Chapter 6 - The Devil of Envy Part 5

Mizuki and Yua managed to get out through the stone door.

However, they were dizzy from rolling down the slope.

“Blegh!”

Mizuki came out of the potato and spit out the earth in his mouth, then looked up at the door.

“Yua, are you okay?”

“I’m noth ogay.”

Yua grabbed Mizuki’s hand and left the potato as well.

Because her head was spinning, she left herself in Mizuki's hands.

Slightly troubled, Mizuki averted his eyes and walked to the nearby rubble.

“How about… Drinking some water?”

Mizuki said, but Yua pressed a hand over her mouth and shook her head.

However, after a short time, she sobered up and slowly stood up.

“I’m fine now.”

Mizuki guessed what she said based on her facial expression and hand sign.

The two of them once again set out on their journey.

The sun even reached this place where they had come from the fields.

The most noticeable thing here was a crumbling steel tower.

It was overgrown with moss and looked somewhat like a dirty Christmas tree.

Its state wasn’t weird despite the crumbling.

In the surroundings was a wide sea spreading out as far as the eye could see.

It was encircled by a rough wall.

“If we cross.. This sea…”

“No… From where… Should we even cross it?”

They could clearly see the wall at the edge of the sea.

However, it was too tall to climb and there was no exit.

If it was Snakey, it could probably get over the wall and get out, but for Mizuki and Yua, it was impossible.

Nonetheless, there was no way back, either.

The two became dumbfounded.

“There is a… Boat over there… Should we get on it?”

“I don’t know…”

Mizuki pointed at the boat.

However, Yua answered with an unwilling voice and a troubled expression. It was at that moment…

“Ughhh.”

There was a sound of the stone door opening behind them, and then Snakey’s voice.

Flustered, Yua grabbed Mizuki’s hand and hid them in a place hidden from Snakey’s view.

“It came.”

Mizuki saw her gesture and understood that it was Snakey.

Nervously looking in the door's direction, he confirmed it went all the way to the sea.

The closer one looked, the more unbelievable of an existence it was.

The recently dry body and the eerily human-like hands gave off a disgusting feeling.

Snakey entered the sea leisurely.

It resembled the way a human entered a bath.

Then it circled the steel tower with its long body, swimming like a fish in water.

Mizuki and Yua watched the odd view of Snakey while continuing to hide.

After swimming for a while, Snakey reached for the wall with its hands and pulled a string attached to it.

The two didn’t know what meaning that act had but soon understood.

The moment Snakey pulled the string, a round hole opened in the wall near them and water flowed out through it.

“Is it draining the water?”

“This is our chance! Now! Let’s go out through that hole!”

Having discovered the exit, Yua pulled Mizuki to the hole.

Then they jumped into the sea that was being drained of water like a bathtub.

However, at that moment, another kind of water came out of above the hole and Mizuki and Yua were pushed back into the sea.

“Ahhh!”

“Whoah!”

Simultaneously, as the water gushed forth, the hole closed,

The timing they had jumped in was apparently bad.

“Oh no! We’ll drown!”

Yua struggled in the water but held out a hand to Mizuki.

Panicked, Mizuki grabbed her hand and grasped a plank floating near them.

“Let’s swim… Until that boat.”

“Impossible! I suck at swimming!”

Yua shook her head with all her might.

Mizuki understood that Yua couldn’t swim only based on her expression.

“Hold on to… This plank… I can pull you with these handcuffs.”

Checking so that Yua was holding on to the plank, Mizuki hurriedly swam to boat.

In this state, it wouldn’t be weird for Snakey to discover them.

“Pant... Pant...”

Finally reaching the boat and out of breath, Mizuki pulled the handcuff.

Clinging onto the plank, Yua was pulled toward the boat.

“Before Snakey finds us… Let’s paddle… Until we find land.”

“I know.”

Coming up on the boat, Yua used the plank to paddle toward land.

However, she got a sense of discomfort on the way.

“I don’t see Snakey anywhere…”

Snakey, who had been elegantly swimming in the sea until now, was gone.

No matter where they looked, they couldn’t see it.

“Yu…a…”

Turning back to Mizuki, the mystery was solved.

When she looked back, Snakey was showing half of its body and looked at them from close-up.

The two of them understood the perspective of a frog being watched by a Snake to the point it hurt.

Unable to speak, their bodies froze to the point they couldn’t even tremble.

Without letting out its voice, Snakey brought its face closer to them and observed them as if they were something rare.

However, after enough observation, like a wild animal finding its prey, it let out a lively voice.

“Aarghh!!”

Raising its body out of the sea and letting out a roar, it opened its mouth wide as it headed for Yua.