Back to the present - Somewhere around 350m deep under the sea.
Kiana's POV.
"Uwahh! This place is so beautiful!~"
She reached out to the small transparent jellyfish floating around.
"Kiana, this is no place to play."
Hearing Himeko's reminder, she slumped her shoulders in disappointment.
About 30 minutes ago, on the way to the southern waters of Guangzhou, her group had encountered Theresa's reinforcement crew. At that time, she had also met her beloved Sister Mei, so she was also very happy and because of the increase in manpower. The group started to get dressed and dive into the sea.
Currently, the diving group consisted of six people, including her, Yumeji, Mei, Bronya, Fu Hua, and Himeko-san. As for the author Homu, taking advantage of the chaos when he was with Mei's group, she punched him in the stomach and let him take a nap on the boat to lighten the load.
She thought it was a relief, but when she dived down, another burden appeared in her group, Yumeji.
Even she was surprised that he couldn't swim. She had only said it as a joke on the boat earlier, but it turned out to be true.
No, saying he couldn't swim was still too light, he was already in a state of psychological trauma with the sea. That guy messed up everything when he started diving down.
He dropped his snorkel, was tied up by moss and seaweed, got caught in a fishing net that came out of nowhere... and a series of other silly accidents. This was the first time she had seen such bad luck.
He was also afraid of sea fish, the funny thing was that most of the ones he was afraid of were harmless, to the point of being unbearable.
Just a moment ago, he was sprayed with ink by an octopus. His diving helmet was completely black. Seeing that, she couldn't help but laugh so hard that her stomach hurt.
Seeing the young man's weight, Aunt Himeko really wanted to put him back on the boat to make it less tiring, but since he had already dived quite deep, she had to let him continue diving
Currently, the class president was assigned to be that guy's nanny. She was now holding his hand and diving down like a mother leading her child.
"Hey, there are so many jellyfish! I'll be shocked!!"
"Jellyfish cannot jerk"
Fu Hua said coldly while Yumeji hid behind her.
"But it's poisonous!"
There, the young man started to fuss again and got bored.
___________________
Humph, this is hell! What the hell is this damn haunted place!?
A lot of weird things have happened since I dived in. Am I that unlucky? Or am I cursed by the sea? I don't remember eating any weird, bad fruit before (devil fruit).
And these jellyfish! They're so dangerous! There are so many deaths from their stings that have been reported in the news.
And who said they don't know how to shock? They shock people like it's a given in anime. And remember, I'm in another world, so it's not strange to encounter something so absurd.
What if the jellyfish here knows Pika pika like some yellow-haired mouse!? The baby is scared as hell!
I huddled closer to Fu Hua thinking that.
"What's there to be afraid of when you're wearing a diving suit?"
Hearing her cold reply, I immediately retorted.
"Huh, huh, who knows if this diving suit is torn anywhere? Who knows how sharp those jellyfish's fangs are? Who knows if their poison is the type that can penetrate defenses and who knows if they can shock?"
Fu Hua showed a bored expression, but I didn't care, my safety had to come first.
"Major.."
Fu Hua called out to Himeko
"Bear with it"
Hearing Himeko's extremely irresponsible reply, Fu Hua showed dissatisfaction on his face and protected me.
After a while, we found the body of a giant Honkai beast that had turned into a fossil after a long time.
"Hmm, that's suspicious. Bronya, check this place."
After examining it, Himeko ordered Bronya to check.
"The scan is done. Bronya confirms that the probability of this place being the Nine Provinces is up to 34.2%, Major."
"Alright, let's go in."
She turned around to look at us and gave the order to start going in.
We paddled towards the Honkai's corpse and dived down. It was the others, but I was the one being pulled down.
Going deeper into the beast's mouth, I realized that there was no water inside it due to the rocks blocking it, emerging from the small hole that was only big enough for 2 people to pass through at a time, we entered the innermost part, which was previously the Honkai beast's stomach.
After checking the air, oxygen, and Honkai concentrations and confirming that it was safe.
We pressed the button on the diving suit to retract the helmet.
"Wow! It looks like a stalactite cave, doesn't it?"
"Why are you so excited, old man?~"
Kiana lightly nudged me and said, intentionally teasing me.
"There's no seawater, I'm the boss here."
"Yes, yes, look at the little crybaby hiding behind Fu Hua."
Hmph, the one who only pays attention to details
"Alright, guys, stop chatting and start searching."
The Honkai beast's belly split into three different paths, forcing us to split up and search.
We split into three groups: Bronya and I, Kiana and Mei, Fu Hua, and Himeko-san.
"Let's meet back here in 20 minutes, then let's start searching."
*Behind us, the author Homu was also secretly observing the situation. He wasn't unconscious at all, and had been following them all this time. After realizing that the other six had gone far away, he emerged from the small hole they had passed through.
Looking around for a while, he followed in the direction Himeko-san had just gone*
___________
Oh my! This is annoying, dividing the group like this will cause the old scenario to happen again. But I don't know what to say to prevent this situation from happening.
"How's it going over there?"
"Nothing."
I replied to Bronya dejectedly. The grouping was a failure. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad.
The direction we were going was a dead end, I had expected that.
However, Bronya was still careful to use the detector to check for any organs. After a while, she finally spoke after fumbling with the blurry green board for a while.
"Bronya has confirmed it. This place is just a dead end."
"Isn't it obvious?"
I don't know why I felt the urge to retort like that, as if it was my duty. Sighing at my silly character style, I opened my mouth.
"Alright, let's go back-....
"Sorry, I can't let you guys leave"
While I was in the middle of my sentence, someone suddenly jumped in and blocked my mouth.
I turned my eyes towards the sound and saw a pink-haired brat with a cheeky face walking out from the darkness.
Well, I had expected something to happen, but I didn't think it would come this early, it's really tiring.
But who is that brat? She's so vague that I can't even remember her name.
It seems to be Shin something, I think....Mhm, Shin....Shin...Shintaro? Oh, or maybe Shinichi? Shinosuke? But that's a boy's name, right?
While my mind was filled with these nonsense thoughts, the pink-haired brat spoke up.
"Long time no see, Bronya. Remember me?"
"...."
She started to laugh out loud when she saw Bronya still keeping silent with an expressionless face.
"Oh, oh, so cold! Or what? You don't want the brat next to you to know your true face? Kihihihi~~ Oh my! Laughing so much makes my mouth tired! That's all for now. Goodbye, Bronya. The next time I see you will be on your deathbed~ Hahahaha!"
After saying that, she snapped her fingers and turned to leave.
*Click*
"I'll leave these kids to play with you guys. Don't die too soon, hahaha~"
A few moments later, several giant shadows appeared and covered me. Before I knew it, the group of small robots had surrounded us.
F*ck! Robots!? This is underwater! Where did all the logic go!?
Immediately, a small, large fist landed on me.
"Ouch!"
"Damn scrap metal!"
I rolled to avoid the attack with difficulty. Damn, this place is too cramped!
Being trapped in a space by those giant robots made it extremely difficult for us to dodge or fight back.
"Tsk! Bronya, can't you handle this group with that thing?"
Bronya was also struggling to dodge the attack with an expressionless face, and after hearing my question, she immediately replied.
"Bronya is currently helpless. If Bronya uses the armored rabbit here, the power of the artillery will cause the cave ceiling to collapse, and we won't be able to survive."
"!!!"
'Damn, is there no way!?'
While racking my brain trying to think of a way to break through the encirclement, I slid through the robos, using the sword in my hand to slash at the joints on their legs.
*Keng! Boomm!*
Somehow, I managed to make them unable to stand. However, when they fell to their knees, they loaded their cannons and fired at us.
'Oh shit!'
Just as I thought I was done for, my back hit the cave wall. Suddenly, something flashed in my mind
Wait, cave wall? Our group has split up and gone into 3 different paths. I get it!'
After realizing it, I shouted to Bronya
"Bronya!! The cave wall behind me, aim all your firepower at it!!"
"!! I see! Bronya understood what Yumeji meant. Armored Rabbit activates."
As Bronya activated the Armored Rabbit, I crouched towards her while swinging my sword to deflect the mini missiles that the robots launched.
Although their power is not too great, if there are enough of them, this cave will collapse.
No matter what, this cave has already shaken to the point that the stalactites on the ceiling are starting to rain down.
"Tsk!"
Trying hard to protect Bronya's back while fighting against the Robots and the stalactites above my head is really too much.
"Bronya has announced that the firepower has been fully charged. Will fire in 3 seconds"
"!!"
After splitting a rocket in half with my sword, I immediately got into a stance to escape
"3....2...1....Armored Rabbit! Fire with all your might!"
The next second, the terrifying firepower was unleashed! The terrifying power of that artillery bombardment pierced through the one meter thick cave wall.
-Uį»²NNNNNNHHHH!!!
It didn't stop there, it pierced through another cave wall before stopping.
Of course, after experiencing such a terrible shock, the cave we were in could not be unharmed.
The ceiling began to collapse, if we didn't want to be crushed by the rocks and soil, we had to leave this place as quickly as possible.
"I calculated, we will be completely buried in 3 seconds."
"Oh, is that so."
I replied indifferently before carrying Bronya like a bag.
"Boost ver speed"
With the speed of sound, I carried Bronya through the rain of stalactites and passed through the two giant holes created by the artillery fire just now.
Crossing the 50m distance with countless obstacles in 2.89 seconds.
That was according to Bronya's calculation. In reality,....
"Ah ah ah!! A pile of sand and dust is stuck in my eyes!! My eyes!! My pearly eyes!!!"
Moving at high speed without protective gear is dangerous - quoted by Yumeji Satsuki.
Hmm! Those big little robots were crushed, since I had already crippled their legs, how the hell could they run after them.
*BAMAAAAAAAAAMMMMMM!!!*
The holes we just ran through were immediately blocked by rocks and dirt, making me shiver.
'Phew! I almost got buried there.'
*Poke, poke*
?
*Poke, poke, poke*
??? What is this? Wait....
"Ahihihi, hey, hey!! It tickles~~ Ahahahaha!!~~ Hee Hee!!~~ Stop, Bronya! Stop tickling me~~ Ahahaha~~Hihi!!~~"
"Bronya asks Yumeji, let go of Bronya."
"Ah! Okay! Sorry!! Haha, so stop tickling me~~"
"Humph."
I let go of Bronya, and then noticed that she had some bumps on her head.
.....
"Well, how should I say this.... Sorry"
"Humph"
Bronya still kept her expressionless face, but I knew she was annoyed.
...Next time.... I'll be more careful when carrying my luggage.
While I was thinking that,...
"Cough! Cough! Why did an explosion suddenly appear! Cough! Cough! There's so much smoke!"
Attracted by the sound, I turned my face in that direction
"Huh?"
"Oh?"
"Why are you guys here??"
I saw Kiana and Mei's group