Escape

‘To think a monster like that existed...’

Hidden in the darkness of the deep sea, Nereia muttered to itself.

Then it chuckled despite itself.

Who would have thought it would call something barely three centimeters long a monster?

Back when it was human, it could have crushed one with a single finger.

Having decided it had escaped its pursuer, Nereia was drifting this way and that with the deep-sea currents when—

Ziiing-.

Zing-.

Nereia felt a strange sensation throughout its body.

At the same time, it realized.

It understood why it was feeling this sensation, which seemed to detect nearby vibrations.

‘Primitive Sensory Organ? But why all of a sudden?’

The Primitive Sensory Organ was one of the three traits Nereia had acquired while devouring deep-sea unicellular larvae.

As its name suggested, it was a trait that gave it primitive sensory organs, helping it perceive its surroundings more intuitively.

But what its Primitive Sensory Organ was telling it now felt somewhat strange.

It was detecting vibrations around it. And this was almost like...

‘It feels like it's warning me of danger. But why all of a sudden?’

However, Nereia had no idea what danger the Primitive Sensory Organ was warning it about.

The only danger it could think of was the deep-sea predatory larva it had just encountered.

Could there be a creature like that nearby? Or was the environment itself dangerous for it?

Was that why its Primitive Sensory Organ was warning it of danger?

That was what Nereia was thinking when—

Swaaash-!

A massive tentacle shot out of the darkness of the deep sea and narrowly missed Nereia.

Startled by the sudden tentacle attack, Nereia looked toward where it had emerged. The creature that had swung it through the darkness of the deep sea revealed itself.

Its massive body and mouth. Countless cilia. Swaying tentacles. Strange light-emitting organs, and so on.

Nereia knew exactly what that thing was, with all the grotesqueness unique to deep-sea creatures.

‘A deep-sea predatory larva?’

A deep-sea predatory larva.

It was the first danger Nereia had encountered—and a formidable foe that had forced it to flee.

It had finally tracked Nereia down, pursuing it through the darkness of the deep sea.

Nereia shuddered, as if unable to believe the deep-sea predatory larva was this obsessed with it.

No, come to think of it, that was only natural.

It was different from the other deep-sea unicellular larvae scattered all around.

It was bigger, and it had more traits—both acquired and applied.

Since the word ‘predatory’ was in its name, that creature must have become what it was by devouring other nearby creatures, just like Nereia.

To a deep-sea predatory larva like that, Nereia—with its obvious differences from the other deep-sea unicellular larvae around it—would be prey it couldn't afford to let escape.

But even so...

‘The deep-sea environment must be dangerous for that thing, too. Am I really worth the risk of it going to all that trouble to eat me?’

Well, Nereia supposed it must be worth the trouble, since the thing had chased it this far.

More importantly, right now...

‘I have to run-!’

It had to focus on escaping from the creature.

There was an overwhelming difference in size between it and the creature.

And the creature had far more traits, too—too many to compare.

Fighting it would be no different from suicide, so Nereia moved as if diving back into the darkness of the deep sea.

Making the most of the fine cilia covering its body and the deep-sea currents flowing around it.

As Nereia fled the deep-sea predatory larva, it felt confident.

Nereia knew full well that the deep-sea predatory larva was strong.

It was a monster so powerful that it couldn't even be compared to Nereia as it was now.

But that didn't necessarily mean the deep-sea predatory larva would catch and eat it.

Being strong didn't guarantee a successful hunt.

In fact, it wasn't unusual for weaker creatures to succeed in hunting stronger opponents.

Besides...

‘I still have my memories from when I was human.’

If it made use of its memories from when it was human—especially the knowledge it had accumulated through dozens of trips into the deep sea as a deep-sea researcher—it should be able to escape from the deep-sea predatory larva.

So...

‘I will survive.’

Nereia made that vow to itself.

* * *

Shraaash-!

‘Kgh-!’

Nereia desperately moved its body to avoid the tentacles whipping at it without pause.

The creature had three tentacles in all.

They might have been powerful, but they were quite slow.

Probably...

‘Because it's forcing its way against the deep-sea currents. Thanks to that...’

...I'm still alive.

But unfortunately, the creature had another weapon besides its tentacles.

It was the enormous mouth attached to its body, fitting its massive frame.

Each time its mouth opened, a tremendous suction force arose, sucking in everything around it.

Someone might say this:

Isn't it just a bug barely three centimeters long?

That's right. It was no more than a tiny bug, barely three centimeters long. Nereia admitted as much.

But the problem was...

‘Fuck, I'm even smaller than that thing!’

It was barely one millimeter in size. It had grown somewhat after devouring deep-sea unicellular larvae, but there was no denying it was incomparably smaller than that thing.

So escaping from it by its own power was impossible.

If things continued like this, the creature would definitely eat it.

Then what should it do?

How could it escape from that thing?

‘The answer is the environment.’

Nereia was certain that making use of its surroundings was the only way it could survive.

To begin with, Nereia hadn't been dodging the deep-sea predatory larva's tentacles without thinking.

While making the fullest possible use of its Primitive Sensory Organ and fine cilia to dodge the creature's attacks, it had also surveyed the surrounding environment.

That was how Nereia had learned.

How the currents around it flowed.

What the surrounding terrain was like.

And from that, Nereia had learned something else.

There were patches of localized turbulence throughout the area.

The cause was the surrounding terrain.

The various large and small crevices scattered around had created localized turbulence.

Though localized, the turbulence was strong enough that even the deep-sea predatory larva couldn't withstand it. Nereia might be in danger if it made one wrong move, but it had no choice.

Better to gamble on a chance to survive than be eaten and die by that thing, wasn't it?

Nereia steeled itself and moved.

It dodged the tentacles the creature swung at it, then swam against the deep-sea current and the suction force produced each time its mouth opened, until—

‘Kgh-!’

Nereia entered a nearby patch of turbulence and groaned.

The conditions inside the turbulent current were even more dangerous than Nereia had expected.

Even the slightest mistake could tear its entire body to shreds.

The one saving grace was...

‘It isn't following me.’

The deep-sea predatory larva was behind Nereia, glaring at it from outside the turbulence.

Yet despite lashing its three tentacles around in every direction to express its fury, the creature didn't enter the turbulence.

It knew, too.

How dangerous the turbulence Nereia had thrown itself into to survive was.

So...

‘I just have to hold on like this. If I can just hold on...’

It could escape from the creature.

And survive.

But...

‘Damn it, I'm losing consciousness...!’

The turbulence was too powerful.

Nereia tried desperately to hold on to consciousness, but it was no use.

In the end, after entering the turbulence to survive, Nereia was swept up in its violence and lost consciousness.

* * *

‘Umm... am I... alive?’

Nereia came to, feeling a strange warmth, and looked around as it murmured.

Fortunately, there was nothing seriously wrong with its body.

That was contrary to what it had expected—that it would have been torn to shreds by the turbulence after losing consciousness.

In any case...

‘Where am I?’

Nereia barely managed to gather its wits, then looked around and shuddered.

It had spotted a massive rift overhead.

The turbulence lay beyond the rift, and apparently...

‘I must have been swept through that rift and flung in here while being carried by the turbulence.’

That would certainly explain how it was still alive.

Honestly...

‘Have I ever been this lucky in my life?’

Back when it was human, Nereia used to buy lottery tickets from time to time.

Every time, it hadn't even won the common 5,000 won prize.

And yet, now that it had been reborn as a larva at the bottom of the deep sea, it had lucked into surviving by some miracle.

Maybe all the bad luck it had had as a human was for this very moment.

Nereia chuckled at the absurdity of its own thought, then looked around again.

The temperature around it was strangely high for the bottom of the deep sea.

The reason was the hot water flowing from among the seafloor rocks scattered here and there.

Besides that, various deep-sea creatures were roaming among minerals it had never seen before, despite having ventured into the deep sea dozens of times. Nereia recognized this kind of environment.

‘A hydrothermal vent?’

A hydrothermal vent.

The term referred to an environment of chimney-like openings where hot hydrothermal fluids and gas welled up from underground.

If this really was a hydrothermal vent, it would explain why the environment was strangely warm despite being at the bottom of the deep sea.

In any case, even the minerals scattered around here were faintly glowing, and as Nereia watched them, it thought.

Maybe I...

‘Have been reborn in the deep sea of a fantasy world, not Earth's.’

Well, that did seem more plausible, given things like the system and mana.

Especially since it could sense mana even in the hot water and gas springing up from the rocks... Huh?

‘Creatures I've never seen before. This place really is...’

The deep sea of a fantasy world?

Nereia kept thinking it over, then murmured as it looked at the new deep-sea creatures around it.

The deep-sea creatures here were so different from those on Earth that they confirmed its suspicion, ’This isn’t Earth‘.

'Still, it is beautiful.'

The scenery glimpsed between the gentle lights emitted by the rocks, along with the various deep-sea creatures swimming around everywhere, was truly beautiful.

At the same time.

'I want to study them.'

The various deep-sea creatures living alongside this beautiful scenery stirred Nereia's desire to research them.

Back when it had been human, Nereia had become a deep-sea researcher because it loved deep-sea creatures.

In particular, hadn't it touched an enormous eye it had never seen before, as if possessed, even though it knew it was dangerous, just before dying as a human—and then been reborn in its current larval body?

It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that Nereia's obsession and curiosity about deep-sea creatures bordered on madness.

'Just for a little while. I'll only take a quick look.'

Forgetting even that it was being pursued by a deep-sea predatory larva, Nereia was captivated by the unfamiliar deep-sea creatures around it and moved as if possessed.