BXBX NOVEL Chapter 367.1
As for the Predator, it was too big to taste the tiny morsel of food and so was completely uninterested in it. Right now, it was wielding the brush with its tongue and playing games with itself.
Cyrea spread outs his webbed hands to catch Wheeze’s fish biscuits easier. While he was stuffing his face, Cillin asked, “Have you guys been living underground all this time, Cyrea? Has the city never surfaced even once before our arrival?”
“That is correct,” Cyrea confirmed while crunching down the fish biscuits. “According to the records, me and my ancestors have always been living underground in the city. We would occasionally come out for a swim if we’re too bored, but without the ‘key’ the city would never have resurfaced.”
“Swim?” Cillin looked at Cyrea’s bare body. “Now that you mention it, I don’t see anyone wearing a protective suit of sort. Can you swim under this pressure without any protection?”
“Of course! It’s just a stroll around the neighborhood. Why on earth would I need to wear a protective suit? Speaking of which, what is a protective suit?” Cyrea asked confusedly.
“... it’s a gear normal people need to wear when swimming at this depth. This applies to the rest of the Moor as well, right? You can all fool around like nothing at this depth?”
Cyrea took a moment to shove all of the fish biscuits into his mouth and scratch his webbings. After he swallowed, he answered, “Yes, but I have heard that it wasn’t always like this. At the beginning, my ancestors could only stay within the confines of the city. However, the next generation gained the ability to swim outside, although they could only last for a short while. Now, my generation can swim around the sea bed almost all the time.”
Cillin was astonished. The Moor might have wasted a thousand years at the bottom of the sea, but the benefits they gained were just as great. Their bodies had evolved to adapt to the deep sea; a feat that would have taken millions of years on another planet.
“In that case, you must have explored a lot of places, right? But wouldn’t it be dangerous? There should be a lot of overlords at this depth such as the ones that were sealed inside the crystals. Aren’t you afraid you might be attacked by them?”
“This city emits a sound wave that is inaudible to humans, but not so to the overlords. That is why the overlords usually stay away from this area,” Cyrea spoke as if he was reciting a passage from his memory, which he probably was. Cillin did not think he even knew what the words “sound wave” or “inaudible” meant.
Cillin glanced sideway just in time to see a massive sea beast swimming past the barrier. It showed zero intention of approaching the city even though it was shining like an underwater sun at this depth probably because of the sound wave Cyrea was talking about. Czedow’s analysis also informed him that the sound wave was part of the reason their spaceplane had become completely paralyzed after it sank to this depth. If he had to guess, the sound wave was also meant to protect the Moor from planet invaders.
Cyrea continued, “So, no, we haven’t explored too far from the city because the sound waves quickly loses its effectiveness beyond a certain range. Also, there is a marine trench next to the city that is so dangerous that our ancestors strictly forbid us from getting close to it. About for the crystallized overlords, I heard that they were sealed by our benefactors because they tried to cause trouble during the city’s construction.”
His eyes shone with the light of admiration when he spoke of the crystallized sea beasts. The crystals weren’t enclosed within the light barrier, so it was safe to assume that they did not count as part of the underwater city. Plus, Cyrea confirmed that the overlords were dealt with before the city was fully constructed. So, how did the Xi Family seal the overlords? Whatever the method they used, it had to be really special.
Cyrea probably knew anything about it though, so Cillin asked another question instead, “Where is this marine trench?”
“It’s down that direction right next to the barrier,” Cyrea answered while pointing a finger at a certain direction.
Cillin offered Cyrea a bag of fish biscuits to guide them there. Cyrea was terribly afraid of the marine trench, but since the offer was tempting and they weren’t going out of the barrier, he thought it would be safe enough and agreed to it.
As Cyrea had mentioned before, the marine trench was located beside the city and right next to the barrier. It almost felt like the city was built at a cliff’s edge. Of course, they were really a fair distance away from the marine trench; it’s just that the marine trench was so massive that it gave off the illusion.
According to Cyrea, the Predators were one of the sea creatures that lived in the marine trench. While the Andrea Family called them “Predators”, the Moor called them “Guardians” because they shared a great relationship with the Moor and kept the edges of the city free of attackers. While the Guardians were the smallest sea beast in the marine trench, they were formidable predators and they lived in groups. That was why even larger sea beasts avoided provoking them in the norm. Without a doubt, they were one of the main reasons the Moor had been able to live a thousand years at this depth in relative peace.
According to Cyrea, most of the sea creatures living in the marine trench had terrible tempers. The reason the Moor was able to befriend the Guardians was because they were the least bad-tempered of them all. There were other species that the Moor were friendly with, but only a small number.
“There’s also a huge fellow in the trench that everyone makes sure to stay out of its way. According to my seniors, it’s the reason why the city sometimes shakes like there was an earthquake. Its snores are just that powerful,” Cyrea complained.
“Tell us more,” Cillin prodded.
“It’s like this. Every few years or so, the big fellow living in the marine trench would snore and cause the entire area to shake. I’ve never seen it with my own eyes, but the clan chief has shown me records of its appearance when I was receiving my education.” Cyrea proceeded to tell Cillin all about his younger days.
However, the more he spoke, the more Cillin felt that something was off. When his suspicion reached its peak, he interrupted Cyrea with a question, “Excuse me, but at what age do you receive your education?”
Cyrea took a moment to recall before replying, “We start our education at five and end at twenty. It’s really annoying, but what can you do?”
“And how old are you right now?”
“I’m just fifty one years old! Me ma said I haven’t reached adulthood yet, and that I still have plenty of time to grow bigger and taller!” Cyrea replied while flexing his biceps.
Cillin: “...”
“At what age are you considered an adult?” Cillin asked.
“It’s not a constant thing. At the beginning, it was twenty years old. Then, it was changed to thirty years old. Currently, the age for adulthood is sixty years old. The reason for the change is because our lifespans are much longer than what they used to be. According to the clan chief, our average lifespan is around three hundred years old now,” Cyrea answered while delighting in the fact that he still could grow taller.
In fact, Cyrea was at least two heads taller than Cillin and definitely taller than your standard human being. However, the only frame of reference he had was other Moor and sea beasts that were absolutely bigger than a human in every way. Cillin could see why Cyrea was so happy about being able to grow taller.
Meanwhile, the Guardian that was accompanying Cyrea had passed through the barrier to play around in the water. In just a few seconds, Cyrea’s resolve to not approach the marine trench began to waver. It should be safe, right? He thought to himself. It wouldn’t be fooling around like this if it wasn’t safe.
As Cyrea passed through the barrier to join his companion, Cillin saw his arms taking on a more animalistic form, and his legs joining together to form something that looked like a fish tail. A protective film had appeared around his eyeballs like some sort of goggles, and scales had grown on certain parts of his body as well. When the transformation was complete, Cyrea resembled an underwater creature far more than he was a human being. Just as he had said a while ago, the Moor really did consider themselves to be more sea beast than human.
After he entered the water, Cyrea began playing tag with his Guardian. Although he wasn’t as fast as the sea beast, he was pretty good compared to most swimmers. A short while later, Wheeze passed its fish biscuits to Cillin fo safekeeping before joining them in their game of tag as well.
The relaxing time did not last long, however. Just five minutes later, the Guardian abruptly swallowed Cyrea before swimming toward the city in a beeline. It spat out Cyrea after it had passed through the barrier.
“What’s wrong? Did something—” Cyrea ignored the fact that he was still drenched and looked outside the barrier just in time to see a massive tentacle stretching out of the marine trench toward Wheeze. It was like a human moving to crush an ant with its finger. Cyrea immediately beckoned its Guardian to save Wheeze, but before it could move its feet the giant tentacle was abruptly severed into several pieces.
Both Cyrea and the Guardian were stunned by the sight. The Guardian even forgot to move its tail because it had no idea that tiny, fat and seemingly useless cat would be this powerful.
More tentacles extended out of the marine trench as the creature’s head surfaced from the bottom. Its ire wasn’t directed at Wheeze, however. In fact, forget being angry, it looked like it was escaping something with all of its might.
“OOOOOOOOOOOOOO—”
Suddenly, a low, rumbling sound that sounded like a ship’s air horn resounded from the bottom of the marine trench. It was so powerful that the sound waves caused visible ripples on the barrier. Then, what looked like a giant maw bit down on the giant tentacle’s body in one swift motion before dragging it back to the bottom. The tentacled creature was unable to break free despite its violent struggles, and soon both creatures had vanished completely from view.
The absolutely massive maw Cillin saw was but one part of the whole maw. He also wasn’t able to see its head because the mysterious creature had caught the tentacle creature too quickly. Still, that was all he needed to see to recognize exactly how ridiculous the creatures living in the marine trench were.
Both creatures were ridiculously huge, but they were small compared to the marine trench they lived in. It almost felt like the marine trench was an underwater passage that led to a whole new world.