"Where did you get this boat from, Saldair?" I asked. We were currently in what would be the Northern Atlantic Ocean.
"I just found it. This was a complete stroke of luck, to be honest. Although this route will take a lot longer, it's much safer, isn't it?" Saldair replied. Everyone else seemed to agree with him.
Sodror scratched his cheek. "Haven't you considered threats in the water? I mean, if there were any sea monsters under us, we're basically on their turf."
Everyone turned around at Sodror. This pessimistic freak just instilled fear into all of us with that sentence. He was right, too.
"Well, you'll be able to protect us, Sodror. After all, most of your casts are water-based, right?" Lyrei asked, trying to lighten everyone's mood.
"I suppose you're right..."
A ship was incoming. It was full of barbarians. Behind the ship were several other ships.
"Ah! We should've known that they had naval capabilities!" I whined.
"No worries!" Rar said, with confidence. Did he go insane? All those ships were surely going to wreak havoc.
"It's a good thing we're in the ocean. This way, I'm not draining as much mana."
"Huh?"
Sodror jumped over the boat's ledge. What was he thinking!? But wait. The look in his eyes. He wasn't playing around.
[Cast: Fluid Flowing Dragon]
Four dragons rose from the ground. One of them caught Sodror and the others were charging at the ships. While Sodror was dealing with that, some boats came from behind. The barbarians hopped onto the ship.
"Stay here, Julian."
Saldair rolled me into a compartment of the ship where I could be fairly safe. That was useless, though. A tentacle broke through the ship. Rar was knocked unconscious, with his arm ripped apart.
"Rar!" Lyrei screamed, rushing towards him. Silva and Saldair also followed. Sodror was right about a sea monster attacking!
"Damn it! Now we'll need to heal two people!" Saldair said, in a nervous sweat.
"Wait! This is a standard large octopus! They have a fairly small appetite, which means one person will be fine!" Silva mentioned. She must've remembered something she had previously read. My heart dropped as she said that. They surely weren't gonna throw me, right?
I was wrong. Saldair and Silva were hesitant to do such a thing, but Lyrei was happy. To be honest, I don't exactly blame them. I was just extra weight. Rar was much more important than me. He's stronger. A lot stronger.
The octopus sliced my hand off with its tentacle. I don't know why it did that. My hand fell into the ocean and I fell into the octopus's stomach. The currents were rough. I wonder who would find my hand.
The stomach acid of the octopus wasn't too strong, so I was sure that I would be digested in quite a bit of time. If I didn't die from that, I would die from starvation or dehydration.
It hurts. The spot that my hand was supposed to occupy was empty and it hurt. Was my kindness for nothing? I tried being as nice as possible to Lyrei since I knew she disliked me. But despite that, she was so quick to agree.
Even those other two. They may have hesitated a bit, but even when I struggled against them they pushed me into the octopus.
It's over now. Twice? I got two chances and I died in both of them. This life wasn't very pleasant, anyways. I blacked out and the next thing I knew, I was on the shore.
The octopus spat me out? Or was it killed? Either way, it doesn't make sense how I survived. But I wouldn't ponder on it.
As I ventured further into the land heavily injured, I noticed something strange. The soil was dark black in this region and the trees were also dark black, but they had leaves made of red.
The soil was... fertile? Despite its color, it was fertile. I touched the trees. It was hot to the touch. This was nothing like Venichian.
"Another one of those Stritant bastards."
I heard a voice behind me. Upon turning around, there were three people. All of them were demi-humans. Though, they were closer to an animal than a human.
"Stritant?" I asked, raising my eyebrow. There was a little bit of fear in my voice. I had no idea where I was, to be fair.
"The continent. You aren't from there?" they replied.
"I have... no idea what Stritant is."
"Jeez. Are you a newborn, or something? Well, it doesn't matter. I don't intend to learn much about my meat."
"Meat?" I asked, wondering what he meant.
[Cast: Blaze Claw]
The claw of the demi-human started to glow, igniting the fire.
"This is how you pre-cook them!"
I turned around to run away. But, it was futile. I was sliced into several different pieces. It first started with my lower leg, then slowly moved up. It ended with my head.
It hurts! It hurts! This is the worst pain I've ever felt in my life! Why have I constantly been subjected to such pain? Ever since I got to this wretched world, it's been horrible! My kindness has been taken advantage of, and so has my cluelessness!
Why am I like this? Why am I so kind?
Although my head was decapitated, I could hear their voices a little bit. Was this that myth of consciousness after decapitation?
"Ew! This taste bad! Conele's like stuff like this, not us!"
"Let's just throw him back into the ocean."
"Yeah! Good idea."
That was the last thing I heard before it all went white.