Ran got the swordfish, aka the dinner, and now all he needed was to head back to the surface where they waited for him. This sounded pretty simple; just go back to the surface and join the rest, but reality proved to be different.
Because he had chased the swordfish, not only was he farther away from them in terms of length, but also in depth. And currently, he was about two hundred meters (over six hundred and fifty feet) away from the surface.
And yet, before he even had the chance to start his escape, the ocean bed started rumbling. Some of the carcasses collapsed and stirred up the sand.
Countless shadows began shooting from cover to cover, slowly but surely closing in on Rans position.
Rans mouth made an o-shape as he was surprised by this scene. They weren't coming to become friends with him, were they?
Sure enough, a shadow that was closer to him suddenly blurred as Ran hurriedly dodged to the side.
As it turns out, Rans mouth wasn't the only one that made an o-shape! And this one was full of sharp teeth!
Ran didn't even bother to look at this newcomer as he tried to escape.
Ran just dipped right on out of there; he was fast, it would only take about eight seconds for him to reach the two ships on the surface.
And he did pretty well too, getting two-thirds of the way there - that's when things took a turn for the worst.
As he shot like a torpedo towards the surface, a thick scent of blood drilled into his nose. His ears started buzzing and his body started freezing up as he got goosebumps. At the same time, there was a rumble.
The land beneath him started quaking before it directly broke off into pieces - whatever was left fell into the dark waters below, it no longer made any noises such as crashing.
When he looked behind him to see what was happening, what surprised him was not the floor suddenly disappearing, but the ice spike that abruptly appeared and sped towards him! Spooked, he suddenly twisted his body and he headed straight up instead of going at an angle.
But... he couldn't dodge it fully.
It shredded the layer of soul juice that Ran had placed himself in and accurately hit his knee. If it wasn't for the fact that it froze his entire leg up, the lower part of his leg would be dangling by a thread of flesh.
Oh s**t, it's a boss!
But Ran was in luck, he had reached the surface before whatever was targeting him could catch up.
"START THE SHIP!" Ran shouted at the top of his lungs as he shot through the surface of the water and crashed on the stern of his ship.
Everyone was confused, but Ann reacted quickly - rapidly pressing the full-speed button. Only after witnessing what Ann did and seeing Rans condition did everyone figure out what was going on.
Queenie swiftly handled her ship as well as it began catching up to the far away cutter.
Only, a second after the two ships left their original position, an explosion happened at that very spot.
The explosion was massive enough to easily capsize both ships.
And from the falling and foaming water, a dark figure floated silently.
The group was too far away from it to see clearly, but they all felt those cold eyes… eyeing them.
They felt it deliberate. Like whether or not to reap their souls for its amusement. After all, they all had the same thoughts.
It was a rank-5 boss! At least, its humanoid figure suggested it. And while it could have been born that way depending on its parents, the magnitude of explosion it caused would still suggest at least that much strength.
Eventually, the dark figure withdrew its gaze and slowly sunk back into the water; it could no longer be seen.
"Phew, that was…" Ran ruminated on what to say, but nothing came out of his mouth. He wanted to say it was exciting, but he quickly realized he could have just died. Not only him, even the others would at least be in some amount of danger.
They also had rank-5 bodyguards, but no one knew the true level of that figure; they only formed their conclusion through what they had seen and seen only. Better safe than sorry.
Plus, life was much more complicated than a mere rank system. But you already knew all of that.
Suddenly, Ran felt a tingling sensation. He looked down and found his right leg completely frozen; the frost was even slowly crawling up his leg and into his torso.
He activated his sigil and the soul juice in his body immediately moved to capture the enemy juice. However, he quickly realized that his sigil had no effect and his soul was too weak to combat the frost naturally.
He was about to call Ann for assistance when he looked up; It turned out she was already there! How reliable!
"Let me. You might want to close your eyes, by the way." Ran immediately understood her meaning and covered his eyes with his hands. He had learned the hard way that her sigil was usually too bright for a normal person to gaze at, especially from this close. The eyelids just couldn't stop it at all.
But if someone did see her, they would think she was some kind of wingless angel, what with the bright white lights surrounding her body softly. Though anyone who knew her would know that she was a fierce angel!
She immediately grabbed his frozen leg upon summoning her armor and a sizzling sound could be heard throughout the ship. Soon enough, the meter-long spike disappeared and his leg was defrosted. However, the damage was done and his leg started falling apart.
But, how could Ann let that happen? She wouldn't! Thus, I only have one thing to say:
Have you seen Ann's fetal organ yet?
No? Well, that's what I'm here for! To tell you the magnificent and sad story of Ran and those around him!
Ann looked at the newly bleeding leg and felt sorry. She should have paid more attention, she thought. But feeling sorry wasn't going to do anything.
So, she directly gathered her fetal organ. From all around her body, including places like her face and neck, a resplendent red liquid began secreting from her skin. It rolled up and down her body before coalescing on her hands.
On her two hands, two, red, globular orbs floated silently. As they rotated, light reflected off of them; it was almost like oil in that way and some of its characteristics were also reminiscent of it.
The two tennis ball-sized orbs were soon placed on Rans f**ked up leg and it caressed his leg softly.
Ripples started popping up and the red liquid covering his leg began moving back and forth like the shallow waves of a tide.
While the liquid's red hue didn't allow for anyone to see what exactly was happening, the gentle nature of the process was surely a good sign.
It was like a masseur, the red liquid appeared to massage his leg and the tingling sensation eventually faded. After about half-a-minute, Ann recalled the thin layer of red liquid back into her body before she looked at his leg.
Just one look and one was able to see differences between his right and left leg.
For one, its complexion was much smoother. But most importantly, his leg was butt-naked!
His legs weren't the type to grow much hair, but this was practically clean-shaven! No wonder Ann's body is soft and smooth despite being mostly covered in freckles.
No wonder she looked so sad, that f**ker doesn't want to share her secret sauce!
Ran was furious (not really), he has one leg that is slightly hairy and one that is completely smooth; that's just plain sloppy. The asymmetry was hurting his brain! He must demand more sauce!
It's definitely not because he wants smooth skin like Ann, definitely not.
Only after fighting in his head for several seconds to whether or not ask for some more sauce did he uncover the fact that his leg was completely healed. Now he didn't have to wait for the ice to dissipate in order to heal himself and by then, he might just be an ice sculpture.
The whole process only took about a minute, from thawing his leg to healing it. This was stupendous and only showcased Ann's power even more.
He immediately forgot about some meaningless sauce; he wanted to hug Ann and shower her with praise, as you would, but he was instead met with a boot to the glute.
"Fool! You dare to touch me?!" She squished her shoe on his butt more, but you could tell she didn't put much force behind it.
"What was that?" He was curious. He had never seen her fetal organ before, for whatever reason, so he didn't know. At least... according to his recollection.
"Hmph, wouldn't you like to know? It's just my Youth Serum." That's what she named her fetal organ - for obvious reasons.
"Eeh?" Ran was still befuddled. Youth Serum? What's that? Maybe being stepped on was inhibiting his thought process.
…
After healing his leg, Ran finally deactivated his sword's ability. He discovered that based on the kind of ability it created, his consumption of energy would rise or fall accordingly.
While the activation of the original ability remains the same no matter what, continued access to the new ability would change. Like if he wanted to keep using the sword ability during the fight against Bane, it would consume between five to ten times more energy for every second it stayed activated than if he was to do the same with the net transformation.
After giving the suffocated and dead swordfish to Ann, he had everyone gather on his cutter. Ann cooked a scrumptious meal and everyone enjoyed her cooking skills under the afternoon sky.
When night came, everyone dispersed to their respective ships and rooms. Ran slept soundly tonight… that was until he was transported to that now familiar ocean.
This ocean was different than the one his body was floating on. It appeared endlessly more boundless and just felt more... primal.
When he spawned, he was still inside the cave that had so graciously given him the crystals. Except, the cave was no longer empty!
He looked in front of him and he found that someone was sitting just a few meters ahead. It was Granny Coelacanth!
She was in a criss cross applesauce position and her eyes were closed; her body emanated a relaxing feeling.
Seeing her so relaxed and seemingly "asleep", he suddenly got the urge to tease her.
With a devious smile, he very slowly crept up to her before gently placing two fingers in her sharp and human-like nose.
Five seconds passed.
Ten seconds passed.
Thirty seconds passed.
A minute passed and nothing happened. Ran was perplexed, this always worked on Ann when she was too lazy to get up off the bed; why didn't it work here?
However, as if reading his mind, Granny's eyes slowly opened as she looked at him silently.
Ran: "..."