The world around Victor turned completely silent. He couldn't hear or see anything. Everything was completely clouded around him. But, the boy didn't lose his composure, even when he knew the dangers lurking around him.
Instead, he focused on going up to the surface again. Emerging outside, he was immediately drowned again by a huge wave. But, he didn't let that stop him and he popped up again.
"Hold on!!" Nameless yelled as she reached the spot where he fell off. All the ropes were detached from their place, and those that didn't were too far away for her to actually throw one of them to Victor. In other words, she had no way of pulling him up.
'This is bad. This is really bad.' Looking down, she saw Victor struggling to stay above the water's surface. The violent sea was throwing him left and right. However, much to her surprise, the boy didn't seem scared or even worried.
Instead, his eyes kept looking around, seemingly searching for a way to save himself. Eventually, he looked up at Nameless.
"Continue to the boat! I'm going to swim there!" He yelled.
"What… You can't do that. The mother spider is still down there!"
"I have no other choice. Just continue climbing to the boat."
Then, without saying another word, Victor dived into the water again after taking a deep breath. The darkness swallowed him again.
'Just a dozen meters. I can make it in time!' As he thought of it, he quickly started swimming in the direction he assumed the boat was located. Since there was zero visibility in that environment, he wasn't 100% certain if he was going the right way or not. What made it even worse was the strong current that was trying to throw him off.
Victor felt like a blind person trying to navigate a maze with no indications… Just pure instinct and a strong sense of direction.
Not even a moment passed before he already felt a chill run down his spine. Looking down, he couldn't see anything. However, he had felt something move, and he was certain it wasn't a hallucination. Sadly, Victor knew very well who it was.
'Shit.' He cursed as he continued swimming even faster. He didn't even want to stop and see what was happening. The distance was short. Using all the power left in his already exhausted body, he swam like there was no tomorrow.
A few seconds later, Victor felt it again, this time far closer than before. His eyes widened as he looked down and yet all he saw was darkness.
'It's coming.' He mused. 'Dammit!'
Not even a moment passed before Victor finally saw something appear from the darkness beneath him. However, this thing wasn't the mother spider as he expected. Instead, it was something far more unnerving.
Countless small blue spiders swam up at an astonishing speed, approaching him in a hurry.
'They can swim?!' For a moment, Victor almost exhaled all the breath he held in his lungs. The swarm of blue spiders that he thought died due to the water, weren't unable to swim like he thought. If anything, the fact they can, made a lot more sense now that he thought about it.
However, that wasn't the time to really contemplate his suspicions. Instead, feeling the imminent danger, he quickly swam up to the surface and started moving his arms as fast as he could.
"They're right beneath me!" Clenching his teeth, he looked to the side. Nameless had already reached the edge of the shroud and jumped down into the boat. Meanwhile, he had a few meters left before he could reach it.
"Turn on the engine!" He yelled at the top of his lungs.
Without wasting a moment, Nameless rushed to the cockpit. A moment later, Victor heard the roaring sound of the boat's engine as it turned on.
"Come on!"
Without even looking under him, he knew the spiders were almost catching up. So, as a last resort, Victor channeled every single ounce of energy left in his core, which wasn't that much to begin with.
Immediately, he felt a slight boost in his speed. He didn't know if that was enough or not, but that was all he could do at that point apart from swimming as fast as he could. Fighting the raging waves, the exhaustion, the wind, and poisonous water spiders in the hundreds tailing right behind him. The situation could've not gotten worse.
However, by some kind of miracle, Victor was able to reach the boat which felt like it was a mile away. Nameless rushed to the edge and extended her hand down.
"Grab my hand!"
Without wasting time, Victor extended his arm and grabbed hers before the girl quickly yanked him up with all her power.
*Splash*
The two fell on the boat with a loud thud. However, Victor didn't even stop to regain his breath as he stood up and rushed to the cockpit before pushing the lever forward as fast as he can.
The boat's propeller immediately started spinning and the boat blasted forward. The boy then put the boat at its utmost speed and then rushed back to the edge of the boat. At the surface, he saw a swarm of spiders closing up on them.
Since the boat still didn't reach its maximum speed, the spiders were almost about to reach them.
"Nameless, use your eyes quickly!"
Before he could even speak, the girl was already near him, trying to use her eye powers. It took her a few seconds, but when she opened them again, they flashed with a bright red color.
Victor felt a chill down his spine, but he quickly shook his head and looked down. The spiders froze in place from the effect of the ability and then slowly sunk into the water again while the boat was able to move way past them.
"Ugh!"
A few moments later, blood seeped out of Nameless' eyes and made her close them, ending the effect. However, by that time, the boat had already moved far into the distance. Victor couldn't see the spiders anymore. Sometime later, when he was certain they were safe, he fell to the ground, heaving audibly.
Nameless also fell to the side, catching her breath. Both were completely spent. Now that all the adrenaline vanished, all they had left was pain and numbness after breaking their limits.
However, even in that state, Nameless arched her head and smiled slightly. "... I'm alive." She muttered.
Saying those words, as simple as they were, washed all her fear and worries away. She had indeed survived. She had left that horrible silver cage on that sinking ship. Looking up, she could see the ship had already descended into the abyss. The giant vessel had been completely destroyed and swallowed by the dark sea… Perhaps never to be seen again.
"For better…" She muttered with a smile before her eyes shifted to Victor. The latter had already sat up and took his shirt off to get rid of all the water.
"Are you ok?" She asked.
"Yeah." He replied. Even though his voice was the same stoic one, she noticed the exhaustion hidden within it. Even his face looked horribly pale. However, Victor didn't show or say anything about that.
Nameless was quite impressed as she had never met someone that young and yet had that kind of control over themselves.
'He is such a weird human…' She thought to herself.
After wringing his shirt dry, Victor was about to stand up and walk into the cockpit to check the condition of the boat.
"Stop!"
At that moment, Nameless suddenly yelled. That naturally made Victor stop as he was about to turn around.
"Don't… move…" She said with a pale expression. "Don't move a muscle."
"Why?" Victor frowned, feeling something bad.
"... Were you bitten by one of the spiders?" She asked as she slowly stood up and approached him.
The question sent a chill down Victor's spine. But, he still tried to keep his calm as he answered. "I didn't feel anything." He said.
'Was I bit?'
Nameless frowned before she said. "It's ok, don't move at all. One had bitten you in the back, the poison is slowly spreading up. If you don't move, that will slow it down." She said. Looking at his back, she could see his veins slowly turning blue as the poison moved up his body, heading to his brain.
"..." Hearing that, the boy exhaled a small breath and tried to calm down his beating heart in hopes of slowing the blood circulation.
At that moment, he felt Nameless touch his back.
"What are you doing?" He asked.
"I'm going to suck the poison out. Don't move at all." She replied as she opened her mouth.
"Wait, what about you?" He asked. Knowing the poison's effect, he wasn't sure if it wouldn't affect her.
"I will spit it out. I know what to do." She replied before she finally sunk her fangs into his back. The boy felt a stinging pain at first, but then it vanished.
A//N: Don't forget to support the book with Golden tickets and power stones :) Thank you