The Apocalypse is a Side Quest: Book Three, page 6
She gave him a thumbs-up.
“Is that really it?” one of the men muttered. “It was the boss, right? Surely it wouldn’t be that simple.”
A second later, three tentacles exploded from the ocean. Nathan’s eyes locked onto them as his water cultivation activated, propelling him upward on a sudden waterspout. He gripped his harpoon and drove it forward with his full weight behind the thrust.
The blade cleaved deep into the tentacle, sinking deeper as the creature thrashed. Nathan wrenched it free and glared into the dark mass below.
He considered using Basic Maelstrom again, but the memory of how it had knocked him unconscious last time gave him pause.
Instead, he reeled back—still clinging to the tentacle—and hurled the harpoon downward with all his strength. The weapon shot like a bullet, striking the water so hard it split the surface like a second explosion.
A thunderous crack echoed as the tentacles spasmed violently. They recoiled into the depths, and Nathan released his grip before they could drag him under.
He and the others stared as the dark mass retreated. Then Nathan blinked.
“We can’t let it get away.”
Chad snapped toward Nathan. “Wait, you can’t go in alone—”
Before anyone could react, he dove beneath the waves, water cultivation propelling him deeper, faster.
At first, it was easy. Nathan even thought he was gaining on the kraken.
The massive tentacle he’d been tracking disappeared around an underwater ridge, and he followed. When he rounded the corner, he froze.
It wasn’t a tentacle. It was merely the tip of one.
The kraken unfurled before him, its body extending so far into the murky depths that he couldn’t see where it ended. What he’d been chasing was just a fragment of the whole—like mistaking a fingernail for an entire person. The creature’s body blotted out the distant seafloor, a living mountain undulating in the deep.
His harpoon, still embedded in what he now realized was merely the beast’s scalp, looked absurdly small—a toothpick stuck in a continent.
The kraken’s massive eye rotated toward him, larger than a house and gleaming with alien intelligence.
Nathan activated his water cultivation technique, pulling moisture from the surrounding ocean into compressed spheres between his palms. He launched them rapid-fire at the creature’s eye. The first two struck true, causing the giant pupil to contract in pain.
The kraken responded with alarming speed. A tentacle thick as a redwood swept toward him. Nathan twisted, barely evading it, but the displaced water sent him tumbling. Before he could recover, another appendage surged from below.
Nathan sliced through the water, cultivation energy forming a cutting edge around his arm. He severed a chunk of flesh from the tentacle, and clouds of dark blood billowed out.
The kraken recoiled briefly—then attacked with renewed fury. It wasn’t retreating. It was diving.
Three tentacles converged on him from different directions. Nathan darted between them, pushing his cultivation to strengthen his movements. He needed his harpoon back.
He rocketed toward the embedded harpoon, but with each meter he descended, the pressure mounted. His ears burned. His lungs compressed. Lights danced across his vision.
Still, he pressed on, grasping the harpoon’s shaft and yanking. It wouldn’t budge.
A wave of nausea hit him like a fist. He tried to exhale—and in an instant, the water rushed through the open cavity, forced in from the sheer pressure.
It happened so fast. Had he really descended beyond even his enhanced Constitution’s limits?
The kraken circled beneath him, drawing him deeper with each pass. It was toying with him, luring him down where no human was meant to survive.
His brain pounded against his skull. Gritting his teeth, he redirected his cultivation and fought toward the surface.
As if punishing his recklessness, agony erupted in his joints—like drills boring into every bone socket. His lungs, once crushed, now swelled unnaturally.
A tentacle wrapped around his ankle. He kicked it and failed to do anything; the blow absorbed like a sponge.
Nathan reached into his inventory and pulled out one of the katanas from the First Circle. He slashed as hard as he could, and the tentacle was severed. The kraken roared.
His vision darkened at the edges. His ears screamed.
Then—inside him—
Something ripped.
All the breath left his lungs.
White-hot pain flooded his body.
Nathan wouldn’t make it. His water cultivation faltered; the surface was too far.
A faint glow flickered at the edge of his vision, distinct from the creature’s bioluminescence—a pulsing sphere of light. Instinct drove him toward it.
With one last surge of energy, he rushed toward it.
His sight dimmed. Every inch of him burned—worse than losing a limb, worse than anything.
Behind him, the kraken’s massive form recoiled from the strange light, its tentacles curling away as if repelled.
As his fingers brushed the strange orb, his mind surrendered to the darkness.
And I didn’t even manage to get my harpoon back.
The light enveloped him, and Nathan knew no more.
Chapter Eight
Afoggy white void for miles around.
Did I die? Seriously?
“You didn’t. Although it was a close thing!”
He looked down at his arm and rolled up the sleeve. Lily turned to face him, her half-black, half-white petals fluttering with the movement.
“I don’t know what happened,” she said. “Everything just started going wrong. The air sac inside your body ripped open!”
Nathan glanced at his chest—still sore.
“You mean my lungs?”
Lily nodded her flower head. “I think that’s what you call it! Anyway, I didn’t know what to do, so I just started putting the holes back together. It was the only thing I could think of.”
Nathan pushed himself into a sitting position. Pain flooded his body, and he bit his tongue to stop the scream.
“You saved me?” he asked. “And I guess you used your vines to fix my lungs.”
“There were holes all over you—everything was fractured—and there were also these big bubbles? They were clogging up your roots. So I had to get rid of them.”
Nathan vaguely recalled his oceanography classes and the effects of pressure on the human body. A lot of what had happened to him seemed to match those symptoms.
The bubbles had formed because the pressure affected the dissolved gases in his blood. And his lungs had ruptured from the rapid pressure changes.
I don’t think my professor expected me to learn about it firsthand like this.
If Lily hadn’t fixed him, Nathan suspected he’d be dead right now.
“What is this place?”
“You don’t remember? It’s the place inside the water. You’ve been here before.”
Nathan’s eyes widened. He did remember—when he’d fallen into that spirit pool. Was that what the light had been?
“Shouldn’t I have been free-falling?” he asked.
“You did for a while, but I figured out how to replicate what you did before—all on my own!”
Nathan raised his eyebrows. Lily could be shockingly resourceful.
The flower seemed to curl in on itself. “Well, I learned from the best.”
Nathan cracked half a smile and shoved his hands into his pockets. The movement sent ripples of pain through his body.
“This place leaves me with so many questions,” he muttered. “Is this the same one as before? Some kind of fifth dimension? Are they portals?”
“I don’t know.”
“Yeah, I was thinking aloud.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nothing.”
He could feel his body stitching itself back together. In fact, he was starting to feel more energetic than when he’d first arrived. He shifted his shoulders and noticed the pain had already begun to fade.
“As I suspected, this place seems to grant some kind of enhanced healing,” Nathan said.
“Healing? Should I get rid of the vines? If your body’s healing…”
Wait, if the vines are already there, wouldn’t removing them leave holes?
He looked down, suddenly acutely aware of the several pounds of plant material woven through his body.
“I don’t think that would be a good idea,” he said.
“Okay!”
Nathan stared up toward where he’d come from. He needed to find a way out.
“You don’t remember what the exit was, do you?”
“Nope, not a clue!”
“Yeah, that checks out.”
He set off into the whiteness, walking for what felt like hours. There was nothing but mist in every direction.
“This isn’t going to work,” Nathan muttered.
Lily perked up, looking toward the sky. “Why don’t you just do what you did last time?”
Nathan shrugged. It was better than wandering aimlessly.
He channeled energy down to the soles of his feet and stepped upward into the sky. Unlike before, there was no urgency, so he took his time, barely expending any energy. With each step, he continued healing, feeling stronger, his powers more stable than usual.
Curious, he snapped his fingers and let his internal energy roar out.
Basic Maelstrom activated below him, swirling into a massive whirlpool of power. A second later, it exploded outward, sending water rippling through the mist.
Nathan looked down at his chest. He’d been in perfect control—he could’ve redirected it however he wanted, even used it multiple times.
Definitely couldn’t do that outside of this place.
I really hope Vee figured out something about what this is.
As he climbed higher, the surroundings darkened, shifting into the deep blue of the ocean’s depths.
This time, he had a plan. He formed a shell of hard water around himself, using his cultivation to shield against the pressure. If it failed, Lily would have to save him again.
One more step—and water engulfed him. His cultivation activated instantly, the hard bubble forming around him.
He blinked, adjusting to the darkness. Not safe, but steadier than before.
Endless water stretched around him. Behind, the faint glow of the spirit water pocket shimmered.
Nathan swam upward, maintaining the bubble and avoiding any strain on his body. Sunlight soon pierced the surface, and he broke through, gasping.
He turned in a slow circle.
Nothing.
No wreckage of the steel ship, no friends, no islands in sight.
“That’s not good.”
Just as panic crept in, waves broke nearby. He turned. A ship—pirate-style construction, unmistakably one of his—was heading toward him.
“Over here!” he shouted.
Figures on deck stirred, one waving in his direction.
As the ship drew closer, Nathan squinted.
He knew that face.
And that face definitely wasn’t supposed to be here.
A rope dropped down. He climbed aboard and faced the boy.
“Zayen,” Nathan said slowly. “What are you doing here?”
Zayen was dressed in a bandanna with pirate clothing. Nathan was flabbergasted. Wasn’t this guy an elected official and former desert king? What was he doing cosplaying in the middle of the ocean?
“Explain,” Nathan said.
Zayen leaned backward and gave an awkward smile. “It’s a long story?”
“Then start explaining.”
A few members of the crew raised their eyebrows but quickly looked away when Nathan stared at them.
Zayen scratched his cheek. “Basically… The desert people felt like we were going to get overshadowed by the Delvers. They wanted some of us to head out and claim a share of the glory.”
“That seems like a totally valid reason.” Nathan raised an eyebrow. “But that doesn’t explain why you in particular had to be here.”
“…I was bored.”
“Are you kidding me?”
“In my defense, it’s the same garbage over and over. I don’t even do anything half the time because we standardized everything. The only interesting things happen during a crisis.”
“What about the housing crisis?” Nathan asked.
“We already have accelerated plans. It’s up to the builders to execute them. There’s nothing for me to do.”
Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose. “As opposed to out here?”
“Are you kidding me? We’ve been attacked by, like, twenty different giant fish in the past two days.” Zayen pointed to the right, where a giant corpse lay on the deck—one Nathan hadn’t even noticed. “Look at that. That’s way more exciting.”
I’m surrounded by adrenaline junkies.
“And where exactly is your chief advisor? I would’ve thought he’d be against this.”
“I’m afraid he’s been… preoccupied lately.”
Nathan squinted. “What do you mean by that?”
Zayen turned bright red. “There’s this werewolf woman he met recently—”
“I don’t want to know any more. Stop talking. Right now.”
Zayen let out a relieved breath. “Agreed.”
Nathan was glad Omarn was acclimating. It would do… wonders… for cross-species relations.
But he did not need further details.
Nathan stared out over the sea. He was worried about Chad and the rest. Had they made it out okay?
Should he try sailing back toward the wreckage? He might be able to find them…
No, he couldn’t risk getting lost. Head back to the docks, then retrace his steps.
“I don’t suppose you know where we are or how far we are from the outpost?”
“Outpost? You mean Fort Nathan?”
Something twisted in Nathan’s chest. The urge to collapse to his knees nearly overwhelmed him before he steadied himself.
“Please tell me that’s a joke.”
“Nope. Bree officially signed off on it.”
“Bree isn’t an elected official of any sort!”
Zayen shrugged. “In your town, maybe. But she’s still the unofficial leader of most Delvers.”
Nathan’s left eye twitched. The next time he saw that woman, he was throwing her into the ocean.
“Anyway, to answer your question, we were actually on our way back. I don’t think we’re more than thirty minutes away.”
Nathan furrowed his brow. When he’d been with Chad and Mara, he’d definitely been sailing longer than thirty minutes on his ship—at least a few hours. Either he was miles off course, or the spirit pools were bending space or something.
He glanced at the steering wheel. Thirty minutes wasn’t long… but he could cut that time down. He was pretty sure of it.
“How sturdy is this ship?” Nathan asked. “Can it take a little more abuse?”
Zayen nodded. “We’ve kept it in tip-top shape. I mean, there were a few holes from the fish attacks, but we patched them up pretty well.”
“Good enough for me.”
Nathan raised his hand, energy flowing into his palm with a blue glow. Beneath them, the ship lurched forward, nearly throwing Zayen off his feet.
“What was that?!”
Nathan gave him a thumbs-up. “Hold on tight!”
When the fort came into view, Nathan slowed the ship back down. Multiple people were passed out on the deck, and Zayen was barely conscious. His knees quivered as he clung to the rail, his grip so tight his knuckles had turned white.
“I… I think I’m going to throw up,” he said.
Nathan ignored Zayen. “I could’ve pushed it harder, but I wasn’t sure the ship would hold.”
In the background, one of the masts toppled over and crashed into the sea with a loud splash.
Zayen stared at it in abject horror. Nathan winced.
“Oops.”
Nathan’s eyes darted toward the fort. It had—somehow—gotten even worse. The dockyard had more than tripled in size. Ships packed the docks like massed infantry ready for war, so many that vessels now queued just to get in. The watchtower, hastily erected when they’d first arrived, was now built of stone and brick, standing twice as tall. If Nathan didn’t know better, he’d swear he spotted a primitive beacon at the top—perfect for guiding ships straight to them. Surrounding it all was a sturdy, well-constructed stone fort.
Zayen nodded approvingly. “Very important to secure such an essential location. They should expand the dockyard even further.”
Nathan glanced back. Sorry, had he said tripled? The dockyard had more than quadrupled, stretching nearly the full length of the island.
A commotion at the docks caught his attention. A group of people shouted and waved at him. He gave a hesitant wave back, and a cheer erupted.
“What’s that about?” Nathan said.
“No idea. Let’s find out.”
More shouted instructions followed—not at Nathan, but at the other ships in line. One by one, they shifted aside, clearing a path for Nathan and Zayen to dock. As Nathan stepped onto the pier, he was met by a crowd of humans, werewolves, and mushroom folk.
“We thought you were dead—”
“I never believed it, obviously.”
“Where have you been?!”
Nathan stared at them, bewildered. “What are you all talking about?”
Before anyone could answer, the sound of someone shoving through the crowd drew his attention. The figure broke free, revealing none other than Chad. His sunglasses slid down his nose, his eyes wide with shock.
“Oh my god. You’re alive.”
“What?”
“Don’t ‘what’ me! You were gone for two days—what was I supposed to think?!”
“Two days?!”
Chapter Nine
The two had moved inside “Fort Nathan,” where a meeting room proved perfect for Nathan and Chad’s purposes.
