back when he has already successfully escaped the "hell hole".

Marius smiled at them and simply replied mysteriously, "I have news from the dry lands that you all need to hear. For now, we need a place to stay. Is my house still unoccupied?"

The younger ones answered confidently, "Of course! We kept it clean. We knew you will come back you selfish bastard. You’ll never share that house to anybody else."

Another young man has been staring at me since I came with Marius and eventually, he couldn’t help but ask, "Who is this woman you are with? Do we need to find her a house too?"

Marius looked at me and I saw that evil smirk that he has before he makes troubled. He looked back at the person who asked the question and responded, "This is my wife. She is going to live with me in my house."