Return of the Legendary Runesmith

Very slowly, Nytharos made his way toward the standing man, his eyes fixed on the fallen figure.

Once he reached Adrian, he asked, "So... how exactly did you kill him? Ah, rather, why did he kill himself?" Nytharos corrected himself, glancing at the old man who had transformed into a formidable warrior, only to suddenly claw at his own throat and bleed to death.

Not only had his energy been dispelled almost instantly, but he had never even attempted to save himself. That meant it was not merely some delusion that had driven the old sage to take his own life. Whatever Adrian had shown him had been something far more intense.

Adrian merely shrugged. "I just helped him remember a few memories that he had tried to hide rather brilliantly."

The moment Adrian realized what the sage intended to accomplish with those chains, he had decided to end things immediately.

"So you slammed your head into his so you could connect with his memories, eh?" Nytharos asked with a wry smile. "I have never seen a runesmith use their knowledge in such a way."

Adrian hummed. "And you won’t see one either."

He turned his gaze toward the vast ocean stretching endlessly before them.

Crossing his arms, he asked, "What do you think is guarding your cell? I know it is an ancient monster, but what else do you know about it?"

Ancient monsters were generally those creatures that had lived and fought alongside Darkness a thousand years ago. Many of them still existed somewhere in the world, creatures that had survived the passage of time and were now spoken of as beings straight out of nightmares.

However, this particular creature seemed to transcend anything anyone could comprehend.

"It is a celestial being," Nytharos began. "No one knows where it came from, but it has existed in this vast world for an incredibly long time. The prison I was caged in? Actually, no. No one ever gave that being orders to guard the prison. It was already there, surrounding it. I was simply snuck inside."

Adrian hummed in understanding.

So, a creature that even those Gods could not control.

Sounds like the easiest fight he would ever face.

"How do I identify the cell?" Adrian asked. "I mean, once I’m inside, it will be too dark and chaotic to make anything out."

Nytharos assured him, "The prison is pretty huge. You need to figure out how to enter it first."

Adrian groaned. "You aren’t much help, you know?"

Nytharos merely smiled faintly before his figure vanished into nothingness.

Adrian shook his head and asked, "What do you think, system?"

[It’s going to be dangerous, host. However, the host is already sensible enough to know where his priorities lie.]

Adrian nodded.

Right. This was not the endgame. While Forgelet’s world was at risk, he could not recklessly throw his own life away to save hers.

There were people who would follow him into the afterlife if he did.

’Forget it. I shouldn’t start thinking about the worst-case scenario right from the get-go.’

Shaking his head, he took one step, then another, and in the next instant, he was diving into the water.

Splash.

The moment he entered the ocean, he opened his eyes and allowed them to adjust to his new surroundings.

’Haah... haah...’

Breathing underwater was still difficult. It felt as though he were trying to draw air through a narrow pipe, each breath requiring considerably more effort than usual. Still, as the seconds passed, his body gradually adapted to the sensation.

He took another breath, closed his eyes, and thought of everyone who mattered to him.

And then...

Thunk.

A ripple exploded around him as he plunged deeper into the ocean at tremendous speed, relying on both the artifact embedded in his boots and air magic to propel himself forward.

The world around him transformed as he descended.

Schools of silver-scaled fish scattered at his approach, their bodies flashing beneath the faint light filtering down from the surface.

Some were no larger than his palm, while others were enormous enough to make Adrian pause for a moment as they drifted through the blue darkness.

Strange plants swayed along the ocean floor, their long tendrils moving despite the absence of any visible current, while pale creatures with translucent bodies emerged from hidden crevices before disappearing into the darkness.

For a moment, it was almost beautiful.

Almost.

The deeper he went, the more the sunlight above weakened until it became little more than a distant, fading glow. The brilliant blue of the upper ocean gradually gave way to a deep indigo, then an oppressive black.

And with the darkness came silence.

The occasional movement of fish disappeared. The vibrant coral and strange vegetation became rarer until only barren rock remained. Every now and then, something moved at the very edge of his vision, too distant to identify before vanishing into the darkness.

Adrian slowed slightly.

There was something unsettling about being surrounded by so much water that he could no longer see where it ended.

The ocean seemed less like a place and more like an endless void, with countless unseen things lurking beyond the reach of his vision.

Yet even here, there was an eerie beauty to it.

Tiny points of blue and green light began appearing in the distance. Bioluminescent creatures drifted through the darkness like stars scattered across an endless night sky.

Some resembled floating flowers, while others looked like thin ribbons of light, their bodies pulsing softly as they moved.

Adrian watched them for a few seconds before continuing downward.

As he grew deeper, things began to darken more and more.

He had already prepared for this situation.

Summoning two crystals attached to a belt, he secured them around his hands before feeding them mana.

The crystals immediately erupted with brilliant illumination, their light cutting through the surrounding darkness.

It revealed an entirely different world.

Jagged cliffs rose from the ocean floor like the ruins of some ancient kingdom.

Massive stone formations disappeared into the darkness above, their surfaces covered in strange growths that glowed faintly beneath his light.

Farther away, an enormous shadow slowly passed between the cliffs.

Adrian stopped.

He stared at it for several seconds.

He could not tell what it was.

It was simply too large.

Then the shadow vanished, leaving nothing behind but drifting particles and darkness.

"Woah..."

Bubbles floated above his face as Adrian finally realized just how deep he had descended.

And for the first time since entering the ocean, he wondered whether the things living down here were truly meant to be seen by humans.

’This hunt is going to take time.’

He swam through the cliffs, searching for the cell so he could get done with it without any fight, if he could.

"Huh?" And there it was. Tilted and fixated on a rock was a building resembling a..."Fish Bowl?"

What the heck? And the fallen deity is caged inside that?

He couldn’t see inside of it but that enormous size and the strangeness of it being here made Adrian curious to check it.

However, the moment he drew closer...he felt it.

A pair of eyes.

When he turned, he could only see them...because the rest of the monster was too large to fit in his vision.

’Fuck my life.’