Is That A Wisp?

It was a massive shadow swimming in the ocean. Thanks to the blurriness of the waters, Krune was unable to make out its appearance. All he managed to see was a massive shadow slowly swimming past where he was. 

Followed by it was an elongated sound dragged to the limit, resounding like a train's whistle heard from far away. Krune shuddered, feeling the intensity of the other party's presence. In his current state, he didn't even qualify as a snack. 

The Escapist curled its tail into a spiral before starting to rotate it, making use of the fin attached at the end of its tail to push the water. This way, it created some torque, allowing it to move on the ocean waters. 

It was capable of flying. 

Sadly, flying in such a place was tantamount to suicide. After all, from the middle of the air layer, it was divided into two regions of gravity acting in opposite directions. In other words, even a single flap of the wings through the other half meant extra strain.

Not to mention flying, the Escapist didn't even have the confidence of not crashing into the ocean a second after it took flight. Therefore, all it did was move its tail like a motor paddle and row through the waters. 

This was the most economical way to travel while conserving their stamina. As they neither had a destination in mind nor a direction to travel towards, all they could do was sail aimlessly. 

In the meantime, Krune tore off parts of his clothes and tied them to create some makeshift rope. He then clutched the ends and prepared a solid lock. He planned to use this rope to attack anything that might try to harm him.

More than attacking, it was better geared towards defense. Nevertheless, anything at this moment was better than remaining unarmed. There was a gentle light in the place, illuminating everything in a dull yellow. Though, Krune was unable to make out the source of the light. 

It seemed the water allowed the light to travel this long from the source through a series of reflections, refractions, and diffractions. Though, whenever Krune peeked into the ocean before him, he wouldn't be able to see anything beyond 10 meters.

Everything below was too dark for him to spot anything. Honestly, it was unnerving for him. Surprisingly, he could also only spot a depth of 10 meters in the ocean above him. Beyond that was pitch black.

The fact that he was sandwiched by two bodies of water and he couldn't see past their surface layer made him jittery. If he was still able to use Godly Energy, Krune wouldn't have been like this. But now, he didn't have any methods to protect himself. 

To avoid emitting any Godly Energy, he had stored all his equipment in his spatial rings. Krune then summoned the tablet by double-tapping his glabella. He then grabbed hold of it, moving it around using his hands. 

A thought struck him as he gently placed it on the water surface. He hadn't relaxed his hold over it too much, still making sure he was able to grab it. The moment he placed it on the water surface, Krune realized that it wouldn't float. Instead, it seemed it would head straight into the depths of the ocean.

Moreover, in the current situation, he couldn't retract it with a thought. He had to double tap it to retract it. Unlike before, the tablet didn't hover in the air before him. He had to grab hold of it. Otherwise, it would just fall to the ground.

Well, in this case, it would plunge into the ocean and disappear from view. Without the tablet, he wouldn't be able to check any information or even use Godly Points to purchase something. The tablet was the most valuable item in the Sub-Realm.

"Well, if something life-threatening arrives, I can at least use it to defend myself. It seems sturdy enough," Krune muttered as he fiddled with the tablet for an hour, sighing as he retracted it, unable to obtain any other information from it. 

Even the place displayed in the region, Epic Hell, had disappeared. As the Escapist rowed through the ocean surface, Krune sat in thought while drying himself up. He had no other choice if he didn't wish to fall ill, a concept that was odd but was his current reality. 

He had to instill the concept into his mind that he was now a mortal again. He wasn't the Krune that was able to mow down foes easily. He was a being made out of flesh and blood that would bleed when hurt and can fall sick easily when not taken care of. 

"At least, the water's drinkable," Krune muttered. He had drunk quite the lot of it when he plunged into the ocean at the start. So, he knew he could stay hydrated just by drinking it.

Just as he thought of it, Krune frowned, noticing something through their shared thoughts. The Escapist wasn't feeling well. Its body temperature was dropping. Frowning, Krune dipped his hand into the water, retracting it immediately as he yelled out subconsciously, "Cold!"

"When did it become this cold?" He frowned with a hint of panic since he didn't have any other means to change the situation. To protect him, the Escapist was on the ocean floor, paddling through. As the ocean water turned colder, it was losing body heat continuously. 

The Escapist made a turn immediately, retracing its travel path. Soon, a couple of minutes later, its condition turned normal. Krune touched the water once again, sighing in relief when it was warm. The warmth caused the Escapist's faintly trembling body to warm up.

"That direction is dangerous," Krune said as he pointed at his back. But a second later, he tilted his head to the side, wondering if that was the direction towards where the water turned colder. 

To obtain some clues, he looked at the tiny waves on the water, noticing that the currents were completely random. For every kilometer, their direction changed, making it impossible to determine which direction they were proceeding towards. 

On top of that, even in the same place, the direction of the currents continued to slowly but surely change. With that, there was no way for them to determine the direction they proceeded in. 

Thankfully, they were proceeding in a straight line from the start. Then again, Krune dared not claim they were traveling straight from the initial point. They were heading straight, that's for sure. But the water currents might have displaced them subtly over time, changing their direction. 

Surprisingly, as the currents constantly changed direction, even though they were rowing straight, when seen from a bird's eye point of view, the path they had traversed would be curved scribbles. 

Water!

There was only water as far as he could see. The shadow of that blue whale-like creature was the only sign of life he had seen till now. After that, Krune didn't manage to glimpse any other living beings. 

As they continued to travel aimlessly, the surroundings were starting to dim. For a moment, Krune wasn't used to it, having accustomed to the God Realm's environment. 

But he soon realized what was happening, turning vigilant as the surroundings continued to dim. 

The night was approaching!

Normally, it wouldn't have been a cause for concern. After all, most cultivators relied on their Divine Sense than their sight. But now, his sense of sight, taste, and smell were all Krune could rely upon to sense his surroundings. 

And with the descent of the night rendered the sense he primarily relied on useless. Whether it was Krune or the Escapist, both were feeling bouts of fear. As for the Escapist, it started to tremble from time to time. 

After all, unlike Krune that had a layer of safety under him, more than half its body surface was in contact with the water. So, if something sprung up from within, it would be affected first. Of course, Krune was able to feel its thoughts.

He no longer felt safe. But that didn't mean he could do anything. Thankfully, they hardly made any sounds while moving. The rowing of the Escapist was silent and hardly created any ripples. Moreover, its body had been still from the start. All Krune did was sit on top of it, not moving the entire time. 

They didn't wish to cause any commotion and attract any unwanted attention. Just as a habit, Krune double-tapped his glabella, summoning his tablet, grabbing hold of it as he gazed into the data on it, frowning immediately.

[Layer 3: Double Ocean]

[Total People: 340,127]

'Almost 1400 people have died already,' Krune frowned as he thought, feeling a chill. In his mind, he thought that they most likely drowned to their deaths. After all, there was a limit to how long they could remain afloat. Even then, if they ventured into places like the cold waters as Krune did, their bodies might freeze up and sink. 

Anything could happen in the place. Krune had just thought of this when the data on the tablet flashed, changing to just a single row of words, causing Krune to tremble from fright to the point where he had almost dropped it. 

[The First Wave will begin now.]

"The first wave? What the hell is that?" he cursed aloud, immediately shutting himself as he strained his eyes, hearing the sounds of waves. It was like something was moving through the waves, a lot of them at the same time.

The sounds were similar to those made by the waves along the shores as they arrived at the beach one after another. It was a resounding bassy sound, one lacking a point source. It was spread throughout the place. 

Krune turned around immediately, noticing a faint white line at the end of his line of sight. It was like the ocean was bubbling. Though, the shocking fact was the white line extended horizontally to beyond his range of vision. It was as if it spanned the entirety of the layer and was moving forth from one end to another.

Moreover, as the white line approached, his surroundings fully dimmed. The night had set when the white line arrived at a position a kilometer away from him.

But, only when the night set did he notice the neon lights hidden amidst the white line. Surprisingly, they seemed to be approaching him at a quick pace.