With the duo's current speed it didn't take very long for them to start noticing the water becoming lighter as they moved at an inclined forward direction.
'There actually really is a sun here! Thank god! I was worried that this could have been some kind of strange sunless water world' The large manta sighed in relief as he even started to put some mana into his wings to propel himself forward a little faster in excitement.
Once he got closer to the surface to the point that the dark vision was no longer necessary he noticed a large body in the distance. It was still far away but from the size it looked like a medium sized island!
"HAahahaha! Little gold do you see that!? It's land! I'll finally be able to meet some humans from this world!! Hey if we meet some please let me do the talking, I know exactly what to say to not freak them out!" Although it didn't seem like the little crab had much of a reaction, you could see she was interested as she stared quietly at the large mass at the distance without ever breaking eye contact. What she was thinking? No one knew except her.
'It's much bigger than I thought!' The closer they got to the large body the bigger it became leaving the manta shocked
The duo started to feel a weak pull on their bodies that would come and go every few seconds and it seemed to be getting stronger the more they moved towards it.
"You feel it little gold? These are called waves! Did you know there are people that glide on them with only a piece of wood and move at incredible speeds?? Humans are really amazing aren't they? I've always wanted to give it a try!" Unconsciously he started picking up his speed even more!
The closer they got the more powerful the pull became. It reached a point where it suddenly jerked the large manta with such power that the little crab almost slipped off! He quickly slowed down as he felt that something wasn't quite right!!
"Uhhh, I've never actually been to the ocean but aren't these waves a little strong? How could people play in the water if the pull of the waves were this powerful!?"
Stopping completely the large manta decided to turn back to assess the situation a bit more before he approached the island since something was definitely strange. However it was as if that strange power had understood its intentions and the pull came back once more but this time it was at least ten times stronger!!
The strong jerk pulled the large manta back at least a couple of yards and the small crab was thrown even further struggling to hold on to its precious pot of sand!
"Little gold!" As soon as he recovered control of his body the large manta flew towards the little crab in hopes of being able to retrieve her and escape before the next pull hit them once again.
As soon as he Reached the disoriented little crab he quickly flew underneath her and once she safely landed on his back and got her balance back he sped up towards the opposite direction of the strange island.
By manipulating his mana a stream shot out from behind both his wings like jet engines, the manta reached an incredible speed in an instant.
"Shadow Manta! Jet Stream!"
Unfortunately they weren't able to go very far when the pull came once more! Even with the extra speed they were still being pulled back!
"Little gold! Help!" The large manta said under his breath as he put all of his strength into the technique.
The little crab that was holding on to the mantas tail for her dear life finally started to act. Closing her eyes in concentration a large amount of sand started flowing out of the skull pot which she desperately held onto with her other claw.
The sand crawled its way out of the skull and over the crab all the way onto the manta's body, it then quickly molded itself into 2 pairs of manta fins that were placed both on top and underneath his own.
"Sand Creation- Sand wings!" The large manta made sure to scream out. Even though she never bothered to, he felt it was wrong not to scream out their abilities as it was being used so he made the kind gesture of doing it for her every time while ignoring the strange look she would give him.
With the help of the wings they gained just enough strength to overpower the pulling from the island and started to slowly distance themselves. The duo sighed in relief as the distance was increasing and the power on them was becoming weaker.
As if realizing that it would not be able to overpower them the pull suddenly stopped as if giving up, almost making the manta lose control of the abrupt change in speed.
The duo made sure to move at least a few miles away before finally slowing down a little to catch their breaths.
"Little gold have you seen anything like that before? I think it was magic but it didn't feel like water elemental magic to me" Taking large breaths he took a look back at the large island sitting quietly in the distance.
".... … Hey..... doesn't it seem like we are even closer to the island now for some reason or is it just me?" He asked, squinting his eyes. He also noticed that part of the land seemed to be opening. A feeling of danger suddenly overwhelmed him as he quickly turned around and tried to put some distance between him and the strange island once again.
"Shadow Manta! Jet-" Unfortunately, it was too late!
"WAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" A powerful sound wave slammed onto their bodies leaving them severely injured internally. The little crab was instantly knocked unconscious and sank slowly in the water unmoving.
The large manta saw the small golden crab sinking and even though he wanted to go and help her he couldn't move himself! His injuries were actually far worse than hers but he held onto his conscience by force. He wanted to understand what went wrong, he wanted to see who was attacking them!
As the large island got closer he finally laid his eyes on his enemy right before it opened its large mouth and that force once again acted on their bodies and pulled them into it in one gulp.
"WHALE!!!" It was his last thought before he fell unconscious.