"Doesn't that mean you don't actually have a ship?"
Highbro asked in disbelief.
The Insectking flinched slightly, then retorted.
[... Of course there is, because it's sunk beneath the sea].
It seems like they have decided to go out shamelessly.
"No, what do you think you're doing with a sunken ship, you beetles, trying to scam me!"
Highbro snarled, and the beetles glanced over at Vikir.
Then.
"Enough."
Vikir interrupted them all.
That wasn't what mattered now.
"Did you know that the Black Sea has no buoyancy, so everything sinks?"
[That's right, that's why very few creatures can survive in the Black Sea].
Hearing the Insectking words, Vikir turned his head and looked at the black horizon.
The bottom of that vast sea must be utterly empty.
Even if unique creatures occasionally live, the distance between each individual is probably very long.
A dark sea of emptiness. Down there, the ships of the Insectking are sunk.
"If it's sunk, isn't it a ship that can't sail in the Black Sea?"
[No, our ships float on the surface of the Black Sea].
The Insectking unfolded their black armor and the thin wings beneath it.
They were light and strong, with a waxy coating on the outside that helped them float.
[The long-standing conflict between the stag beetle tribe and the rhinoceros beetle tribe resulted in numerous casualties. We collected the remains of the fallen and built a ship, which was light and strong enough to sail even on the surface of the Black Sea. It sank after a dispute over ownership....]
"Why exactly did it sink?"
[Well, that's because... one day a group of Insectking ambushed the ship, seized it, and set sail, only to stop after crossing the center of the Black Sea...]
The story of the Insectking that followed was unbelievable.
"...Hmm. Now I know what's been happening."
He could see why the elders looked troubled.
Vikir sprang into action.
"First, we will raise the sunken ship. Tell me exactly where the ship sank."
* * *
The Black Sea was calm.
But off in the distance, on the horizon, a fierce gale is raging.
It's like a wall that keeps challengers out of the area.
But Vikir did not cross the sea.
…with a plop!
He simply sank deeper into it.
Gurgling.
Foam and bubbles crashed before his eyes, and within seconds, his vision went black.
But it didn't matter.
Vikir could see dozens of meters in the dark.
It was a secondary ability he'd acquired after two years of honing his archery and hunting skills in the jungles of the Red and Black Mountains.
kkuleuleug- gulug...
The further down he went, the more the pressure on his body.
The heavy space seemed to want to crush him.
He felt like he was falling into a pool of ice-cold water.
There is almost no buoyancy, so even if he stays still, he sinks.
Huuk-.
The oxygen was getting low. Due to the high water pressure on his lungs, his oxygen consumption was much faster than normal water.
'At least it's not as bad as the Styx, where I almost drowned.'
Vikir searched his arms, thinking about various things in his mind.
Then, in his hand, he felt a bulging pouch.
-
A pouch that is quite tough and does not dissolve well in water.
It repels moisture, so it's good for holding things.
The bag was full of air.
Vikir sucked on it with a straw and then put it back in his arms.
He didn't float, even with the air-filled pouch, because it wasn't buoyant.
Often, when he couldn't breathe, Vikir sank deeper and deeper into the sea, sucking in the air in his pouch.
Then.
Decarabia clinging around his chest pocket called out to him.
[Hey, human].
'Why.'
[You didn't really need to join hands with the Insectking, did you?]
Dekarabia pointed to the mission status window floating in the corner of Vikir's vision.
※Steal the sap pool from the scary ship owners and survive!
It was a struggle to steal the sap fountain from the previous guests who had arrived inside the tower first, that is, the Insectking race.
That's actually the mission on this floor.
But Vikir had a different interpretation.
'I think it means something different. Perhaps it refers to the ship's owner, the master of the ship.'
[Hmm. In that case, the completion of the mission would definitely depend on the presence or absence of a ship].
'Right. I'm sure there are other ways to clear this floor. Like I did with the Daylily of Blood Tree on the 3rd floor.'
As he continue the conversation, he suddenly saw the floor.
A forest of dead trees. Formerly otherworldly terrain, sunk beneath the waters of the Black Sea.
It was like looking at a forest of skewered trees rising above the dead coral reefs.
It was a grim scene that seemed to symbolize the evil intent in the demon's mental world.
As he descended to a certain depth, Decarabia on his chest responded.
[Human, look down the hill].
There, in the deep valley beneath the towering trench, was something.
It was the 'ship' that emerged from the darkness of the deep sea.
A black, glossy ship, its sails woven from insect wings, still flapping in the current.
The black ship, still and submerged, looked quite sleek and sturdy.
Vikir pushed through the heavy current and approached the stern.
The bow began to reveal its overall outline, starting with its massive, pointed tip.
There were some pretty nasty scratches here and there, including on the deck and hull, but the keel, the ship's spine, was still intact.
Despite being in the water for so long, there was very little seaweed or sphagnum moss.
The only serious problem is the large hole in the hold and lower part of the ship wall.
'Water must have gotten in through those holes and sunk the ship.'
Vikir glad it didn't sink due to lack of buoyancy.
It's a hole, it can be salvaged and filled.
Then Decarabia asked.
[But how are you going to get that huge ship up there?]
Dekarabia didn't seem to understand Vikir's plan.
[It would be impossible with human strength, even with all the twenty men on the island and the thirty Insectking. They wouldn't even be able to get down here in the first place...]
'Hmm. I've thought about that.'
Vikir swam a little faster.
There wasn't much air left, so he had to hurry.
'...And there's one other thing we need to watch out for.'
Soon, Vikir was standing in front of a huge sailing ship.
A ship that sank at the bottom of darkness, in a vast void.
The creaking planks and ominously fluttering sails beneath the quiet seabed make this ship look like a ghost ship.
'Okay then, let's carry out the salvage work as soon as possible.'
Vikir throws up his arms.
Kii-gigigigig...
An unpleasant noise came from somewhere.
A mysterious sound from the other side of the ship.
Vikir looks up and sees something emerge from the darkness in front of him.
"...!
Shark scales covering its entire body, a horn sprouting from its forehead, a gaping mouth full of teeth.
This was Dogma, who had been transformed into a Majin.
The flames that wrapped around his body like a mane had already been extinguished, but his hideous appearance remained.
'No wonder it sank to this place.'
Vikir clicked his tongue and readied himself for battle.
....this?
Thud-thud-thud-thud-thud.
Something was strange.
Dogma appeared through the darkness, trembling slightly with only his upper body sticking out, but other than that, he showed no movement.
And then.
…tud!
Soon, Dogma's head, buried in the darkness, fell to the bottom of the sea.
The upper body disappears in an instant, buried in darkness, and only the head, with only the horns and teeth remaining, rolls down the trench and disappears from view.
'....'
Vikir tore his gaze away from Dogma's head and stared into the darkness again.
Sssssss...
Upon closer inspection, the darkness in which Dogma's body was buried seemed to be moving slowly.
It wasn't a shape, but the darkness itself, rising up from the bottom.
'Now that I think about it, strangely, that part is particularly dark.'
There is a faint light on the other side, but the enormous darkness approaching this direction is pitch black, with nothing visible.
And Vikir recognized it immediately.
The darkness that was now overtaking them was an absolute terror that could not even be compared to hellhounds, Cerberus, or Daylily from the previous stages.
'...I see, so this one was living here.'
Danger level S rank, a real threat that has not been affected by deterioration or anything like that.
This was the moment when the 'core of darkness' was revealed.