The next few days were pretty much hell.
Freaking Ozen decided to personally train me how to fight and utilize my super human strength. The fact that she knows about my power didn't help because that gave her enough reason not to hold back her punches.
In short, I died for like fifty times in just five days. Most of them because Ozen caved my skull on to the ground or breaking my neck with a flick of her finger. Thankfully, Ozen dealt with me in quick succession so I don't have to worry about it being too pleasurable.
We also learned something peculiar about my curse. It seems that the only way to be able to remember after each reset is to make direct contact with me during my death. We learned this when Ozen remembered killing me but Marulk has no memory about it.
It took a few more deaths to figure that out though, so I had that going, which is nice.
However, I'm not the only one who get to experience training from hell. Ozen also trained Marulk in the arts of survival. Teaching him how to cook something out of nothing, teaching him how to figure out how an artifact work just by touching it, and forcing him to sit through all of Ozen's notes about the Abyss plus Lyza's notes.
Oh and did you know that Ozen forces Marulk to kill me whenever he failed a quiz? Yeah, she really wants to get everything done in one day. Thus our five days of training was actually five months if you count all the resets.
On the lighter side of the matter, Marulk got himself a new set of clothes. It is a dark blue trench coat resembling Ozen's regular attire. He also got himself a sweet new whistle, a black one to be precise. (Though, his gender still look pretty darn ambiguous despite his attire.)
Jacky Boy is now officially part of the Subterranean Bandits and Ozen forbid me from bringing him down with me. So flying down the third layer with Jacky Boy is out of question.
Now here we are, standing side by side in front of a small hole near the Great Fault. I bid my farewell to the Subterranean Bandits while Ozen and Marulk has a little heart to heart with each other.
Though, it's kinda one-sided since Marulk was crying the whole time while Ozen looks the same as ever. I'm starting to think that those pins made her incapable of feeling anything, both physically and emotionally.
"Well, guess this is it then." Simred patted my head with that friendly smile of his. "I'm so proud for being your mentor."
"Since when are you my mentor?" then I chuckled a little and shook his hand. "Still, thanks for the lesson Simred."
Then I walked towards Yelme. "Thanks for the knife," I gestured at the indestructible knife strapped on my waist. "It's gonna make my life easier for sure."
Yelme just chuckled and tapped by shoulder. "Good luck out there Haios. Who knows? Maybe we'll catch up soon."
I gave him a thumbs up before walking towards Zapo. "Sup Old Man!"
"Haios-san, there's not much that these old bones can give, but I'll tell you something..." He leaned closer to me and start whispering. "In the Goblets of Giants there are some unnamed squid and glowing golden grass. Combining the squid ink and the grass will create the great Booze of the Nether."
I blinked owlishly after hearing that. "Uh... I'll keep that in mind."
Finally, Ozen and Marulk walked towards me. "Marulk, Haios, take care of each other," Ozen spoke. "It's the only thing you have waiting for you down there."
I gave her a salute before bowing down in front of her. "Thank you for everything Lord Ozen."
Ozen smiled at me and nodded. "You're welcome... Now go and make history, I will vouch for your balloon mails."
With that, Marulk and I jumped into the hole and slid down further downwards. "We're in third layer now..." Marulk said after double checking with his goggles. "Haios san, we're almost there, let's slow down."
I grabbed my pickaxe and used it to slow down our descent. The hole gets leaner and leaner further down we go until we finally reach the bottom of this network. "Okay, lights?" Marulk and I turned on our lights and found ourselves inside a narrow cave surrounded by fluffy little creatures.
"Food!"
I looked at Marulk and found him cuddling with one of the fluffy creatures. "So, uhh... I'm assuming it's not on the menu?" Marulk shook his head. "And if I'm really hungry?" the boy handed me a nutrition bar. "And if I'm really, really hungry?" the boy pointed at my knife.
I rolled my eyes and continue my way through the cave network. "So, Marulk, what are these fluffy creatures?" I asked him while staring at the rodents skittering around my feet.
"They're Neritantans, you kinda owe them for making these cave systems you know?" He picked up one of the rodent near his feet and put it on my head. "They're the ones who makes delving in the third layer possible."
I looked at the hamster surrounding me before shrugging a little. "Guess you're right..." Then a crazy thought slowly formed on my head. "By the way, I've been thinking... The Seeker Camp is a safe place right?"
Marulk nodded. "Of course, it's in the outer edge of the Second Layer so the creatures there are more docile and the curse is more bearable," he explained.
"Is there any camp like that in the fourth layer?"
"Unfortunately the Fourth Layer's changing terrain makes it impossible to make that happen." Marulk replied. "Unlike in the upper layer, terrain of the Fourth Layer is not concrete. It's impossible to even create a proper map of the land."
I sighed a little in dismay. "Damn it, I thought I can start a camp there. Like some sort of Black Whistle exclusive bar, you know what I mean?" Marulk chuckled a little after hearing that.
After crawling through the caves, we found ourselves at huge opening. The Great Fault stretches right in front of us and I can see dozens of Madokajacks patrolling the area, ready to catch anything that fell down the hole.
I tried staring down the abyss and saw nothing but darkness. "Wow, how deep is this place again?"
"Four thousand meters." Marulk replied while peeking down the abyss. Then he checked his depth meter. "Three thousand eight hundred and thirty meters to go."
I looked at the walls of the great vault, trying to find anything that resembles a cave. "There! Is that safe?" I asked, pointing at a cave a distance away below at the other side of the shaft. "My grappling hook should be able to get that."
Marulk looked at the cave for a moment before pointing at a ledge above. "Shoot your grappling hook there and set it to pull us at full power." Then he looked at me for a moment. "You're okay with breaking the fall right?"
I smirked in response. "It's getting boring anyway..." I shoot my grappling hook and watched it soaring in a huge arc towards the ledge. "Okay, I think we're good." I grab hold of Marulk and pressed the pulling system.
"AAAAHH!!!" The two of us yelled in fear, thrill, and excitement as we swing through a literal hell hole filled with flying man-eating beasts. The wind pushes our body, slowing us down just a little bit, but also giving more time for the Madokajacks to pursue us.
A Madokajack came closing in but both of my hands are tied. One holding Marulk and one holding the grappling hook. But then, just before the Madokajack can get to us, the little rodent that's been sitting on my head all this time lost its grip.
The flying beast decided to catch the rodent, saving us from a reset and a very awkward conversation with Ozen.
We finally flew into the cave and I quickly embraced Marulk protectively to shield him. The hard stone cave shredded against my body as we landed not so smoothly inside the cave. The rocks rip through some part of my skin before finally stopping.
"Aaahn..." I tried to get up from my position to check on my wounds. A small chunk of my upper arm are shredded while my back was protected thanks to my extremely durable trench coat. "Marulk, get off me..."
The boy quickly get off of me and observed the area around him. "We're in a big cavern." He muttered to himself. Then he crouched down to inspect my wound. "It's not life threatening... Are you okay Haios?"
"Fuck me..."
"I'll take that as a yes," he held my arm and helped me stand up from my position. "This is a man-made cavern, so there might be bigger creature around this place," he put on his goggles and observed the area. "But nothing too dangerous."
I stretched my arm and looked around. We are currently inside a massive cavern filled with ancient writings and fossilized pillars. The remains of ancient structures succumbed to time and nature, leaving them full of moss and small plant life.
"Wow, this place is awesome..." I muttered to myself. "Marulk, you think we'll find some sweet artifacts here?"
"I don't think so," he gestured at numerous footprints that withstood the test of time. "There's been a lot of delvers raiding this area. If we want to find an artifact, we have to dig deeper."
I pouted in dismay before sighing in acceptance. "I hope I can get to the fourth layer quick, there's gotta be something interesting there right?"
Marulk patted my head comfortingly before leading me deeper into the cave. The walls get narrower and narrower with every step we took until it shrunk down into a small corridor. "Hmm, sweet..." I muttered when a sweet, soury, fruity smell wafts through the air.
"It smells like Baracocha Fruit," Marulk narrowed his eyes in suspicion. "Wait, no, follow me," he quickened his pace and walked further down the corridor.
Soon enough, we found ourselves standing in front of a purple sack thing that attach itself on to the cavern wall. It looked at us with its tiny beady eyes, but didn't do anything. "Okay, what is this?"
Marulk patted the giant purple sack. "This is an Amakagame, they create this sweet scent to attract the Neritantans," then he patted his chest and a Neritantan climbed out of his trench coat. The Neritantan starts clawing at the Amakagame's giant stomach but it doesn't seem to be bothered by it. "See? The ones that gets trapped are the ones who came from up there," he pointed an opening above the Amakagame.
I walked closer towards the Amakagame, the sweet savory smell gets more and more powerful. "Can you eat this? It smells delicious..."
"No, this smell is a byproduct of its Acid Stomach," Marulk replied. "Besides, it's harmless to delvers, anyone stupid enough to get caught in here can easily cut their way out."
Hmm... Interesting... "Say, the smell came from the acid right?" Marulk nodded. "And the squirrels are attracted by the smell?"
"Neritantans, but yes they... what are you doing?" Marulk asked when I made a small hole on the Amakagame's stomach. Sickly yellow liquid poured down from the hole and loud rodent sound came from all around us.
"It's a bait!" I said while containing some of the liquid in a small vial. "For emergency if we ever need to summon them to eat or cuddle with." I gestured at the army of Neritantans surrounding us.
Marulk blinked owlishly after hearing that. "That's... pretty clever actually..."
I smiled at him before putting the vial into my backpack. "Okay, let's go."