"At least the defense has increased." Mariano commented.
"It's useless! I can't move at all, and I can't resist at all. Come on, if this guy breaks me, I'll be dead."
The Mimic was frustrated and did not act rashly. Instead, it circled around Austin, seemingly trying to find his weakness.
Austin faced the ground, not knowing what was going on, and he was panicking inside.
"Don't you claim to have completed nearly thirty oracles? How about some use?" Mariano actually still had the time to laugh at him, "Maybe you happen to be able to make a living?"
Austin wanted to cry but had no tears. He had more than 20 abilities, but not many of them were useful. Doug was divided into a few after the split. If there were any that could be used, he would have tried them long ago.
Sea Monster Illustrated Book - I don’t know why it didn’t trigger. Maybe it’s because the monster is not a sea monster, or the mysterious “author” has never seen such a monster.
It doesn't hurt to open your eyes underwater - I just used it, it works but it's not very useful.
As for other things like being exposed to the sun without skin peeling and eating raw seafood without diarrhea, Austin doesn't even want to think about it.
"I'm here. You try to see if you can solve it first. If not, I'll show up again." Since Austin won't die for a while, Mariano planned to watch the excitement first.
Austin was completely speechless, and his brain was forced to start working.
But time waits for no one, and he feels that his limbs can slowly move, and the effects of petrification are fading.
The Mimic hesitated for a moment, stretched out his tongue and tentatively touched Austin. After finding no movement, he walked up and prepared to swallow him in one bite.
Austin held his breath and allowed the Mimic to swallow him. He wanted to take a chance.
The Mimic was only focused on eating, and did not notice that as Austin was being dragged, his hand slowly grasped a nearby broken blade.
This time I had a near miss. Although the hard food tasted bad, I didn’t resist.
The monster's belly was full of fishy liquid, and it felt like there was a lot of space. Austin could even fully expand his body inside. He couldn't figure out what kind of magical structure this box was, and it was so big inside.
But it doesn't matter, Austin opened his eyes, surrounded by darkness, a little sore, but it really didn't hurt. The clothes have been completely corroded, and there is a slight burning sensation on the body, but it is not serious enough to cause injury.
Praise the evil god, the strange abilities finally work in strange ways.
Originally planning to disembowel him with a knife, Austin became interested in this strange "belly", turned around in the darkness, and swam toward the darker place below.
"You quite like to seek death." Mariano commented.
"This is too strange. Aren't you curious?" Austin completely ignored Mariano's advice and had the courage to never look back.
"Haha, that's interesting. Your curiosity is probably the price you need to pay for acquiring a certain ability."
"Probably."
"You're laughing so hard. Is the stubbornness of knowing a mistake but not correcting it also a price?"
As the two of them talked, the darkness in front of them gradually shrank and turned into a long and slender corridor.
Intestine? Austin had this idea.
After swimming for about ten seconds, the front suddenly opened up and entered an empty... sea area?
The surrounding darkness seemed to have faded, turning into a translucent blue, and the slight burning sensation on his body also disappeared.
"Looks like he's a straight man, this guy." Mariano teased, "Wait a minute and I'll see if I can find you."
"I can't hold it in anymore, let me go up and take a look first." Austin looked up and found that there was still a faint light above his head.
[Good guy, how long have I been sleeping before you fell into the sea? ] Doug's voice appeared in his heart for a long time.
"It turns out you're not dead." Austin joked as he swam upstream.
[Thanks to you, I'm still far away. ] Doug exhaled and seemed to stretch, [But I think you look like you are not far away from death? Even the clothes and pants are gone. ]
"Isn't there another one?" Austin patted the flintlock gun on his belt.
Wow——
A human head poked out of the sea and looked around.
[Um, where are we now? ]
"I don't know where it is either."
"Stop chatting with your alter ego, you're going to be in big trouble." Mariano's tone was no longer as relaxed as before, and was a little more solemn.
"What's wrong?"
"If I hadn't been affected by the illusion, your current location should be the maelstrom."
Silence is tonight's Stuart Bridge.
"What?"
"You're in the Maelstrom."
[You are in the maelstrom. ]
Mariano and Doug said in unison.
"I-" Austin closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"grass……"
"To be precise, it's the edge of the Maelstrom Sea."
"How far is my current location from you?"
"If I fly at full speed, it will take about five days. This is already the limit."
"I can't wait. If I really wait for you to come, I'll be in trouble."
"Then swim back by yourself."
[Did you offend her somewhere and kill her to silence her? ]
Austin ignored him, and after thinking for a moment, he said, "It's really possible."
After that, he dived into the water and swam in the direction he came from, looking for the monster's "back door".
[I didn’t expect you to have such a hobby. ]
"That's better than death."
Austin was not in the central area of the maelstrom at this time. He could not see the huge whirlpool spectacle and could not feel the terrifying undercurrent.
The water here is not as dark as around the Gargoyle Atoll, but a deep blue with low transparency, giving people a very sticky feeling.
"Is there any?" Mariano asked, "I used the magical crystal to help you call for rescue from the Federation of Independent City-States. You can find a way to hold on for a while."
Austin was like a fly that fell into a water tank, swimming around and unable to find the way he came.
While he was sweating profusely, a yellow light suddenly appeared on the seabed in front of him, like a lantern in the fog or a bait for an angler fish.
Austin subconsciously floated up, trying to stay away from that light, but the light was getting faster and faster, and the undercurrent behind him was turbulent, making it impossible to maintain his posture.
Bang——
With a loud noise, an ironclad ship broke through the water, and white waves shattered along with the carcasses of sea fish. Red and white became the best embellishment of the gray-black ship's sound.
After the waves calmed down, a whistle sounded throughout the sky, seeming to announce someone's arrival.
Austin stood on the deck like a carp, looking around warily.
When he was in the army, he heard that the Orista Empire was developing the latest submarine warship, so he couldn't be so unlucky to meet him.
"Hello." A clear male voice sounded behind him.
Austin slowly turned around and looked at the source of the voice - a thin young man with gorgeous clothes, blond hair and blue eyes, whose eyebrows were somewhat similar to Lysa's.
"My name is Ansha, nice to see you here."
"I'll go! This is what happened to you!" Mariano couldn't hold it back and suddenly cried out in surprise.
Austin didn't speak, but stared blankly at the middle-aged man behind Ansha.
He is tall and strong, with a Chinese character face, a beard and half-long curly hair. He is wearing a Royal Navy uniform without rank marks, but wearing a pirate captain's hat on his head.
He seemed to want to say something, but after thinking for a long time, he could only say one short sentence: "Long time no see, Austin."
Austin's body trembled slightly, and the long-standing memory in his mind was dug out of the corner, and the face gradually overlapped with the middle-aged man in front of him.
"Father……"
