BBYW Vol. 3 Chapter 55 (WN)
Chapter 55 – The Seafloor City
The ship we boarded soon joined with the rest of the White Demons fleet, waiting not far from the port. Then, following Grace’s directions, we all headed westwards.
After three days of sailing straight west, circling all islands on the way, Grace suddenly made a new announcement.
“All right, here we are.”
“Here…where? We’re in the middle of the sea.”
There wasn’t the tiniest shred of land where Grace pointed to.
Only the most placid water surface, without a wave to be seen. I looked at her with suspicion.
Could old age have finally gotten to her brain? So I shivered, and was promptly rebuked by her boot’s heel.
“Ow!”
“I know you’re thinking something very disrespectful! You fool of a son!”
So yelled Grace, and then jumped on top of me.
“You need to learn to respect your mother! Time to set you straight!”
“Hey! Wait! What the hell are you-”
In the blink of an eye, Grace wrapped my body in chains.
I desperately resisted, but there was nothing I could do before her absurd strength.
“You’re saying there’s a city in the middle of the sea!! Of course anyone would doubt your sanity!”
“What else can I do? That’s what the compass is saying!!”
“Compass?”
Grace was holding a palm-sized compass. She shoved it in front of my eyes: the red and blue needles were spinning wildly.
“This thing is screwed up, hag! Like your head!”
“Wrong again, fool! This compass doesn’t point north!”
“Mgh…”
Grace pushed the compass against my mouth and yelled in my ears.
“Atlantis is a city that moves on the seafloor! This compass doesn’t point north, but to where Atlantis is moving to! So we are in the right place!”
“Fine, fine, I get it! So take these chains off already!”
“Hmm? No can do!”
Grace picked me up and threw me overboard.
I dropped straight in the water, with a loud splash.
“Whoa!? What the hell was that for, hag!?”
“How many times do I have to say it? Atlantis is on the bottom of the sea!”
“No fucking way…!”
I had a premonition of what was going to happen, and my face tensed.
Grace tied the other end of the chain to the mast, then jumped too in the water, holding an iron weight.
“Time for some seafloor exploration, boy! It’s only going to hurt in the beginning, after five minutes you won’t feel anything!”
“Because I’ll be dead!! Get off me, hag, we’ll sink—”
Grace and her weight clung to me, dragging me down.
“Lord Dyngir!!”
“M-Master!!”
As Sakuya and Sue’s voices lingered in my ears, my consciousness was dragged in the darkness.
“Nngh! Nngh…!”
“You’ll choke faster if you try to speak! Try to relax!”
“Nngh! Nngh..! Nngh!”
How could the hag speak underwater, as if it was natural?
That is what I wanted to shout at her, but obviously couldn’t.
Our bodies sank to the depths, as the sunlight gradually disappeared, swallowed by the darkness.
I desperately struggled, while the crushing pressure of the water robbed me of any air I had left in my windpipes. Soon enough, I could see lights shining on the seafloor.
“Hngh…?”
“There it is. Haha, how nostalgic…”
“…!”
Something resembling a mountain was moving on the seafloor. The lights were shining from the top of that “thing”.
(Is that a…hermit crab…?)
The faint lights revealed the true identity of the mountain.
It was a hermit crab, large enough to occupy the entirety of my field of view.
The tips of its claws brushed away rocks and soil, opening a path for its 8 legs to crawl on.
A bulb of light dangled from its head, not unlike an anglerfish, faintly illuminating its surroundings.
The most intriguing feature, however, was on the creature’s back.
(It’s carrying a town on its back…?)
The gigantic hermit crab’s back was covered not by a shell, but by a whole city.
It was probably as large as Fort Bryden: it could easily house several thousand people.
“Welcome to Atlantis, my foolish son. To my hometown.”
“Ngh…!”
Grace tossed away the weight, then started swimming towards the hermit crab, dragging me with her.
“The final battle awaits, all right? Face that immortal, cursed by the gods, and put him out of his misery, will you.”
Grace thus proceeded towards the city crawling on the seafloor.