Chapter 60

I stood in the water, adjusting my posture and breathing.

I cast three enhancements on myself: ATK, DEF, and SPEED. Furthermore, I applied a weakness detection using my "Knowledge of Ingredients."

Gripping the knife tightly, I dove back into the water to search for the tuna.

However, I didn’t need to search for long. The tuna, which was swimming in a fixed area, charged at me as soon as I entered its territory.

Its speed was so fast that at first, I kicked the water and took a large evasive action.

(As expected, it’s fast, and if it hits me, I’ll take a significant amount of damage.)

While thinking this, I paid attention to my posture in the water and faced the tuna again.

It made a large turn and charged at me once more.

This time, I made a smaller evasion and aimed for the markers running along its body, swinging the knife.

I tried to stab the markers, which ran along its massive body, using the strength of my arms, but the water currents created by the tuna pushed me back.

(Damn, I can’t get close. It’s too fast to swim alongside it...)

While I struggled to attack, the tuna could only make straight attacks and couldn’t change direction quickly. If the water were murky and I couldn’t see more than five meters around me, I would be helpless against the sudden appearance of the giant tuna.

This unpleasant thought made my spine shiver.

I tried to get as close as possible with minimal movement, but neither of us could land a hit. The first round ended in a draw.

"…Phew! Phew, this is bad. What should I do?"

The tuna never left its territory. It didn’t seem to have the will or determination to pursue its target until the end. It just mechanically attacked any enemy that entered its territory and wouldn’t chase after it if it left. Its behavior felt like it was protecting something.

I thought about how to attack and started my second dive.

(Come on, I hope I can find a way to defeat it.)

This time, I tried to stab the tuna’s body more forcefully with the knife. Stabbing rather than swinging would reduce the water resistance.

Instead of cutting the markers, I aimed to connect them with points.

I had already grasped the distance for evasion from the first attempt. Now, I just needed to step in a bit and stab the knife.

(Come on, come on, come on… Now!)

I extended my shortened arm and stabbed the knife into one of the markers. It met with some resistance but penetrated. Just as I thought, "I did it," the knife remained in the tuna’s body, pulling me along.

Exposed to the intense water resistance, my HP gradually decreased.

I realized it was bad, but the knife wouldn’t come out. I waited for the moment the tuna slowed down to change direction, then pulled out the knife and surfaced.

The second round was decided with just one crossing. Of course, I lost.

"Damn! It barely took any damage, but I lost more than 30% of my HP."

If I were slower, I could have clung to it and stabbed it repeatedly with the knife, but even circling around it was an attack. At a time like this, if I could use a curse to slow down the opponent, it would be helpful, but I was too far from the surface to speak underwater.

I used a potion to recover my HP and dove back into the water.

The distance wasn’t a problem. I needed to change my attack method.

Not cutting, not stabbing. If the blade was long enough, I could slash from outside the water current. Shooting an arrow from land would lose speed due to water resistance.

I continued to just evade, unable to find a way to attack.

...Three times, four times, five times, six times, seven times, eight times

The ninth confrontation. It had been about an hour since the battle started. I mechanically trained my body to make the most optimal movements.

Treating the water as a base, I moved in a way that reduced water resistance, allowing me to move faster. Stepping on the water and taking steps underwater, evading the tuna’s attacks was easy.

While evading, I kept thinking about how to attack.

Magic stones activate five seconds after the keyword is spoken. The timing of sinking underwater and casting on the surface, as well as the tuna’s swimming path, might not align.

My attack method was the knife. How could I use it?

I recalled how to use a knife in my head. Push and pull. These are the basic movements. So, how could I push and pull the tuna underwater?

Just as the tuna approached.

I tightened my sides and stabbed the knife into the markers with both hands.

This time, I kicked the water and used my leg strength in the water current.

When the force of the tuna’s movement and my movement intersected, the knife moved smoothly.

(Good, it cut.)

Just fixing the blade and using the mutual force to cut.

The water resistance is high, so swinging my arms wildly is less effective than a slashing attack while swimming.

This is the result.

This one strike was a smooth cut, but it slightly deviated halfway. Next time, I would make sure to follow the line precisely.

This time, I took the initiative.

I kicked the water and approached the tuna head-on.

Gaining speed in the water, I created my own water current.

At the moment we closed in on each other, I dodged and stabbed the longest marker, then kicked and ran to the tail.

With the momentum of the run-up, I managed to cut the marker cleanly without losing strength.

This gave me some confidence, but time was running out.

I surfaced once to adjust my posture.

"Finally, I’ve taken off 10%. There’s still 90% left."

The tenth challenge.

I approached head-on, charging forward. A head-on chicken race. If I failed to evade at the right moment, the tuna, which has more mass, would take me down. But just evading and cutting wouldn’t deal significant damage.

My HP decreased with each crossing. And the final head-on confrontation.

The knife smoothly slid into the tuna’s body, eventually leading to its demise.

(...Dissection complete... or something.)

It was a formidable opponent. One-on-one, it was stronger than any MOB I had faced before. Comparing it to a boss might be a stretch, but given the environment, it felt even stronger than a boss.

A treasure chest, the reward for defeating a unique enemy, appeared and sank in the water.

I hurriedly chased it, confirmed it had settled on the bottom, and opened the chest.

(Well, what kind of items will a farmed bluefin tuna drop?)

I looked at the items with high expectations, and my eyes widened. Then, I kicked the water with all my might and shot up to the surface to convey this thought.

"Yoshoku, as in Western food!?"

The item was a Western cuisine set.

It included a pasta maker, a bowl, a stockpot, a large magic stove, and various other tools.

It was helpful, but I could tell the developers were being playful with the naming. Still, I couldn’t help but feel unsatisfied.

"Ah, I’m so tired. I’ll check the underwater area one more time and then head back."

I dove towards the artificial structures I had found underwater. The building was made of stone, with only one entrance.

Once inside, the interior was filled with air, and torches were hanging.

"Hey, these torches are wet and can’t be used, right?"

Despite this thought, I tried to light one with the matches from the cooking set, and it lit. It’s a game, so it works.

As I lit more torches and moved forward, I could see the entire room.

It was a long, stone-walled room, plastered and painted with various animal images.

Wolves, tigers, giant birds, elephants, bears, foxes, dragons, and many other animals coexisting with humans. There were no words, only images.

As I explored the room, I found a passage leading to another space, but it had collapsed and was impassable.

I carefully searched the surroundings but found only animal paintings.

I took screenshots of them one by one to ensure I didn’t miss any. There were also coexistence images on the ceiling.

As I moved deeper, the images changed.

Humans, who once coexisted with animals, began to domesticate them, and the domesticated animals valued their connection with humans.

One particularly striking presence in these images stood out.

A creature with a large, jagged mouth and sharp, uneven teeth, a black body with countless tentacles, and a color scheme that enhanced its horror. Its body was twisted in impossible directions, and the places where its sunken eyes should have been were empty cavities.

This creature captured animals with its tentacles and threw them into its ominous mouth.

Many of these creatures appeared, trampling the animals, completely destroying the pastoral impression of the previous murals.

They seemed to be the natural enemies of these animals.

"Maybe this is the setting, just a guess."

Then, people armed themselves and fought against these natural enemies. Each of them aimed at the hidden eyes behind the creatures.

At the end of these heavy murals, it was treasure time again.

The treasure chest at the deepest