While Adam could only see the splashes Aris left in her wake, the [freshwater orca] must have had some means of keeping track of anything that moved above water. It burst from the surface and tried to swallow Aris whole. The person in question appeared above the monster, having jumped high into the air. As the monster opened its mouth wide, Aris unsheathed her swords and began spinning so fast that she created something like a tornado. She hacked into the monster, which released a cry of pain. Aris then landed on its snout and pushed off, smacking into the water and taking off once more.

  “It looks like she really can run on water,” Fayte muttered.

  “Wow,” Susan said in agreement.

  Adam was also in awe, but he knew now wasn’t the time to be stunned. “We should hurry and swim to the island. We don’t know how long Aris can keep that thing at bay.”

  “Right,” Fayte agreed.

  “You’ll want to remove your armor,” Titania said. “It will weigh you down. Your robes, in particular, will grow quite heavy and might cause you to drown.”

  Fayte grimaced, but she didn’t disagree and unequipped her clothing, leaving her in nothing but white underwear. Adam looked away out of respect. However, he still caught a glimpse of her gorgeous white skin and generous proportions before turning the other way. Susan and Lilith also removed their clothes, though Susan was far more reluctant. Her figure seemed childish compared to Fayte’s. The way she covered her small chest made him wonder if she was perhaps insecure about her figure. He tried not to look at her either as he unequipped his own armor, which disappeared into his inventory.

  Now in nothing but their undergarments, Adam, Aris, Fayte, and Lilith rushed into the lake and began swimming. He glanced at Kureha, who sat on his head. She seemed content to just let him carry her. Titania had it even easier since she could fly.

  It was Susan.

  He didn’t know if she didn’t know how to swim, or if she just wasn’t a very strong swimmer, but she was struggling to keep up with them and was even slowing down. Adam quickly turned around and swam to Susan before presenting his back to her.

  “Get on. I’ll help you swim to shore.”

  “I-I couldn’t burden you like that.”

  “We don’t really have time to waffle here. Please, just get on.”

  “O-okay.”

  The way she so easily agreed to do what he asked was just proof that Susan was a pushover. She swam up and wrapped her arms around his neck. He felt only a brief spike of arousal as her chest pushed against his back. They might have been small, but his lovers weren’t much bigger. He clamped down on those feelings and began kicking once more. Since he had someone hanging off him, he couldn’t breaststroke and switched to simply paddling. Fortunately, with his Strength stat, he swam faster than most people even while paddling.

  Adam quickly caught up to Fayte, then kept pace with her. It looked like they would reach the island soon.

  “Look out!”

  Yet just as it seemed like everything would go their way, Titania screamed seconds before several massive tentacles burst through the surface of the lake.

  The Naughty Nautilus

  “What is this—kyaaaah!”

  “Noooooooo!”

  “D-dammit! Master!”

  The numerous tentacles that burst from the water’s surface clearly belonged to some kind of Cephalopoda, though Adam couldn’t tell which kind. It wasn’t an octopus. A squid? Cuttlefish? Nautiloid? The tentacles were thick and leathery, but they didn’t have any suction pods attached to them, and the spaded tip made him think it was some kind of devil.

  “Titania! Cast [Scan]!” Adam shouted as one of the tentacles latched onto his leg and hauled him above the water’s surface. It was about as thick as his torso, and it looked like it got thicker the further into the water it went. He couldn’t see what this thing belonged to, meaning it was so deep underneath the surface that no light reached it.

  “R-right! Just give me a second!”

  Titania was busy dodging tentacles that were trying to grab her as she ascended higher into the air. She was fortunate she was so small. The tentacles couldn’t get a good grip on her. They thrashed and lashed out, but she wove through them, ascending higher and higher, until she was far out of their reach.

  The other girls weren’t so lucky.

  Adam wondered if maybe there was a glitch in the game. The tentacles that had wrapped around the girls had done so in a manner so erotic it reminded him of those eroge from the early 2000s. Fayte’s breasts stood out like round melons as a thinner part of the tentacles wrapped around them, causing them to look like they were about to pop out of her bra. Lilith was in a similar position, but the tentacles had wrapped around her thighs and was forcing her legs apart. She was practically spread eagle by this point. Even poor Susan had the things running all over her body. Matters were only exacerbated by the fact that all of them were in their underwear.

  Adam’s eyes popped wide open when one of the tentacles brushed against his crotch. Gnashing his teeth together, he activated [Thrust] and impaled his spear into the tentacle.

  -10,040!

  The tentacle didn’t make a sound as it jerked back like it had been shocked. Adam twisted his body and around and used [Slash] on the tentacle holding him.

  -9,412!

  Adam found himself free falling as the tentacle let go of him, but he didn’t just let himself fall back into the water. First, he activated [Double Jump] to ascended higher, then used [Flight] to reach the nearest girl. It was Susan. Spinning around like a dreidel, he used [Energy Sweep] since it was the easiest to activate right now.

  -18,825!

  A crescent wave of energy sliced into the tentacle, which dropped Susan. Adam still had flight activated, so he was able to catch the screaming girl in his arms, though his flight deactivated seconds later and they both fell into the water. He broke the surface quickly, a coughing Susan clinging to his neck.

  “You okay, Su?” asked Adam.

  Susan didn’t say anything because she was still coughing, but she did nod once as if to try and reassure him.

  At that moment, Titania finally activated [Scan] on the creature that was attacking them.

  Name: Naughty Nautilus

  Description: A Cephalopoda that was raised by a perverse mage who wanted to drown the world in pleasure. After the mage died, the nautilus made its way to this lake, where it slumbered for hundreds of years. It has a habit of groping people.

  Class: 2-Star

  Lvl: 30

  Main Body:

  HP: 120,000/120,000

  MP: 30,000/30,000

  Strength: +600

  Constitution: +400

  Dexterity: +1,000

  Intelligence: +500

  Speed: +1,200

  Tentacles:

  HP: 30,000/30,000

  Skills:

  Skill Name: Swim

  Description: The ability to swim through the water at incredible speed

  +200 boost to speed when in water

  MP Cost: None

  Cooldown time: 0 seconds

  Skill Name: Tentacle Grab

  Description: The nautilus grabs players with its tentacles and refuses to let go

  Players are stuck until someone either breaks them free, they break themselves free, or the nautilus runs out of MP

  MP Cost: 10 MP per second

  Skill Name: Grope

  Description: The nautilus touches players inappropriately while secreting an aphrodisiac

  Aphrodisiac effect ends only when the Naughty Nautilus is killed or runs out of MP

  Drains +500 MP per second

  MP Cost: None

  Skill Name: Physical Immunity

  Description: The nautilus’s shell is durable to the point that physical attacks don’t work on it

  Negates all physical damage

  MP Cost: None

  Adam felt his eye twitching as he read the description for this creature. Whoever made this [Naughty Nautilus] must have been an incredibly depraved programmer. However, since it didn’t seem to have much health and none of its attacks did physical damage, he could easily kill the creature.

  [Blood Sacrifice]

  After activating his greatest trump card, Adam released Susan and dove under the water without any hesitation. He used his Strength stat to his advantage, kicking his legs so hard that he was propelled down toward the depths at a speed normal humans could never hope to achieve. The water grew darker and colder as all light vanished. Adam channeled energy into his eyes, granting him a unique form of night vision. It was a skill he had in real life. Adam still found it a bit weird that he could use abilities from his real life in the game, but he wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth.

  He soon found the monster attacking them.

  It was indeed a nautiloid of some kind—a rather huge one at that. He couldn’t accurately judge its full size, but its body was ensconced in a massive shell easily ten or fifteen square meters in size. The shell was one of those spiral variations. Its face was sticking out of the end, dozens if not hundreds of tentacles emerging from it. Most of them were going above water, but the [Naughty Nautilus] must have spotted him because several came his way.

  -79,065!

  Adam didn’t hesitate to thrust his spear in front of him and use [Energy Thrust] to sheer his way through the tentacle. Now that he was this close, he could hear the monster’s scream of pain. It was a shrill sound that he wouldn’t have expected from a creature like this, but then again, he wasn’t sure what kind of sound an underwater monster was supposed to make. Either way, he didn’t stop swimming toward it.

  [Blood Sacrifice] wore off before Adam could reach his foe, but he’d already shaved away plenty of its health. He reached the creature and used [Slash] against its outer shell.

  -0; -0; -0; -0; -0; -0; -0; -0; -0; -0!

  Adam grimaced when he saw his attacks do nothing, only now recalling one of this creature’s skills. [Physical Immunity]. What a troublesome ability.

  His lungs were burning by now. He knew that if he didn’t defeat this creature soon, he might not get another chance. He swam toward the front. Adam felt sick to his stomach the moment he laid eyes on the [Naughty Nautilus’s] gaping maw, briefly visible behind the swarm of tentacles writhing around it. A massive eye tracked him as he swam and several tentacles tried to wrap around him, but he cut them apart by activating [Slash] several times in rapid succession. With spots appearing before his eyes, Adam used all of his strength to attack the monster’s head, activating every skill in his arsenal save [Blood Sacrifice], which was still in cooldown, and [Dance of the Sakura Blossoms], which he couldn’t activate because he wasn’t standing on solid ground.

  -26,355; -18,825; -10;040; -9,412; -9,412; -9,412; -9,412; -9,412; -9,412; -9,412!

  His attacks landed in quick succession and rapidly depleted the monster’s health until it reached zero. The [Naughty Nautilus] shrieked and thrashed, giving what amounted to death throes as its cries made the water vibrate. Its body seemed to shrivel as it retracted all its tentacles and curled into its shell. Then the tentacles and the body itself seemed to grow stale before it crumbled into mud. Soon only the shell remained.

  Ding!

  [Congratulations! You have defeated the 2-Star monster [Naughty Nautilus]! [Naughty Nautilus] has dropped the items [Giant Shell], [Secret Pleasure Manual], [Fisherman’s Spear], [Shell Shield], and 250,000 gold coins. +250,000 experience points! +120,000 ability points!]

  Adam sighed in relief and closed his eyes as he realized he’d won. He didn’t even realize he was falling unconscious or that his health was rapidly dropping from being underwater for so long.

  Fayte felt like a waterlogged cat as she dragged herself onto the shore. They had reached the island, though it had taken a lot of effort. She’d have thought they wouldn’t have so much trouble with Aris distracting the [freshwater orca], though she understood now that her thoughts were far too optimistic. Of course there would be other monsters in this lake.

  She looked at the lake from where she stood, far from the water’s edge. Susan was sitting on the sand, arms behind her as she took deep breaths. Fayte had helped Susan swim to shore after Adam killed the [naughty nautilus]. Kureha, Titania, and Lilith were also present. The only ones missing were Aris and Adam.

  Ding!

  [Aris_Lancer has died. Her level has been reset to 17. She has been resurrected at the Solum Cathedral.]

  The announcement screen that appeared before Fayte sent shock rippling through her. She knew there had been a possibility, given the dangerous action Aris was taking, but she guessed some part of her had never wanted to entertain the idea that any of them could die. The only consolation she had was that Age of Gods was a game.

  “I-I can’t believe Aris died,” Susan mumbled.

  “Me neither,” Fayte said.

  “She’s always seemed so strong and indomitable. Kinda like Adam.”

  “I bet she gets it from him. Speaking of Adam, why hasn’t he come back up yet?” Fayte realized only now that they were discussing him that Adam still hadn’t emerged from the water’s surface.

  Titania grimaced. “He may be drowning… even you otherworlders can only hold your breath for so long. If he exceeded his time limit, then he might have lost consciousness and is in the process of dying.”

  “What?!” Fayte shouted in shock.

  A loud splash caused her to turn back toward the lake. Ripples were spreading across the water from where someone had jumped in. She noticed Lilith was gone, so the woman must have rushed in to help Adam. The fanatic loyalty she displayed even now startled Fayte, but she understood the woman better after eavesdropping on Adam’s conversation with Aris about his past. She didn’t know everything. However, they surely had a deep and complex history together.

  Fayte felt like she was on pins and needles as she waited for Lilith to emerge. She paced back and forth, heedless of the three sets of eyes on her, trying hard to calm the frantic heart beating within her chest.

  Yet it didn’t stop pounding.

  It wouldn’t calm down no matter what she did.

  Lilith finally broke the water’s surface. She wasn’t alone. Adam was with her, but it was clear from the way she dragged him by the arm that he was unconscious. Fayte rushed over just as the woman came ashore and carried Adam to dry land. She knelt before the man as Lilith set him down and checked his stats.

  Name: Adam

  Class: Seven Forms Spearman

  Lvl: 19

  HP: 10/7,100

  MP: 430/570

  Status Ailments: Unconscious; Drowned

  “I’ve never seen his health so low. What do we do?” asked Fayte.

  “Calm down,” Titania said. “First, use [high-grade health potions] to restore his health. Unfortunately, drowned is a unique status ailment that can’t be fixed with a [cure-all]. There are only two ways to fix it. One is to wait until the effects wear off. The other is to force the water out of him by performing mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”

  Fayte hadn’t known there were unique ailments like that, but it did make sense. Drowning wasn’t like being poisoned, put to sleep with magic, or suffering from confusion. It happened when the body attempted to breathe underwater and sucked water into the lungs. She glanced at Adam, whose face was far paler than she had ever seen. It didn’t look like he was breathing either.

  “Do any of you know CPR?” asked Fayte. It was not something she had studied since she never saw the need to. Lilith silently shook her head, but Susan raised her hand.

  “I-I do.”

  Though surprised that her timid friend knew CPR, she knew now wasn’t the time to say anything. She moved back and gestured to Adam.

  “Then we’ll be counting on you, Su.”

  Susan gulped at the pressure being placed on her, but she inched forward nonetheless until she was kneeling beside Adam. She took a deep breath before getting to work. Susan first tilted Adam’s head back to lift his chin, then checked to see if he was breathing. He wasn’t. She placed her hands, one atop the other, in the middle of his chest, then used her body weight to compress his chest several times. Nothing happened. However, Susan wasn’t deterred as she pinched his nose shut, placed her mouth over his, and delivered two breaths before compressing his chest once more.

  Through her worry, Fayte could not help but briefly admire Susan as she worked. There was no hint of the normally shy Susan as she tried her best to breathe life into Adam again. Her face was set in a mask of concentration, eyes narrowed with determination. She wondered if the girl even knew what she looked like at the moment.

  Probably not, Fayte mused to herself.

  Nearly one agonizing minute went by with nothing to show for it. Fayte wondered if this would even work, but just as doubt began creeping into her thoughts, Adam coughed, water burbling from his mouth. Susan moved back as he rolled onto his side and began spewing water like a faucet.

  “Master, are you okay?!” Lilith was by his side in an instant. Fayte almost felt like the woman had teleported. She rubbed Adam’s back, and Fayte felt a small tinge of annoyance embed itself within her heart. She knew these two had some history as assassins together. However, Adam belonged to Aris now. Lilith really had no right acting so close to him.

  “I-I’m fine,” Adam said through his coughs. “Thanks… for the save… I owe you one.”

  “I… I did not do anything,” Lilith admitted with great reluctance. “Susan is the one who saved you.”

  “That so?”

  “Eep!”

  Susan’s back went ramrod straight as Adam turned his gaze onto her. She was sitting with her calves underneath her butt, hands on her calves. Her face went bright red. Adam wasn’t wearing his mask right now, which meant all of them could see the warm smile on his face. It was such a lustrous, honest expression that Fayte couldn’t help but be enraptured by it. She felt like she could have stared at that smile until the end of time.