Chapter 87

The Sea (2)

Every time I looked at the sea, I could think of nothing except how beautiful it was.

If I had come here on vacation, I would have enjoyed myself while taking in the beauty of the ocean.

But just like the forest, the sea was crawling with dangerous things.

It looks like a pristine sandy beach? If anything, that was what warned me of the danger.

Thanks to that, I hadn’t been dragged away by that enormous octopus tentacle.

Even if something looked beautiful on the surface, I could never let my guard down.

There was no telling what might attack me, or when or where. I couldn’t relax my vigilance for even a moment.

The beach is pretty wide.

The sandy beach was fairly expansive. No matter how long I walked, I couldn’t seem to reach the end of it.

What was even more surprising was the location itself. From what I could tell, I was on the other side of the river—in other words, the place where the surroundings constantly changed.

Yet now that I had actually entered this area, there was nothing but sandy beach everywhere, and nothing changed at all.

I even went back just to make sure, but it was the same.

It felt strange.

Is it only the other side of the river that’s weird?

It was strange that space only seemed to distort across the river, and it was equally strange that this place remained perfectly normal.

Everything was so bizarre that I couldn’t make sense of it.

At least I didn’t have to worry about getting lost.

I doubted I’d gain much from wandering around like this. It would probably be better to head back.

"Hm?"

I was just about to give up exploring the beach and return when something suspicious caught my eye.

The beach was mostly flat, but there was one spot that had been hollowed out into a depression.

Extremely suspicious.

I wanted to dig around and satisfy my curiosity, but I hesitated.

What if that’s a trap too?

I’d been burned so many times already that I couldn’t bring myself to approach it casually.

What if I got close and something suddenly jumped out at me?

I was worried, but ignoring it didn’t sit right with me either.

Because I was desperately lacking information.

Something even more dangerous might emerge from there later, right?

Gathering information like this little by little would increase my chances of survival.

I made my decision.

It’s just a pit, so I’ll only take a quick peek.

I approached cautiously.

Whatever was in there might be able to sense vibrations like the octopus.

Eventually, while maintaining a safe distance, I craned my neck forward.

It was close, but I managed to see what was inside the pit.

... Eggs?

They were eggs.

Oval-shaped, and absolutely enormous.

Forget comparing them to chicken eggs. They were big enough to rival ostrich eggs.

And there wasn’t just one. Several of them were nestled together.

What kind of eggs are these?

Laying eggs right in the middle of a sandy beach?

What kind of animal would do that in such a dangerous place?

Since I didn’t know enough about this sort of thing, I had no choice but to ask the gallery.

Title) Anyone know what laid these eggs?

Wild Grylls

(Photo of eggs as large as ostrich eggs)

I was walking around when I found this random pit, and there are eggs inside. Anyone know what these are?

└ Heavenly Demon) This one has never seen eggs so large before.

└ SwordMaster) Why are there so many things you’ve never seen?

└ They’re from the Central Plains.

└ People from the Central Plains might know plenty about people, but there are lots of animals they don’t know.

└ There are so many people around there that they don’t know much about stuff like this lol

└ Are you some kind of racist?

└ SwordMaster) Calling me a racist just because I asked one question is a bit much ;;

└ Allfather) The only marine animals I know of that lay eggs on beaches are turtles. I believe those are turtle eggs.

└ Wild Grylls) Turtles?

└ Allfather) Yes. Sea turtles usually lay their eggs like that.

└ Wild Grylls) It should be fine if I take one, right?

└ Allfather) Wouldn’t asking me that be rather pointless?

└ True. Who’s gonna stop you? lol

└ Think of it like when you killed Wonmo’s mother.

└ Wild Grylls) That’s not what I mean. What if I steal one and the mother suddenly pops out? I already went through hell because of an octopus earlier ;;

└ What happened with the octopus? Where’d you find an octopus?

└ Wild Grylls) It came out of the ground. Only its tentacles came out, but it was definitely an octopus.

└ Why the hell would octopus tentacles come out of the ground? lololol

└ There was a monster like that?

└ Of course not lololol. I’m telling you, that place itself is weird.

└ Allfather) Taking an ordinary sea turtle egg shouldn’t cause any major problems. Still, be careful.

Apparently, taking one would be fine.

The moment I saw that comment, I examined the eggs closely.

There were chicken eggs in the auction house too, but I’d never gone out of my way to buy any.

I had no particular reason to, and they weren’t especially appealing.

But for some reason, one I’d found in the wild looked delicious.

I’ll just take one.

Couldn’t one of these eggs cover an entire meal?

I carefully picked up the enormous turtle egg, which was as large as an ostrich egg.

Fortunately, neither a trap nor the mother turtle appeared.

Given its size, it was heavy and cumbersome, but that was fine.

I had a subspace bag, after all.

Should I take one more?

Just as I was about to get a little greedier—

SPLASH!

Suddenly, I heard a violent rush of water behind me.

It wasn’t the sound of waves.

It was the sound of something bursting out of the water.

The instant I heard it, I hurriedly spun around.

"...."

... A turtle?

What emerged from the sea was none other than a turtle.

Unlike a tortoise, this sea turtle had limbs that were closer to flippers.

Whether it had seen me steal its egg or not, the sea turtle slowly crawled toward me.

Does it not know?

Just in case, I slowly backed away.

But the sea turtle abruptly stopped, apparently having noticed my presence.

Then it stretched out its long neck and stared directly at me.

Considering the situation, it could probably figure out that I was an "egg thief."

It’s fine. It’s just a turtle.

I didn’t know about tortoises, but sea turtles were extremely slow on land.

If things went wrong, I could just run away.

Or so I thought.

"Woooooo."

The sea turtle made a bizarre sound before pulling its feet into its shell.

Its head remained sticking out, making it look rather ridiculous.

Shhk! Shhk!

What happened next, however, wasn’t ridiculous in the slightest.

Instead of flipper-like limbs, blunt, thick legs like those of a tortoise emerged from inside its shell.

It wasn’t some transforming robot, yet here was a turtle doing something like that. It should have been shocking...

That’s awesome...

It was so absurd that all I could do was stare in admiration.

Now that was evolution in the truest sense of the word.

While the shark giant had looked more like a grotesque monstrosity, the turtle’s evolution actually seemed practical.

Wooooong!

A round sphere of energy began gathering inside the mouth of the turtle, which had transformed from a sea turtle into a tortoise.

I knew all too well what that sphere was.

Hadn’t I already gotten a preview of it from the Guardian?

FWOAAAAASH!

A powerful laser blasted from the turtle’s mouth.

Since I was standing near the eggs, it aimed straight for my head.

Thankfully, I managed to dodge it by twisting my body aside.

KABOOOOM!!

The laser was insanely powerful.

It was definitely stronger than the Guardian’s.

How did I know?

Because the laser had punched a massive hole straight through the cliff.

The sheer destructive power was enough to leave my jaw hanging open.

I’d die even if that thing just hit the ground next to me.

What the hell, was it firing a cannon out of its mouth?

Even the blast radius was huge.

But perhaps a turtle was still a turtle, because its movements were slow and sluggish—

DADADADADA!

Correction.

It was unbelievably fast.

The turtle charged toward me in an instant and leaped high into the air.

Let me repeat that.

It jumped.

Then it pulled all four legs and its head back into its shell.

The end result was a gigantic shell flying straight at me.

As the turtle turned itself into a living boulder and hurtled toward me, I hurriedly raised my shield.

KWA-BOOOOM!!

"Urgh!"

Running speed, incredible jumping power, and finally, a rock-hard shell.

Those three excellent qualities combined into one attack, and even though I blocked it with my shield, I was still sent tumbling backward.

And that was despite taking a proper defensive stance.

The impact was terrifying.

"Ugh..."

Wooooong!

I was still dazed from the impact transmitted through my shield when I sensed energy gathering in front of me and hurriedly raised my head.

I had no idea when it had stuck its head back out, but the turtle was already gathering energy in its mouth.

Now that it had knocked me far away from the eggs, it apparently intended to finish me off.

Considering the power of the laser I’d just witnessed, my shield wouldn’t stand a chance.

W-What do I do...? Ah!

There was a way.

I rummaged through my subspace bag faster than I ever had before.

The crossbow got in the way for a moment, but I still managed to pull out what I wanted.

"L-Look at this!"

I shouted and held up the turtle egg, which was as large as an ostrich egg.

My hands were fairly large, so I could hold it in one hand.

The turtle visibly flinched when I pulled out the egg, clearly taken aback.

The same went for the energy gathered in its mouth. I could see it gradually diminishing.

Soon, the turtle completely dispersed the energy.

Its expression, however, remained murderous.

It glared fiercely at me as though it wanted to tear me limb from limb.

Seeing such an expression on an ordinarily docile-looking turtle...

This whole situation was making me feel like the bad guy.

No. I really am the bad guy.

Not only had I tried to steal a turtle egg, I was now brazenly holding it hostage.

Even objectively speaking, there was no denying that I was the bad guy here.

But I had to survive, didn’t I?

Unlike that turtle, I wasn’t exactly capable of shooting lasers out of my mouth.

I’d do whatever it took to stay alive.

Step. Step.

I slowly backed away while keeping the egg where the turtle could see it.

Every time I took a step backward, the turtle followed me a little farther.

It looked ready to chase me to the ends of hell unless I gave the egg back.

No other choice.

I’d walk all the way to the lower reaches of the river like this, then give it back the egg.

After that, I’d run for my life.

Why not take the opportunity to kill the turtle instead?

Too inefficient.

For one thing, it was nearly as large as a bear.

On top of that, it possessed agility completely unbecoming of something called a turtle.

It’s about time I headed back anyway.

I needed to leave now if I wanted to make it back by dinner.

Once darkness fell, I’d be the one at a disadvantage.

Worst-case scenario, I might never find the cave again.

My top priority was returning safely without getting hurt.

SHWAAAAAA!

As I continued backing away, I eventually reached the mouth of the river where the water flowed backward.

The turtle hadn’t taken its eyes off me once.

As a bonus, its expression was growing angrier by the second.

Now all I had to do was roll the egg back to it and this would be over.

Though if it showed even the slightest sign of attacking, I’d chuck the egg away immediately.

"... Huh?"

Right in the middle of our suffocating standoff, something astonishing began happening behind the turtle.

The distance from the mouth of the river to the pit was considerable.

But my eyesight had improved so much that I could see everything clearly.

A flock of birds had appeared from somewhere and was descending toward the pit.

"Hey! Hey! Look! Look behind you!"

"Uwoong?"

When I frantically pointed behind it, the turtle turned around as well.

In the meantime, the birds began trying to gulp down the eggs like pelicans.

The eggs were so huge, however, that they seemed to be having trouble swallowing them.

"UWOOOOOOOOOO!!!"

Naturally, the turtle exploded with rage.

Calling it an explosion wasn’t even enough.

It was more like a volcano erupting.

Then, just as it had done with me, it charged toward the pit at a tremendous speed.

The birds were startled and hurriedly flapped their wings before taking off.

Now’s my chance!

While the turtle rushed back toward the pit, I turned and fled without looking back.

Just in case it decided to fire a mana cannon at me, I even circulated my mana as I ran.

Thanks to that, the surrounding forest flashed past me in an instant, and even the violently rushing river seemed to be flowing slowly.

"Hehehe."

Once I reached a reasonably safe place, I couldn’t help but laugh.

An unexpected find.

An unexpected attack.

And unexpected luck.

The result of it all was the ostrich—

No, the turtle egg sitting inside my subspace bag.

Between the eel and this, it looked like I’d finally get to enjoy some delicacies for a change.

And I’m never going near the sea again.

There was no way in hell I was ever returning to that place.