Chapter 141: Tranquility Ends, Let the Ruined City Be Lively

The sensation of the body—which was supposed to be asleep—perceiving the world, like the feeling of waking up, was something I usually only felt when logging in.
Lying on the battered deck, I shook my head to clear the rushing torrent of information assaulting my five senses, sat up, and looked around... Just as I expected, or rather as the trope demands, I was all alone. But there's no way everyone else wiped, surely.
And as for those fish-men... I hurriedly picked up a dropped Aspiring Blades of the Hero (Duxram) and looked around, only to find a massive pile of fresh, wildly flopping fish right there.

"What is the meaning of this...?"

I mean, the fish-men literally turned entirely into fish, but what actually happened? With the flat of my blade, I gingerly poked the slimy, writhing moray eel, steeled myself, and tossed it into my inventory.

"Deep Abyss Moray... It really is just a Fish[*1] (Item)."

What the hell is going on? Were the fish-men originally just fish? Or did the fish-men simply turn into fish? Hmm... No, that's not what I should be focusing on right now.

"Right before the load screen hit, the EX scenario started without a reject option, didn't it...?"

Shit... I really hadn't anticipated that. Forced events are a dime a dozen in games, and the fact that they're usually beginner traps is also common knowledge.
Looking up, I could faintly see something sparkling like stars in the distance within a darkness that was distinct from the night sky. From the looks of it, we were inside some sort of cavern... And finally, I began to observe the area itself.

"There's actually air... Are we really inside a cave or something? But above all, this scenery..."

In a word, an "Underground City." Since we were dragged to the bottom of the sea, it's probably an Atlantis-type area.
The ghost ship that had appeared with the storm and assaulted us like the groans of the dead was now quietly stranded on the edge of this subterranean city, bearing damage that made it impossible to sail—as if the storm had never happened.
As for why I'm the only one left here... well, I have a few ideas, but for now, there's no point overthinking it.

"This area... structurally, or rather map-wise, is it the same type as Thirdrema?"

In other words, a circular city with a castle in the center, and buildings and roads arranged in a ring. From what I can see on the ship, the only thing I can tell is that I'm currently on the outer rim of this circular layout. Also, the cityscape is heavily ruined but medieval in style, meaning it dates from sometime after the civilization of the Divine Age.

"This must be Ctarrnid's home base... Crap, bringing Emul along was a complete blunder."

Since NPCs can't respawn, I really didn't want them participating in an EX Scenario, where the death rate is astronomically high. I thought it would be fine during the preliminary stages before the EX Scenario triggered, but I never expected to get hit by a surprise attack like this.
Things are going so far off the rails that it's actually starting to get fun. Even though the core nature is the exact opposite, I'm falling into the exact same mentality I have when clearing a Trash Game...

"Nnh."

Either way, now that I'm thrown into an EX Scenario, clearing it is simply gamer etiquette. While checking my equipment and stats, I noticed a new entry added to the status screen.

"Special State: 'Time of the Abyss'..."

When I hear "Special State," the first thing that comes to mind is Lycaon's form. Looking back, maybe Wethermon's forced level restriction was also a type of Special State. Well, setting that aside for a moment.

"This number... I see. The time limit I can stay in this place is seven days."

167:58:21... Translating that string of decreasing numbers makes it obvious that there is a set time limit for staying in this area. But knowing the time limit is actually good news.
After all, it's impossible to stay logged in for seven straight days. If that's the case, a save point must exist somewhere in this area, and by the very nature of "Save = Logout," that location must be guaranteed to be safe. If there is a safe zone, tossing the NPCs in there will guarantee their safety, at least until the time limit runs out.

"If I have seven days, there's no need to aim for an immediate clear. I need to find Emul, Ceecrue... Ah, right, and secure the NPCs including that little shit, and then find a save point..."

Alright, the checklist to complete before tackling the final goal is set. For now, nothing will happen if I just stand here; I need to search for the others and find a save point.

"Alright, let's go!!"

I jumped down from the deck, triggering Flit Float midway to mitigate the fall damage. My HP had been fully restored during the loading screen between areas, so I didn't suffer the pathetic fate of dying to fall damage. But since my build revolves around cutting my own HP anyway, I decided to just proceed as I was.

"No monsters in sight."

I landed on a meadow that was strangely lush for a subterranean city and carefully looked around. It seemed there were lights shining deeper within the city sector, and the area I was currently in was bathed in a faint glow catching the leftovers of that light. When I lightly kicked and dug up the ground, I unearthed soil—not sand—and weeds that were definitely not seaweed.

"...This really doesn't feel like the bottom of the sea."

Everything making up this area looked like it could be used directly in an above-ground map. Even for this game, I doubt they'd allow such a lazy asset flip, so there must be some trick to it.
Looking back at the wreckage of the ship, even the Crying Innsman—which was borderline terrifying in the storm—now just gave off an air of melancholy. Still, it's hard to imagine there'd be anything major right at the player's starting point, and while I'm heading out to find my comrades and a save point, I'd much rather investigate that city than the ship's wreckage.

"The outer perimeter is mostly intact. It really just feels weathered."

I figured there'd be some backstory about it being destroyed by Ctarrnid, but the collapsed outer walls looked more like they had simply weathered and crumbled over time rather than being destroyed in battle. Stepping over the piled-up rubble from a collapsed section to enter the city proper, I was able to get a much clearer view of the place.
The most striking feature was that everything, from the building materials to the roads, was entirely unified in a pale blue color. It didn't look like they were painted to match; rather, it seemed they were built using a specific stone that naturally had that color. The cityscape, illuminated by strange lamp-like objects acting as streetlights, was an incredibly fantastical sight. The fact that it was in ruins, draped in decay and silence, only added to the atmosphere.
But there was one thing that caught my eye.

"The houses are sealed off?"

It wasn't a simple matter of being locked. While most of the houses were heavily damaged, the majority of the ones that still had front doors or windows intact were boarded up from the outside—and very thoroughly too, using the same colored wood as the rest of the city.
Things are suddenly starting to smell incredibly sketchy. I highly doubt boarding up civilian houses from the outside is standard practice for a festival or a holiday. A situation that requires taking measures to prevent the residents inside from getting out...

"If I find skeletons inside, that's pretty much a bingo... Oh, looks like the residents are here for a warm welcome."

An indescribable appearance, voice, and a mixed stench of decay and raw fish, like something forgotten in a cooler box and left to rot. Thankfully, the game didn't perfectly recreate the stench of compressed earthly filth, dialing it back to something somewhat milder, but it was still more than enough to highlight their presence.

"So you showed up, you rotten fish balls."

Since the ones on the ghost ship had somehow turned into fish, I thought they wouldn't spawn anymore, but I was wrong. The fish-men that emerged from the street corner spotted me, oozing a slimy bodily fluid from their half-rotted bodies that I really didn't want to touch. While I felt a slight incongruity that they were in a state of high alert from the very start, I prepared for battle as well.
Unlike the ones we fought on the ghost ship, these fish-men were wearing strangely well-maintained equipment and charged at me while shrieking. But since they're just fish-heads in the end, a straightforward, idiotic charge is hardly a threat.
That's right, the first wave charges in, followed by the second wave, then the third... the fourth, fifth, sixth... the nth wave... Wait, hold on a second.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!?"

I'm all alone here!!
Change of plans. There's no way I can fight that head-on. Without hesitation, I pulled a 180 and broke into a full-speed sprint.

Author's Afterword

Actually, Ctarrnid has the most broken/cheating-like abilities.

Translator's Notes

• *[1] Fish (Item): The Kanji is "Fish" (Sakana), but the Ruby text reads "Item" (Aitemu). Sunraku is noting that the fearsome monsters have literally been demoted in the game's system code from "Enemies" to consumable/material "Items."