WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Got a Gallery in the Wild ◈
Chapter 86: Sea (1)
──────
The sea.
The father of all nature and the starting point of all life.
Because the sea exists, countless forms of life could emerge. It could be called the source of all water.
Any living thing without water would wither and die. That was why the sea was so important.
But as nature’s “father,” the sea was stern. Stern, and unfathomably deep.
Someone once said that even if humanity understood the entire universe, it would still need far more time to understand the sea.
Whether people could live somewhere also depended on the rise and fall of sea levels.
The sea was deeply connected to daily life, yet it was complicated and dangerous.
Whoooosh!
A thought suddenly crossed my mind.
It looked like a color made by melting sapphire crystals.
A flat sandy beach without any muddy tidal flats. Waves gently washing over the shore.
At a glance, it was an ordinary yet beautiful sea.
The wind carried salt, and seagulls flew freely through the sky.
It was peaceful beyond belief. But I absolutely couldn't be fooled by that.
Whoooosh!
When I turned my head, I saw the river connected to the sea.
Strangely enough, the colors were sharply divided, as though marking the boundary between river and sea.
It was a truly beautiful sight. But the reality was different.
‘...The sea is flowing into the river?’
The sea was where rivers ended. It wouldn't be wrong to say that nearly every river flowed into the sea.
At least, that was what I knew as common sense. I'd never heard of the reverse happening.
And right before my eyes, that common sense was being completely shattered.
‘This is impossible...’
When I first encountered the sea, I hadn't felt that hopeless.
I'd spotted rivers flowing in other directions along the way, and there was also an area suitable for exploration.
But the moment I saw seawater flowing backward into the river, my head started spinning.
It felt like every bit of common sense I had was collapsing. I even began wondering whether this was really the kind of “environment” I knew.
‘I should... make sure this is really the sea...’
My mind was so shaken that I decided to confirm whether this really was the sea.
The wind smelled salty, but maybe it had picked that up somewhere else. I wouldn't be satisfied until I tasted it myself.
“Blech! Ptooey! Ptooey! Blegh!”
It tasted disgustingly salty. There was sand in it too.
That confirmed it was the sea. The occasional waves crashing against the shore backed it up.
[Post title] Guess what I found while following the river?
[Author] Wild Grylls
[Post] (A photo of a vast sea)
[Post] (A photo of the sea forcefully flowing backward into a river)
[Post] It was the sea! Strangely enough, it's flowing from the sea into the river instead of from the river into the sea!
[Post] Fantasy worlds are seriously amazing! How does nothing but fucked-up stuff keep happening?!
[Post] Am I supposed to swim across that sea to escape? Somebody tell me!
└ [Heavenly Demon]: What a beautiful sea. But are you all right? Even your post reeks of despair.
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: They're obviously not all right. Please read the room;;
└ [Heavenly Demon]: Was this lady in the wrong?
└ [SwordTasteMaster]: Yes. At times like this, just keep quiet and cheer them on.
└ [Heavenly Demon]: Is it that obvious I’ve never socialized?;;
└ For real. If she's actually an old fossil, that's bad enough. If not, she's just a kid.
└ Nah, there are surprisingly lots of nobles like that. They're raised being spoiled, so they grow up into oblivious assholes.
└ Especially the late-born ones. They tend to be like that.
└ [Starlight Princess]: I've never seen the sea flow into a river... Are you sure it's really the sea?
└ [Wild Grylls]: Yeah. I took a sip just in case. It was incredibly salty.
└ [Starlight Princess]: Hmm... Hang in there. I don't know what to say either.
└ [Wild Grylls]: There isn't any situation where the sea flows into a river, right?
└ [Starlight Princess]: Situation or not, such a thing is impossible in a world made by God. Just what kind of place is the Forest of Four Seasons...?
└ [Wild Grylls]: Maybe God is incompetent?
└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: Don't blaspheme! The Goddess is absolutely perfect!
└ [Wild Grylls]: Perfect my ass lol. The fact that a forest like this exists makes no sense to begin with.
└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: Even so, you shouldn't insult her! There must be a reason for it!
└ [Wild Grylls]: The moment I hear that reason, I'm going to start cursing. Or maybe I'll just start cursing now.
└ [DontAbandonTheHero]: Just don't curse at all!!!
└ [Allfather]: A sea flowing into a river... Could I perhaps see some more footage?
└ [Wild Grylls]: (Video 2 of the sea flowing backward into the river) Want to see more?
└ [Allfather]: No. That is enough. This is... I don't know either. It completely violates the laws of nature, so I cannot make sense of it.
└ Maybe the roles of the lake and sea got switched?
└ But Grylls, wasn't the river water salty?
└ [Wild Grylls]: Yeah, not salty at all. It seemed normal.
└ That's weird in its own way. Why isn't it salty?
└ It really won't let you get close at all;;
The gallery went into an uproar. Naturally, a phenomenon that completely defied the laws of the world had appeared.
Even in worlds where fantasy and martial arts mixed together, nature itself seemed similar.
Then again, a world where space warped at random and the sea flowed backward was a crazy world.
It was absolutely not a place people could live. Ordinary really was best.
[Post title] Just asking in case
[Author] Wild Grylls
[Post] There isn't any space warping or seawater flowing backward where you guys are, right? This place is the weird one, right?
└ Nope. If that shit were normal, this world would be doomed.
└ There are monsters that slice through space sometimes, but those should be exceptions.
└ We have common sense too, Grylls;;
└ [Wild Grylls]: That's a relief.
I asked just in case. Everyone said this was abnormal.
They said space could occasionally warp when enormous forces collided, but that was an extremely rare exception.
More importantly, those cases were usually caused by “artificial” power.
It was impossible for such things to happen naturally.
‘Putting that aside, this place is fucking huge for no reason.’
Nothing but sea stretched beyond the horizon. The horizon was wide open, but I felt completely boxed in.
What was I supposed to do now? The sea was absurdly vast too, making it hard to form any sort of plan.
‘Let's look around first. I need to find some kind of trace.’
Thanks to the river flowing backward, there was no danger of losing my way.
The clean sandy beach also made it easy to move.
‘There could be something weird living here too, so I need to be careful.’
That didn't mean I was letting my guard down. There were too many suspicious things. Way too many.
First, it was too quiet. At the lakeside, all the creatures had been fighting among themselves.
The river had been the same. Hadn't I just watched some spotted predator get launched through the air before arriving here?
This place, on the other hand, was too quiet even for the sea.
‘It's too clean too.’
Second, the beach was too clean. There wasn't a single trace of any animal.
At the lakeside, there were at least small crabs. Here, there wasn't even that.
It probably meant some powerful beast lived here. Every step made me uneasy.
Whoooosh!
‘There’s more than one river.’
Before long, I found another river. Once again, seawater was flowing backward into it.
When I followed it with my eyes, I saw a jungle far denser than the forest where I lived.
The trees were packed tightly together, and the whole jungle was filled with green.
It wouldn't be a stretch to call it a true jungle. I might have to go there someday.
‘It isn't just the jungle.’
The snowy mountains, desert, swamp, volcano, and more that I'd seen across the river.
To find a clue for escaping, I might have to search places like those too.
But if I ever went there, wouldn't that mean my hope of escaping had dropped drastically?
No matter how much stronger I became while adapting to this forest, those were places that would be hard to endure.
‘It would be like going there to die...’
Rumble rumble rumble!
I had been briefly lost in thought while looking at the jungle entrance when the ground began to shake.
Nothing good had ever happened when the ground shook. I immediately went on alert.
‘Where is it? Where is it coming from...’
Whoosh!
Something shot out from beneath the ground as I hurriedly searched for the source of the tremors.
It was mostly red and much taller than I was.
There were suction cups scattered across it too. Anyone could see that it looked like an octopus tentacle.
Swish!
“Argh!”
The octopus tentacle burst from the sand, wrapped around my leg, and pulled.
It happened so fast that I almost dropped my sword and shield.
Just as it tried to drag me beneath the sand, I barely managed to cut it with my sword.
Slice!
The octopus tentacle came off easily. It trembled as though it was in pain.
I used that opening to jump up and ready my equipment.
I'd deal with the tentacle wrapped around my leg later.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
Maybe it was pretty pissed about losing one of its limbs.
Several tentacles erupted from beneath the sand. Octopus tentacles swayed like feelers.
I considered what to do, then decided to break through head-on. Getting out of here came first.
Whoosh!
One of the countless octopus tentacles rushed at me.
This time, it didn't try to bind my feet. It came down from above, apparently trying to stab me.
The other tentacles, no, limbs weren't just sitting around either.
Some stabbed down from above, some lashed at me like whips, and some tried to grab my legs.
The wide variety of attacks made my head spin, but I stayed as calm as possible.
‘Start with the closest ones!’
I dodged the downward thrusts and barely blocked the whip-like attacks with my shield.
Finally, I cut down the tentacle trying to bind my feet before it could get me.
Slice!
A large chunk of an octopus tentacle fell away.
The other limbs twitched, perhaps feeling its pain.
I took that chance and decided to run.
If I fought like this, I'd eventually be at a disadvantage.
Whoosh!
When I ran, the tentacles began chasing after me.
The shortened tentacles fell short and stopped, but the others didn't.
In the end, I had no choice but to fight. Still, it was much better than being attacked from all sides.
‘Dodge, block with the shield, cut with the sword.’
I blocked what I couldn't dodge with my shield. Blocking alone required quick reactions.
Blocking wasn't the end of it. If I couldn't counterattack properly, I'd be trapped in an endless cycle.
Every attack mattered, but I had Heavenly Demon’s Sword and aura.
Thanks to the aura in particular, I could cut far beyond the sword's original reach.
Slice! Slice!
-Kuuuuuu!
As I repeated this and cut off more tentacles, a strange sound came from beneath the sand.
The main body was probably screaming in pain. Serves it right.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
It must have decided it couldn't keep this up, because it retreated. The octopus tentacles disappeared back into the sand.
I breathed heavily, then gradually steadied myself.
That ambush had almost gotten me killed for nothing.
Thank goodness I'd sensed something suspicious and prepared myself.
‘But was that really an octopus?’
The suction cups made it similar to an octopus. But could an octopus live in sand...
‘No. Stop clinging to common sense.’
I shook my head.
There was no point. How many times had this place defied my common sense already? I couldn't rely on it.
Even an octopus that lived in sand wouldn't be strange.
‘If the land is like this, what could be living in the sea?’
I turned to look at the sea.
The sea was the starting point of all life.
What kind of monster could be living in that sea?
I was already scared, but there was still something I had to do.
‘There’s an octopus on this side, so I should go to the other side.’
Finding a clue for escape.
That was my top priority.
‘I’ll definitely get out.’
Definitely.
Footnotes:
Join our discord at https://dsc.gg/wetried
