"Little brother, it's not over until it is over! We shouldn't give up! If we don't give up, we will surely find our way out of here."
Sho snapped after hearing the heroic lady's remark. He unconsciously looked at the heroic lady. Her eyes shone with positivity and determination. She was like a light in the middle of the dim night. He felt the darkness enveloping him and the despair that was slowly eating him all vanished.
Yes, there's still hope. The only time hope would be lost is when they gave up!
And he wouldn't give up!
He refused to give up after just waking up!
He refused to think that he would die just as he had assumed Sho's identity.
Almost at the same time as he was feeling his will to live come back and his strength restored, he heard a shout.
"Abide!"
In the corner of his eyes, he saw the man in a suit swim towards them. He was especially dashing as there was firm determination in his eyes. Just like the heroic lady, the man in the suit hasn't given up at all. It seemed he also wanted to do his best to save as many people as he could. He refused to have any regrets in his life.
The man in the suit glanced briefly at Sho, their eyes met and there was a mutual understanding between them. They would do everything to save as many people as they could. So that they wouldn't have any regrets. Even if they failed, at least, they did everything they could!
Sho believed the man would be capable enough to protect them, while the man in the suit believed Sho could think of a solution to get out of this situation.
To survive.
They would survive!
"Train crew group! Swim towards here! Hurry!"
The train crew looked at Sho with disbelief. It was too much of a request. To swim towards the swarm of murlocs who are far more cruel than any animal they knew. They were terrified of the idea. They knew they should do something, but they couldn't throw themselves on the mouth of these monsters! They couldn't move or wouldn't move. The three women just couldn't for the life of them do anything. They were too weak, too scared to do anything.
Sho knew it even before he said his request. His idea was too scary. Even so, someone needs courage to do his request. However, he didn't have any time to explain. The murlocs were attacking faster. And without the singing slowing them down, they were able to get back to their previous speed in no time at all.
"Sing, Miss. Sing as loud as you can."
The heroic lady nodded, as if she understood what he wanted to do.
Her eyes were full of trust towards Sho. In her mind, they were able to survive thanks to the young man. It was also obvious how he tried so hard to save as many people as he could. Even when he was being looked in disdain and distrust, he still tried hard to get them to safety.
The heroic lady started singing loudly, making the murlocs slow down considerably. But the murlocs didn't back down, they frantically attacked their styro boat while the middle school boy and Sho protected it.
"Swim here!" Sho shouted again.
*They need to go over here. That man is coming and we're nearer to him than them. I dunno what he did, but the group of murlocs that was chasing him was not attacking him. And it seems he wanted to help us.*
But the group of train crew or the rest of them didn't swim.
The train crew, mother and little girl didn't dare to put their arms in the water. Even if the kid had little courage, being stopped by her mother, she didn't push on swinging her arms underwater to move the boat. They could only pray that they would be left alone by the group of murlocs. They were praying for the nightmare to end. For them to wake up from this hellish dream.
The other four also didn't listen to Sho. They have useful skills so they just fought back with all their might. Two different groups of fighters, slowly getting encircled by the murlocs. They couldn't even swim towards the other group now because that was the first thing the murlocs blocked. But still, they fight for their survival. They used all their skills slowly getting used to their new awakened power. Fighting and fighting…
Futilely. It was just too useless.
Murlocs are several times stronger than humans. Unlike them, murlocs seem to know how to hunt well. Murlocs are very organized, while they couldn't even be called a group because they were just random survivors from the sunken train.
Sho painful moved his eyes away from those groups. But even after averting his gaze, he could still hear and see at the side of his eyes what was happening.
The train crew was forcefully pulled by two murlocs. She screamed at the top of her lungs, asking for help. But no help could come to her. The only people close to her were the mother and child, but how could they help when they couldn't fight at all? How could they help when they couldn't even protect themselves?
The mother and girl seemed to have already given up as they just hugged each other, the mother was whispering to her child to comfort her child's cries. She kept praying loudly in between her tears and sobs. She was asking for God's help, to save her child… but no God came to them.
The punk and his girlfriend tried to struggle, but they slowly became a snack for the murlocs, getting their flesh bitten, one after another. They cried as they continued to fight. It wasn't even really a fight anymore. It was a massacre. It was brutal playing with their lives. It was a wicked battle that brought despair to the couple. They were left with no choice but to utter their love for each other as they were tortured to their deaths.
The lead of three earlier was trying to protect his last friend, but four against two was too much for them, their defense was crumbling already, and soon enough, one murloc grabbed his companion down, making it three versus one against the leader. He shouted and cursed the murlocs. It was no use, the murlocs couldn't care less what they were saying. They just wanted to hunt. And it was fun to see their prey struggle. Despair fell in the leader's face as he knew his ending already. When three attacked at the same time, he poured all his strength in one last attempt for survival, but it was still not enough to beat even one.
The fry guy was nowhere to be seen. It seems like he's the one who has fallen first underwater. Maybe he died when the murlocs went wild earlier.
*Too late again. It's too late… everyone couldn't be saved… I couldn't do anything. I'm sorry…*
He felt his heartache even though he wasn't looking at anyone. There was some kind of heaviness that was slowly eating him up. He felt a brush of his memory wanting to surface but also being blocked by a thin wall. Not that he wanted to remember anything at that moment.
"Get a grip." the man in suit who finally reached them snarled. "Abide!" he shouted, making the frenzied murlocs stop. "I don't know what you have in mind, but it seems to have some effect. I'll trust you on this."
And Sho immediately knew how heavy the man's words were.
It seems he doesn't trust easily.
As their eyes met, he observed what kind of a person this man in a suit is. He was a law abiding citizen. It felt like his occupation could be related to law. And because of the twisted law, he couldn't just randomly trust anyone. Even after what he did on the train, he didn't look at Sho with trust. Contrary, there was suspicion in his eyes. But right now, after Sho's struggle to save everyone, he showed trust towards him. Albeit there was also slight irritation on the man's eyes.
Sho nodded. He decided it wasn't time to think about any massacre that happened. It wasn't time to wallow in sadness or depression. It wasn't time to grieve. What they need to do is survive. Survive until everything is finally over.
"We need to go over to a murloc. We have to find the core. It's my skill that said so. It's a mental skill and it's my second time using it, I have little mastery over it. But I know that we should look for the core."
There was some emotion that swept past the man's face but it quickly went away as he nodded. "Easy. Stay here."
Before any of them could say anything, the man dove.
It was strange, just a few seconds ago, the place was a wreck. But now, only the sound of silent waves could be heard. No more screams, no more crying, no more massacre. Even the murlocs were nowhere in sight. However, they knew that the murlocs were just underwater. And the man in the suit just dove towards them.
~Thump, thump~
Sho doesn't know how many seconds or minutes have passed, all he could do is listen to his fast beating heart. And it seems the other two people remaining were also doing the same. Their collective breathing and soft waves was the only music in the silent night.
It was strange how the three remained calm at this very moment. In the serene sea, the sight of the massacre seemed distant.
After a while, a different noise broke the rhythmic water.
~Bubble-bubble~
The three who were holding on to the damaged styro got alerted with the sudden changes. They clutched the styro tightly, afraid of being thrown when it capsized. They were on high alert, ready to struggle to survive if the murlocs surfaced and attacked them. They wouldn't give up easily. They wouldn't give the murlocs easy time to kill or play with them.
*Please be him…* the three thoughts synchronized. If it wasn't the man in suit, then they were doomed. It would be a sure kill for the three who don't even have any attack skills available. Even for the middle school kid who could protect himself, couldn't guarantee his safety. What if his skill expired at the crucial time?
The three gasped when they saw the green monster body surfaced.
They were ready to fight for their life but soon sighed in relief as they noticed how the murloc wasn't moving to attack them. It seems to be knocked out or dead. Their hearts were still pumping from different emotions.
Not a second passed by and the man in suit surfaced. "Hurry. There's still thirty-one of them. Do your thing." he said in a commanding voice, it was different from Sho who tried to command people earlier. This man seems to be a more suitable leader than Sho. There was some sort of charm at how he said it. It felt like he was absolutely right and they should follow him. After saying that, the man in suit then swam to another murloc that started to surface around them.
Sho absent-mindedly nodded even when the man no longer was looking towards them. "Let's go over this murloc." He said taking the initiative to cross over.
*My observation is right. This is more stable than the styro. It's also a good defense since the murloc doesn't like attacking their own kind.*
He saw it earlier, when the man in suit climbed a body of murloc to catch his breath, the other murlocs didn't attack him mindlessly. That was the reason he instructed people to get close to murloc. But he couldn't explain it because there was not enough time and everything that happened was too overwhelming. Even if he was able to explain it, the murlocs that were knocked over by the man in the suit were far from anyone and others already sank in the sea.
Sho extended his right arm to assist the two other survivors while his left arms were firmly gripping at the murlocs' body. He noticed that the murlocs' body was rough and slippery at the same time. The only reason he was able to hold on it was because of the gap in the scales. Nevertheless, because the body of the murlocs were big, it was much more stable than their tiny styrofoam. The three of them could even lay down on it if they wanted to.
The middle school boy was led first by the heroic lady, followed by her. He didn't even need to give another command as the lady started singing. This is the only way they could help lessen the burden to the man in the suit. He was still fighting thirty-one murlocs.
Soon, they were awed as green light enveloped the green murloc. From within, there was a brighter green inside the murloc's stomach.
The three looked at each other as they gasped in surprise.
*The core!* He immediately came to realize what his Overview skill clues that was truly given. *Murloc, song, sleep and core! My skill said murloc first! We need to be close at the murloc before singing! But that's not the only thing we need to do, we need a sleeping murloc to make it work! Because if a murloc that's awake had been close to us, like the rest of the murloc, it would go berserk and struggle away! That's why it needed to be sleeping! And once a sleeping murloc is near us, the song would then show the core!*
He was amazed at the word his skill gave. Every word given was crucial and essential to solve the puzzle! He quickly observes the surroundings. Unlike earlier when the murloc madly attacked them, it seems the murloc didn't notice their presence atop the murloc. He also saw how the murlocs were considerably getting slower. Even the man in suit had the leisure to look at them in approval as he saw the murloc weakening. But Sho was not satisfied with this.
*I feel like my only skill should be somehow a cheat after seeing this murloc weakness.*
He didn't know if he was just being arrogant. But being thrown into this world, shouldn't he have some kind of plot armor? Don't people who transmigrated have cheat skills?
So, he stretched his hands and reached out to the core, wanting to know if there was anything else he could do. He just wanted to experiment since he didn't have anything to do anyway. He couldn't sing or else the murloc may wake up and go on a rampage. He also refused to just sit there leisurely and wait for the man in suit to finish every murloc.
But after touching the area near the core the outcome exceeded his expectations.
The green light that was enveloping the murloc soon engulfed him.
"Ahhh!"
Sho shouted as he felt the incredible pain in his whole body.