So I’m a Fish, So What?

“Oh it’s a good day–”

Singing and humming, I navigated my way through the cavernous systems of the underground with a lively skip.

My awareness sphere and excellent night vision made it an endeavor as easy as walking through a park at noon.

It was a peaceful walk for the most part, the only interruption being the rare monster attack every now and then.

Those were swiftly and effortlessly resolved however, so I don’t know whether that could even be considered an inconvenience.

With solid rocky walls blocking my left and right sides, I had to worry about ambushes from my front and back only, reducing the pressure on me by a lot.

—Well, it’s not like I was under any actual pressure in the first place. I can deal with almost anything this place throws at me without breaking a sweat.

Every now and then, tunnels of varying sizes appeared to my sides.

I paid them no heed however, my goal and destination were already set long before I descended into the stony underground.

With each step I took forward, the damp floor beneath me squelched loudly, startling those monsters who made homes of these dreadful hallways.

The smart ones followed their instincts and remained hidden or fled, while those blinded by hunger and madness made the foolish decision to attack me.

And since I’m such a magnanimous and merciful future goddess, I quickly relieved them of their miserable, worthless lives.

Admittedly, having sharp senses is but a cruel curse in such an uncanny environment.

The occasional loud roar or sharp screech coming from afar –or maybe right next to you– is enough to startle a full grown man to death if they’re not ready for it.

Nevertheless, human hearts are quite fragile for a vital organ, so that example might be a bit too underwhelming.

If you want my opinion, I’d say this place is totally normal for your run-of-the-mill monster infested cave.

Rather, the obvious artificial traces left inside the Gerya Labyrinth ruined the whole dungeon diving experience I was seeking, so I actually prefer this place over it.

….The glowing mushrooms of death surrounded by literal hills of bones might be a tad bit too much at first glance, but it’s a-okay! You get used to them over time.

Expecting the unexpected in such environments is but the basics, after all. If adapting to sudden changes ain’t your forte, then you should really find another line of work other than adventuring and exploration.

Mother nature has a tight grasp on her lands, you see. She won’t exactly be happy about someone trespassing on her property and welcome them with a smile and open arms.

Rather, anyone who dares even think about pulling off such a stunt will be met with unbearable retaliation.

Take this interesting specimen as an example.

Jumping over the hill of bones, I picked a few of the mushrooms and let them roll around in the palm of my hands.

These might seem like they are just tiny and harmless, but the reality is the exact opposite.

The light they emit is of a spectrum that has a hypnotic effect on those of weak will. It literally draws you towards it and forces you to pick it up.

After which they release their toxins through skin contact, resulting in a slow and agonizing death.

But that’s not even the end of it. Oh, you wish it was.

Slowly but surely, their spores fly towards your decaying body, and make use of it as a premium seed bed and high-quality fertilizer. The more corpses that accumulate around them, the more they spread.

Freaking terrifying, I know right?

You usually wouldn’t need to worry about them since they would be completely eradicated near any human settlements. This isn’t near any settlement however, meaning they are quite literally everywhere around here.

To be honest though, I’m kinda digging this whole beautiful but deadly aesthetic … should I decorate my future base similarly? A secret base filled with deadly traps is everyone’s childhood dream, isn’t it?

With these thoughts in mind, I casually tossed a few glowing death mushrooms into my mouth and resumed my walk.

Not before a spatial crack opened up and swallowed all of those juicy mushrooms into my Spatial Storage though.

Man, that pop you feel when the juices first explode in your mouth is too freaking addicting.

The numbness that follows directly after does spoil the experience however… Perhaps cooking them would fix it?

Imma try that out when I’m out of here, I guess.

Anyways, I give it an eight out of ten rating overall.

 

{Proficiency has reached the required level. Skill [Outer Body LV 16] has become [Outer Body LV 17]}

 

Oh, a freebie!

Neat!

Then, I’ll up that to a whopping nine of ten, must try once before death!

Truthfully, I never expected my first time in the Great Elroe Labyrinth would turn out to be just another leisurely outing.

Mischief is too overpowered, isn’t it? Is it really okay for me to have this skill?

Despite exhausting my efforts to tune down its effects, I’ve only succeeded making it to the point where only those relatively strong monsters can detect my presence.

By the way, when I say ‘relatively strong’ I mean those on the same level as newly evolved Dragons and possibly Arch Taratects.

Granted, those monsters reign at the top of the labyrinth’s hierarchy, but I believe my efforts have been met with a great result nonetheless.

To downgrade the stealth from divine level to mere dragon level is a huge improvement! Rather, being able to control a skill of the same tier as the seven deadly sins in anyways counts as an improvement in my book.

I could just drop Mischief entirely and start slaughtering monsters like there’s no tomorrow, but I’d really rather not.

I have no desire to go on some pesky pest extermination quest during this thrilling underwater labyrinth expedition.

My short walk through this place revealed a whole new world that’s there for me to explore at my own pace, and I intend to enjoy this process as much as I possibly could.

Just the size of this place guarantees months’ worth of fun times if I wanna achieve a 100% exploration rate!

Besides, it appears I was lucky enough to find an entrance that leads to a mostly unexplored area of the upper stratum.

There were basically no traces of artificial alteration and destruction to be seen on my way down here.

Instead, the numerous monster dwellings and flora gatherings present everywhere were solid evidence that no human has ever set foot in this place before me.

Oh, wait. I’m not even human in the first place, so this means no human has ever set foot in this place yet.

Most of the interesting discoveries are probably waiting for me on the lower stratum though— which is where I currently am.

The two stratums above it are very mundane.

The upper stratum’s just a huge cave system with brown and gray stone walls, a bunch of weak monsters such as Basilisks scurrying around and the occasional hole leading to the lower stratum.

While those shafts lead directly to my destination, I simply ignored them, opting to enjoy the full dungeon diving experience instead.

If Kumoko was able to do so as the weakest F-rank threat spider, then I don’t why I can’t do the same as the strongest legendary-class threat.

But the reality is often contrary to our expectations.

Unlike Kumoko’s thrilling adventure and the deadly dangers she was exposed to, my own experience was incredibly boring, to say the least.

The monsters were too weak to warrant any caution and the environment itself was easily traversable.

So when I discovered a route leading to the middle stratum, I didn’t hesitate to take it and move on with my adventure.

Unfortunately, the middle stratum was just as boring as the upper one, if not more.

The first noticeable difference was the setup of the place.

Instead of a maze-like cave system like the upper stratum, the middle stratum was essentially an enormous underground plain… or lake depending on how you see it.

My sphere’s range had already grown to unimaginable extents however, meaning there wasn’t much difference in how I navigated my way through there.

Whether it’s a narrow hallway, a large cavern, or a huge plain, my sphere’s range is now large enough to include them all inside.

Another obvious difference was the overall theme of the place itself.

Well, first off, the floor is now lava as if I’ve suddenly stumbled and fell into an active volcano! ….Which is pretty cool if you think about it. 

Also, the ceiling was supported by numerous majestic pillars that were connected to the bottom of the lava lakes.

Finally, there were no monsters to be seen…. Like, I actually didn’t see nor detect the presence of a single monster the entire time I was in the middle stratum.

I thought it was very odd at the time since Kumoko had to deal with an endless number of monsters appearing from underneath the magma, but there was nothing I could do about it.

Rather, I didn’t need to do anything about it. My intuition wasn’t giving me any signals, so I didn’t concern myself with it.

The only gain I had out of this place is a new spot I could use for some fun stuff down the line. It could also be used as an arena for battles, but I highly doubt I’d need to do that anytime soon.

Anyways, the middle stratum was more mundane than the upper stratum overall, so I began looking for the road leading to the lower stratum.

After a very veeeeryyy long time hopping from little island to little island and the occasional dip in the warm lava, I finally found a passageway that leads down there.

Which takes me back to the present.

As I crossed the last stretch of this corridor, I was faced with a creature so majestic that no other being dared trespass on its territory.

One that is oh so familiar yet unfamiliar to me.

“Earth Dragon Araba.” As the words escaped my mouth, my lips widened into a bloodthirsty grin.

My destination isn’t so far away anymore.

As I stepped over the threshold and into his perception range, the majestic Earth Dragon finally noticed my existence.

His large blue-scaled body slowly straightened from its crouching position and his eyes met mine with a sharpness I’ve never seen before.

Step.

The light seemed to reflect off of the single horn on his forehead, giving me the illusion his entire body has transformed into a giant spear that is aiming at me.

Step.

All of a sudden, he reared his head backwards and his mouth swung open in a deafening roar. At the same time, his tail whipped to the ground, setting off a large cloud of dust.

Silence settled over the scene as I watched his actions with amusement.

Step.

You thought that that would scare me away? How cute.

It was commendable, but too bad, buddy. Not only can I check your status using the Appraisal skill, but I can roughly judge how strong you actually are through my intuition.

Unlike the intimidating aura he gave off when facing Kumoko, all I saw was a fearful puppy attempting to scare away a large wolf by barking loudly…. Though our body sizes were swapped in the current situation–Cough, I’ve gotten sidetracked.

We both know I’m much stronger than him.

Step.

My response to his roar was to take another step towards him, completely unfazed and seemingly unprepared to defend against any attack he could send my way.

On the other hand, Araba’s body tensed, and I could feel an enormous amount of magic power building up in his mouth.

A breath attack…? The worst option considering my specific skillset, but I guess it’s a good way to gauge your opponents cards..

There are too many ways I could go about dealing with it though.

Activating my magic barrier and invalidating the damage is an option. Teleporting away is another option. Messing up his senses with a Phantom Runes illusion is also an option. Dropping a bunch of poison in mouth as soon as he opens it would also work.

Or I could just do this.

Before he could even open his mouth, I simply froze the space around him with Spatial Magic and teleported directly in front of him.

His eyes widened in shock, and he instinctively struggled in a desperate attempt to break my spell with his anti-magic scales, but I promptly transformed my staff into a rapier and pointed it directly at his heart.

You’d think an Earth Dragon with a samurai mentality would try to resist either way. However, Araba didn’t.

As a matter of fact, his actions were the exact opposite– his tensed muscles relaxed and the magic in his mouth slowly dissipated as he returned to a crouching position once again.

The only sign of resistance he showed were his firm and unyielding eyes. In this duel that lasted but a mere split second, Earth Dragon Araba acknowledged his loss and surrendered.

A smart choice. Glad I don’t have to do this the hard way.

My rapier was made with my scales and blessed by all sorts of attributes through the Outer Attack and Outer Enhancement skills.

Piercing straight through his proud draconic scales, penetrating his fleshy heart, and letting the worst of my poisons loose inside that body of his is the least it could do.

“Now now, I’m not here to kill anyone, so you’d better chill out.” I chuckled, transforming my rapier back into a staff and backing away. “Though I’d really love to duke it out with you, you’re just too weak for the current me to put in an effort.” I shook my head with a sigh of regret.

I’m not lying nor looking down upon him.

I really would’ve loved to fight him in a fair one-on-one battle. Regrettably, my strength has far surpassed his a long time ago, so it would just be a one-sided beatdown.

Araba didn’t respond to my words– which is understandable since he doesn’t have the Telepathy skill.

His unyielding eyes relaxed however, and he stood up once again. Without any verbal communication between us, he began walking towards one of the larger tunnels connected to his lair.

Since he understood my intentions, I didn’t bother to say anything either else and just followed behind him silently.

A few minutes of traversing the lower stratum later, we made it to a passageway that sloped downwards. This should lead to the legendary bottom stratum, I assume.

As we walked down through, huge door-less doorways began appearing sporadically. Behind each was a unique lair that exclusively belongs to a single Earth Dragon.

How did I figure that out, you ask? Well, I just had to peek inside a few of them to come to such an obvious conclusion.

Some were completely empty, others had what I believe to be belongings of their owners, and a select few had gigantic Earth Dragons sleeping inside.

And by gigantic, I mean GIGANTIC. Even Araba seems like a kid in front of the mountain-like bodies of those slumbering dragons.

Come to think of it, an ancient dragon’s average stats must be at least fifteen thousand judging by my experience with the water dragons, but Araba’s are only in the four thousand range.

So Araba is just a teenager by their standards…? Uhhh, I better not ever mention this piece of information in front of Kumoko.

She’s a very prideful girl, so that would be akin to sending a few arrows through her heart and then crushing it to powder. Not something you wanna do to a friend…. Wait, are we even considered friends in the first place?

Wakaba Hiiro, who was my friend, was actually D in disguise. So what exactly is my relationship with Kumoko? This is awkward.

….Whatever. This is taking up way too much of my available processing power.

It’s best if I leave it to future Violet-sama to worry about.

Hang in there future Violet-sama! I believe in you!

By the way, it’s kinda interesting how these Earth dragons are living in what is basically an underground student dormitory. There’s no treasure hidden in these lairs either.

A huge bummer.

This entire setup isn’t exactly dragon-ish, if you know what I mean.

Which raises questions about the origins of dragons on this planet.

I mean, the younger dragons are fine since they are all evolved from Earth Wyrms, but what about the ancient ones?

Let me rephrase that. How did the first dragons come to be? They sure as hell didn’t appear out of thin air, and it is also impossible for them to appear without the presence of the W system– or D’s assistance, to be precise.

But would D go out of her to aid in such a project? I thought she disdains the dragons…?

More questions without answers… This is frustrating.

Does this planet have an Akasha where all of its history is recorded? If so, then I request immediate access!

…No response. Figures.

Even if it did have an Akasha, there’s no way a poor little fish like me is getting access to it out of the blue.

A sigh of regret escaped my mouth as we finally made it to the end of the dormitory corridor.

The ceiling and walls disappeared, giving way to a huge hall with a dome ceiling. Right in its center was a dilapidated arena surrounded by the remains of pillars and what seems to be an audience stand…?

A recreational area? Earth dragons seem to love duels and stuff like that, so maybe this is where they usually duke it out amongst themselves.

The image of two Earth Dragons standing on two legs and sumo wrestling while a crowd of Earth Dragons are cheering for their chosen champion in the background suddenly came to mind. 

It’s surreal, to say the least.

Trying my best to shake that accursed image away, I focused my attention on Araba who is now standing inside the arena. As if sensing my sight, he roared a few times towards the other end of the hall where another corridor is located.

Moments later, the world around me began shaking… Literally.

From that corridor came another Earth Dragon. His body wasn’t that much larger than Araba, yet the aura he gave off dwarfed even mine.

His body was too slim for his size, yet it was covered with dense muscles. Unlike Araba, his scales were of a dark olive green color and his eyes were blood red.

Four golden horns grew from the back of his head. The two upper ones were curved forwards and pointing upwards like the reversed goat horns while the other two were curved sideways and pointing slightly downwards like giant beetle pincers.

There were also two protrusions that looked like horns growing out from his spine, but their shape could also pass for wing bones that were stripped of the actual wings in the past.

Appraisal returned a status window with an average stat number of forty thousand, and while the number of skills was much lower than I had anticipated, most of them were at max level. Oh, and if I may add, this guy had well over two-hundred thousand skill points.

What. The. Actual. Fuck.

Is this legit?!?!?!?! Like, is this guy for real?!

He doesn’t even have a seven deadly sins series skill nor one from the seven heavenly virtues series!

And you’re tellin’ me this guy was killed off by the Demon Lord Ariel even though he fought her with his buddies?!

Hell naw! I’m fucking outta' here!

—Or so I’d like to say, but we’re not exactly in a hostile relationship at the moment, so I decided to stick around for a bit. I did ask Sage to be ready to cast a teleportation spell at any given moment however.

Better safe than sorry and all.

“Oh dear. It appears the new wind we have predicted was but an aftereffect of the storm hidden behind moving towards us. Or have we unwittingly stepped into the eye of the storm, I wonder. Ha-ha-ha.”

Gakia, the leader of the Earth Dragons spoke to me using Telepathy.

“...?” An innocent tilt of my head was the most I could muster upon hearing the magnetic yet surprisingly young voice in my head.

Is it just me, or is this Earth Dragon dude too easy-going for his age? I mean, he did have a scene with Ariel in the anime, but I thought reality was gonna be much different, y’know?

….So what now?

“Hi….?” I said in an inquisitive manner. “I come in peace! I’m not a bad fish!” I quickly added, raising my hands in a show of friendliness.

…Maybe those two phrases were a bit too much though. All the time I wasted watching movies and anime came back to bite me in the ass, huh?

“Hello there, Slayer of The Seas.” He nodded slightly in greeting, not minding my choice of words. “I am surprised you were able to evade the sights of one such as Iena. A commendable feat. One that all the more confirms the correctness of my decision.”

Slayer of The Seas…? Does he mean Dragon Slayer of the seas, perhaps? I can’t think of any other reason why he’d give me such a title.

Who’s Iena by the way? Never heard of her before.

“Excuse me, but I’m at a total loss here. May I ask who this Iena lady is? And what do I have to do with any of your decisions? This is our first meeting, no?”

Strangely enough, although this guy speaks like one of those irritating riddlers, my intuition tells me I can be straight-forward with him without having to worry about anything. So I just voiced my doubts without holding back.

“Iena is the one that holds the same position as mine amongst our sea brethren, though she also holds a leading position amongst all of us.”

Seriously?!

She holds a leading position amongst the entire freaking dragon race?! If even this dude approves of her as such, then just how strong is she…? 

Fifty thousand stats on average? Sixty? Or worse, could her stats be similar to those of Demon Lord Ariel?! And she must have millennia of experience under her belt as well…

If so, then leaving the ocean might’ve been the most correct decision I made in my entire life! I really wasn’t prepared to face such an opponent at that time, and that statement still holds true even now.

“As for your other question, you need to prove yourself before receiving the answer you desire.” Gakia stated before suddenly roaring so loudly a literal earthquake rocked through the hall.

I nimbly avoided the falling rocks and stalactites while keeping a close eye on his movements from the corner of my vision.

When he yelled the words ‘prove yourself’, my intuition began sounding a danger alarm. The source of which was not Gakia however, which is why I didn’t teleport away just yet.

It feels like teleporting away without actually going through whatever he has for me is an action I would come to seriously regret in the future.

Not even a minute later, another hulking body came running through the entrance Gakia used, rushing at me at an insanely high speed.

Without much thought, I teleported directly behind the new Earth Dragon in an attempt to dodge. The reason why I say an ‘attempt’ is because I failed.

As soon as I switched places with the new dragon, I felt an insanely strong wind pressure assaulting my face before I felt a huge impact on my chest.

My small body was immediately sent flying. Before I could even react and adjust myself mid-air, another impact hit my chest once again, this time sending me towards the solid ground, directly embedding my body into the floor.

As I lay down amidst the dust, I finally had the time to take in the appearance of my assailant.

An Earth Dragon that’s at least twice the size of Gakia, though his stats are much lower- Just a bit short of twenty thousand on average. They are, however, more biased towards strength and speed since his magical stats are even lower than mine.

Meaning this guy's offense, speed, and defense stats are actually over thirty thousand! His skills also implies that he’s more of a brawler kinda guy.

This guy has the Unarmed Hero skill at max level. Just how many creatures did he beat to death to reach this level? I’m honestly impressed.

He definitely didn’t use all of his strength when striking me, else I would’ve lost at least a third of my HP bar with how weak my defense stats are.

Bushido code…? Probably not. Only idiots would actually willingly kill themselves upon breaking a rule set upon them by society.

Looking back at Gakia, I found that he had retreated to the stands with Araba sometime during this exchange. A few other Earth Dragons also appeared and stood behind him, watching us intently but silently.

Then they probably respect the rules of the duel instead, seeing as none of those guys seem to be planning to intervene nor did any other Earth Dragons intervene when Araba fought Kumoko in the anime.

I see.

Prove myself, huh? Then I’ll beat this sneaky fucker half to death and show you I’m the real deal then!

Hopping out of the body-shaped hole, I shook the dust off of my clothes and began transforming my staff into a familiar set of weapons.

This is the realest fight I've been in since I reincarnated in this world, so no fancy shenanigans this time. It’s just my old school dual swords I used when training with Shishou, though the material and sharpness of the blade is leagues better.

I slowly moved back into the arena and put on a practiced swordsmanship pose, my eyes piercingly staring at my opponent.

Before I knew it, a wide grin had formed into my face.

So that’s it.

I suddenly understood why I bothered to get in touch with the Earth Dragons in the first place.

A fair one-on-one duel with our lives on the stake.

The thrill… the battle… the blood… I’ve been craving them for a while now.

It’s been way too long since I last felt my heart pumping this loudly. The adrenaline coursing through my veins reminded me of the real reason why I chose to go to this dangerous world in the first place.

It’s interesting, isn’t it? At least, I love it.

As if sensing my readiness and anticipation, Gakia chuckled as he spoke.

“Only by staking your own life on the line can you truly recognize where you thoughts and desires lay.”

Nodding slightly, I activated my active battle skills and waited for him to announce the start of our duel.

My opponent’s body also tensed in preparation, and I saw his mouth widening into a toothy grin that was so terrifying yet so welcoming at the same time.

We might be different in a way or another, but our essence is definitely similar.

“Do it.”

Gakia announced, but we were already at each other’s throats before he could finish those two words.

It should be okay for a goddess of knowledge to be a battle maniac, right?

Meh, who cares.

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