“Why did I float back up?” Iris felt confused and asked Rhea.

 

“You’re a lot less heavy than when you were before the rain.” She explained. Iris probably didn’t notice, but her body’s composition was mixed. In other words, she wasn’t fully human anymore. 

 

In fact, nobody was. Only not to the degree of Iris. 

 

Iris nodded and dived under again, going against that force that was pushing her upwards. This time, she tried to keep herself underwater, and after an hour of trial and error, hse was able to swim. Although not as fluent as a fish, it was better than nothing.

 

Seeing how she was quickly growing accustomed to it, Rhea followed after her. The two swam deeper into the ocean, and Iris wasn’t able to see anything. 

 

The ocean floor was going further away as well, and upon spotting an underwater cliff, Iris stopped swimming. She was not going past this line. It was dark, and she couldn’t see the bottom.

 

She swam upwards, and surfaced for air. “What now?” She called out to Rhea, while the waves were carrying her back and forth.

 

“Also, why aren’t we using a boat or something?” 

 

“It’ll be fine.” Rhea surfaced and replied before diving again, dragging Iris along with her. Disregarding Iris’ silent protests, she pulled her straight past the cliff.

 

Seeing the endless abyss under her, Iris felt nervous. The world that was filled with nothing but the muffled sound of the ocean became lively, and her ears were filled with sounds. From hums and bubbling sounds.

 

However, she also had no time to pay attention to it. She needed air!

 

‘Hold on as long as you can.’

 

Rhea’s voice resounded next to her ears. 

 

Iris felt like her lungs were on fire. 

 

Rhea! She shouted in her mind. She didn’t dare open her mouth, nor did she dare to loosen the vine. Swimming up was also no good.

 

While she was lost in indecisiveness, she felt like she had reached her limit.

 

It's over…. she thought. 

 

Suddenly, she felt nothing. The burning had disappeared, and it was as if she was able to breath again. Only, she wasn’t breathing at all.

 

Rhea had swam past her and pulled her away, further from the abyss. Seeing the swarms of fishes racing towards her, she almost wanted to turn around and swim. 

 

She resisted the urge to escape and faced them.

 

Status open.

 

The screen appeared in front of her. She placed her finner on ‘Options’ and a new screen popped out.

 

She had gained one new function after evolving, which was the tab function.

 

While leaving the home pge floating by her side, she materialized the Options Page and placed it in front of her. The fish slammed against it, causing her to be knocked away. Without her as a burden, Rhea was also able to swim a lot faster. 

 

Iris continued to block the gaping jaws of the gaping jaws of the fish. She did not recognize this species. Their jaws were huge, and filled with teeth. They also were completely fishes as well, due to their short limbs.

 

There’s too many!

 

It was an entire swarm. She also could use her thunder ability, due to friendly fire.

 

Woosh*

 

Rhea’s vines cut through the water, impaling one of the fishes through its mouth. It wasn’t the only one, as many more followed, relieving Iris of her burden.

 

They made their way past the empty corals, and with a pull, Iris was brought into Rhea’s arms again, as she kicked hard on the ocean floor. The duo shot out of the water and returned to the beach.

 

She didn’t stop and continued to run backwards, away from the ocean. A tide of gray had emerged as they began to chase.

 

“What are these?”

 

“Abyss Crawlers, minion.” The reason why there were no fishes, or beasts in the vicinity was because of them.

 

Not only did they breed fast, they could survive in both the land and water. They were also carnivores, and humans, especially Iris and her were delicacies.

 

“Rhea… don’t throw me in there okay?” Iris felt aggrieved. The Abyss Crawlers were a foot tall, and their lengths were at a meter, making them hard to defend against. 

 

She did not have 8 arms to fend against everything.

 

Rhea leapt up the cliff, giving the two a bit of breathing room.

 

“We’ll fend them off here. They aren’t as strong as you think. Yet.” She emphasized the last word.

 

Iris patted her chest before taking out the sword, and sent her mana into it. Thin streaks of electricity ran through the blade. 

 

“I almost forgot about this….” She stuck her tongue out, and readied herself.

 

When the first Abyss Crawler Minion came up, she hacked it down. The sword easily cut through its scales, and even burnt the monster’s insides.

 

Feeling like it was a success, she enthusiastically hacked away at the monsters. 

 

“Rhea, there’s no end to this!” Her mana was going to run out at this rate.

 

While she swung her sword, Rhea’s vines would sweep the excess down the cliff. 

 

“Keep going, we’ll run when you’re tired.” 

 

She silently let a few more slip through her barricade, increasing the ones that were attacking Iris. At the same time, she also stored away the dead ones in her own space. She would digest them all when the time comes, and leave the cores for Iris.

 

When Iris was finally unable to hold on, she sent her vines forward and knocked away the fish that was about to snap its jaws at the girl before pulling her towards her. She picked her up in a princess carry and ran away.