AWB Chapter 118 : Submerged by Water
Chapter 118 : Submerged by Water
Submerged by WaterThe sea is inscrutable, ever-changing. Since ancient times, it has been the cradle of life—not only did all life on Earth originate from it, but even now, it conceals many creatures yet to be discovered by humans.
However, none of these are the greatest threats.
For those who can't swim, falling into the deep sea is no different than plummeting into an unfathomable abyss. The air essential for survival is stripped away, and the ability to perceive the surroundings through sight and sound is also robbed. If one cannot break through to the surface, they can only struggle in utter despair and ultimately drown in the vast expanse of the sea in the most hideous of ways.
Therefore, when the briny, bitter sea water enveloped Cecilia layer by layer, her mind went blank—she was completely stunned.
It wasn't until several seconds had passed, and she had already sunk dozens of meters underwater, that Cecilia suddenly came to her senses. She hurriedly closed her mouth and began to struggle desperately, her arms flailing like propellers as she tried to swim back up to the surface.
Yet, since she had never learned to swim from childhood, her frantic efforts did not help her rise even a few meters. Instead, she lost her balance, her entire body spinning uncontrollably in the darkness of the sea.
At the same time, Cecilia noticed that, from the moment she fell into the water, a faint light blue oxygen bar appeared at the edge of her vision, like an hourglass constantly ticking down.
The number at the top of the oxygen bar had originally been 100, and after several seconds of struggling, had already dropped to 77. Moreover, the value continued to decrease at a rate of one point per second.
At this rate, according to typical MMORPG settings, when the oxygen bar drops to zero, her HP would start decreasing immediately.
Watching her life ticking away, second by second, was an incredibly nerve-wracking experience. Coupled with being submerged in the seawater, Cecilia's wide eyes began to sting, making it painful to keep them open, and the oxygen in her chest was about to run out as waves of suffocation swept over her.
"Calm down... Stay calm... There must be a way to get to the surface..."
She kept reminding herself to stay calm, and Cecilia eventually stopped her useless struggling, floating silently in the water. Not only would this conserve her strength, but it could also slow the depletion of her oxygen.
In moments of crisis, it is even more vital to remain calm—otherwise, in a panic, one is more likely to make basic, fundamental mistakes.
She lifted her head and forced her eyes open against the searing pain from the saltwater, peering up through more than a dozen meters of seawater. She could still make out the patch of light above her, as well as a square shadow measuring several square meters.
That block of ice Yuewu had created was now just above her. If only she could reach the surface and climb onto that solid ice, she could immediately escape this crisis.
But the distance was too great—over a dozen meters. Without proper swimming technique, in this endless sea, even floating up a single meter was as hard as reaching the sky.
Thinking of this, Cecilia's heart sank. It was undoubtedly too late to learn how to swim now.
The oxygen bar was already half-depleted, and her body was starting to feel cold, especially her head, which, under the stimulation of the cold seawater, was experiencing waves of dull, stabbing pain.
With the situation now urgent, she could no longer afford to conserve her skills. Cecilia quickly cast two buff-type enhancement skills on herself, feeling the blood flow in her body speed up significantly and her body temperature climbing for a moment.
However, as her blood circulation accelerated, the drawback immediately followed—her oxygen consumption increased as well.
What had been one point per second was now nearly two, and at this rate, in just over thirty seconds, Cecilia's oxygen bar would be completely depleted. Whether she could last another minute was now a very real question.
Realizing this, Cecilia, who had just managed to regain her calm, began to grow anxious again. She already thought things could hardly be worse. Even worse, two seconds later, the corner of her vision caught a glimpse of a pitch-black shadow streaking past her more than ten meters away, stirring up a whirl of dark currents.
Before entering the water, Cecilia had already used the Darkwing Demon Bat's Scout ability to sense that beneath the surface in this part of the sea, there were countless types of monsters.
There was no doubt that the slender dark shadow that just swept past her might very well be a monster dwelling in the sea.
Because her ears were filled with seawater, her hearing was somewhat distorted underwater, but it did not prevent Cecilia from using her hearing to sense her surroundings. She slowly closed her eyes, and all the sounds around her instantly became crystal clear in her mind.
The water behind her split apart rapidly. She could distinctly sense that a fish-shaped figure was charging at her from behind at high speed.
Her right hand slowly dropped to her lower back, "Shing——"
With a sharp sound, a silver table knife flashed out, gripped tightly in Cecilia's palm.
She had never been one to sit and wait for death. Even if, at worst, she were really to drown in the sea this time, Cecilia would at least drag a few monsters down with her.
Fish, with their streamlined bodies and aquatic specialization, were far faster than humans in the water. In less than two seconds, the black shadow had already shot toward her, its huge fanged jaws opening wide to bite down on the girl's back!
Cecilia was fully aware that with her pitiful swimming skills, she was nowhere near comparable to a sea creature born and raised in the ocean—there was no way she could outmaneuver it in terms of agility.
Thus, from the moment she first caught sight of that shadow, she had already planned her response. Even if she had to take the monster's first attack head-on, she would seize it and drive her blade into its vital points!
With thoughts whirling through her mind, Cecilia made her decision in an instant. When the sudden, ferocious impact struck her from behind, she twisted her body, using the force of the collision to spin 180 degrees, and latched her left hand tightly onto a protrusion on the monster's body.
At the same time, under the tremendous impact delivered by the fish-shaped monster, Cecilia was hurled rapidly away from the ice block above, plunging even deeper into the sea.
Now face to face with the monster, clinging tightly to it, Cecilia could, under the weak light filtering through the water, finally make out its full form for the first time.
It was a fish very much like a dolphin in shape, but far from adorable like real dolphins. Its eyes were blood-red, its face covered in scars, and in its mouth were two rows of jagged, shark-like sharp teeth, some so long they pierced through its lips and stuck out from its mouth.
However, more than its menacing appearance, what caught Cecilia's attention was an object on its back.
It was the head of a harpoon—its wooden shaft almost completely gone to rust, firmly embedded in the monster's back just beside its right dorsal fin.