I was falling.
Falling into the maw of the gargantuan spirit beast, along with debris, piping, wiring and broken equipment. I coughed after inhaling a thick cloud of dust, only to crash against a slimy, membrane-like wall and bounce off.
Twisting around in midair, I drew my sword and plunged it into the glistening wall. That move arrested my fall, but I felt the enormous creature that had swallowed me tremble almost as if in pain. Or discomfort.
"Damn it!"
I clutched my sword tightly as rubble continued to rain all around me, plunging into the abyssal gut below. I struggled to pull myself up, to no avail. There weren't any footholds, unfortunately, and the surface was slick with saliva or other fluids. Too slippery for me to climb out.
But to give up was to die. No doubt there was a lake of gastric acid waiting for me below if I let go and fall with the rest of the swallowed debris.
-The Ancient Aquatic Artifact has been deposited in the user's storage space. Until the user dies, it will remain inside there. So do your best not to die. –
"You're not being very helpful here," I grumbled under my breath, only to regret it when I choked on the noxious fumes that billowed upward from the sea monster's stomach. I wondered if my parents were freaking out when they saw how an entire portion of the undersea facility – with me inside it – was swallowed by a gargantuan sea monster. On the security cams.
Come to think of it, I didn't even know what had devoured both me and the undersea vaults. A whale? A dragon? An enormous sea snake? An oversized fish?
I wasn't sure I could stomach my current ordeal, though…in any event, I had best think of a plan to escape from the belly of the beast.
Planting my feet against the creature's gullet, I slipped and dangled from my sword once more. The soles of my shoes simply couldn't gain the traction I needed against the moist membrane of the spirit beast's esophagus. There was no walking my way out of here.
"What if I cut my way out instead?"
I tried not to sigh as I looked around. It was pretty dark, but for some reason the interior of the spirit beast's gullet was illuminated because of manhua or dongman logic. Can't keep the readers or watchers in the dark, after all.
Taking a deep breath, I yanked my sword out of the creature's throat, causing blood to spew out. For a second, I plummeted toward the churning gastric juices in its stomach, but I had no intention of being digested. Coalescing whatever qi I could gather into my left hand, I shaped an azure arrow and lengthened it further until it resembled a qi sword. Lashing out with both hands, I used Flowing River Clear Sword technique to cut through the gullet of the creature and forced an opening in its throat.
For a moment, blood billowed and enveloped me, obscuring my vision in a thick, red cloud. Gagging and choking, I kicked and launched myself through the gaping hole, continuing to hack and slice my way through. Flesh and muscle gave way under my blades, and I forced my way through to the open. The blood was replaced by cold, dark waters that engulfed me like a ravenous living thing, dragging me to its depths.
"Gah!"
Bubbles streamed out of my mouth as I choked on the water, tumbling away from the incision I tunneled through the creature's gut. As I tumbled away into the abyssal depths of the sea, I caught sight of the enormous spirit beast that had swallowed me.
It resembled an enormous pliosaur, maybe an oversized Liopleurodon from one of Steve Alten's Megalodon novels. Except that they were normally seven meters long if we were talking about the actual species that went extinct with the dinosaurs millions of years ago, but this one was about five times as long. Almost forty meters in length and with a crocodilian maw massive enough to swallow me and the surrounding vaults whole.
Fortunately, it didn't get to swallow the Ancient Aquatic Artifact that it wanted, or that would have been quite the catastrophe. The creature was already so large. I didn't want to imagine what it would evolve into if it digested the relic.
The creature snarled and twisted its head about to glare at me. Blood continued to leak out of the wound I had cut open from the inside, spreading across the sea. Mystic ranked, beginner level…no, it had to be intermediate at least. Not only that, its immense size meant that I was currently no match for it at all. I had to escape…
But I was surrounded by water and drowning. My chest was burning, my lungs begging for air. I couldn't breathe, and my nose and mouth were being filled with saltwater. My consciousness was slowly blacking out, even as I flailed and kicked helplessly, desperate to swim to the surface. I knew that struggling wasn't a good idea, but even if I relaxed and allowed my body's natural buoyancy to slowly float me back to the surface, I would drown before I could get any air.
That was assuming I was calm, which I was not. Panic had set in and I was thrashing about desperately, which only served to drag me deeper into the sea. The enormous pliosaur spirit beast didn't care about that, intent only on devouring me again despite the ragged tear I had left in its bleeding neck. It was determined to swallow the Ancient Aquatic Artifact and boost its own strength.
The system stayed silent, and I knew it was pointless to summon Xiao Huo right now. That was why the automated defensive summoning hadn't been initiated despite me being in a life-threatening situation. Xiao Huo would just drown, if she didn't get swallowed by the spirit beast first. And her fireballs wouldn't do anything in an aquatic environment, other than creating steam and warming the surroundings. I was out of options.
Gasping, I drew what was left of my qi and lashed out, more out of instinct than conscious will. Azure energies extended from my sword and whipped at the spirit beast's face, sending more bloody spraying out and causing it to recoil from the pain. As I turned toward it, I dimly noticed that I had blinded it in one eye.
That didn't discourage the pliosaur and it propelled itself once more, its jaws opening wide.
"Retreat! Now that the Large Liopleurodon is hurt, this is our chance to escape!"
"What about the person who just burst out of its body?"
"Who cares about him? He's from the surface, you know we have cut off all contact with them."
"We have to hurry, your highness. The blood from the Large Liopleurodon will have drawn more predators here."
"But…"
I squinted through the spreading fog, looking around slowly to attempt to find the source of the voices. I could hear people talking, but that was impossible. I was underwater. How was it possible that there were people speaking in the water, and I was hearing their voices so clearly?
Ah…I understood. I was hallucinating. On the verge of death, I was hearing phantom voices, probably created from my own consciousness.
As I drifted downward, waiting for my death at the jaws of the approaching Large Liopleurodon, I caught sight of dark shapes darting forward. Mega Sharks sped forward like sleek, shadowy submarines, homing onto their target and tearing large chunks of flesh from the shrieking pliosaur type spirit beast. The ocean turned into a sea of blood, with huge pieces of meat floating all over.
Blurs of jaws, teeth and fins cut and sliced, with the Large Liopleurodon fighting back fiercely against the swarm of Mega Sharks that assailed it. I wasn't able to keep my attention on the battle because I was still tumbling through the abyssal depths, my lungs flooded.
Drowning was a terrible way to die.
The last thing I saw was a girl swimming toward me. A beautiful, almost angelic figure with long blue hair that spread out behind her like silky seaweed, her gorgeous frame clothed in a tight dress. Then she caught hold of me and brought my face toward hers.
Huh? What…?
I felt her lips on mine, a cold kiss. Then air flowing into my throat, dispelling the water that had forced its way into my airways. Vital oxygen spread across my body once more, bringing with it the promise of life.
Even so, I couldn't help but feel my consciousness fade away. But just before I blacked out, I caught sight of more figures, similar in features to the girl who had saved me, swimming forward. One of them, a muscular man with blue wavy hair and a trident, streaked through the water, his expression furious.
"Your highness! What do you think you are doing!? This is an outrage!"
The girl who had saved my life finally let go of me and turned to the person who was presumably her bodyguard, her glacial eyes gleaming and her delicate lips curving to a smile.
"I was simply helping him breathe."
"You…didn't have to…!"
"There was no other way. And besides, we owe him. If he hadn't cut his way out of the Large Liopleurodon when he did, our expedition might have been wiped out."
The dude continued to bicker furiously, but I could no longer make out what he was saying. My head lolled in the watery environment and I finally passed out completely.