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墨書 Inktalez
My reaction was quick, but my body was uncooperative. Even with my left hand stabilizing the gun, my trembling right hand caused the bullet to veer off target, striking the scales on the giant python's head. The moment the gunshot rang out, the massive creature suddenly whipped its body to one side, hiding its unblinded eye in the shadows before it vanished beneath the water.
I loathed my ineffective right arm, yet I refused to miss the chance to strike back. The bullet followed the snake's swinging head and plunged into the water. Although I didn't hit its remaining eye, I managed to fire a few rounds into the other eye, which was already blind. That eye socket was capable of inflicting serious damage on the python; it was the only place where my handgun could harm it.
I watched as the giant python disappeared into the pavement, and then I fell into the water myself. It all happened too quickly; I had no time to adjust my position as I hit the water. In fact, I would have preferred to enter headfirst rather than let any other part of my body make contact with the pavement first. At that moment, my head seemed to be the only part of me that remained uninjured, having the strongest resistance to impact.
However, once submerged, nothing else mattered. The cold water numbed part of my senses again, including pain. Just as I struggled to lift my head above the pavement, a sudden force yanked me back underwater, threatening to slice me in two.
It was a rope connecting wooden planks that dragged me down. Fortunately, the knot had somehow twisted behind me. My body folded under this immense force; had it been pulling from in front of me, my spine would likely have been broken in reverse.
There was no time for lamentation; I needed to find a way back to the pavement. The rope's tremendous pull made it impossible for me to resist; it felt like I could only be dragged backward. But I remembered that Buasong hadn’t sunk when pulled by a rope; they had been two people at that time.
I refused to believe this was due to my weight or density; there must be turbulence or a whirlpool in the water. Sure enough, my assessment was quickly confirmed as I felt two forces tugging at my body. The rope tied around my waist was one of them, pulling upward and forward, while another force pulled downward with a distinct rotational motion. I had entered a large whirlpool.
The One-Eyed Beast Flashlight floated not far from me, spinning wildly in the turbulent water as beams of light shot out in all directions like stage lasers. I wanted to save myself and knew I needed light for that. As I reached for the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight, I realized my gun was missing. I hadn’t even noticed when it fell away; given that immense force just now, it was a miracle I hadn’t been severed by the rope.
I grabbed hold of the Flashlight and stuffed it into my mouth while using my still somewhat agile left hand to grasp the rope behind me. My first priority was to turn myself around.
I tried but found it nearly impossible to turn. Although the knot wasn’t a slipknot and wouldn’t tighten further, rotating it to face forward proved incredibly difficult due to resistance from the water flow. If I faced directly into it, there was still a chance I'd be cut in half by the current or that the rope would snap under pressure. But I couldn’t allow myself to be dragged down until I drowned.
Even if turning wasn’t an option, there were other methods available. I pulled on the rope with my left hand while maneuvering the knot in front of me with my right hand. Then, with a push of my body, I straightened up and aligned myself with the direction of the current. This helped significantly; at least my field of vision opened up more than before when all I could see was what lay behind me.
However, facing directly into the current put immense pressure on my eyes; everything appeared distorted, including the flowing water. The light from the One-Eyed Beast refracted in the water, and with additional pressure distorting my vision further, everything became increasingly bizarre and surreal. It made it impossible for me to determine which way the whirlpool spun or devise an appropriate response in such a short time frame.
Time did not allow me to stay underwater any longer; my lungs were already feeling the discomfort of suffocation. Following the direction of the rope, I lifted my upper body slightly, and the water beneath me created an upward thrust. Soon, I felt this upward force working, freeing me from the downward pull of the whirlpool, and I began to rise gradually.
This process was slow, and the lack of oxygen was pressing on my nerves every second. My head was lifted high enough for the One-Eyed Beast Flashlight to illuminate the Pavement, and I calculated my distance from it through the beam of white light. I realized that surfacing before I suffocated would be a significant challenge. I needed to artificially increase my ascent speed; otherwise, it was likely that my corpse would be the one to reach the Pavement.
In my current situation, it was difficult to rely on external forces; the only feasible method was to approach the wooden object ahead. The rope connecting me to it was not long, no more than ten meters. The other end of the rope was at the Pavement; if I could climb to that end, I would be out. I anticipated that moving forward toward the wood would not be more challenging than rising with the current, but as long as I had enough strength, this method would surely be faster.
I couldn't afford to hesitate here; that would be equivalent to waiting for death. With a firm grip on the rope with my left hand, I bent my left arm and reached forward with my right hand to grasp the front part of the rope, then bent my right arm. In an instant, the injury on my right back tormented my nerves once more. The cold water acted as a cold compress and numbed my nerves; otherwise, this movement could have knocked me unconscious. The intense exertion and pain accelerated my oxygen consumption, and the feeling of suffocation made my brain feel like it was about to explode.
I told myself that I only needed to exert myself ten times to reach the Pavement and survive, silently counting. The resistance of climbing along the rope was not as great as I had imagined; my main source of suffering came from the Severe Pain in my back. Each time I extended or bent my right arm felt like it could kill me. When the light from the One-Eyed Beast illuminated the wood, I felt even less likely to survive surfacing at the Pavement. Intense activity required a lot of oxygen; I felt a sharp pain in my lungs, chaotic images flooded my mind, and gray light from the One-Eyed Beast reflected off my arm. I was going to suffocate.
At that moment, a tremendous force suddenly transmitted through the rope in my hands, nearly causing me to lose grip with both hands. Then, like a dolphin leaping out of water, I shot out from beneath the Pavement. In those brief seconds, my eyes were blind; either that or I lacked the strength to see anything—all my energy was spent on breathing.
The next moment when I fell back into the water, my mouth was still open. I desperately clung to the rope, preventing myself from sliding back even a little. The Flashlight had long since disappeared from sight, and I could no longer see the wood ahead. But I knew I was just behind it and very close; otherwise, that jolt from the wood wouldn’t have propelled me out from under the Pavement.
I had to take advantage of this opportunity and climb onto the wood quickly; I couldn’t hold out much longer in the water.
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