(Written while listening to: "Thalassophobia" by APØTIC on YouTube)
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'Nah. I have no idea how I would do that. And on top of that it would be a waste… regardless how hateful it is, I know it's useful.' Laito resisted his sudden urge for destruction and moved forward with his actions.
For the next upgrade subject he chose Rusted Spear, because why not?
The instant it manifested in the star's vicinity:
[You lost a Memory]
It melted into nothingness.
'Damn… although I'm not gonna miss that useless toothpick, a loss is a loss. The star does indeed destroy things it doesn't like… should I risk a lil upgrade on anything else?' Laito parsed through the list of his remaining assets.
Unfortunately, Laito did not have anything else he was willing to risk at the moment.
He was never much of a gambler anyways, striving for certain outcomes when possible.
On top of that… he was basically a pauper.
Creating his first Avatar has cost him much. Laito would die on the hill of claiming that it was worth it, but his current lack of Memories was painful still.
The only way to get more was to kill some Nightmare Creatures, but the only one nearby was immensely powerful. And also completely immortal, thanks to the Eternal City's enchantments left by Rime.
'It's time to go. I can always try and return later.' Laito decided, but he also knew that returning to Eternal City might be very difficult once he left it. Almost impossible.
That's thanks to the fickle nature of the Stormsea region itself, which made navigating its waters almost impossible without a proper guide or a map.
'I will figure it out when needed. For now let's skedaddle.' Although up until now he was able to avoid the horrible denizens of this city, it wouldn't last for long.
The abominations of Flesh of Kanakht were slowly converging around Laito. Among them were even some that could fly so the time was running out.
Laito shot up from the roof of the lighthouse and went straight up. Towards the peak of the protective barrier.
On his way he encountered a single representative from the Kanakht collective that leaped through air to eat Laito.
He accelerated even further.
One of the Great Terror's spiked tentacles brushed over Laito's immaterial body surface.
Even if that abomination lacked actual ability to strike immaterial enemies, as a Great being it wielded Will.
The hit connected which gave Laito a scare, making him accidentally activate his dormant abilities.
Yes. Abilities. As in multiple.
Laito's own ability obviously didn't work against a higher ranked entity.
But Steve's did. And apparently Laito could use Abilities of his own Avatars, even in his main form.
Because of that the Flesh of Kanah now had Steve's seal placed on one of its immortals.
It didn't change a thing as it continued to lash out in Laito's direction.
Thankfully for Laito, a small brush with creature attack was not enough to hurt him.
It could if given enough time for its Will to bend the world around Laito, but at that moment he has reached the barrier.
He expected that he could phase through it like he already did with walls and other material objects.
Without stopping Laito crashes into the dome…
And seamlessly emerged on the other side. Into the very bottom of the Stormsea region where water pressure was so high that the water itself was turned into a flat crystal-like surface that made the ocean's floor.
This floor kinda reminded Laito of the one he had in his own Soul Sea.
Luckily, the only natural phenomena that affected Laito was gravity, so water pressure wasn't affecting him on its own.
But the gravity on the bottom of the Stormsea was also powerful.
It was very difficult for Laito to go up from the moment he left the protective dome.
He focused once more in hopes that there would be Night Garden drifting somewhere around, but no luck. It just wasn't there.
Laito waited few seconds to recover and then he got to work.
He increased the essence output for movement to the maximum, trying to escape the clutches of the laws of physics.
Now, it was one huge race.
The higher he went, the weaker gravity's effects got.
But despite having [Essence Recovery] his reserves weren't infinite. Actually, as a mere Dreamer, they were quite small.
His goal was to reach the altitude point where his essence recovery would offset the expenditure and then slowly ascend. Bit by bit.
While counting his luck so that no subnautical abomination finds him during the process.
The good news was that the blinded core was basically inert, so it could act as a spare essence battery. Supplying a steady stream of magical juice through their shared connection.
Laito moved up and up. At first he moved relatively fast, but with each second his reserves were shrinking with frightening speed.
It took less than ten seconds for the pitiful lightbulb to completely dry up. Then, the gravity started to pull him down.
In the worst case scenario he would end up back in the Eternal City. Unable to escape.
It didn't happen.
Laito's essence recovered just as he was 3 meters above the dome.
Not much, but still.
He erupted with another fart of energy, propelling himself upward.
The process repeated.
Again.
And again.
Each time he earned himself a little bit of distance.
'This… is going to take some time.' Laito realized as he remembered that he was ridiculously deep.
A distance possible to brave when commanding Night Garden. The colossal ship made that journey possible for humans in the first place.
Laito had to bank on his unique physique and do it on his own.
If shit hit the fan his only option would be to retract himself into his Soul Sea and wait until the second core won't be blinded anymore.
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[6 Hours later]
The silver radiance of Eternal City became a small dot in the darkness covering Laito's vision.
If not for that, the water around him would be as lightless as the darkness above The Gate.
Ironically, the higher and further from the Eternal City Laito got, the more nervous he became.
Down there crushing pressure of immeasurable tons of water was an environmental hazard that cleared and discouraged any abominations from roaming the area.
But the closer to the surface Laito got the bigger chance he had to encounter something truly deadly.
But there was not much choice.
Either that or return to underwater prison.
So up Laito go.
At that point, he didn't have to stop at any point at least.
The journey to the surface accelerated.
It took another twelve hours, Laito still didn't catch even a glimpse of the surface, but he saw something else.
He encountered a Nightmare Creature.
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[16 months left until MHA plot beginning]
[Chapter End] The story is not over yet
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