While he was afloat on the water, the orcs began to step backward bit by bit. Their faces showed fear and pity.
What was the cause? What made such high and mighty orcs shiver and turn away from chasing their prey? Is there something inside the water that they are afraid of? Or can't they just swim?
These question swirled inside Lean's head. He couldn't grasp why they acted out of fear.
[Notice!]
[Quest Completed!]
[You have escaped the hellish scene 1]
[Reward will be received after the final quests have been completed]
[Time remaining for the penalty quest to end]
[3 Hours and 35 minutes.]
With a puzzled expression, Lean tried to digest the message that he had just received.
"Final quest?" he said puzzled. "Wasn't that the only quest? And what does it mean by hellish scene 1? Are there supposed to be more of this?"
He then looked at the orcs as if they had already gone far away from the water.
Lean's mind became even more puzzled.
"Something doesn't add up," he said. "Why did the orcs retreat? They stopped chasing me immediately after seeing me jump into the water. Are they scared of something? Is this water dangerous? But the system said I had completed the quest, which meant I was safe. So why ain't they coming after him and what is it with the number… one."
Without even getting the time to think forward, the system echoed again in his head.
[Notice!]
[Urgent Quest Arrived!]
[Survive the coming hellish scene]
[As stated earlier, this will be the second part of the hellish scene quest.]
[This is also part of your penalty quest.]
[Quest duration: 40 minutes.]
"What? An urgent quest? And it's still under the penalty quest… but I am still inside the water. I can get out of here; if I do, the orcs will just come after me again."
Lean couldn't grasp what was going on anymore. The more he even thought about it, the more it became more complicated for him to grasp.
To him, the system might be a little misleading, what was happening was never what he had ever anticipated.
"Sigh'~ I just can't get a hold of how this system works anymore. From killing monsters and leveling up. Now a penalty quest. How am I supposed to have another quest while I'm stuck floating in an ocean with nowhere to go and facing multiple orcs that will attack me the moment I step out"
"Maybe I'll have to wait for them to get further away from me before I can come out."
After he said all this, he gave the orcs a quick glare. However, to his surprise, they didn't flinch at all. It was true that they were not all that close to the water, but they were still close enough to get him if he ever attempted to leave the water.
When Lean gazed at them, he noticed they hadn't moved an inch since they retreated.
"Huh…? Why ain't they moving, are they still waiting for me to come out?—But looking at their expressions, it looks like they are waiting for an event to occur. More like they are anticipating something to happen."
'Is it not me?'
_
As he was still on the water, thinking of his way out, bubbles began to rise.
Not just one bubble, but rather multiple bubbles.
The water began to become unstable. It was as if something massive was about to manifest from it. Was it an undersea earthquake?
Lean struggled to keep himself as the water forced him to move from his current position, which was still a little close to the sand, to a further location that was far away from the sand.
Lean noticed that he had already been taken far away from his exit. As he looked at the orcs, he saw them staring in awe.
Their expressions had completely changed from what it was before. Most of them who were sitting down on the ground had now stood up to get a clearer view of what was happening in the ocean.
'Is this what they have all been waiting for?' Lean thought to himself. 'They are looking rather interested in this situation I am in."
After a while of rumbling, the ocean now came to a calm. It was as if nothing had ever happened.
And that was when it then happened. All the orcs, which were all seated, now stood up and stared strain at the ocean. While Lean was staring at them trying to figure out what was going on.
He then saw a large shadow covering his whole view. He then turned to check what it was. And to his surprise, he saw a large tsunami.
His eyes widened at the sudden sight he witnessed. It was only getting bigger and bigger. This was large enough to swallow him and send him into the depths of the sea. It can also take everything that was close by along with him. It might even reach the orcs.
Towering after him, the tsunami waited for a while before it swallowed him, as though asking him Are you ready?
Lean could only take a quick gulp as he said.
"I am Dead!"
It then swallowed him, taking him deep into the sea.
RUBBLE'
RUBBLE'
RUBBLE'
Lean struggled to keep himself steady as the current of the wave was so strong. It was spinning him all about and making him unstable.
Lean, at this moment, was not all that disturbed much by the current, because he was holding his breath quite well. It was all thanks to his middle school, where it was mandatory for a student to learn how to swim.
..
Soon after, the current made calm as the waves had all stopped. But Lean still found himself at the depth of the ocean, he tried to swim his way up to catch his breath, however he was not able to.
This ocean was not your typical ocean you see at the beach. This one was not ordinary. Actually nothing in his place is ordinary.
Lean stared at the top of the sea and got a good view of the sun shining on it. The rays of the light illuminated the sea as it created a rainbow-like scenery.
He was only surprised after he noticed that he couldn't go higher, but wasn't feeling affected by it. After all, he was still able to hold his breath for another 50 minutes.
'What do you know… Things we do learn from school can still be useful in another world.' He proclaimed in his thoughts, as he couldn't speak.
Since he was unable to swim up, he then swam down. He went deeper and deeper into the sea as the whole place became dark.
Not too long, he saw a building. The structure of a Castle. It was rough, but not destroyed.
'What is a building doing down here?' The thought crossed his mind as he swam fast to it. Getting closer, he noticed how large it was. Looking at it from afar, he wouldn't have expected it to be this big. As he got closer, he found a large hole at the top of the building which was his was in. He then swam to it and entered it.
Immediately he entered it, he dropped on the solid ground of the castle and noticed something strange.
The inside was not filled with water at all, he looked up and saw the water hanging at the entrance of the hole as only a few drops fell due to him passing through.
An Airlock?