WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried

◈ Reincarnation of the Sword Demon

Chapter 46

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I Did Some Fishing

Swaaaah...

Kyle had never seen the sea in this life, but he had seen it many times in his previous one.

Not for romantic reasons. There had simply been many battlefields near the coast. In his previous life, the Sword Demon had spent most of his life on battlefields, and not because of some tragic fate, but because he loved battle. In that sense, maybe it was romantic after all.

Anyway, the point was this: the sound of the waves right now was deeply wrong, deeply unpleasant. It was not as if he had never seen the sea. Not as if he had never heard waves before. But this sound was very, very grating.

Swaaaah...

There was no freshness in it. It sounded like mountains of mud collapsing. A heavy, dull sound. A sticky sound, like collapsing sludge tangling and grinding against itself.

Kyle looked far into the distance. To the edge of the vast Mudflat. To the horizon where the sticky violet fog met the Mudflat.

"..."

Without realizing it, he swallowed dryly. Far away... something wavered in sight. Beyond the horizon, there was something like a gigantic hand, as if it were gripping the world itself, behind that pale boundary line.

That hand had the pale, waterlogged color of a bloated corpse. He was seeing it as a "hand," but Kyle could not be sure it really was one.

It was something of a different order, something impossible to understand and impossible to exist. So his brain was replacing that massive thing with something similar it already knew. In other words, it resembled a hand, but it was some enormous thing that was not a hand.

"..."

A violent urge hit him, to rip out his own eyes. Then crack open his skull and scrape out his brain. If not for the Lifeline, he might actually have done it. No, he might have killed himself on the spot.

In his previous life, he had loved the sword and lived for it. He roamed countless battlefields, killed countless people, lost a few times, won far more than that, and left his name in history in his own way.

But those were still human achievements. The Sword Demon of his previous life had certainly been strong and extraordinary, but he had never transcended humanity into something else.

That thing was clearly something humans could not understand, and should not understand. Kyle forced his eyes to move, eyes that would not move and did not want to move, and looked above that "hand."

The hand continued upward past the violet fog. Was that an unknown being looking down from the sky? Was there only one? There might be more.

"Ha..."

Jor inside his chest was no longer trembling, screaming, or whimpering. Jor was stiff as a corpse. He was not actually dead, just playing dead and praying someone would believe it.

"Hahaha..."

A cracked laugh slipped from Kyle. A thought he had repeated many times since dying 500 years ago and being reborn came back again.

Thank god I reincarnated.
I'm glad I reincarnated.

He meant it from the bottom of his heart. In 500 years, the world had changed too much. Strange things like Spirit Roots and Circuits had appeared, and sword arts had changed drastically. This world now had many kinds of powerhouses completely unlike those from 500 years ago.

Even more than when he first felt those changes, right now he felt how lucky he was, how right it had been. Five hundred years ago, he fought other humans, lost to Ruin Alastor, and died. But in this era, things existed that were not human at all, things human beings could not comprehend. That thing was absolutely not a hallucination.

Maybe such beings had existed 500 years ago too, but the Sword Demon of that time died without ever knowing. Back then, he had not known, so he had not even been able to regret it. Now he had seen it with his own eyes.

"Someday..."

Choking out little laughs, Kyle became aware of the wooden sword in his hand. He felt sorry saying it to Lucia, but this wooden sword was an ordinary object. And Kyle holding it was ordinary too. Most humans standing before that existence would be.

"Someday... could I cut that too?"

Creak, creak.

He followed the thought through. He could not cut it now. If he rushed in trying to cut that thing, he would not last even a moment before killing himself.

The Sword Demon liked challenges. He liked fighting, and he liked cutting. As for killing others, saying he liked that sounded broken and abnormal, but he did not dislike it either.

He obviously did not want to die himself. If he had no attachment to life, he might run headlong into death. Unfortunately, Kyle now was deeply attached to living. Especially after seeing something like that, he could not help wanting to live even more.

He did not want to die to that thing. He wanted to cut it. So Kyle ignored the urge squirming at the bottom of his chest. Charging at it now was suicide. The Lifeline was connected to the crown of his head, but if he opposed that thing, even the Lifeline would not protect him.

"This world is fucking huge."

Kyle muttered with a choking laugh. Swaaaah... while he was absorbed in that thing, time passed, and the sound of waves grew louder and closer.

Kuuuuung! The hand that had descended from beyond the horizon moved again. Massive fingers scooped up that side and lifted. It looked like someone pouring water onto a sandcastle to collapse it. Depending on how you saw it, it could be pure play, or a malicious disaster.

A pitch-black wave was rushing into the Mudflat. At the same time, the ground of the Mudflat shook, and pure white bone pillars began erupting everywhere. They looked less like bone pillars and more like white coral.

'I thought about trying to hold out, but no. Not happening.'

He hated dying in general, and hated a dog's death even more. Kyle stopped hesitating and sprinted toward the nearest bone coral.

From the moment the giant hand appeared on the horizon, even all the monsters in the Mudflat seemed to hold their breath and crouch beneath the mud.

Thanks to that, Kyle reached the coral pillar without interference, then jumped up and up, climbing it.

Sitting on the rough top, Kyle looked down. The wave from afar had already swallowed the Mudflat, and black water was sloshing and rising.

Chiiiik...!

White smoke rose from the base of the bone coral where it touched the black water. Just as Fragment had said, that water was toxic fluid that polluted everything it touched.

'He said it pollutes not just the body, but the mind.'

He had no intention of diving in recklessly. Thankfully, he had been reincarnated, so he had to use this life carefully and well. If he died here showing off, Arian waiting outside would cry her eyes out.

'Would Aslan cry?'

He had only met that guy after eleven years, so it still did not feel real to think "father." With that thought, Kyle watched the Mudflat get swallowed by Flood Tide and turn into a sea.

It did not take long for the bleak gray Mudflat to become entirely sea. The surface was smooth as a mirror, but the longer he stared, the more he felt a depth that seemed able to suck in his soul.

Swoooosh...

A giant shadow drifted leisurely beneath the black surface. It was as large as the bone coral Kyle clung to. The scales of that unknown giant monster looked as solid as fortress walls, and the fins rising along its spine were sharp and menacing like saw blades. If dragons existed... no, dragons did exist. Still, seeing it made him think maybe dragons looked like that.

That was not the only monster. Yellow glimmers flickered, then jellyfish-like things drifted all over the sea. Deeper down, tentacles like octopus legs slowly writhed.

'He said just making eye contact shatters your mind. It's not that ba-'

The instant he thought Fragment had exaggerated, Kyle dropped flat by pure instinct.

-Hwaaaak!

From a depth even deeper than the wavering monsters near the surface, a giant eyeball snapped open.

The eye moved slowly, as if swimming, then closed. Only then could Kyle release the breath trapped in his chest. Only then did he understand Fragment had not exaggerated at all. If he made eye contact with that eye, the Lifeline would sever on its own to prevent his mind from collapsing and drag him back to the room.

"Wow..."

Kyle let out a low exclamation and dropped onto the rough surface. He glanced at the sky. Fog was still thick, and beyond it there would be unknown gazes, maybe many of them. But right now those gazes were not looking down.

The sky's gaze was turned beyond the horizon. Over there, that giant hand was still scooping up the sea like splashing water. Thanks to that, unlike Ebb Tide, looking up at the sky did not feel frightening.

"Jor."
[...]
"Stop playing dead. You don't want food?"
[Uuu...]

When he snapped at him, Jor made a crying sound and raised his head.

[M-Master, when... when are we leaving this place?]
"Until Fragment finishes the technique."
[Uuuuu... i-if you could just send me out...]
"You dare abandon your master and run alone? Absolutely not. We're one body. If I live, you live. If I die, you die."
[Uuuuuuu...]
"I'm not planning to die, so stop worrying. Anyway, if you want food, let's work."

He felt bad for Jor, but had no intention of sending only him out. Hunting and eating in this Mudflat was gradually changing Kyle's body, and that influence would definitely pass to Jor too.

For a year, he had been influencing his Spirit Root and feeding him mana, changing his nature as a spirit. Because of that, even though Jor had been born a lightning spirit, he was becoming no longer a pure lightning spirit.

'That damned diet and black smoke changing me will affect Jor too.'

Thinking that, Kyle closed his eyes and focused on the technique.

"I'm not doing this just for me. It's for you too, so stop whining and work."
[Y-yes... yes...]

Jor moved, sniffling. The mana was thinner than when they first entered, but a single full circulation according to the technique still took an enormous amount of time.

'Even just focusing on mana control like this will improve control a lot.'

Bruno was still doing mana training while wearing that bracelet.

'Now I get why Uncle Barkas gave him that bracelet. If you practice early and get used to it, you'll panic less when you come in here later. You'll be able to move at least a little mana too.'

In his own way, he had done it for his son.

During Ebb Tide, he killed and ate monsters by type. During Flood Tide, he climbed coral pillars and practiced his technique. Kyle lived in the Mudflat for a week.

There was no real reason to go back. His Lifeline had not been severed once, and he used monster body fluids as drinking water and flesh as food.

"..."

He had even gotten used to the stench coming off his whole body. At first he had felt filthy and wanted to wash, but now even that thought was gone.

No matter how many he killed, more monsters kept coming. Killing them had not been very hard even at first, and after a week his body had adapted to this environment, so it had become easier.

'I should head back to the room soon.'

While slurping down flesh that still disgusted him, Kyle turned his head. Over the week he had gotten quite far from the door, so the Lifeline stretched far into the distance.

The moment he decided, he started moving along the Lifeline. Flood Tide came in on the way, monsters got in his way, and only two days later did he reach the door.

[Finally... finally!]

Jor shouted in joy. He had adapted a lot over that week too, but unlike Kyle, he could not enjoy life in the Mudflat.

"That happy?"
[I-I can't enjoy the taste of that rotten flesh like you do, Master!]
"I didn't enjoy it either. I like good food too."
[F-fo-food, food! Let's eat, okay?]

Jor begged. According to Fragment, in that room they could ask for rewards based on "results." Even at a low estimate, he had killed hundreds of monsters in nine days, so he should be able to ask for a feast.

"Let's test something other than food first."

With that, Kyle opened the door.

The room looked a little different from last time. A large desk sat in the center, various books piled high on top of it, and Fragment was holding a quill, busily writing while muttering to himself.

"What are you doing?"
"Making the technique I'll give you."
"Hm, I had a question about that too. Now that I think about it, you never asked me about my technique. Are you making it from scratch?"
"What do you take me for."

Fragment let out an incredulous scoff and looked up.

"Brat, your technique uses Revolving Heaven Strike as its base and mixes twenty-six grade-three technique manuals from the Great Archive. Right?"
"Yeah... that's right."
"I know every manual you referenced and mixed. When I first contacted you, I guided your mana and saw through your circulation pattern. I checked again when I gave you my blessing. I understand your incomplete technique perfectly."

Fragment set down the quill.

"And I know how crude and wrong it is. You ignorant brat. Fools like you take even a small wrong turn and keep going without ever realizing it's the wrong path. Like your technique."
"If I'd tried to complete it alone, does that mean I never would have?"
"You would have finished it. After a very long time, and with a high chance your body would have been ruined in the process."
"You're a much better expert than me, so you can finish it quickly, right?"
"Who knows. We'll see. No one in this world has ever done this before, and it's a technique manual that never needed to exist."

Fragment folded his arms and stared at Kyle.

"You look like a beggar. I didn't expect you'd go a full week without your Lifeline severing even once. Want me to praise you?"
"Praise is nice, but answer my question first."
"What do you want to ask? The identity of the Mudflat? The hand scooping the sea? The gazes above the fog? The eyeball in the sea? The minor monsters? Even if you ask, I can't answer those. You can't accept them, and I have to be careful what I mention. But I can answer one thing. Those minor monsters are a kind of polluted Dregs."

A mischievous smile spread across Fragment's face.

"So what you ate and drank were polluted Dregs. Well? Feel like throwing up?"
"I wanted to puke from the moment I started eating. I'm curious about the rest too, but if you can't answer, that's fine. What I wanted to ask is something else."
"What are you curious about?"
"In this room, can I get rewards other than food?"

At that, Fragment's expression changed.

"Hm, so your brain isn't all muscle."

Fragment muttered.

"Or maybe you're not very hungry? Well, that could be it. No one has ever come in for the first time, survived nine days, and not starved like you."
"How long did Grandfather survive the first time?"
"Julius Alastor first entered the Cultivation Floors at seventeen, and survived three days."
"Oh..."
"His Lifeline was never severed, but he came back to the room because of hunger."

The Mudflat was not a place one could stay long with sword skill alone. Unless someone opened the upper energy center and stepped into Peak Realm, humans had to eat and drink to live.

"So I can get rewards besides meals, right?"
"You can."

Fragment gave a small nod, then propped his chin and stared at Kyle with interest.

"You killed and ate quite a lot of Dregs in nine days. You can probably get most ordinary things as rewards."
"Where are rewards given? Are items from inside the Sword Tower summoned here?"
"No. They're 'created' in the Cultivation Floors."

Fragment smiled.

"Miraculously. Literally a miracle, you could say."
"Created... huh. Then if something is made here, does it disappear when we go outside?"
"No, it doesn't disappear. Brat, what exactly are you trying to ask for?"

Fragment's eyes gleamed. He was curious what that bizarre little human intended to demand.

"Hmm..."

Kyle pinched and lifted his upper shirt, black slime clinging to it and reeking of rot.

"I can get a bath as a reward too, then?"
"Of course... you can. Brat, did you ask all that just to demand something like that?"

The interest in Fragment's eyes twisted into disappointment. Strange as this kid was, was he still only an eleven-year-old brat? Just as Fragment started thinking that and losing interest, Kyle grinned.

"After the bath, I want clothes."
"Clothes...? Sure, clothes too."
"Shoes too?"
"You, what are you really trying to ask for?"

Fragment pressed impatiently. Only then did Kyle grin and plop down on the floor.

"It's inconvenient not being able to move during Flood Tide."
"...!"
"I understand the waves are dangerous. And the hand beyond the horizon isn't just dangerous, it's the kind of thing you should never get involved with. The eyeball under the black sea feels the same."
"You know that... and still want to move during Flood Tide?"

Fragment asked in disbelief, but Kyle's grin did not change.

"As long as I don't make eye contact with that eye, isn't it fine?"
"..."
"Yeah, I know it's not as easy as it sounds. When that gaze comes... my body freezes solid. And strangely, no matter how hard I try to look away... even if I tense my neck, my head creaks around and tries to meet its eyes."

He had tested it all himself.

"What are you planning to do during Flood Tide?"
"What else besides hunting?"
"Hunting...?"
"I absolutely don't think I can catch that giant eye right now. But the monsters swimming in the sea seem worth fighting."
"What a ridiculous thing to say."

Fragment's face hardened, and he shook his head.

"Those are beings on a different level from the Mudflat Dregs. Dregs failed to be born and were discarded, but the monsters swimming in the sea are Byproducts that succeeded in being born."
"The word Byproduct doesn't sound very positive. Hearing it that way just makes me think it might be even more doable."
"You ignorant fool...!"
"If I try and fail, I fail. From what I can tell, even if I die fighting those... Byproducts, only my Lifeline will sever and I'll return to the room. Right? Isn't that how it works?"

He was sure of it based on instinct alone? Fragment stared at Kyle, even more dumbfounded. This bizarre human brat's intuition was far beyond what Fragment had imagined.

"As you said, if you die to Byproducts, the Lifeline's protection can return you here. But the reason to avoid the sea is not the Byproducts, and not the black sea. If you meet the Abyssal Eye, your soul, your existence, will be dragged to the bottom with no resistance."
"Then what happens?"
"You'd probably die. More precisely, even I don't know. I've never suffered it myself, and no one dragged in that way has ever returned."
"I'll just avoid eye contact carefully."
"You ignorant idiot, just say you won't do i-"
"Come to think of it."

Kyle grinned and raised both hands.

"I don't actually need your permission, right? You're not the one giving rewards. The Sword Tower is."
"Wai-"
"Give me gear that lets me move around on the black sea."

The moment he said it, both of Kyle's hands were wrapped in black, transparent light.

Thud.

Something fell out of empty air. Fragment sprang from his seat to rush over, then froze in place.

"...?"

Kyle tilted his head at what had fallen to the floor. It was... a long black string. When he picked it up, the thread rippled briefly and gave off a faint glow.

"What's this?"
"H... hahaha!"

Fragment clutched his stomach and burst out laughing.

"The reward for killing hundreds of Dregs is one shoelace! Hahaha! Makes sense. Dregs are Dregs in the end."
"Ah, this is a shoelace?"

Frowning, Kyle grabbed it with both hands and stretched it. It felt smooth. It stretched and stretched as much as he pulled, then shrank again when he gathered it.

"Too bad, brat. Looks like you won't get the hunt you wanted."
"One shoelace after suffering for nine days... hmm."
"Stop wasting your thoughts and go kill and eat Mudflat Dregs. If you want a special reward, ask for a proper sword... or a sword manual."
"I already have a sword in mind, and the Great Archive is full of sword manuals."
"The sword manuals Alastor collected are not all the sword arts in the world."
"Hmm."

Kyle raised both hands again and asked for food this time. Then hard bread like a club, same as the first day, dropped down.

[Food... food...]

Jor whimpered, having expected a feast, and Fragment held his stomach and laughed again. Kyle tore off pieces of bread and put them in his mouth. It tasted bad, but compared to the Dregs he had eaten for nine days, this was much more like actual food.

After chewing a few times, Kyle suddenly stood, opened the door, and went out.

He came back about an hour later. During that time, he had hunted monsters near the door. He dropped down in the room again and raised both hands.

"Food, bath, new clothes."

Even requests made all at once were granted as payment. First, a small bathtub appeared in front of Kyle. No pipes were connected, but when he turned the faucet, warm water poured out in a heavy stream.

Next to the tub were neatly folded clothes. Strangely, they were exactly the same style as what Kyle had worn when he first entered.

[Food!]

A little farther away, a large plate appeared, and on it sat a steak giving off warm steam. The reward had been granted exactly as requested.

"You really have no intention of giving up?"

Fragment sat down again and looked at Kyle with exhausted eyes.

"If Byproducts are higher grade than Dregs, then naturally Byproducts should give bigger rewards than Dregs, right?"

Kyle chewed the roughly cut steak. Jor, sharing the taste, let out a happy scream.

"The strength added to my body should be bigger too. They'll be stronger than Dregs, and more fun to fight."
"You're young. Why are you in such a hurry?"
"Being young doesn't mean I can waste time."
"Are you really eleven?"
"There are eleven-year-olds like this."

The huge steak disappeared into his stomach in no time. Kyle started undressing to get into the bath, then paused and looked back at Fragment.

"Um, excuse me, but your gender is?"
"Seeing a human's naked body gives me no feeling at all."
"No, I'm the one who feels awkward."
"You don't need to. Do you feel ashamed taking off your clothes before the sun?"

If you say so. Kyle stripped and got into the tub. He turned on hot water and scrubbed his body hard first, then closed the drain and filled the tub.

Watching him relax in the bath, Fragment let out a short sigh.

"... Take a pair of shoes and a cloak."
"What?"
"The shoes will let you walk on the water's surface. And the cloak will protect your body a little from the gaze of the Abyssal Eye and the gaze of Byproducts. Not from direct eye contact."
"Any gear for going into the sea? Like a diving suit?"
"Y-you lunatic, if you want gear like that, you'd have to kill Dregs for decades."

Fragment sighed deeply again.

"Honestly, I don't recommend asking for that kind of gear. Gear is still consumable. Use it, and it wears down and disappears. Do you understand? Even if you suffer for a long time to earn one reward, once you use it, it vanishes and you have to ask for it again."

"So what? If it works, I can just get it again. If hunting Byproducts is more efficient than hunting Dregs, then once I start getting them, won't I get them faster next time?"

Too positive, absurdly positive. Fragment held his throbbing head and let out another deep sigh.

"Sometimes you need lessons learned from failure. No matter what I say, I doubt I can break your damned stubbornness, so go learn from failure. Even if Byproducts kill you, you'll just return here anyway."

After spitting that out, Fragment focused on creating the technique again. Listening to the scratch of quill on paper, Kyle soaked in warm water and thought for a while.

"Hm."

Kyle grinned.

He ate steak, bathed, changed into clean clothes, slept deeply on the sofa, and ran his technique without stiffness for the first time in a long while.

Unlike the Mudflat, the room was rich in mana, so after about half a day of circulation, his mana was fully replenished. Once he had prepared himself in perfect condition, Kyle strode toward the door.

"Flood Tide comes in two hours. Since you're resting anyway, why not rest until tomorrow and go then?"
"If I keep resting here, I think my body will stiffen. I might not want to go back out."

Nothing but lies. One extra day of rest would never make his body stiff, and no matter how comfortable this room was, Kyle found no joy in shutting himself in a boring room.

"Hm... if that's what you want."

Fragment nodded without much thought. He had stepped in several times only because it seemed wasteful to see this bizarre genius die a pointless death. By nature, Fragment was not someone who interfered with humans this much.

After one day away, Kyle stepped back into the Mudflat and inhaled its rotten stench deeply. Now even that smell felt welcome.

'Not that I'll ever really get used to it.'

After walking a little, Dregs popped out cheerfully to greet him. Kyle returned their kind greeting by swinging his wooden sword, then chewed and swallowed every scrap of flesh they left behind.

After about two hours of cleaning Dregs around the Mudflat, the ground shook.

Far away, the "hand" had begun scooping the sea again. Having survived in the Mudflat for nine days, Kyle did not panic and simply waited for bone coral to sprout.

Kugugugung...

Bone coral shot upward. Kyle immediately climbed it and waited for the sea to rise.

The sky's gaze turned toward the horizon, and the black sea settled quietly. In the abyss, the eyeball opened and closed, and at shallower depths the Byproducts swam.

Sitting on top of the bone coral, Kyle stretched the shoelace longer and longer. No matter how much he stretched it, it did not thin or snap. When it seemed long enough, he lay flat on the coral and crawled to the very edge.

[M-Master?]

Jor asked anxiously, but Kyle did not answer. He had already decided. Jor's will did not matter. His master said he was doing it, so how dare he object.

Reaching the tip of the bone coral, Kyle tied a piece of bread from the room to the shoelace and flicked it down. He could not hear the lace hit the sea, but through the palm holding it, he felt a different sensation.

Kyle kept lowering the lace. Sway, sway, shaking his wrist as if fishing.

Not as if. What Kyle was doing right now was fishing. Would something bite? His heart pounded as he shook his hand with eager excitement.

How long had he waited?

Tap.

The instant something touched the shoelace, Kyle reeled it in immediately. He did not know what had touched it, but he could not let it swallow the lace.

Chwararararak! The stretched lace snapped back to its original length in an instant. The bread piece hanging from it had turned into a black lump, but the thread itself was fine. And then-

Kwaaaah!

The black surface exploded upward, and something shot up from below.

[Kiiiaaaak!]

What leaped all the way to the top of the bone coral was a giant snake big enough to swallow a person whole-no, a leech. Spinning saw-like teeth inside its round mouth, it twisted in midair and lunged at Kyle.

"Got you!"

Kyle shouted in triumph, pushed off the ground with both hands, and sprang up. Crackle! The wooden sword wrapped in Sword Qi swung down at the leech.

Jjeeeong!

It did not even look strong or hard. Yet surprisingly, the leech was not cut by Kyle's Sword Qi. Instead, the wooden sword bounced off its body.

[Kigagagak!]

The leech spun its teeth viciously and sprayed green fluid. No one needed to explain that he could not be touched by that. Kyle focused harder on Sword Qi, then the moment the spray stopped, drove the wooden sword straight in.

Puhk! The wooden sword stabbed into the leech's mouth. When it went in about halfway, Kyle slammed it downward. Puhwak! The leech's mouth and belly split wide, and green blood poured out.

'Not a big deal?'

Maybe because they were still just things called Byproducts. For all the fear Fragment had tried to put in him, it was not very strong. Or maybe this one was especially weak? Thinking that, Kyle walked toward the leech that had fallen with its belly split open.

"...?"

Kyle froze mid-step. The leech's tail. A thick thread, thinner than its body but still heavy like cord, had grown out and reached down below the coral.

Come to think of it, the sound from before had been way too loud for just this thing jumping out. The moment that thought clicked, Kyle instantly swung his wooden sword and cut the thread from the leech's tail.

Kwaaaah! Again, the sound of the surface bursting rang out. It sounded a little different from something jumping out of water. Something was striking the surface.

That something leaped up to the top of the bone coral. If the leech from before was big enough to swallow one person whole, then this thing now was-an angler with jaws spread wide, huge enough to swallow the entire bone coral whole.

"Wow..."

High in the air, it opened its jaws and dropped toward the coral. Kyle looked up and gave an honest exclamation. A mouth big enough to swallow him and the coral together. There was nowhere to run. Could he swing and cut that entire body? With his mana still this stiff, impossible. Kyle admitted he had been too reckless today, then threw himself toward the nearby dead leech.

He wanted to eat at least one bite of it. Sword Qi had not pierced it while alive, but now that it was dead, his teeth sank in. Using all his strength, Kyle moved his jaw and took exactly one bite of leech flesh.

'Still, maybe because it's a Byproduct, it's more edible than Dregs.'

The moment he thought that.

The falling angler swallowed Kyle and the bone coral whole.

"Y-you... you ignorant idiot!"

Kyle blinked and pushed himself up.

He was back in the room. A wooden sword in one hand, the shoelace in the other, and in his mouth, the leech flesh he had been chewing just before.

'Jor.'
[Uweh... uweeek...]

Jor made retching sounds. Could spirits throw up too? If Jor vomited, would the vomit stay in the middle dantian? Thinking that, Kyle chewed the remaining flesh in his mouth.

"What are you eating?! You, what the hell did you do?!"

Kyle's body shook violently while he chewed. Fragment had rushed over, grabbed his shoulders, and was shaking him.

"I did some fishing."
"F-fishing? Fishing?! You crazy bastard!"
"I thought it was clever, but this won't work."

Who would have thought he'd get swallowed in one bite. There had been too little room to move. If he could at least run across the sea, he could have dodged that mouth and counterattacked.

"I need to get the shoes first."

After chewing and swallowing all the tough flesh, Kyle nodded and muttered.

"Madman, madman!"

Fragment kept shrieking and shaking Kyle's shoulders.

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