Ball of Nothing

Life in the Marrissa wasn't too bad. There were some good days and some dull days but never any bad days.

Ottley and his crew decided to follow Docky's first route as it was the shortest and easiest to navigate. After getting over their initial shock at finding out the pet lizard was a powerful summoned creature and Zero's bottomless inventory, they settled into a new routine of eating, working out, diving and charting.

As the sinking ship explored new seas, Pepper worked without a break to record everything, and Ottley helped. Truen remembered how Zero was tempted to go catch the new species he saw to dissect them. It was a chaotic moment, but thankfully, Bob dissuaded Zero from trying to open the Marrissa's lock-tight door when they were almost two hundred meters underwater.

That incident was two weeks ago. Back then, they were only two hundred meters beneath the water. It was fun for a while recording new marine life, but now that they were investigating the potential Indra Seagloo route, the Marrissa was two thousand meters deep. The sea creatures started appearing lesser, and it was almost always dark outside. Checking out of the window wasn't as interesting as before. Now, Zero mostly tells Mii to let them know if something appears on the mini-map.

"How close are we to the first checkpoint?" Zero asked at lunch.

Ottley and Pepper attacked the chicken without mercy. It has been so long since they had chicken, even though the other food Zero prepared was usually delicious. Chicken just hits differently.

Over the last two days, things started to work differently. The sea otters now work on a rotating shift to monitor their ship's course and alert the captain should anything out of the ordinary happen. There was an unspoken tension now that they were approaching the treacherous zone. Without any light this deep underwater, the sea otters had to rely on other abilities to discern danger. Of the sea otters present, only Ottley had the Weatherman ability to listen to the voices of the sea. As a result, the captain was the most sleep-deprived person with Pepper being the second most sleep-deprived person.

"It is still quite the distance," Pepper explained and burped loudly.

They cleared the table and Ottley brought the map out to show Zero where they were. Pepper definitely made a new map because the one Docky passed them was too lacking in details. Nobody imagined that the undertow was less strong the deeper they got. Also, the Marrissa's air pressure was something to worry about the deeper they went. The sinking ship might not be able to sink all the way to the bottom of the ocean if it gets any harder to breathe. While the undead wood was very sturdy and the gnome technology will hold up, the fragile bodies of the sea otters would not.

"Here is where the trouble location was rumoured to be. We're following the trail from this corner and moving in a clockwise direction to make full use of the undertow that we found in the three hundred meter zone. However, this is the latest map with the discovered underwater currents."

The map drawn by Pepper with Ottley's help was very detailed but Zero's brain shut down at the math portion. Seeing how the doctor gave up on thinking when he saw numerals, Wii took over and translated those numbers into simple explanations.

In short, they couldn't dive any deeper than five thousand meters in the Marrissa without risking internal organ explosions. Even then, Ottley did not know if the sinking ship was sturdy enough to dive any deeper. Hence, they could only take calculated risks now.

"This trouble spot could very well be Indra Seagloo but we cannot steer the Marrissa right into the zone carelessly," the captain explained. "If a sea monster appears or if the ship gets caught in a strong surge of current, we're going to get smashed."

Zero agreed. The risks are too great for the sea otters. Even if the voyage was going to be a relatively long one, Zero made a promise to ensure every single crew member made it back to land alive.

He might be able to create a spell to relieve that crushing underwater pressure but everything would be meaningless if the Marrissa crumbled from diving too deeply. Who would have thought that diving in the ocean would be more dangerous than walking the desert?

Before the strategy meeting could commence a violent force shook the whole ship, causing things to tumble everywhere. Sleeping crew members fell from their beds, glasses smash to bits in the kitchen. Zero found himself flying across the table and slamming painfully into the wall at the unexpected launch. Yet, all he could think of was the safety of everyone on this vessel.

The alarm sounded and the lights inside the Marrissa turned red. With no time to recover or think, Zero launched into doctor mode while Ottley limped to the command room, shouting instructions.

As Zero cast healing magic across the ship, he noticed that the scenery outside seemed odd. Instead of complete darkness, there was a faint glow of light coming from beneath them. The powerful shockwaves did not stop and people bumped into falling objects as they scrambled to their respective stations.

Bob and Truen were already in action, gearing up to take a stab at the threat. However, Mii wasn't reporting any strange mana activities nearby. What could it be if it wasn't a monster?

"Captain! Terrible news!" a sea otter ran from the viewing platform.

Ottley was getting healed when he heard that. At once, he forgot about his pain.

"What's the situation?"

The scout announced that it was code red and they should immediately evacuate if it wasn't already too late.

"There is a pimple in the Earth! It's spewing fire under the sea, causing the water to boil very quickly! At this rate, the Marrissa will be dragged into hell!"

Zero doubted it. Hell wasn't inside Earth. It existed on a completely different plane. However, that didn't mean the situation wasn't dangerous. This had to be the cause for the trouble spot Docky shortlisted. With constant whirlpools at the surface of the sea, frequent tremors in the ground, violent waves and reports of missing sh.i.p.s, this pimple in the Earth had to be responsible.

"Holy smokes! It's an underwater volcano!" Bob breathed, peering out of the tiny window. "How are we going to steer out of this?"

Ottley didn't waste any more time when he heard that. "Code red!" he yelled into the announcement system. "All hands on deck, we're breaking out!"