No matter how prepared I was to face death, I had no intention of putting a living human—I mean elf, into my mouth.

When I felt-out refused, showing clear disgust, Agnes just tilted their head as if they couldn’t understand why I was acting like this.

"Why refuse? You have no other option right now.”

"What does that have to do with eating you?”

"Obviously, you need to exercise your domain as a resident.”

I was about to argue back, but the calm expression on their face made me frown.

Something about what they said bothered me.

As if they believed that eating them would change something…

It wasn’t entirely wrong. I did have the ability to take on aspects of deep-sea creatures I devour.

But the problem was—

"...Just how much do you actually know?”

They hadn’t even realized my world was the Abyssal Sea.

So how did they know that consuming deep-sea creatures allowed one to gain part of their abilities?

Even in this situation, that question still lingered in my mind. Letting out a sigh, Agnes suddenly formed a white sphere in their palm. It shimmered like a bubble, writhing as if alive.

"If you’re reluctant to consume something resembling a human body, then swallow this instead. It’s no different from eating me, but if you insist, I suppose I have no choice.”

"..."

"They’re coming. Decide.”

My Tide Sense told me that they weren’t bluffing.

[The time has…come..........]

Those grotesque limbs were already appearing in my view again.

It didn’t seem like we had gone far. Or perhaps that Outer God was simply that fast.

Grinding my teeth, I swallowed the white sphere. The change was immediate.

Agnes, who had been standing before me, broke apart into tiny fragments, then dissolved like paper soaked in boiling water, disappearing completely.

In their place, something took root in my mind. It was as if I had grown a tail. An awareness that I could do ‘something.’

More precisely—that something was planted in me.

What?

"Ugh..."

My thoughts wouldn’t connect. As I barely held onto consciousness through a splitting headache, unfamiliar thoughts began to surface.

[The Outer God cannot kill me.]

[Its objective is capture. It cannot afford to destroy the barely opened passage.]

[Under that premise, it can never reveal its true form.]

[An Outer God is born when a single entity reaches equilibrium with an entire world. It is the nonexistent bottom of the Abyss. It is depth itself, a living burden. The most dreadful burden.]

[If the Outer God rises, the Abyssal sea’s floor rises with it—the depth rises. Where I stand becomes the bottom of the Abyss. Relatively speaking, I would fall to an even deeper depth.]

[The bottom exists for the Outer God. I cannot endure it. I will die. It will lose its passage. Its objective will fail.]

"What the fuck is this—"

Knowledge I had never known flooded my mind.

Memories that weren’t mine. They had to be Agnes’.

Did that mean I had gained their memories? I tried recalling something from their time as an elf, but as if telling me to not waste my time, nothing came up.

Even so, memories necessary for battle were surfacing one after another.

[The legs of the Outer God are organs meant to endure far deeper depths.]

[They have been extended upward. They have reversed the pressure. They are reaching toward the surface.]

[The Outer God has betrayed the Abyssal Sea it once coexisted with in balance in order to escape the world using me as an exit.]

[This world would never forgive that. Even the apostles who once wielded divine authority within their own domains—the legs of the Outer God—can only use abilities suited to the current depths.]

[In conclusion, we must determine the range of its influence. Then escape beyond it.]

"You bastard, seriously…”

Agnes was mixing their memories with mine, forcing only what was necessary for this fight to surface.

It didn’t feel very pleasant. I mean, it was useful, but still.

Once this was over, I swore I’d cut open my own skull if I had to, just to rip them out. Clenching my teeth, I swam through the Abyssal Sea with everything I had.

It was the fastest speed I could manage. But the legs were always just a bit faster, stretching out to chase me down.

'How long are those things?'

Each one extended far beyond human comprehension. It felt like entire mountain ranges were chasing me as I fled desperately.

But escaping beyond its range of influence was impossible. Rather, I was steadily being caught up to. There was nothing much I could do, since it was faster than me.

Just as I considered intercepting it, another memory surfaced.

[Attacking is meaningless. Though the limbs appear as legs, they are something entirely different. No matter how much you cut or sever them, it holds little meaning.]

[If it is faster than me, I have to change my approach. I can’t think in terms of defeating it, but rather find a way to stop it from moving—]

"I get it, so shut up!"

I stopped swimming. Gritting my teeth, I stared at the limb that had reached halfway into the range of my Tide Sense, forcing my racing heart to cool down.

At the same time, I let the feeling like I was the only one left in this world enter my mind. Nothing changed.

Of course not. I couldn’t even fully control the power of freezing, so there was no way I could freeze something that massive. Even if Decay himself showed up, he probably wouldn’t be able to freeze that thing.

Instead, I created ice. A whole lot of it.

"Kgh..."

—Accompanied with a pain as if my chest were being torn apart

-Crack…

Thousands of chunks of ice formed, filling the Abyssal Sea.

They latched onto the incoming limb, slowing it, albeit only slightly.

It didn’t have a significant impact. Of course, I never intended for this alone to be enough.

"Perfect, they’re all gathered..."

I frantically scanned the Abyssal Sea, spotting schools of deep-sea creatures fleeing from the Outer God.

The sight of all of them, regardless of size, scrambling away in panic was truly spectacular. It formed a massive current of escaping creatures, and among them were enormous whales.

I immediately unraveled the thread-like ring and seized control of them.

The command I gave was very simple.

"Push those ice chunks with everything you’ve got!”

Even as I gave the order, I felt a flicker of doubt. Would my control really override their fear of the Outer God?

The result—was surprisingly successful. Four whales slammed into the ice masses without hesitation and pushed with all their might to hold back the advancing limbs.

With countless chunks of ice clinging to it and gigantic whales pushing against it, its speed visibly slowed.

[It is still insufficient. At best, this will only buy some time.]

[I need a more reliable way to bind its limbs.]

"...”

But Agnes, or rather, their memories, gave a failing verdict.

Even to me, it didn’t look like the time bought by these creatures would be enough to escape.

After a moment of thought, I muttered to myself.

"From what I heard earlier, that thing isn’t the only Outer God, right?”

[Outer God is a title given when one descends to greater depths, resists the Abyss again and again, and eventually reaches the place where other Outer Gods reside, joining them.]

[And I am not the only one who fell into this Abyssal Sea. Hundreds of millions, billions, tens of billions of lives have sunk into it, and at least a few have reached the bottom. That thing is not the only Outer God.]

"That’s enough."

I immediately chose a direction and began swimming.

On the way, perhaps finding it troublesome, one of the Outer God’s limbs lightly wrapped around a whale that had been blocking its path.

That was all it did.

[...!??!?]

The whale was crushed flat as if caught in a hydraulic press and broke free from my control.

It died. Shaking off the remaining chunks of ice, the limb regained its original speed and surged forward again. Another memory surfaced.

[If possible, I must ascend further upward. That way I can impose greater burdens upon it—]

"I’ll handle it, so shut up.”

Renewing my resolve to tear this thing out of my head, I headed to the first palace I had ever reached after gaining the ability to move freely through the Abyssal Sea.

The canyon was still there.

"...Hooh."

After a deep breath—

I shot straight toward the bottom of that canyon.

Without stopping.

The pressure grew stronger, squeezing at my chest, but I didn’t slow down.

[Going downward is the worst possible choice. The closer I get to where it resides, the more the burdens placed on it by the Abyss will weaken. Conversely, the pressure on me will increase. In other words, in an already dire situation…]

"It’ll get worse. Yeah, I know.”

Ignoring the increasingly urgent voice of those memories in my head, I reached the bottom of the canyon.

And sure enough, the speed of the Outer God’s limbs increased dramatically.

They even seemed thicker. And—something about them felt off.

They weren’t normal limbs. The suction cups were beginning to grow eyelids, and as they drew closer, lines formed between them, then split open.

At greater depths, the suction cups were turning into eyes.

"Seriously disgusting."

If there was one unfortunate, or actually fortunate, thing...

It was that there was also an eye here.

"Go ahead, have fun playing with your friend.”

-Crack!

I pressed down with pressure on the ground with all my strength.

[...................]

-Ruuuumble...

With the sensation of something soft being pierced, a tremor like an earthquake shook the Abyssal Sea, and the canyon slowly began to open.

It opened its eyes. Its body likely lay at the deepest depths, but due to its immense size, its head alone had no choice but to rise to this comparatively shallow layer.

The eyelid of another Outer God slowly lifted.

Seizing the moment, I immediately started pitching myself with everything I had.

"Hey there. I’m the only exit you have to escape into reality.”

[...............]

I didn’t know if it understood. I didn’t even know if it heard my words.

But one thing was certain. Its eyes, large enough to envelop a whole city, locked directly onto me.

"But what can you do? I’m about to die here.”

Since it showed no further reaction, I resorted to a stronger method.

The most certain way to make myself known.

-...Slash!

I cut my wrist and let my blood spread through the Abyssal Sea.

It brought about an immediate change.

[[ A A A A A A A A A A A A A A A H…!!!]]

Its pupil shrank to an unbelievable degree.

From the size of a town to the size of a carriage.

At the same time, something began rising through the Abyssal Sea.

It moved at an absurdly high speed. This one seemed to be extending something like limbs towards me as well now.

-Crunch!

[.....!!]

The small pupil, which had been fixated on me in a frenzy, suddenly spun and looked elsewhere.

Toward the limb of the other Outer God rushing at me. That limb was enormous in its own right, but compared to this eye, it was insignificant.

As the pupil turned red and focused on it—

-...Boom!!!

The limbs exploded with a thunderous blast. Just from being looked at.

“Hm."

What was this? Some kind of microwave? I quietly stepped back, avoiding its gaze.

Unfortunately, seeming as if this much wasn’t enough to stop the octopus, more limbs began to rise.

However, this time, they weren’t focused on me.

They were staring at the pupil. And the pupil, in turn, was no longer looking at me, but at those limbs.

Watching the two sides lock eyes in heated confrontation, I slowly backed away.

"Well, have fun. Don’t mind me.”

As sudden as it was, they had successfully met.