Chapter 205: Lack of Predators—Moss and Light

Despite the temperate, almost warm climate and the relatively warm season, the water inside the cave is ice cold, making Auren feel as if he just entered a different world entirely.As he dives into the dark abyss below, the cold water, along with the rapidly vanishing light, calms his mind, surprising him greatly.

Used to complete darkness thanks to the training suggested by Rakshala, where he wore a visor for a long period of time, the situation doesn’t remotely scare Auren. It doesn’t even unsettle him.

The only effect it has is that it calms him down.

Using En, Auren’s Aura cloud stretches deep below.

Focusing for a second while remaining perfectly still, Auren notices faint movement—several smaller Auras moving.

Fish? Are there actually fish down here? They aren’t tiny either. As far as I can tell, they’re large enough to weigh at least ten kilos. How... they can’t survive on water... or stone. There must be food down there. In the case of fish... plants? Some smaller animals?

Anyway, I need to hurry. I estimate I can only remain underwater for around ten minutes or so. I haven’t tested the limit properly, but despite my affinity to water, I haven’t actually spent much time swimming. Aside from my childhood in the Republic of Hass, I barely swam at all. Water was scarce in the centre of Meteor City. There were no real baths. Apart from that, I didn’t visit a beach or a lake to train those kinds of skills....

I guess I might as well train that weakness right here, right now.

Despite his lack of experience, Auren swims as if possessed by an experienced swimmer, moving with surprising elegance and speed.

Diving deeper and deeper, he concentrates on his En, searching for anything out of place.

A few minutes pass, but to Auren’s shock, he doesn’t even feel the need to breathe. He also doesn’t feel his oxygen running out, a seemingly endless amount of energy surging within him.

In fact, the longer he stays in the water, the more comfortable he becomes.

Diving deep enough, Auren finally reaches one of the fish. To his shock, it doesn’t fear him. As it spots him, it speeds up and rushes straight towards him.

Auren left Eternity above ground, but he focuses, and a fraction of a second later, the sword materialises in his hand. He is able to conjure and summon it without problem, even underwater.

Meanwhile, the fish tries to tackle him, and Auren doesn’t immediately understand what it’s trying to achieve.

Is it trying to eat me? I’m far larger... that doesn’t make any sense.

Auren uses his Aura to push the water in front of him away, Limitless Waters allowing him precise control.

The fish is pushed back, but it doesn’t give up. It shakes violently, mouth opening and closing. Auren finally notices large teeth, even through the limitations of En, a testament to their size.

Is this... a piranha? At least some kind of predatory fish... I’ll just call them that.

With Auren still hesitating, more and more fish approach.

No longer willing to hold back, Auren cuts the first fish with Eternity, killing it by slicing it cleanly in two.

Instead of fleeing, the remaining piranhas get even wilder. More and more appear, all swimming toward their dead comrade, consuming its blood and body.

Cannibalistic fish... I see.

Auren uses the opportunity and continues slashing forward, killing multiple piranhas with each swing.

As if they have no intelligence at all, the survivors don’t flee. They just keep eating and surging forward, seemingly pleased by the ever-increasing pile of food, growing more and more excited.

No predators around... so they have no survival instinct... the only thing they know... is food. Are they acting on smell alone?

Just a minute later, with Auren relentlessly slaughtering them, the fish are all dead, not a single one left, as every single one is floating in front of him.

Relieved, Auren suddenly notices movement above him.

To his annoyance, he spots the others. Even though Leira has jumped into the water, carrying a flashlight with her, along with a few others, she has seemingly given up on the rest of the group.

Vanessa, who’s at the front, looks surprised as she wildly gestures towards the dead piranhas, waiving her flashlight around.

Thanks to the flashlight, Auren sees them clearly for the first time. Their teeth look razor sharp, their bodies are light green, and most notably, they have sparkling scales—light green as well.

Leira grabs a knife and carefully cuts apart one of the fish, revealing eggs inside.

Smiling, she gathers as many as she can, then points towards the others, urging them to carry as many dead fish as possible with them.

Vanessa looks visibly displeased, the blood seemingly disgusting her, but she still reacts quickly and grabs as many as she can, Neffi and Eren following along.

A minute later, they ascend again. Eren and Leira look visibly relieved once they reach the surface, breathing wildly. Meanwhile, Neffi and Vanessa still look alright, their breathing fast but still manageable.

“How long was I under?” Auren asks, completely calm, not even feeling the need to breathe yet.

“Around fifteen minutes,” Leira explains calmly as she drops the fish corpses onto the ground. She immediately starts taking more samples, while Oculus stares at the fish, analysing them. “Help me cut them open. If you spot eggs, tell me. This species is quite unique. I’m not getting a match, only species that are around seventy percent related. This could be a huge discovery. We may need those eggs. They should be able to last for a while, as long as I take care of them back at the landing site.”

Wait... fifteen minutes? It felt like nothing. Why... I could have lasted at least two or three times as long. Is this related to my Hatsu? Why did I never notice before? I need to test the limits someday... but I almost felt like I was breathing underwater.

“Why did you follow me?” Auren asks immediately afterwards.

“You... we were worried!” Vanessa says, justifying herself, looking aggrieved.

Neffi, meanwhile, looks embarrassed and slightly guilty. “Your sword... it just disappeared, so I thought something bad happened. This is my fault. Sorry.”

“I see,” Auren replies. “Sorry, I didn’t think this through.” He exhales once, then looks back at the lake. “Anyway, I wasn’t finished. Not even remotely. Give me a flashlight, and I’ll continue. These underwater caves are longer and more extensive than I thought.”

“I want to come with yo—” Vanessa begins, but Auren cuts her off with a single word.

“No.”

“I need your help,” Leira tells Vanessa, her tone firm. “Gather more fish for me.”

Hearing that order makes Vanessa sulk, her face twisting in frustration.

“Fine...” Vanessa agrees reluctantly, knowing that she can’t exactly refuse out of laziness.

“Auren, these underwater caves seem to contain a lot of life,” Leira continues, turning back to him. “If you spot anything, please collect it for me. These fish require food; look for anything edible down there.” She grabs a couple of bags with many pockets, along with belts, and hands them to him.

“Don’t worry about me this time,” Auren says. “I noticed I can hold my breath longer than I expected.”

Auren accepts the bags and straps them to his body so he won’t lose them, then dives back in again.

Now with the flashlight, but still using En, Auren continues his exploration.

He dives into various underwater tunnels. Even when he notices a tunnel is about to end, he still goes all the way, hoping to find something of note.

Finding nothing, he settles for collecting what he can: a few rocks from different places, sandy dirt from the bottom of a tunnel, and a bit of mossy green growth underwater. The fact that it seems to thrive in complete darkness feels odd to him, so he makes sure to gather a careful sample. At the exact location where he found the moss, he turns off the flashlight, but sees no light. However, after focusing for a few seconds, he sees that a few rocks are glowing ever so slightly.

Is that it? Some light shining through... this is weird. Do I need to dig? No, I’ll save that for later if I find nothing else.

Finally, after around thirty minutes, Auren slowly begins to feel the need to actually breathe. He makes his way back up and dumps out the collected samples.

Diving back down again, he continues exploring the underground network of water tunnels.

Step by step, he checks every single one, pausing En from time to time, since he can rely on the flashlight now and has become familiar with the basic layout of the tunnels.

Finally, at the very bottom, he enters one extremely long tunnel.

It takes him almost five minutes of diving, but the tunnel still doesn’t show any hint of stopping.

Should I go back? This tunnel is longer than I expected. I’ll probably need actual diving gear if I want to continue, since even I have my limits.

Just as he wants to return, he activates En again, trying to make sure he isn’t turning away too soon. His En doesn’t reveal anything, but just as he wants to turn around, he senses more moss on the bottom of the tunnel, causing him to spot a faint light from further ahead.

More plants... more light, that makes sense so far. Let’s find out what this is all about.