He returned to the camp and saw Akira making a nest for the campfire.
Looking back as she noticed his presence, Akira got up. "Did I do it right?"
Before they went their separate ways for twigs, Akira had asked Shun to teach her how to make a campfire. He agreed and demonstrated it slowly.
It seemed she had put what she just learned into practice. Shun glanced at her creation and commented, "It's not bad, but—"
He began to point out the small errors and offered suggestions to fix them. Akira nodded every few breaths before correcting the mistakes.
It took twice as long for the campfire to be completed, but Shun remained patient.
"That reminds me, why did you let your sword roam about?" Akira asked suddenly.
"For one, it's a claymore," he corrected, then added, "It's a sentient weapon. Freedom is every right of any sentient being. Besides, it'll always be here the moment I need it the most."
"But I did not see it the first time we met. Is it inside your inventory?" She scoffed. "So much for freedom."
"No, I got it from my nightmare."
"...What? Is that possible?" Akira paused whatever she was doing and eyed Micchan.
The latter almost immediately felt goosebumps and glared at Akira. "Don't think anything funny."
Akira didn't shift her gaze, staring at Micchan as though she were a delicious meal.
"Keep looking and I'll blow you away," Micchan threatened.
Akira didn't respond, but simply turned her eyes toward the water.
As she did, Shun was taking his clothes off and putting them to the side, leaving only his undergarments.
Afterward, he went to the lake with a spear he had just made with his skill.
Akira watched Shun as he hunted. Splashes of water could be heard as he thrust the spear into the fish, piercing through the other side.
He pulled the spear out and saw that he had caught one—a fish adorned with scales and a tinge of yellow on its tail.
Blood dripped and briefly dyed the water before disappearing. He returned to shore and placed it on the ground before going back to the stream.
"How long have the two of you known each other?" Micchan asked all of a sudden.
"Two days."
"Really? That's unexpected considering how close you two seem. I thought you were close friends."
"Friends, huh?" Akira said slowly.
"What? Am I mistaken?"
"I don't know." Akira hugged her knees. "Friends and comrades, stuff like that, I don't really get it."
"You tell me. I was just born yesterday." Micchan paused for a moment. "Then what are you two?"
"..." Akira didn't say anything.
The atmosphere grew quiet between the two.
For the next few minutes, they simply watched Shun hunting fish. It was calm and peaceful.
The birds sang melodiously. The wind brushed past once in a while. The shade danced gracefully.
But it was soon cut short when, in the distance, a silhouette reminiscent of a tentacle slithered closer toward Shun.
His eyes focused on the fish, failing to notice the approaching danger.
The fish was around two meters away from Shun, swimming calmly, unaware of the hungry giant above.
Slowly raising the spear, Shun took aim and prepared to strike, when suddenly, from the corner of his eye, something long and flexible coiled around his left leg. It felt firm.
As soon as it happened, his body jolted to the side and he fell with a rough thud. Water splashed.
Before he could react, it dragged him into the sea at an amazing speed. Within seconds, he was pulled underwater.
Thankfully, before that, Shun had taken a deep breath and estimated he could hold it for maybe a minute.
He then embedded the spear into the long limb, but rather than piercing it, the skin bounced back the force.
Tough bastard! Shun screamed inwardly, gritting his teeth as his air reserve slowly ran out.
Without thinking further, he ordered Jade Blood to cut the tentacle. However, something was wrong. He frowned as a bad premonition bloomed, growing thicker as his heart sank lower.
I can't make contact with it! Shun realized. His mind went into full gear, pondering what he could do when all of a sudden, something in his head seemed to be plucked, and he felt calmer than before.
He naturally thought to himself, This feeling, I've felt it before.
He remembered it always happened when Micchan clustered that black mass and a nightmare creature came to life.
Micchan! he exclaimed inwardly.
Before he could even conjure a thought of what Micchan was planning to do, he saw a shark—about five feet in length, though its width was harder to guess.
Shun couldn't be sure, as he was never good at math and the length was just a random guess. It could be more, it could be less.
The shark swam quickly and within a few seconds reached Shun.
Before this, however, Shun noticed something from the corner of his eye: a humanoid figure with the lower half of a fish. Following the tentacle's origin, it seemed to come from the depths of the sea.
Chomp!
The shark bit the tentacle. Blue blood gushed out, covering the water. Feeling nothing binding his feet, Shun swam upward.
At about five feet from the surface, Shun had a sharp feeling something was going to catch him before he could reach it.
His instincts were correct as three more tentacles revealed themselves from the depths, coming closer menacingly.
However, before they could reach him, another shark arrived just in time and bit into the limbs. The detached parts floated to the surface.
When he finally broke through, Shun took a sharp breath.
"Haaa! Haa…" He looked around to see where he was. Turns out, the tentacle had dragged him deep into the water, about five kilometers from land.
Considering the speed it had taken the creature above Section Eighteen to bring him here, Shun felt a chill of terror.
If Micchan had been a second late, he might have been dead already.
"Are you alright?" a voice asked next to him. He turned to the source and saw Micchan on a turtle, extending her hand.
This turtle was different from before. It had a blue shell and a dark purple body. Although the colors didn't mix well, it still served its purpose as water transport.
"You're fast," Shun commented, accepting her hand. She pulled him up, helping him leave the water.
Sitting on the shell, Shun's eyes focused on the sea.
"What do you think that is?"
"My nightmares are diving deeper to find out."
"How is that even possible?"
"Me and my nightmares can share senses."
Shun grunted in acknowledgement and waited. After a few moments, Micchan opened her mouth.
"Have you ever seen a human with the head of an octopus?"