Chapter 51: Sunken City (1)

The creature flying toward us looked like one of those seagulls you’d find near the ocean, except 5 times bigger and with 2 heads. It was pretty terrifying.

I was ready to attack the creature, but the octopus moved first, using that same attack from before, launching a powerful ball of water.

Bang.

The impact was so strong it basically exploded the seagull’s body. From a distance, I saw the monster crystal falling from its body, and of course I did everything I could to grab it.

I controlled a small part of the cube, which detached from the larger surface and flew toward the crystal, catching it before it fell into the sea. I brought it back to me and stored it inside my pocket dimension.

"You really want these crystals badly, human," the octopus said. "Is this how you guys increase your power?"

This creature was really smart. I had already figured that after everything I witnessed from it, but it seemed to know quite a lot about hunters. Maybe it could read minds while controlling other people? That could explain a lot.

I didn’t answer the question. I saw no reason to be so friendly with it. All I did was follow the directions it gave, since it was the one who knew that rift, not me.

Meanwhile, Tom finally woke up, completely confused about what had happened. We had to explain everything to him and calm him down too. The poor man went into shock when he saw that octopus so close to us.

"Why is this fucking octopus here with us?" Tom said as soon as he woke up and saw the octopus.

The octopus even turned to face him and smirked, just to make him even more nervous.

"So you’re telling me that in the end, we decided to work with a monster? Is this for real?" Tom complained.

"We had no choice. That damn octopus broke Vincent’s bones so easily," Ethan said, looking at my arms as he spoke, his expression shifting to complete shock.

I was already moving my arms around, making fists and checking if everything was fine. My regeneration speed after getting that bloodline was impressive.

"Impossible," Ethan said.

It was starting to get hard to hide all my abilities from my two friends. To make things worse, that octopus said something weird during our fight, making it sound like I was a monster too. I was sure Tom and Ethan had a bunch of questions swirling in their heads.

A few more creatures came attacking us along the way. Their strength was similar to what we had already been facing, so it wasn’t too hard to deal with them.

And in the distance, we could see the place the octopus had mentioned. A stone structure was coming into view, but most of it was submerged underwater.

"That’s the city I mentioned," the octopus said. "They must already be inside, which is honestly impressive. They were faster than I expected."

"And how do we get in? I don’t know if you’re aware, but we can’t breathe underwater," I said.

"Don’t worry. The city has a magical mechanism blocking the water from actually getting inside. It’s only submerged around it."

"Are there enemies inside?" I asked.

"Maybe a few. The city was attacked a long time ago by other creatures from the outside, so if anyone is still in there, they must have fled and come back. But as you can see, the city is not what it used to be."

"And how the hell do you know all this?"

The octopus didn’t want to answer. It just said something generic so it wouldn’t leave me hanging.

"I’m just curious, that’s all."

I controlled the cube to bring us close to the submerged structure. Apparently, it was one of the towers near the city gate. Since it was really tall, the tip was still sticking out of the water.

"We’ll have to go into the water and pass through the gate, so hold your breath. Once we get there, everything will be normal."

We didn’t get off the structure I had created with the cube. I just controlled it to take us into the water. It was faster that way than trying to swim to the gate.

And speaking of that gate, it was more submerged than I thought. It took us about 30 seconds to reach the bottom, even moving at a really high speed.

Those towers were simply enormous for some reason. Maybe just to show off dominance. Back in the day, this city was definitely the main location of this rift, and the people living in it controlled everything.

Down at the bottom, we saw an almost transparent barrier with a faint bluish tint. That was the barrier blocking the water from getting into the city.

This barrier surrounded the entire city, meaning the water wasn’t directly inside it, even though it had gotten in in the past, leaving most of the buildings in ruins. We passed through it without much resistance, which was weird, as it should be protecting the city.

"This barrier protected the city," the octopus began to explain. "It was disabled during the invasion. It stayed like that for several years, so the water took over the city. However, when the barrier activated again, all the water was pushed out, leaving the city in the state we’re seeing now."

"And before you ask, the barrier isn’t fully active. We can still get in."

That damn monster knew way too much. It wasn’t trustworthy to begin with, and it was only getting worse.

The only reason we were working with it was because we had no choice. But of course, I was already mentally preparing to fight it when the time came.

I was sure Tom and Ethan were doing the same thing. That way, we could kill a powerful monster and capture Mary, a villain, at the same time.

That is, assuming everything went according to plan, which was usually impossible...

Anyway, I looked around, taking in the city. It was pretty big, similar to a city from medieval times, with everything made of stone.

Houses scattered all over, streets paved with massive stones, and even a plaza where an old water fountain lay, which was funny considering the city was surrounded by water on all sides.

"The city used to sit under a floating platform that was also deactivated when it got attacked, which caused the whole city to sink into the ocean," the octopus said.

I didn’t even bother asking how it knew all that. I already knew I wouldn’t get the answer I was looking for.

And now, apparently, it was my turn to act.

"Track them," the octopus said. "That’s why I decided to spare your lives. I need your help."

Despite all its abilities, the octopus was pretty bad at tracking people, especially outside the water. That was why our help was needed.

Or rather, my help. Among the three of us, I had the best tracking ability.

Tom could use his wind power to help, but it wouldn’t be as effective inside that city. Not to mention it took a good amount of time.

Anyway, even though I didn’t want to, I started tracking Mary and Maison, who had already been inside the city for a while.

And for that, there was nothing better than my bloodline. I focused my power into my eyes, and then I began seeing the mana trails they had left behind.

Mary had been smarter this time and didn’t use her ink creatures inside the city. After all, ink marks on the ground were easy to track.

But even with her avoiding that, I could still track the mana they left behind as they walked through there. It was really faint, almost imperceptible, but I could still see it clearly.

"This way," I said, taking the lead and moving ahead while the others followed me.

We walked through the city, which was absurdly big, going through narrow alleys, following those traces of mana.

"How do you know so much about this place but don’t know where the treasure is?" I asked the octopus.

"The treasure’s location was tied to the key I had gotten. As soon as they stole the key from me, the location vanished from my mind. Magical artifacts always have built-in defense mechanisms."

"So now they know where the treasure is? Doesn’t that mean we won’t get a chance to grab it?"

The octopus was already getting impatient with how many questions I was asking. But it was better to be annoying and ask than to say nothing and be completely in the dark.

"There are lots of traps, possibly enemies, and even puzzles along the way. Even knowing where the treasure is, it’ll take them a while to get there, and that’s our chance to catch up to them and steal the key. Now, focus on tracking those bastards."

I sighed and continued tracking. We had to find them as quickly as possible.