Chapter 172 - Diver IV

7

Four days had passed since the Great Monsoon submerged Busan and the arks.

The ark was still faithfully performing its duty as an ancient-civilization artifact submarine.

Meaning it was bobbing around inside a column of water.

["It's a very unusual sight. Just like one of those orbital elev■tors in science fiction films."]

That was the Saintess's assessment.

Well, watching a colossal H₂O waterspout soar from the earth's surface into the troposphere probably did seem romantic from the outside.

Those aboard the ark, however, were getting the full hillside-slum experience.

It wasn't easy to find any 'romance' in a watery hell where your room was flooding and your whole body was getting soaked in real time.

["People in other regions come outside and look up at the water column all d■y, too. It's clearly visible from Japan."]

"How bad is the damage?"

["The other arks h■ven't suffered any major dam■ge."]

There was considerable interference in the Saintess's Telepathy, but I could understand her without much trouble.

As for how I was communicating with her even inside the Great Monsoon—that was thanks to another method we'd discovered by chance.

I was currently standing between Isolation Sections Nine and Ten aboard the ark.

To put it in precise numerical terms, the spot happened to be '9¾.'

Yes. Alongside the Han River, it was one of the most famous immigration checkpoints leading to a magical land in Another World.

This was the only place where communication with the outside was reasonably possible.

We'd discovered it during the previous run when Dang Seorin put up a sign for fun.

Why this sort of 'magic' worked even inside the Great Monsoon, I couldn't tell you. Ask the anomalies.

"Have you observed any sign that the Great Monsoon intends to move to another region?"

["Still nothing."]

["Three Thousand Worlds guild m■mbers are flying around the waterspout on continuous reconnaissance, but at least so far, they haven't found anything unusu■l."]

["... Apart from the fact that a water column that tall and that enormous is continuously surging upward, which is about as unusual as it gets."]

"Hmm."

I nodded. Just as expected.

'For now, I've prevented East Asia's destruction.'

Had I done nothing, the Great Monsoon would have extended its typhoon over not just the Korean Peninsula but the Japanese archipelago and mainland China, pouring down torrential rain for a full two hundred days.

Actually, it could have been three hundred rather than two hundred. 'Summer' and the 'monsoon' would have continued until every last city was submerged.

A Great Monsoon in the most literal sense.

A season of anomalous rain. An eternal summer.

Such was the majesty of an Ocean-class anomaly.

["Um, Undertaker."]

The Saintess's voice grew cautious.

["In the other r■ns, too... did a monsoon like this recur every sixth year?"]

"No. This anomaly appeared relatively recently. It used to head mostly toward Southeast Asia or the Americas, but lately it's changed course toward the Korean Peninsula."

["Why would that happen...?"]

I had a theory of my own about that.

As I've told you several times already, the various Gods of Alienation in this world maintained a sort of equilibrium.

You brilliant, wise readers, who can recall an anecdote from Romance of the Three Kingdoms at any moment, might describe it as 'a realm divided like the legs of a tripod cauldron.'

"Imagine a bathtub in a toilet."

["A bathtub... in a toilet?"]

"Yes. The tub is filled with liquids in seven colors—red, orange, yellow, and so on."

Thanks to some very unusual dyes, the seven liquids in the tub neither mixed nor encroached upon one another.

But then someone—namely me, the Undertaker—suddenly popped out the plug.

What would happen then?

"All hell would break loose in that bathtub, where they'd divided the realm into seven fairly neat pieces. Utter chaos."

["... So the seven dyes are the seven Gods of Alienation."]

"Exactly."

First, the red liquid (Gapless) and the yellow liquid (the Operator of All Things at Play), which were closest to the plug, would be helplessly sucked down the drain.

Gods of Alienation, subjugated.

Then the other colors, which had been living comfortably in their own territories elsewhere in the tub, would gradually begin gathering around the plug.

To conquer the regions once occupied by red and yellow and claim them as their own.

"That plug is the Korean Peninsula."

["..."]

"Or, more precisely, I should call it 'a region where a God of Alienation such as Gapless has been subjugated.'"

Perhaps this alone explained why increasingly, bizarrely powerful anomalies were gathering around me with each successive run.

Ultimately, it was a battle to see whether the drain that was me would clog first, or hold out until the bathtub was empty.

"I call this the Toilet Bathtub Theory."

["... Sometimes I find your naming sense hard to underst■nd, Undertaker. Ubiquitous, too."]

What was wrong with Ubiquitous? It sounded awesome.

["And the fact that you call it a bathtub in a toilet instead of a bathroom really does give me a sense of your age."]

Why did having a bathtub in the toilet make me old, anyway?

That was when it happened.

BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP-BEEP!

A loud warning rang through the ark.

A siren.

The sound itself resembled Japan's tsunami warnings. The puppet strings Lee Hayul had stretched into every corner of the ship were vibrating, emitting loud sound waves.

The ship erupted into noise.

"We're dropping again!"

"Hold on! Grab anything!"

"Buckle up! Leave your bags! Fasten your belts first!"

Veteran awakened skilled in aura shouted at the tops of their lungs in each Isolation Section.

I could no longer focus exclusively on communicating with the Saintess, either.

"I'm sorry. It looks like the currents inside the typhoon are about to act up again. Please contact me immediately if you observe anything strange outside."

["Yes. ... Be careful your■■■, Undertaker."]

BOOOM!

The instant the connection broke, the enormous ark lurched. The hull tilted, then immediately began plunging downward.

The bulkheads shook as though we were a submarine struck by a torpedo.

"Aaaaaaah!"

"Stay calm! Stay calm!"

The currents inside the colossal typhoon created by the Great Monsoon were anything but gentle.

Void poison disguised as seawater constantly surged, swirled, and crashed down.

Each time, the fleet of twelve arks had no choice but to be swept along.

Some days, we shot up to eight thousand meters above sea level, the height of Mount Everest. Other times, we plunged abruptly to two thousand meters.

Abnormal changes in altitude.

Naturally, the survivors faced serious danger.

Headaches, fainting, bleeding, ruptured eardrums, and altitude sickness were everyday occurrences.

In the worst cases, people were hurled like billiard balls into the bulkheads, shattering their spines.

Even now, the medical awakened rallied around Sim Aryeon were working three shifts, healing the injured without rest.

Without Sim Aryeon, well... wouldn't the casualties have been at least ten times worse?

BEEP-BEEP, BEEP-BEEP, BEEP-BEEP...

The siren issuing from the puppet strings gradually faded. Along with it, the ark's shaking slowly subsided.

But there was no time to relax.

"Fuck, we're flooded again!"

"Buckets! Get those buckets moving!"

Whenever we 'fell' or 'rose' inside the Great Monsoon, flooding invariably followed.

The Isolation Sections would be completely submerged, just as on the first day.

By now, however, the survivors were used to it. Unlike day one, when we'd suffered considerable casualties, people bailed with their buckets in perfect coordination.

"Anyone experiencing bodily mutations?"

"You there, help that person to the treatment room!"

"Move in pairs! Never wander around the ship alone!"

"Hmm."

Sure enough, after about four days, the survivors were getting quick on their feet.

Even SCVs could join the fight when necessary. In the end, humans were living creatures that adapted to their environment and overcame it.

Even when their Isolation Section flooded in the blink of an eye, even when their limbs turned frog-like, humans had the strength to accept those changes.

My role as a regressor was merely to create 'strategies' and 'systems' that would keep that powerful vitality going as long as possible.

I nodded in satisfaction.

'At this rate, there shouldn't be any major problems if I step away for a little while.'

I immediately returned to the command office.

An adjustable wrench came flying at me the moment I opened the iron door. I smoothly dodged it, only to find Noah (formerly Noh Doha) glaring at me with hatred.

"Noah. You'll hurt someone if you throw whatever happens to be within reach."

"For fuck's sake..."

"What if it hadn't been me walking through that door?"

"I can tell whether it's you just from your footsteps. Even your footsteps are fucking obnoxious..."

Noah looked utterly exhausted while muttering that.

Naturally.

Anyone who's lived inside a submarine will understand, but this ark was rather far removed from the concept of 'comfort,' too.

Sirens rang at all hours, people got injured, and we were treated to free roller-coaster rides whenever things got dull.

Seo Gyu, who liked to call himself a real man's man, was passed out on a bed over there, his entire body strapped down with belts. Dang Seorin looked haggard, too.

Aside from Yu Jiwon, whom I suspected of having received personal lessons in sleeping from Napoleon himself, everyone on the command staff was complaining of extreme fatigue.

"Rejoice, everyone. I took a quick look around, and this latest flooding hasn't claimed a single life."

"Oh. Really. That's fucking wonderful news."

Noah sneered.

"If it weren't for the fact that we have to endure another thirty-six days in this goddamn sewer, fuuuck, I'd have cracked open a bottle of wine. I don't know why we're putting ourselves through this..."

"That's why I have a proposal."

"What proposal...?"

"And no, it's not to take my head off instead of opening a bottle."

We'd had that conversation in the previous run, so I cut it off in advance. The hatred etched on Noah's face deepened.

"There are two ways to defeat the Great Monsoon. One is our current strategy: turtle up and hold out. Endure thirty-six more days like this, and we're done."

I shrugged.

"For the record, that's the method we used in the previous run."

"Then use it again. Why are you suddenly acting like you're about to offer another strategy...?"

"Because last time, it took a full thirty-one days before we got through a flooding without a single death."

"..."

"At that point, we only had another week to endure anyway, so it didn't matter."

Installing puppet strings to facilitate communication between Isolation Sections. Preventing flooding through the motion of bailing with buckets. The fact that, for some reason, 'outside communication with the Saintess' worked somewhat between Isolation Sections Twelve and Thirteen.

All of that was merely knowledge gained through the sacrifices of previous runs.

"But we're only on day four now. Unless you love roller coasters so much that you'd like to keep enjoying the thrill, I think this is a good time to explore another strategy."

"..."

Noah stared at me.

Excessive stress had brought on iritis, leaving only the left eye bloodshot.

Ordinarily, the medical staff would have rushed over and polished the Korean Peninsula's supreme leader's eyeball until it gleamed like a diamond, but this was wartime.

We couldn't spare a medical awakened for a mere eye ailment.

"So you're saying this second strategy hasn't been verified, and you intend to attempt it for the first time in 'this run'...?"

"Precisely."

"And if you fail...?"

"Failure is the mother of success."

"You fucking bastard..."

Noah closed the left eye and glared furiously at me. (Try it yourself, and you'll find it's quite difficult.)

"So what's this strategy...?"

8

First, I changed Lee Hayul's species from Homo sapiens to turtle shell.

"..., ..."

"Tell me anytime you're uncomfortable, Hayul."

"..."

"Oh. Sorry. You can't talk because we left the maid doll behind."

THWACK!

Hayul punched the back of my head. It didn't hurt one bit.

For reference, I was currently wearing swimming trunks. Hayul was wearing a diving wetsuit.

This was absolutely not because I thought summer meant it was time for some exposed abs and swimsuit fan service.

Rather, it was to earn the title of the first person in human history to swim eight thousand meters above sea level—in the air, underwater.

Noah recoiled.

"Are you actually sane...?"

"Yes. There has to be an anomaly core somewhere inside that Great Monsoon. Some part corresponding to the 'eye of the typhoon.'"

I pulled the specially made belt tight. The turtle shell composed of Lee Hayul pressed more snugly against me.

Hayul resisted with all four limbs, but it was no use. I couldn't carry out this operation without her.

"And how the hell do you intend to find that core in this enormous storm...?"

"We'll connect the arks with a great many of Hayul's puppet strings, creating an extensive spiderweb."

There were twelve arks in the fleet.

We would link those twelve vessels with puppet strings several kilometers long, carefully managing them so they didn't tangle.

Then, as the twelve 'radars' traveled through the typhoon, they would automatically search for the anomaly's core.

"Oh, since this is our first attempt, there's a high chance of failure. If you check with the Saintess and it looks like we've both died, just hold out for thirty-six days."

"No, I think we're screwed before long without you anyway. In this miserable fucking world..."

"Well, we'll be off."

I threw open the window.

Seawater immediately tried to pour in, but I'd formed an aura barrier in advance, preventing that unfortunate development.

"You like going swimming on vacation, don't you, Hayul?"

"...! ...!"

"Let's become the first humans in the world to swim in the sky. All right, we're diving. One. Two—"

"...!"

"Two and a half of two. Two and a half of two of twooo. Two and two and two and a half of two—"

"...! ...!"

"Three."

SPLAAASH!

I channeled aura into both legs and plunged into the water in one motion. Fierce currents coiled around my entire body.

Hayul was so delighted that she kept pounding on my back with both fists like a drum.

Naturally, this wasn't revenge for tormenting me over that Uyuni desert business. Absolutely not.