Published at 10th of February 2023 1:12 am

Chapter 346 Aquatic Swirl

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The others remained quiet as he introduced all but Asher to the nursery rhyme in full, finding it oddly nostalgic himself as it left his lips.

“Row, row, row your boat, gently down the stream…Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily…Life is but a dream,” he continued.

It was one of those things that was simply a naturally-ingrained concept into the heads of any person born in the same land as him; a nursery rhyme that befell the ears of all children, far and wide.

‘I remember…My mom used to sing this to me. From when I was a toddler even up until I turned ten. I used to have so much trouble sleeping…I was always in pain, crying or even screaming some nights. Though, this song always seemed to do the trick…she sang it so gently; it seemed impossible to experience anything bad while listening to it,’ he recalled.

“It’s a nice song,” Vandread remarked quietly.

The input from the usually stoic man was most definitely a surprise to Emilio, who blinked a few times in disbelief. It seemed he wasn’t the only surprised one, either.

“Wait, you actually enjoy stuff like that, Vandread?!” Blimpo asked in surprise.

“Yeah, I kind of chalked you up to being the kind of guy to knock the teeth out of a bard for being too noisy,” Joel added, making a punching motion with one of his arms.

Vandread sighed, seeming insulted by their words, “Just what kind of person do you all think I am, anyway? Songs are a respectable comfort for long journeys. There are many times I’ve stopped by the taverns of foreign towns and sat there for hours, drinking and eating my fill, almost solely to listen to the tales sung by their bards. There’s a lot you can learn from such songs, if you stop and enjoy the detours.”

Emilio found it right to add his input, agreeing with the sentiment, “I agree…I think life would be too dull if you ignored those things.”

“Never disagreed with that,” Blimpo remarked, “Just surprised, is all.”

The row through the quiet, yet peaceful lake was a long one, requiring a constant swapping of rowing duties as now it was Blimpo and Asher that manned the paddles. While there was some periodic rippling through the water, whatever movement was seen out of the corner of one’s eye never seemed to actually make itself known, so it was shrugged off.

“Just how long is this lake, anyway? Seems more like a freakin’ ocean at this point to me,” Joel asked.

“The After doesn’t much operate on logic, so it very well could be an ocean, my friend!” Blimpo said between breaths, straining himself to row with his twiggy arms.

The rowing went on for hours; sure, they weren’t exactly moving with any speed in the tiny, rickety boat, but it also was a bit concerning that they went on for so long through the length of a lake that didn’t seem that large at first glance.

Mist kept sight of most of the surroundings obscured, swayed by the brisk veil and keeping any semblance of an end to the lake out of sight. The only sound that occupied the misty lake was the monotonous paddling as the wooden tools swept in-and-out of the crystal-clear depths.

“Anybody else getting sleepy?” Joel yawned.

“It’s just the long ride doing that to you,” Vandread said.

Amidst the ride through the tranquil lake, the boat came to a halt as it abrasively bumped into something in the water. It felt as though a rock had been hit by just how solid the blockage in the path was, causing the boat to sway side-to-side momentarily.

“What was that?” Blimpo asked, peering over the edge.

The boat was left at a total stop for a moment as they all wondered the same thing. A quick look over the edge where the vessel had collided, Vandread found nothing there even after testing the water with a dagger.

“We’re clear,” Vandread said.

“Really? What’d we hit then?” Blimpo asked.

“Yeah, it’s not like we just rammed straight into…more water,” Joel added.

Vandread paused for a moment, looking at the water before responding, “Just start rowing.”

Again, the paddles began swishing through the water as the boat moved again, though with noticeably more tension in the air with the inexplicable collision that had occurred. Emilio couldn’t help but look around, finding himself unable to shake the idea that there was something odd about the lake.

‘There’s been an obstacle every step of the way so far. It won’t be any different here…will it?’ He thought.

The mist grew thicker, making it difficult to see even a few feet in front of the boat as now Joel and Emilio were paddling together while the others rested their arms.

“Hey, does anybody else hear that?” Blimpo asked.

“Huh?” Emilio responded.

The only sound that had been meeting his ears was the paddling of the water, though as he paused for a moment alongside Joel, listening closely alongside the others, he could hear it: the sound of water moving, almost rapidly.

“–A whirlpool! There’s a whirlpool!” Joel yelled out, looking straight where the boat was heading.

Even though the paddling had stopped, the vessel was undeniably heading straight for the now visible vortex in the lake, revealed through the veil of mist. Worse, even attempting to paddle in reverse did nothing to steer the wooden boat around from a straight course into the vortex, leading it to begin being pulled in a circular motion closer and closer to the center.

“What do we do?!” Joel asked.

“Hold on!” Asher gritted out.

There didn’t seem to be any straight solution, and even with Emilio attempting to manipulate the water through the usage of magic, it was far too large of a quantity and too violent in its momentum for him to even attempt to control it. Simply put, it was above his skill level to attempt to calm a vortex.

Something was glowing in the center of it all; a luminescence of a cyan glow that emitted particles of the same, mystical light as the boat swirled closer and closer to that enigmatic center.

“Should we jump…?!” Blimpo asked.

“You’ll just drown!” Vandread yelled.

Attempting everything, Emilio summoned the strength of his system as his eyes altered and scales stretched over his body with burning strength.

[Dragonheart System Activated]

[Current Stage: 2/10 | Dragon Son]

“Asher! Help me!” Emilio shouted.

“Right!”

[Devilheart System Activated]

[Current Stage: 2/10 | Hell Son]

Emilio and Asher took over paddling the boat with their superstrength combined, paddling so hard and fast that waved splashed and steam emitted from the wooden tools as they tried to overpower the pull of the vortex entirely.

Even still, it didn’t seem to do anything to stop the inevitable as the vessel swirled into the center, rocking chaotically as all five of them sitting within it had to hold on tightly not to be flung into the rapid waters.

“Hold on–!” Vandread yelled.

–Before Emilio knew it, the vessel was dragged into the luminescent center of the vortex, yet pulled beneath the surface of the lake, he found himself not devoid of breath, falling beneath the lake yet not drowning.

‘What…is this?’ He questioned.

Without realizing it, he was falling–completely plummeting, not just sinking through water. As he flailed his arms and legs, he realized the boat was falling as well, along with his companions as what laid beneath the vortex was not depths of water, but an open world itself.

It wasn’t a very long nor dangerous fall as he landed straight onto a soft bed of light-blue soil before the others landed as well.

“Oof…” Joel winced.

“Agh,” Blimpo rubbed his back.

Vandread was quick to his feet, looking around, “Hm.”

Emilio did the same, along with Asher as they looked up towards the ceiling high above that was made up of the lake’s surface, shrouded by mist.

“Just what the hell is this place?” Emilio questioned.

“I’d like to know that as well,” Asher said.

There wasn’t much of note down below the lake; it was an environment filled with crashed boats and sunken ships, along with ruined structures that laid on the bottom of the waterless lake. The air felt different from up above, however; dense with precipitation and cold to the touch, though not freezing.

“How do we get back up?…Can’t exactly swim on air,” Joel asked.

“I can get us back up there,” Emilio said, “I’ll use magic to carry us up to the surface again.”

Vandread seemed agreeable to this idea, “Give it a shot.”

“Huh–?” Emilio reacted.

The water born from his mana vanished just as quickly as it was made, though it wasn’t nullified at its source, but rather overpowered by something else.

‘What’s going–?’ He questioned.

“WAAAGH!”

Before anything could be figured out, something akin to the vortex on the surface of the lake transpired, though greatly surpassing in it both in scale and ferocity as a massive hurricane pulled the entire group off their feet.

“Where’d this come from?!” Blimpo asked.

“Another?!” Asher said.

There was no stability in the chaotic typhoon as it spun each of them around as if in the eye of a natural disaster itself; Emilio found himself unable to focus his mana into any spells while being spun around before suddenly–he was spit out from the waterless depth and out from the surface of the lake.

“Huh!?”

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