Extra's POV: My Obsessive Villainous Fiancee Is The Game's Final Boss-Chapter 270: Welcome To The Second Sea

The crew gathered on the deck of the Lady Rill, damp clothes clinging to tired bodies.

They were sleep deprived, starving, and just couldn't wait for this adventure to end.

"I didn't think it was going to be like this." Zuzu groaned. "Where's our heroic entry?"

"The longer you're in this… business, the more you realize that everything in the stories you tell afterward are to make you look good." Thorn grinned.

"You'll get your heroic entrance." He chuckled to himself. "Just in the stories."

"And let me guess." Elias spoke up. "In your version of the story, it'll be you who struck the final blow and brought down the deep?"

"Naturally." Thorn grinned. "After the boss tells us the plans."

Their gaze moved to Ren who stood with his arms crossed, watching them.

No one said anything. They just turned to him, silently waiting uncomfortably.

The reason why they'd been trying to fill up the silence was pushing itself back into their consciousness.

The longer they stayed, the more the silence felt like the Deep was holding its breath, as if it was waiting for something else to break the silence.

And the thought of something giant watching with unseen eyes was pretty unnerving. Well, except if you worship the giant watching entity, and they definitely didn't.

"Alright." Ren said at last. "Here's the plan."

They leaned in, listening with a kind of desperate attentiveness. Even Thorn, usually full of sarcasm, remained quiet.

Not a single one of them wasn't eager to get out of this place as soon as possible.

"This isn't the Deep yet." Ren continued. "Not the true Deep."

"This is just the entry cavern. The place that filters everything. It has several of them and they all lead deeper into the… Deep."

"But the most important thing is that most things that try to go in don't make it past here."

Thorn scratched his neck. "So we survived the filter?"

"We haven't." Elias muttered. His tone was grim. "Not yet."

"They don't make it past because they don't know where to go." Ren said.

He looked behind him at the giant waterfall they'd come down from. Then, he turned his head to look in the direction that was sixty degrees away from the wall.

"Our goal is to get out of this cavern. The exit is on the far end. Through that direction."

He pointed toward a distant patch of black that was too far away for them to see from where they were.

"We sail across in a straight line, and we should be fine."

Zuzu frowned, her eyes on the still water. "Wait a second."

She crouched and stuck a hand into the water, her eyes closed.

"What's wrong?" Thorn asked, glancing into the water around them like he was expecting to be attacked.

A few seconds later, Zuzu removed her hand and stood.

"I couldn't feel too far in the water, but even with the still surface, there are currents moving below us. Strange ones. Tides that don't match anything I've studied."

"They won't." Ren said. "They aren't natural. The currents here shift according to... rules that don't exist anywhere else."

Lilith stood slightly apart, her arms folded. She glanced around, her eyes narrowing as her head tilted slightly.

"Something's wrong with the energy here." She said. "I can feel it. It's like the souls are being pulled sideways."

"Doesn't that mean the Deep has a soul?" Thorn asked.

"I…" Lilith hesitated. "I don't know. I can't sense its soul."

Thorn frowned. "But you just said…"

"This place has its own rules that don't follow anything outside." Ren interrupted. "Don't trust what you feel. Don't react unless you have to."

"As long as we don't provoke the creatures down there, we should be safe."

"Should?" Thorn said. "That doesn't fill me with confidence."

Ren shrugged. "We're alive. That counts for something."

"How long will the crossing take?" Elias asked, already calculating.

Ren looked to Zuzu. "If Zuzu follows the usual pace she set in the Mare Dulce sea, it should take us a week."

Thorn groaned. "A week? In this haunted bathtub? Surrounded by ghost moss and invisible monsters? Wonderful."

"I think we have a bigger problem." Elias said, drawing their attention. "Food."

Thorn choked.

"Just before you got in, we had a day's worth of food left. What will we eat during the week we'll be spending here?"

"Fuck." Thorn swore under his breath.

"We have no sunlight. No fishing. No rain. Nothing." Elias said. "Just us and the dark."

Thorn opened the supply crate again, as if hoping food would magically appear. It didn't. He shut it slowly and sat down beside it, silent.

They stood in silence. No one wanted to say what they were all thinking.

Then Ren spoke, a smile on his face. "Fortunately, the problem is solved."

Everyone turned to him, immediately relieved.

"Thank the stars." Thorn breathed. "What's the food?"

"The Deep creatures are edible." Ren said, and silence filled the air.

Everyone stared at him.

If he remembered the wiki very well, the deep sea creatures were edible. There were just a few… conditions.

"If you kill the fishes in here and eat them before more than ten minutes, the meat doesn't spoil. More than ten minutes and it becomes biological waste. Also, you'll have to eat it raw."

Thorn gagged. "Raw fish? Are you serious?"

Ren nodded. "If you cook it or expose it to fire, it becomes poisonous. Some kind of internal reaction to heat. But raw, it's safe. Barely."

Elias raised an eyebrow. "How is that supposed to help us?"

"If we see something small enough to kill and haul in," Ren said, "we take it. Lilith and I will handle it. Zuzu keeps us moving. Elias keeps watch. Thorn..."

"...vomits in the corner," Thorn muttered.

"...helps however he can." Ren finished with a grin.

"Wait." Thorn narrowed his eyes. "Why are you smiling?"

Ren's grin grew wider. "I've always wanted to try sushi."