The Abysmal Territory

[64]

“I can understand that crabs could walk on that bridge, but why are those fishes able to fly above the bridge,” Silica said.

“Wow, there are crabs here too? Since we ran out of king scorpions we could also stack crabs!” Saki said.

“All this girl thinks about is food,” Teiko said.

“We haven’t fought strong enemies for a long period of time, I hope that these monsters are strong,” Akeiko said.

“What are we waiting for? Let’s cross this bridge already!” Teiko said.

They started to walk across the bridge and the monsters that are present in that bridge put their attention towards Teiko’s party.

“Everyone, make sure not to damage the crabs!” Saki exclaimed.

They start obliterating the monster on the bridge.

This is way too easy. It’s odd but this might mean that we’re just getting stronger. Teiko thought.

“I hope we won’t stumble upon the boss of these monsters,” Silica said.

Okay, here she goes again. I’m sure that before we cross this long bridge, we’ll meet whoever is the leader of these monsters. Teiko thought.

They travelled the long bridge and encountered a lot of monsters that live along the Great River of Mihiceo.

“We have so many foods to cook! All of those monsters would suffice a one year's worth of food for the four of us!” Silica said.

“You have to count Saryx on that,” Teiko said.

“Yup, that means it’s only for one month,” Akeiko said.

Saryx purred in a sad tone.

“Don’t worry, Saryx. We’ll stack up tons of food so you’ll not be worried about what to eat,” Teiko said.

“Yup! I can see the end of the Great River of Mihiceo on far distance!” Akeiko said.

“Yup, that means that monsters’ boss would appear anytime,” Teiko said.

The five become quiet to observe the surroundings.

“Oh, there’s nothing. Maybe they don’t have a boss,” Silica said.

“Maybe, it’s just that we're too strong that we couldn’t test how strong they are compared to normal people,” Akeiko said.

“This is called the most dangerous river in the eastern side of Gekozen but they are not that dangerous to any of you,” Saki said.

“So no boss for us today, huh?” Silica said.

Suddenly, a big wave of water gushes from the river to the bridge.

“It’s already here, prepare for battle, everyone!” Teiko said.

“Oh, including me?” Saki asked.

“Of course not, you’re too powerful for our current opponent, let us handle this first and just make sure anyone would not die here,” Teiko replied.

A giant monster came down together with the big gush of water.

“Is that a shark?” Silica asked.

“Can sharks live in freshwater?” Akeiko asked.

“I know that there exists some sharks that can do that and seeing it up close, that’s really a huge shark!” Silica said.

“Does shark meat taste good?” Saki asked.

“I don’t know but since it’s a boss and probably lives for a very long time, I think it wouldn’t taste good,” Teiko said.

“Then just obliterate that huge chunk of meat to pieces, it does not have any use for us,” Saki said.

“Wait, I’m sure I read about this shark from one of the books back in the village,” Silica said.

“Ohh, tell us about it before it reaches us,” Teiko said.

“It’s called the ‘Xenocanthus’ or also known as the eel shark. It’s an ancient creature that lives from the start of time. It was last seen ten thousand years ago and there’s no proof that it exists. That's why it belongs to a book about mythological creatures,” Silica said.

“If it’s last seen ten thousand years ago, then why is it here right now? Why at this time and why us?” Teiko asked.

“Maybe because we killed a lot of river monsters?” Akeiko said.

“Yeah, I think people that cross this bridge just kill monsters here if they don’t have a choice and you guys kill every monster you meet here,” Saki said.

“Oh, that might be it. Does he have weakness? Any skill that the book said about this shark?” Teiko asked.

“It can use water type magics and possesses a large army of smaller sharks. It is also known to eat a lot of large ships during ancient times. And about it’s weakness, the book said it’s unknown. There’s no record about a person or group of individuals that won against it, all the information that the book is from the people that miraculously survived it’s attack,” Silica said.

“Maybe our name will also be on the books if we beat this monster shark, right?” Teiko said.

“Wait a minute, did Silica say that this is also called the eel shark?” 

“Yes? Why, Saki?” Silica said.

“Eel tastes good, right? Maybe its meat is delicious after all,” Saki said.

“Here you go again with your gluttony. I can’t even see why that thing has an eel in its name. There’s no part of its whole body that would resemble an eel!” Teiko exclaimed.

“Ahm, maybe the taste of its meat?” Saki said.

“There’s not even a record of anyone defeating it, why do they even refer to it as eel because of its taste? And you live longer than the last time this monster was seen, right? Why does Silica have more information about it than you?” Teiko said.

“Silica-nee. Teiko’s scolding me,” Saki cried out.

“I’m really sorry for you, Teiko is really a heartless person,” Silica said.

“So, you’re already giving up on Teiko, right? That’s how I interpret what you have said,” Akeiko said.

“Hey, enough. It’s getting closer!” Teiko said.

The Xenocanthus reached the bridge and destroyed a big portion of it.

“This would be hard for us, we don’t have anything that is effective against water type monsters,” Akeiko said.

“Yup, we only won against the previous monsters because we’re stronger than them in terms of power and magic, but if we do have the same power as them, then we might just have to run. Actually we should have run and not killed everything, we should not have endangered ourselves fighting this,” Teiko said.