A loud rush of water rang out, and the area we had passed through a few seconds ago had transformed into a grotesque sight beyond recognition.
The sector we had just been in was dyed blood-red, and from that crimson sea, black tentacles lined with countless mouths emerged, searching for prey.
It was my first time seeing it directly, but yeah. So this was the gimmick, more or less.
They'd probably been lying in ambush beneath that sector the whole time we were passing through, ready to snap us up the instant we broke the rules. I had already predicted as much from the suspicious possibilities that had been surfacing from below all along.
"Puhwaaaah?!"
It was huge. The appearance of that monster, which almost felt too simple to describe that way, sent waves surging all the way into the sector we had just crossed.
And naturally, Mephistopheles lurched violently.
Swoooooosh───
Water came surging in too.
I dodged by using Mr. Meursault as a shield.
"Wow... if we'd been any later, we all would've ended up as cookie crumbs..."
"Ad... venture... is... cough cough. Harsh... after all..."
"Satis... faction. This is the kind of thing that makes rampaging worthwhile."
"If that thing attempts to attack us again, there is no chance of victory."
To Mr. Meursault's calm assessment, an unexpected person stepped in to object.
Well, when I say an unexpected person objected, nine times out of ten it's Mr. Vergilius.
"No. 'That thing' will leave us alone in 'this place.' That is the rule of the Great Lake."
"Then I can finally provide the explanation I had put off."
Faust said that, then called all of us into the cabin.
So she meant to continue the discussion inside.
Then there was no reason not to follow. There might be information coming from Faust's mouth that I had forgotten, or maybe never knew in the first place.
"The rules of U Corp's Great Lake are many, but I'll keep the explanation to only what is necessary now. If you remain in one lake for a certain amount of time, a wave unique to that lake will come in."
"Are... those really called waves...?"
Faust ignored Gregor's question and continued.
"Crossing between lakes also has fixed times and conditions."
"What... So if you just stop somewhere, you'll definitely get taken out by something like that... octopus leg thing?"
Gregor asked again.
As expected, he was ignored. What a sad treatment.
"So, naturally... everything on this lake changes position according to those rules. The method for reaching the destination also guides us in accordance with them."
"Hmm... Is there anything written down about those rules? In my room, the nanny used to pin up papers listing the family's rules. It was hard to follow them perfectly, though..."
The moment Hong Lu finished speaking, I heard the sound of a door opening irritably.
The only person who could open any door right now...
Ms. Ishmael?
"...Looks like the wave really did come after all. Right?"
Ms. Ishmael, who had not shown herself even once until now, stumbled out.
The fact that the person who had not spared me a single word even when I called her every day would come out of her room from one wave alone...
Even if the wave was related to her past, to her actions in the Great Lake... this is a little too disappointing. It can't be that a single wave is the source of all that hysteria.
"The Great Lake's rules aren't the kind of trivial, simple thing you can solve by writing a few lines in a notebook. The rules of the Great Lake itself may be simple, but the rules of each lake vary wildly. Besides, writing down the Great Lake's rules in text without permission is one of U Corp's well-known taboos."
"Then I suppose you can just carve them into your body."
Wow. That's such a Ryoshu answer. In the sense of experience, or in the sense of tattooing.
The latter would be problematic in all sorts of ways, so a rebuttal would be coming soon enough.
"...If by carving you mean a tattoo rather than experience, that is also a problem. U Corp's taboo hunters have been dispatched over such cases before. It is safest for all rules to be passed down orally only."
Yeah, that figures. There was no way there wouldn't be.
<...What have you been doing all this time, Ishmael?>
"I was sharpening a harpoon."
"Because it needs to be sharper. So that even grazing it will make you regret being alive from the pain."
From that low, dark voice, I could feel an unhidden, blind thirst for revenge and rage.
...She's mentally cornered. The impatience and urgency in her voice are impossible to hide.
She'd always been of a similar temperament throughout the bus ride, but I'd thought it was just her nature until now... Never thought it would be something like this.
With a passenger not exactly welcome to the others making an appearance, the one who had clashed most with her was the first to growl.
"...Then why don't you just stay buried instead of crawling out."
"If I stayed buried like that, I'd end up watching you lot melt away until there'd be no trace left. Not exactly pleasant. Seeing something like that again. I've had enough of watching people who know nothing about the lake waste time fondling a boat."
<...Fine, got it.>
Still as sharp-tongued as ever. Setting aside how harsh she sounded, I could agree with her to a degree.
Shouldn't people get a vaccine before they're in danger, so they can at least wake up a little? Though it didn't seem like it would do much good.
Ms. Ishmael stared at the slowly moving boat, then muttered as if she had realized something.
"...Hm. Just as I thought."
...Just as she thought? That means she made some kind of mistake.
Did I miss something? The boat was moving forward little by little with the wind...
Wait, Mephistopheles could get this speed just from the wind?
Ms. Ishmael planted her feet and took hold of the ship's helm with a confident motion.
"What are you doing? This ship is sailing smoothly. In fact, the south wind has only increased our speed."
"It may look that way. People who've only ever rolled around on land tend to think in such one-dimensional, obvious ways."
"You little— right now, this Otis's—"
"...You're lucky, seal."
"It's not because of the wind. We're being pulled."
Being pulled. Being pulled... Ah. So that's what this was.
"...Toward those ships."
Ships, huh. That makes sense.
Only then did I finish piecing the situation together. U Corp's characteristic... I'd forgotten it for quite a while.
Still only a hypothesis, though.
<...? Saramago, something wrong?>
"No, just checking something."
I stood up and headed for the deck.
And if I focus my eyes just a little... I can see it.
The direction the ship was heading. And exactly at the end of that line, two vessels.
They'd probably come into view soon enough. The speed we were moving at was by no means slow.
Which also meant we had been given a little time to spare.
Haa... a little out of nowhere, but how should I deal with that time bomb of a person?
If I criticize her, her words aren't exactly wrong. If I defend her, she's far too unilateral.
What choice should I make in a situation like this?
"Haah..."
It was a serious concern, but I could already see how this line of thought would end.
Leave her alone. And if she crosses the line, restrain her. The same answer as always.
Logically, I know this is right... but I can't shake the feeling that I'm dodging the answer every time.
Ah, the ships are getting closer now. So Ishmael's about to take action too, I guess.
At the same time Dante's voice came from the driver's seat, and Ms. Ishmael, who had quickly grabbed the helm, twisted it without hesitation as if throwing it toward one side.
Of course, I had anticipated that would happen. Eyes really are an absurdly cheating ability.
"This technique is... splash drift...?"
"Hah, so ships can drift too...?"
"Charon is surprised. Orange hair... fresh."
Gregor had been getting subtly ignored from the start. Though all he really did was nitpick people's words.
"A rival has appeared, Charon."
"...! No, wait."
Oh, did Gregor notice?
"How strange. Even though we clearly changed direction... why is our ship moving between those ships?"
"The bow isn't moving at all..."
Even though Ms. Ishmael had clearly turned the ship in the opposite direction, the bus-ship did not head away. Instead, it was pulled even more strongly toward the massive vessels.
"Ish?! You didn't accidentally pull the forward-reverse lever the wrong way, did you?!"
"I turned off the engine."
"What..."
Then maybe I should go back inside too. Being out here isn't exactly a safe choice.
"Are the ships... merging?"
"Oh, so you've realized. Merging ships is a representative technique using U Corp's Singularity, the resonance horseshoe."
"You crazy bastards!! We're about to get crushed and you're still making leisurely comments like that?!"
"Come now, Mr. Heathcliff, don't be like that. It's not like we're the ones who can solve the situation, so the least we can do is stay calm."
Mr. Heathcliff stared at me and Hong Lu with the look of someone wondering what kind of lunatics had gathered here.
Well... even Ms. Otis, who'd been rolling through battlefields for who knows how long, seemed to have lost her composure because she was on the brink of death, so maybe it was strange to him that we were acting like this.
"Hey, seal! You were talking big earlier, so now what are you gonna—"
"Shut up for a second."
"...!"
"I'll make the most of the time while we're being pulled. And then..."
"W-we're gonna crash!!!"
The instant Sinclair's sharp scream rang out—
"Now."
With a swift motion, Ms. Ishmael started the engine and snapped several levers with a clatter that sounded like they might break, slipping through the gap at maximum speed.
Krrrrrrrrk...!
Successful escape! That was close. It was a close call, though!