Chapter 168: Sinking Into The Depths

    Late Afternoon - Late Spring : Central Sirathan Mountains

    *Splash-Crash*

    The sound of waves slamming into the side of the mountain filled the air as I made my way down to the shore.

    "Hooh.." I took a deep breath as I looked over the edge of the cliff and into the abyssal-blue water. Although I was excited to explore the unknown and to try something new, I couldn''t deny that I was nervous. -But.. there''s no point in hesitating..-

    *Splash*

    Quickly sinking into the water, I extended my wings and glided along the slope of the mountain.

    As I made my way deeper and deeper, my surroundings got darker and darker until I could barely see the cliffside just a few meters below me.

    For a while, I saw nothing other than extremely small fish and rocks, but once I got about 3 kilometers down, I stumbled across a small ledge with a massive skeleton laying on it.

    The bones were still somewhat intact with cartilage still holding it all together, but even without that, I would have recognized what it was immediately.

    -A dragon..- It was the skeleton of a dragon that would''ve been around 40 meters tall if it was alive and to go along with that, it had died in the midst of a fight.

    All of the ribs had been broken along with two of its legs, it was missing a wing and its tail, but above all else, the top of the skull was totally caved in.

    -This is directly down the mountain from the cave... There''s no way right?- Although it sounded crazy, the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.

    Not only did the skeleton still have cartilage, but the bone marrow and the few scales left behind weren’t that aged. -The time this dragon and that halfie died is similar..- Although not exact, they were close enough to be linked together.

    Continuing to inspect the skeleton for a while after that, there wasn''t much else I could figure out. Nearly all the conclusions I came to were assuming too many things and I was still left in the dark about too much to fill in the gaps.

    -Assuming this was that halfies parent.. it probably died before that hunter found the place.- My assumption was mostly based on the fact that the monster noted in Cleric Yrsa''s notebook, never broke through the entrance or forced its way in at all. -If this dragon was worried of its child dying, that heavy door might as well be a piece of paper..-

    But just because that sounded most plausible didn''t make everything else make sense and even added more questions to the pile. -Just what could kill such a big dragon like this..-

    Question after question arose in my mind until I finally forced myself off the topic. -Haah.. if I continue to try and figure everything out with just this much information, I wont get anywhere...-

    Finally calming my curiosity and quelling my anger towards the cleric, I finally turned away from the skeleton and continued making my way into the abyss. -I hope you have better luck in your next life, whoever you may have been..-

    The next several minutes were filled with silence as I continued going deeper and deeper.

    Eventually though, I started questioning that motive to go deeper. -Just how deep is this place..- I had already swam enough to be around 15 kilometers down but there was no sign of the steep cliffside leveling off in the slightest.

    *WHAM-CRUNCH*

    In a flurry of movement, it slammed me back into the ground with its body and darted off into the darkness again.

    -Ugh..- I groaned as I pulled myself out of the pile of rubble.

    Quickly looking around to find it again, I simply didn''t see anything. -Did it swim off?-

    After another few minutes of looking around, my nerves finally started to calm down again. -My god.. fighting in the water is just awful..-

    I felt slow and sluggish, and couldn''t use most of my magic. I felt incredibly weak. -I didn''t think this would be so diffi-

    Cutting off my thoughts, I noticed the giant fish charging straight at me. -YOU''RE BACK?!-

    As I tried to think of how to kill it, its mouth opened wide and sucked my head and neck into its mouth.

    In the next instant, I swung my body around and dug my claws into it.

    -Got ya!-

    *Siiiizzle-blub*

    The water around us boiled for a short instant as I discharged a huge amount of electricity into the fish’s head.

    *Thump*

    Finally sinking to the bottom again, I pried open the fish''s mouth and pulled my head out.

    The water was filled with blood but instead of being nervous about it attracting more monsters, I felt a deep excitement I hadn''t felt for a while.

    It was the thrill of a challenge, the thrill of a real fight! -To think fighting with so many disadvantages would be so fun!- My body was already the most strained it had been in months, but I was too excited to pay it any mind.

    With a crazed smile on my face, I dragged my claws through the fish to chum up the water.

    -To think they''re here already!-

    With my senses having adjusted, I could feel the gaze of several creatures peering at me from the darkness.

    Glancing towards them, my pupils dilated and my stance changed slightly. -Lets try that again!-