"I really don't." ~Shallies

Grace couldn't tell if their current encounter was difficult or not, but she found it annoying and irritating, at the very least.

This creature, this Death Monster, lacked any sort of significant threat, as far as physical prowess was concerned. It made no effort to wound, save for in the small opportunities it could find, which wasn't its main focus. It chose purposefully to be almost entirely on the defensive, relying on its Death Timer. Sometimes, it would even attempt to engage in a grapple, but since it couldn't let go of its sword and shield, those attempts were a tad slower.

After its initial dash to begin the fight, it had changed tactics to stand its ground. It didn't even bother chasing after them when no one stood in its Death Zone, choosing to simply stand valiantly with the cliff behind it. Almost as if to ask someone to push it over. But its sturdy poise and stable footing told an entirely different story.

It knew exactly what it was doing, and Grace had to admit that it was a tough strategy to defeat.

She hated the fact that she could only spend five seconds within the Death Zone. Which, even with Haste and all her effort to run in and out, would result in just three seconds of engagement.

Technically, she could spend more. With the Death Zone ticking away twice as many seconds as her Constitution should initially provide, she could afford a total of nine seconds inside the zone, if it only took her a second to escape the area.

"How quickly will I die if I go past my timer?" Grace asked the others.

[Instantly,] said Stachie.

"Instantly," said the other two.

"Dammit…"

Grace waited for her timer to disappear. Their strategy had adjusted to the Death Monster's behavior. Instead of fighting in turns, both her and Ren would engage as soon as their Death Timer fully reset. That meant, in some intervals, they would attack together. As for Tayin, she would keep hard-casting twin-cast Shooting Stars. Somewhere within the engagement, they had made a successful Scan, and cosmic damage was its only weakness.

Its shield, however, had easily deflected those beams of cosmic mana.

This time, Grace needed another two seconds to join Ren. With a strong step, she dashed into the Death Zone, meeting the Death Monster as the Shield Knight shoved it with a powerful Shield Bash.

The monster, pushed back by the Skill, had its own shield thrown back above its head. Grace took that opportunity, igniting both her Mana-Edges for a pair of strikes under it. She got a clean hit, but she didn't stay long to see how big the damage was. With another step, she dashed out of the zone, exchanging places with a Shooting Star.

Grace turned and saw the twin-casted Spell, along with the additional Mana-Bolts from the the halfling's wand, pierce through the Death Monster's armor. For good measure, Ren expended a few more seconds to slash at the dark smoke that was the monster's body, before dashing out of the zone.

"Hit it again!" he yelled to Tayin.

The halfling abandoned her current invocation and released her two prepared Shooting Star back to back instead. Both were clean hits, piercing through armor.

A lull developed in the air. With both Grace and Ren still recovering their Death Timers, they watched in anticipation as the Death Monster Sword and Shield froze, leaking ghostly black smoke to fill its Death Zone.

It looked almost dead, and preparing one final desperate move.

"Give me that!" Tayin said suddenly, taking Ren's sword. "Sight Step!"

In a blink, the halfling was on top of the Death Monster with Ren's shortsword pointed downwards. She pushed with all her might, driving the tip into where the Mini-Boss's shoulder should be. It screamed in pain, turning and leaning over the cliff, before its smoky form violently exploded.

Tayin yelled, caught by the monster's suicide attack. There was a moment, when both Grace and Ren chased after her. There was a moment, when the halfling flailed in the air, trying to reach the far end of the cliff. And that moment didn't last long.

And then she fell.

"Wake up! Wake up, Tayin!"

Huh?

The halfling opened her eyes and saw darkness. She was floating. Her body felt light, but not in the same way Star Stream would make it. She lost consciousness and lost control of her ability to float. That, at least, she quickly figure out. But before she could analyze anything else that was happening, Tayin realized she couldn't see anything in front of her.

Then she realized she couldn't breathe.

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I'm drowning!

Tayin spun, looking for anything within the darkness. The entirety of her surroundings felt unnatural. It had still been noon when they fought the Death Monster, but she couldn't find any sunlight wherever she looked.

"Up here, Tayin," said a voice.

She immediately recognized it. Scutia, her crimson star. Another turn and she found a red bright light swimming on the surface of the ocean.

After realizing that Star Stream's floating functionality didn't work underwater, Tayin swam after her star instead. But as she did so, something grabbed her leg and pulled her down. She couldn't tell if it was a hand, or if it was a tentacle, or some sort of nightmarish limb, or something else entirely. All she knew was that it was dragging her down.

Slowly. Painfully.

The halfling couldn't hold her breath anymore, expulsing air as she tried to breathe. Her vision blurred, unable to focus on the red glimmer anymore.

Why here? Why now? Dying here is so lame…

Tayin regretted the way she was dying. She regretted wasting her chance. She had gained the best opportunity she could've hoped for, and unwittingly threw it away by dying in such an insignificant place.

"Don't give up," Scutia encouraged. "You can still get out."

Desperately clinging to those words, Tayin spent all her effort to reach out for her wand. She had imbued it with her mana, a standard method for every Spellcasting Class to summon their casting medium to their hand, regardless of whether they could see it or not, so long as the item was within range.

Something touched her hand. A miracle. Her wand answered her call. Now she needed another miracle.

Tayin pointed her wand towards the bright light. She ran her mana desperately, wishing for her Spell to activate. It didn't. There was a problem.

She had no voice underwater.

The thing dragging her down was playing with Tayin. It had let loose its hold, allowing the halfling to float back up in the air for a little bit, only to be dragged down again. It was torturous.

Tayin kept moving her wand. She kept her mana flowing into the Spell Sight Step. But being unable to even mutter her invocations clearly, she couldn't cast it.

Come on! What's the point of putting all those Attribute Points in Focus, if you can't bloody cast without invocations!

"You need your invocations, Tayin," said Scutia. "You only need not speak them. I know you can do it. Tap into your Focus."

Clearing her mind was difficult. She had no air left. But with one, final desperate attempt. Tayin tapped into her Focus and spoke the words in her mind as loud as she could.

She felt a splash, then blacked out.

Ren didn't care that he could no longer find his shortsword. He didn't care that they had defeated the Death Monster. He didn't care that Grace was stopping him from jumping into the black spot on the ocean.

He only cared that he couldn't find Tayin.

Both he and Grace had scrabbled down the cliff, taking a much safer route compared to the quicker one. That was when they had seen the inky surface. And that was when they had started arguing.

Not really an argument, per se. Grace simply suggested not jumping in. And that made Ren hesitate and lose his grip on his momentum. His desperation, fear, and panic froze him in place. Every time he tried to shove his way out of his mental paralysis, his own tendencies, his own fears, and his own confusion stopped him from moving.

Ren was the type of person to plan for things. The type to prepare for a variety of scenarios. And the type of to make contingencies and backup plans. He hadn't prepared for Tayin falling off a cliff and into dark waters.

He realized his weakness then.

Desperate, he called out her name. That glimmer of hope quickly disappeared as he scolded himself quietly for acting dumb.

The waves splashed at them. Clear ocean water. Not the dark kind. That part was staying in place, undisturbed by the ebb and flow of the sea.

He realized then, he had no choice. Before Grace could even try to stop him again, Ren doffed his armor with a single intent of his mind and dove into the darkness. But before he even made it to the water, he saw movement on the surface.

Tayin emerged momentarily above the surface, before falling face down into the water. Ren desperately swam to her, relief and more panic colliding inside him. He got a hold of her arm, lifting her face up.

Unconscious.

Ren didn't bother checking for a pulse and quickly swam back to shore.

Then something grabbed his leg.

"Grace!" he called out before he was helplessly dragged down.

A flurry of Mana-Edge Waves flew just under his direction, slicing off whatever was holding him back. He resurfaced again, with Tayin securely clutched over his shoulder.

The Mana-Edge Sentinel continued her barrage of Mana-Edge Waves until he eventually got to shore. Ren spared a quick look to see the inky surface replaced with red, and body parts of a monster he couldn't identify emerging from it.

He quickly turned his attention to Tayin. She still had a pulse, but she wasn't breathing. He quickly removed her leather armor.

"Get Shallies," he said to Grace. The half-orc didn't know what to do.

[No,] Stachie said.

"She's not breathing, Stachie!" Grace said.

"This isn't a joke!" Ren exclaimed.

[Go save her yourselves.]

Ren, aghast, shoved away his System Console. He picked up Tayin's chin, tilting it up, then took a deep breath. He locked mouths with hers and pushed the air in. He repeated the process a few times, breathing stronger each time.

Still no breathing.

Desperate, he interlocked his hands, straightened his arms, and began pushing Tayin's chest, attempting to push the water out.

Air in, water out. That was the idea.

Ren had never performed such an emergency operation before. He had only read about them, because neither Tayin nor Gar had cared enough to do so. Of course, he had taught them how to perform the operation, he had even made a crude demonstration. But he never expected to be the first one to actually do it for real.

Grace sat on the opposite side of Tayin. She was trying to fix the halfling's mana-flow, hoping it would do something.

Still nothing.

Ren's tears were flowing, but he didn't stop. He couldn't afford to stop.

Deep in their desperation, Shallies arrived. He felt hope arrived, but was quickly taken away when she just sat there on a large rock, waiting for them. Her face was stoic.

He wanted to shout at the Godkiller. He wanted to blame her. He wanted to hurt her. But to do any of those meant leaving Tayin's side.

He couldn't afford to stop.

Grace was pleading at Shallies. Making every possible promise imaginable just for Tayin to be saved. Shallies didn't utter a single word, only closing her eyes.

A cough.

Ren had never breathed out with such relief before. Tayin coughed up seawater, turning to her side. After making sure she was alright, he turned to Shallies. He could feel his own eyebrows hurt from frowning too hard.

"You didn't mention any monsters under the sea!"

"I never directed you to go there."

Shallies' face softened. From what remained of Ren's reasonable side, he saw her change. No. He saw her transform. As if the one who had been watching them suffer was a different Shallies. The one in front of them now cared.

"I'm glad you all managed to survive despite falling into the unknown."

"You had every ability to help us back there—"

"No, Ren. I don't. I already explained this. Stop relying on me." Shallies stood up. "I'll be waiting at camp. If you still wish to continue, you can find me there."

Just like that, she disappeared.

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