I Reincarnated to Another World as a Woman-Chapter 238: Final Gift

’Thea’ is not trying to do anything but survive.

Theo is writhing and thrashing in excruciating pain. He is oblivious to everything happening around him. He is barely conscious.

His last clear memory was yelling, "I know!"

He had been racking his brain for where a tremendous amount of mana could possibly be found. And then he remembered the ocean just outside the gate.

His thought had been simple.

If I can get in touch with the water... maybe I can summon just a stream through the gate. If I can submerge myself, I’ll have enough time to extract mana from the sea... assuming the sea has mana.

It was a gamble.

But he had no better option. Not when Arthur and Julian were about to fall.

That had been his intention.

But intention and reality are rarely the same.

Just as he focused, redirecting Maeve’s and Liam’s mana to help him summon a controlled stream of water, he heard Alex’s voice.

"Theo, you can’t come here anymore. You’re not dead yet. I’ll see you around, buddy."

Then—

Pain.

At first, it was small. A prickling sensation. Like being pierced by the tip of a fine needle.

Then—

Wham.

Blinding agony detonated through his entire body. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Every nerve screamed.

It hurt so much that thought shattered. Control dissolved. Body, mind, and mana all slipped from his grasp at once.

He could not direct it.

He could not shape it.

He could only fight not to drown in the pain.

He had never meant to call the ocean into the dungeon.

But he lost control the instant the connection formed.

And the ocean answered.

Maeve and Liam were drained in a single violent pull. Their mana ripped from them as collateral in Theo’s desperate reach. Both collapsed instantly, unconscious.

And outside the gate—

The sea itself surged forward.

Not as a stream.

Not as a trickle.

But as a flood.

The ocean had been summoned.

And now it was drowning the dungeon.

------------------------------

Outside the gate.

Captain Chambers and his officers are scrambling to save themselves.

The sea is furious.

It crashes in towering waves and claims the gate entirely. Water surges over the stone arch, swallowing it whole before violently dragging it back toward the ocean.

The gate does not simply fall.

It is pulled.

Ripped from where it stood and plunged into the churning sea as if seized by an invisible hand.

The officers who had been surrounding it are thrown off their feet. Some are knocked flat by the surge. Others are dragged several meters before managing to claw their way free.

They fight the current, arms and legs thrashing, swallowing salt water as they struggle back toward shore.

Never in their lives have they seen a storm like this so close to land. The kind of violent ocean that belongs in the middle of open waters is now raging less than a kilometer from St. Lucas Island.

Yet something is strange.

The storm does not advance toward the island.

It moves away from it.

As if deliberately steering itself clear.

As if making sure the island remains untouched.

And it does.

The beach itself remains eerily calm. The sand is wet, the air charged with electricity, but the violence stops at a precise, invisible boundary.

It is fortunate that it is the middle of the night. No tourist boats. No offshore lights. No spectators to witness the unnatural phenomenon unfolding just beyond the shore.

Lightning continues to tear across the sky. Thunder rolls in relentless waves. Wind churns the sea into chaos.

But on the beach, where the gate once stood, the air is almost still.

Captain Chambers finally reaches land. He collapses onto his hands and knees, coughing violently as he spits out mouthfuls of seawater.

Around him, other officers are doing the same. Some lie flat on their backs, gasping. Others help pull their comrades higher onto the sand. A few officers rush down from the resort to assist, dragging the exhausted men away from the waterline.

Captain Chambers pushes himself upright, drenched and shaking, and stares at the raging storm.

"It’s like we’re being separated by an invisible glass wall," he mutters hoarsely.

All around him, voices rise.

"What the hell is happening?"

"Is that the dungeon?"

"Did it explode?"

But no one has an answer.

The storm roars on.

And the gate is gone.

------------------------------

"Theo."

"Theo!"

"THEO!"

Theo jerks awake.

Someone is calling him. No. Yelling his name while he was unconscious. The desperation in that voice cuts through the darkness and drags him back.

He startles violently, trying to turn toward the sound.

But the first thing he notices when his eyes open is pain.

The blinding agony is still there, tearing through his body, burning through muscle and bone. Yet it is different now. Still intense. Still overwhelming. But manageable.

He tries to draw a breath.

Water floods his mouth.

He chokes violently.

Salt water rushes down his throat and into his lungs. He coughs and thrashes instinctively, limbs flailing until his mind finally registers what is happening.

He is not lying on the dungeon floor.

He is floating.

Half submerged.

In the middle of a raging ocean.

"What the hell?"

His head whips around despite the lingering dizziness.

"How did I get here? Am I out of the dungeon? Am I still inside? What is going on?"

They... are... drowning...

The voice cuts through the howling wind.

He hears it clearly despite the thunder.

Theo freezes for a fraction of a second.

Then he snaps into motion.

He scans frantically, eyes searching through sheets of rain and crashing waves for any sign of his team and Alicia.

And in that split second of awareness, he notices something else.

The pain raging inside his body is not destroying him. It is knitting him back together.

His shoulder feels whole.

His ribs no longer grind against each other.

His leg responds when he commands it.

His mana.

His mana is full.

Overflowing.

He frowns, confusion flashing through him, but there is no time to question it.

His friends and Alicia.

He thrusts his consciousness outward.

Mana surges from him in all directions, spreading through the churning water like a pulse.

He finds them.

All five of them.

Floating.

Submerged too deep.

Unconscious.

He pulls.

The ocean answers.

Water coils around their bodies and lifts them upward, raising them above the surface. He draws them toward him, gathering them close, keeping their heads clear of the waves.

He checks each one in rapid succession.

Arthur. Julian. Liam. Maeve. Alicia.

Breathing. All of them.

Alive.

Theo exhales shakily, relief crashing through him.

He looks around again.

"I have to stop this."

He extends his will again. Mana pours outward.

The storm obeys in a heartbeat. Wind falters. Thunder fades. Lightning ceases. The towering waves shrink, collapsing back into heavy swells before calming entirely.

The ocean stills.

Water levels begin to drop, though he cannot see how or where it drains. It simply lowers, as if retreating from his command.

Theo continues holding control, forcing the sea into submission, until the world around him settles into unnatural quiet.

Only then does he turn his attention inward.

He scans his body.

His mana.

His breath catches.

"No," he whispers.

Understanding dawns.

"Alex... what have you done?"

His voice is barely audible above the fading wind.

Tears spill down his face, mixing with salt water.

The weight of it settles into his chest like stone.