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Turning Chapter 939
🕑 Added 2024-02-26 04:52:50 +0000 UTCChapter 939
Steiber focused intently, ready to detect any fish that might come into view. Despite descending deep enough to strain his body even with the protective force, the ocean depths remained eerily calm.
After a while, one of the Cavalry members, struggling under the oppressive pressure, bubbled a breath from his lips and gestured with his hand. The power of water flowing from his hand coalesced like an invisible hand, tapping Yuder on the shoulder.
Yuder turned and signaled with his hands, meaning, "If this is your limit, do not descend further and search the surrounding area at this depth." He then moved his hands again, ensuring the message was visible to all.
"From now on, we scatter. But, stay within sight of each other."
Nodding, the Cavalry members glanced at each other and began to disperse. About half remained near their current depth without going deeper, but Yuder, without hesitation, swam further down. Steiber quickly followed, with a few members trailing, but as they descended into the depths where light failed to reach, one by one, they stopped.
In the end, only Steiber was able to follow Yuder to the very bottom.
'I'm starting to struggle too... Is Yuder really planning to go to the very bottom of the sea?'
It became difficult to discern the surroundings, even with the faint light emanating from the bracelet. It felt more like entering the mouth of a giant monster with its gaping black jaws, and the instinctive desire to escape this place was harder to suppress than the physical difficulty. The other members probably stopped for the same reason.
Steiber, watching Yuder descend fearlessly deeper, finally stopped. He judged that they were already deep enough. Going any further seemed like reckless bravado, suitable only for the hot-blooded youth, nothing more, nothing less.
Alone, Steiber looked up and saw tiny, twinkling lights somewhere above. They were from the bracelets of the members above. After counting them and confirming that everyone was accounted for, Steiber began to search the area more thoroughly.
The method of search was simple. Extend his power of water as much as possible and look for any unusual vibrations.
'During the briefing, the Commander and Yuder said if we find anything even slightly suspicious, call out.'
But what could be found in a fishless sea? Traces of the strange crack the other members witnessed? Or perhaps peculiar reefs or currents?
The ambiguity of what they were searching for made the task more challenging, especially underwater.
'It's strange to hear thunder-like rumblings underwater. There must be land below the sea, so the sounds are likely coming from there. In this case, those with the power of earth might be more helpful.'
However, those who could only wield the power of earth couldn't descend this deep. Those with the power of water could reach these depths but had difficulty sensing the land beneath the water.
Thus, someone with both powers would be ideal for this mission, but in the Cavalry, there was only one such person.
And that one person was, of course, now far below.
‘Indeed... that's why he descended as far as possible. Only Yuder can sense both water and earth simultaneously.’
Without him, how could such a difficult task be accomplished? Steiber shuddered at the thought of being in charge of this mission. He felt truly fortunate to have Yuder with them. Turning his gaze towards the depths where the young man with black hair had vanished, Steiber could faintly sense Yuder's power from a distance barely within his own reach.
'He told us to stay visible, yet he himself has gone too far.'
Steiber knew Yuder's power was much stronger, allowing him to sense this area from farther away. Yet, despite this, Steiber couldn't help but worry about Yuder.
Despite Yuder's exceptional skills and an experience belying his young age of twenty, he still appeared to Steiber as someone with many rookie traits and vulnerabilities.
'As the situation becomes more perilous, his stubbornness to solve things alone without seeking help increases. His solitary nature, speaking little, not showing when he's hungry or hurt, it's a personality prone to misunderstanding. And then there's that... vulnerability...'
Before coming here, Steiber recalled a conversation with Yuder while reviewing the mission. Yuder had nonchalantly dropped a bombshell, startling Steiber.
"Steiber, I find it difficult to fully exert my power against monsters. So, if we encounter any in the sea, I'll be relying heavily on your strength."
"Uh, what?"
"There's no need to be so surprised. You too have a weakness where your hands become unusable after exerting your power. It's just something like that for me."
Every Awakener had their strengths and weaknesses. In Steiber's case, his hands and arms would stiffen proportionally to his power usage. Luckily, since his water power didn't necessarily require weapons, this drawback wasn't apparent. However, it made continuing his work at the bakery challenging. After joining the Cavalry, he had been able to help out only on weekends.
Steiber was surprised that Yuder knew about his secret training regimen, designed to prevent his hands from stiffening too much. And he was even more astonished by the unique weakness Yuder possessed.
A person whose weakness was monsters, had single-handedly defeated a giant monster in the West, and had continuously confronted numerous monsters in the South, all without anyone noticing?
Steiber couldn't fathom the tremendous effort required for such feats. But Yuder, as expressionless as ever, had brushed it off as something mentioned only because it might be relevant to the mission.
"Don't worry, I won't be a hindrance in such a situation. I just thought it would be better to inform you so you wouldn't be surprised if I acted out of the ordinary."
"I see. I'll keep that in mind."
As Steiber feigned a calm demeanor in response, Yuder nodded briefly and returned to discussing the mission. His attitude hardly seemed like that of someone who had just revealed a significant vulnerability.
At that time, Yuder didn't even tell Steiber to keep the revelation about his weakness a secret from others. Nevertheless, Steiber chose not to disclose Yuder's vulnerability to anyone else. If asked why, it was simply because he didn't wish to.
Perhaps it was only now that Steiber understood why, on days when his power training was particularly strenuous, he found himself almost excluded from tasks requiring a lot of movement.
Yuder would probably call it an efficient choice.
‘It’s dark everywhere, so all sorts of thoughts come to mind...'
Still, nothing suspicious had been detected. Steiber was pondering whether to go deeper or ascend when, without warning, that 'rumbling' started again.
Rrrrrrrumble…
"....!"
When he had heard it at the beach, it had seemed like a sinister sound, somewhat like thunder but different.
However, the sound experienced underwater was entirely unlike that sensation.
It was much louder and much longer.
It felt as though the entire sea, the whole world, was violently vibrating, screaming out. It was as if a crouching giant was about to unfurl, a terrifying sensation like standing on the edge of a crumbling cliff. In that moment, Steiber momentarily lost the strength maintaining his body.
'No...!'
Immediately, his body whirled uncontrollably in the current, like a leaf caught in a whirlwind. The immense pressure blurred his vision and choked his breath. Air bubbles escaped from between his lips, bubbling out like silent screams.
'If I lose consciousness, it's over...!'
Struggling against the crushing pressure and trying to halt his expelled breath, Steiber tightly shut his eyes. Desperately exerting his power to its fullest, the water responded to his will, flailing as if trying to grasp onto something.
Then, something faintly registered in Steiber's senses.
'What...?'
He stopped, lowering his head.
Somewhere in the pitch-black depths of the sea.
He felt an unusual current forming, invisible to the eye.
Comments
Ayotli Kestrel
I like that this is told from an older person's perspective. He's lived more, and while awakeners are new, shouldering responsibility is not. He can see more of what makes Yuder so special beyond his crazy power levels.
Lele_Dod
Maybe it's just me, but I love seeing the other Cavalry members slowly understand Yuder's efforts and weaknesses. Sometime all this "Yuder is a genius" kind of talk makes me worry a bit, because it could lead to underestimating how much he works and puts effort in everything he does or people could start to expect extraordinary things from him... Thankfully the Cavalry is already like a big loving family, so it's unlikely something like this could happen, but Yuder's past life still hunts me 😅
