Second World



The cage that held Naomi was farther than what he saw from outside the water. It took him more than ten seconds to reach the cage.

Naomi was very glad to see Jack. She wanted to say something but couldn't. The cage was not the fully closed type. The inside was filled with water as well.

Since they couldn't do messages, Jack tried reassuring her using his version of sign language. Dina didn't understand then, and Naomi also didn't. She just nodded repeatedly to express her gratitude.

Jack swam around the cage and saw a keyhole at one of the cage's sides.

'A keyhole… means there is supposed to be a key somewhere,' Jack thought.

He looked around. The key must be in this pool. There was nothing outside unless it was at the bottom of the ice box under all those meats.

Jack didn't have the time to go out and check. Stefan and the others had started throwing the meats to lure the black shark. If he went out and the key was not there, he would have to go back into the water with fewer meats left to lure the shark, which also meant lesser time he could spend in the water.

No, he would have to search this water now. He looked around the wall of the pool. It was smooth concrete all over the wall. Even the hole which the black shark came out from was not seen anymore. There was nothing on the wall.

This could only mean one thing. He had to go deeper.

He gave Naomi the signal that he would be back. Naomi, of course, did not understand Jack's weird gesture. Jack then swam down.

Jack couldn't see the bottom. The pool was quite deep. The water also got darker the deeper he went. Without his dragon eye's ability to see in the dark, this darkness of the water was very frightening.

'There should be only one of that black shark, shouldn't it?' He thought.

He threw his worry aside. He had gone this far, he had to go all the way. He continued swimming. Everything around him was dark. He couldn't see anything. He was just relying on his mana sense to check if he was close to the bottom.

His mana sense finally picked up the surface of a floor. It was not a flat surface, though. Jack slowed down and touched this surface. After touching around, he noticed then that this pool's floor was filled with junk.

There was something that he thought was a tire. Not a wooden tire, but the modern car tire. He wondered why this thing was in this world. Then there was something that he thought should be the handle of a bicycle.

Jack was dismayed. With all these junks, it would be a chore to look for a small key.

He didn't waste time complaining. He gave the matter a quick thought before deciding to take a risk.

The black shark up there should still be busy with the meats. Nothing should disturb him down here. He stayed still and focused his mana sense. He let his consciousness drift out.

In his incorporeal state, his mana sense was enhanced. He could sense better and had a longer range. He immediately scanned his surroundings, especially the floor. It was like a sonar system that mapped out the surrounding, except mana sense gave a clearer result.

With this method, Jack located the object he was looking for in no time. He quickly returned to his body and went to his target, which was hidden under what he thought was a modern sink.

On the way, he also picked up two things he had detected during his incorporeal state. A long and sturdy metal pipe, and a knife. He slipped the knife into his pants and held the pipe with one hand.

He arrived at the sink. He pushed it away and there it was. A golden key that gave off brilliant shine even in this dark water.

When he picked up the golden key, he noticed it was not the only thing shining. A loose line of green traces started from where the key was and seemed to lead somewhere.

'Fluorescence…,' Jack thought.

Jack realized then, the fluorescence was not leading somewhere. It was supposed to lead people to this key. The proper method of finding the key was to first find this fluorescence trail and followed it.

Jack wondered then. The key was still the proper method, so he was still following the correct method. He just found the key using an unconventional way. He was not violating the rule for this round, correct?

A rumbling sound answered his question then.

'Shit!' He cursed and hurriedly swam up toward Naomi's cage. Just like how in previous sacrificial rounds, Richard's chain was snapped when they tried to save him using a creative method, then a mistake during Kramer's sacrificial round was punished by the lowering of the circular saw. This time, there was also a punishment for circumventing the proper method.

Jack heard a similar rumble when he was outside the water. It was even louder from down here, but he understood it was the same thing.

As he swam upward. He vaguely saw through the dark water. A big hole appeared on one side of the wall and something huge swam out of it.

'F*ck! F*ck! F*ck!' Jack cursed non-stop within. He so very much yearned for all his equipment and skills at this moment.

He was still quite deep, so all around him was rather dark. He couldn't see properly. He put the golden key into a pocket in his pants and then gripped the knife he had picked up earlier. His other hand held the metal bar.

He kept on swimming in the dark, but he was also tensely monitoring his surroundings using his mana sense.

He sensed it then. Since mana sense had a limited range, by the time he sensed something, it was pretty close already.

He swiveled his body to face the direction the thing was coming from. A monstrous mouth filled with teeth came out of the dark water next to him.