Versatile: Alternate World

Chapter 458 Escape

The time we remain submerged under the water starts to get really bad. The coldness of the water is already penetrating my armor and clothes. I don't even think the coat I made is making any good while we are here and it's already starting to creep into my nerves. If I don't do anything, the freezing of my nerves will begin and will render me unable to move, causing me to drown due to how I cannot move anymore.

Atlas is looking fine as he was but I doubt he will last that long while he is wearing his armor which is quite heavy, it will take a bit more time before he sinks but once the water keeps on rising and will reach the point we will not be able to touch the ground, Atlas will drown before he can even do anything.

As for Guts... despite without proper clothes that mitigate the cold, he looks fine, and from the looks of it... he is not even affected.  He is still beating up the snowman's remains and trying to revive it though I doubt it will move again, especially with how it is now melting and making a freezing pool of water.

"Master, what should we do? The wall does not react to my attacks at all and I am now doubting whether my attacks are too weak or just that the wall is an indestructible one. I'm sorry."

"Don't be sorry, even my cannon didn't do a thing to that wall. The only thing we need to do is find a way out of these walls and avoid being trapped underwater. We have to at least find a weak point on the walls and exploit it to create a hole or an exit entirely. We have to avoid being submerged in the water for extended periods of time."

Atlas swam away into the other wall to find a way out while I remained on the other wall to examine closely and see whether there are any damages done or there are other things that I just didn't notice. The walls that have yet to submerge themselves in the water don't show any signs of any way that will help us escape so I decided to dive underwater to check the submerged part. I know it is cold but it became something secondary to you whenever you are in a fight or flight situation. I know it was just a game but I still take dying in the game quite seriously and not just treat it as something quite minor.

I thought the wolf mask would get in the way while under the water but it was actually doing well underwater like how wolves and dogs are fine when they dive underwater. The only thing that is making it difficult to dive underwater is my coat and a few parts of my armor. Despite the difficulty, I persist and I didn't bother to remove them. It takes time and I would rather keep them for safety purposes rather than remove them.

Perhaps the water that is coming from the melting snowman is the reason that it was a bit foggy in the eyes underwater but it doesn't sting compared to the usual dive underwater under the sea. There is that little sting that keeps your eyes having trouble seeing whenever you dive and you have to resurface a couple of times to make sure your eyes can properly adapt underwater without the help of goggles or anything. It takes quite a lot of training and experience as well as the time spent on the sea to be immune to it.

I might be spouting nonsense right now but seawater diving is similar to the real world. It's not a game mechanic but just made to be some sort of realism that will keep the game environment realistic.

Now back to the walls and to why I dived underwater. I needed to look for a way to escape here. The walls that blocked us should have been removed the moment the snowman was killed but since it somehow decided to do some sort of suicide attack like this, it made quite a hard mechanic now.

As I swam underwater, I also paid attention to my oxygen levels underwater. Once it runs out, I am automatically dead without any kind of warning which is why drowning is quite a troublesome thing here in the game and cannot be underestimated.

Swimming underwater is hard with all the armor on so I decided to just remain near the very surface to avoid losing too much oxygen and immediately recover them whenever I needed them.

Time is not on our side so I have to keep my movements calculated and precise. If this happened in the past timeline, I might have already learned what to do to stop this, but unfortunately, everything is not something I know so there is only one thing to do and that is to adapt to the current situation.

And as expected, the walls underwater are also as intact as they should be, it doesn't even have a single scratch nor a single hole from the previous cannonball attack and greatsword strike that Atlas did earlier. However, when I was checking the wall, I noticed something on it and that is because I saw a small design on it that if not approached, will remain to look like a flat wall. It was pretty minor but when I took a closer look, it wasn't even embedded on the wall it was the wall itself that has the design.

I resurfaced to the water to gather up oxygen before I drown. The water is already high that you won't be able to stand on the ground without your whole body submerged underwater. I headed to Atlas and even though he is a big man, the water is not so forgiving enough to stop.

"Atlas, did you find something? I think I have to recall you to avoid drowning, your armor is going to be the death of you if you remain underwater."

"I did find something odd on the wall, Master but I don't know if it was something really important. It doesn't;t look that significant to me but since you said that I needed to report all the things I have caught up and discovered, I have to explain it to you."

Atlas quickly summarized it to me and soon I realized that what he just found on the other and soon I realized that what he found was also the same findings I found on the other side. Our clues are identical to each other.

With the reports done, I recalled Atlas before he would sink underwater since even I am already floating and no matter how hard I try to touch the solid ground, I can't do it anymore.

The water just keep on rising and to make matters worse, the snowman has yet to fully melt which means it will still rise. Guts is still doing the same thing over and over to the snowman and as for me, my legs is already beginning to feel the numbness. There is no time for this. I have to remove the barrier as soon as possible.

Then, a thought came to me.

Perhaps... the main purpose of the walls and the design is for us to put something on it? That must be it. It has a circular thing that I can put something on it. How come it blanked out to me?

With that, I rushed towards the snowman and looked around its body. I was preoccupied on its body before that I didn't realized that there are two dangling bells on its neck which is attached to the scarf. How come I didn't notice them before?

There is no time to hesitate and I grab the scarf and cut off the bells without second thought and swam towards the first wall. Because the water is already high, the place that I needed to place it has already been submerged underwater.

Quickly gathering the oxygen I needed, I dived underwater again and swam towards the wall. I memorized the position of that place and easily found it. Without pondering, I attached the first bell and as expected, it fit very well like it was meant to be attached there. But nothing is happening yet which means the only way for something to happen is for me to attach the second ball to the other wall.

I resurfaced and realized that the water is already reaching to the ceiling, a few more liters of water and the whole place will be submerged underwater. Guts already submerged underwater and the snowman is already a few pieces of snow left, if it melts, that only means this place is already full and its already waiting for us to die.

Frantically gathering the remaining oxygen, I dived once again and rushed towards the other wall. The temperature is dropping very fast and I can feel my legs and body starting to freeze. But I didn't stop, and continued. I am not going to stop and I will have to win this and survive this ordeal.