Chapter 10:Adaptation [2]

Looking downward while falling, I spotted a bright light below me, illuminating a grey concrete floor.

As I rapidly plummetted toward the light, a large pool of water, deeper than any I had ever seen before, also came into view.

The pool of water was so big that I didn't even have to move to fall into it, so I simply closed my eyes and prepared myself.

*SPLASH*

With a deafening splash, I crashed into the water, instantly feeling the freezing cold water surround my body. 

However...the water didn't seem to permeate my cloak.

My body and skin remained completely dry despite being completely submerged in the pool of water.

Only my head and face, which were left uncovered as my mask had broken, were drenched.

Like chains, the water clung onto my cloak and wrapped around me, dragging me further down into the pool.

As I opened my eyes, I paused for a moment.

I couldn't tell if my eyes were open or closed.

All I saw was complete and utter darkness.

Even in the cathedral, it hadn't been this dark.

As my brain commanded and desperately screamed at my body, telling it to move up and free itself from the water's grasp, I finally regained my composure.

Fiercely kicking my legs back and forth, slicing through the water, I stretched my arms upward, trying to pull myself up.

I had learned how to swim during my time at high school, but as I tried to find and use that knowledge, my mind went blank.

Feeling my lungs start to ache, I gritted my teeth and pushed myself harder, increasing the frequency at which my legs kicked.

It was weird...there were no bubbles as I rapidly kicked my legs and punched my arms ahead.

Honestly, I couldn't even tell if I was going up.

Maybe I was just staying in place...

I did consider taking off my cloak, but I couldn't even see it, let alone unbutton it and discard it.

And, after seeing the devil fight in my body against the hero, I realized that the cloak was...weightless or extremely light, to the point where I sometimes felt naked when wearing it.

Although there was no sort of indication that I was getting closer to the surface, my body kept fighting against the water.

I couldn't die here...literally.

The book said I had to live until I fought the protagonist.

As the final antagonist, that was my one and only purpose.

Feeling my legs start to slow and my vision begin to blur as my energy faded, I suddenly looked to the right.

Even though all I saw was pitch-darkness...I could imagine it...envision it standing in front of me.

My system menu.

"Devil's Transformation."

It was waiting for me.

Even though I knew it was just my mind, I swear I could see a figure in the distance as well.

A figure sitting in a chair and tilting his head with a smile.

He was staring at me.

Use me...and I'll use you.

Had the original demon prince, who I hadn't possessed, used that ability to escape this pool?

As the previous demon prince and now demon king, he had to have known about this place and come here.

So...how had he escaped this pool of water?

At that moment, a sudden pain coursed through my body as I felt my stomach and throat start to burn.

It felt as if someone was gripping my heart with their hand

Their grip on my heart was tightening with every fleeting second...threatening to shatter my heart and kill me.

"...am I hallucinating?"

The sitting figure was now right in front of me.

So close that I could reach my hand out and touch him.

Don't be stubborn, will you?

Stubborn?

I was stubborn for not wanting to give up my own body?

What an idiotic devil.

"Hhh—cough—hah—"

Then, without me even knowing it, my head suddenly burst through the surface of the water, and the torch and concrete floor came into view.

Gasping for air, I felt my throat burn as oxygen came rushing in, and my eyes immediately closed upon being suddenly exposed to light.

As I slowly opened my eyes and floated toward the edge of the pool, not daring to look down, my face started to turn a light blue.

With the water dripping down from my hair, I grabbed the concrete floor and slowly pulled myself out of the pool and onto the ground.

Immediately flipping myself around so that my head was facing upward, I simply laid down on the floor and looked up at the torch above me, letting it heat my face.

My cloak...was back to normal.

There was not a droplet of water left on it, and, somehow, all of the blood on it had been washed off, with it now returning to being colored pitch-black.

After heating up for a few moments, I finally lifted myself off the concrete floor and began walking forward.

Only about ten steps later, an archway came into view, revealing a second room that was completely lit up.

Walking through the archway, I entered a decently small circular-shaped room with torches evenly spaced out along the continuous stone wall.

And, in the middle of the circle-shaped room lay a statue.

The statue, which reached from the ground to the ceiling of the room, resembled a demon with two horns sticking out of its head.

But, besides that, I couldn't make out any specific details as the stone of the statue had been corroded so much.

All I could make was a human-like body with two horns.

Standing at the base of the statue, my face immediately lit up as a small and ancient-seeming book came into view.

It seemed that the demon prince's father had left a will.

"A skill book..."

However, unlike a normal skill book, the front of the book was completely blank, with no description or even name.

Next to the book lay another familiar object.

Staring at the blood-red blade of the katana in front of me, my eyes began to dazzle.

I had hit the jackpot.

How could I not recognize the final antagonist's main weapon?

The one he used in his fight to the death with the protagonist.