71. Underwater Exploration

71. Underwater Exploration

“Th-the middle of the Arctic Ocean?!”

“Kkae-aeng?!”

To pop out in the middle of the Arctic Ocean. Seol-gu also seemed surprised, as if he hadn’t expected this, and barked.

“No, I misspoke. Not the middle, but rather… should I say the coast.”

“So, it’s not the middle?”

“Yeah.”

That’s a relative relief. For a moment, I thought we had suddenly appeared in the very center of the Arctic Ocean, and I was terrified. I let out a sigh of relief, “Hoo.”

“This is my first time in this sea!”

“Really?”

“Yes!”

I had lived on land my entire life. As a wolf, that’s natural.

Moreover, there was no sea near where my tribe lived, so I hadn’t seen even the ‘s’ of sea since I was reincarnated.

“Seol-gu, you too, right?”

“Kkang!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

I patted Seol-gu’s head as he flailed his limbs and shouted. It was so soft and squishy.

Anyway, there’s no way a fox would have been to the sea if even a wolf hasn’t.

Actually, if I had had the chance to visit the sea before, I wouldn’t have wanted to come. Perhaps because I’m a wolf suin, I really hated getting wet.

But now, it was a little different. I have magic, and I have Seol-gu. Instead of getting wet, I can swim to my heart’s content, warm and dry.

In this situation, there was no reason to dislike the water. Rather, I would exclaim in wonder at the strange sights underwater.

Heh heh.

What would the underwater scenery of the Arctic look like, something I’m seeing for the first time in both my past and present lives? I wagged my tail vigorously and looked at the sea….

“Huh?”

Before me, there was only a desolate sea.

It looked as if something had completely plowed through the land. The ground where fish should have hidden and seaweed should have grown lushly was all messed up and overturned.

Should I say that nothing that should be there was present? Apart from the occasional fish, the entire expanse from here to there was just sand, making it look like a desert of the sea.

I was taken aback by the completely unexpected sight and had to hold my breath.

“A-Uncle, is the sea normally like this?”

“No.”

Only now could I properly see Uncle’s face, and he was looking around the sea with a serious expression. This confirmed that the sea was not in a normal state.

“Normally… there are more fish, and seaweed, and sometimes penguins catching fish, and seals too.”

“P-penguins.”

Penguins, just imagining it makes me want to shrink.

Of course, it’s not that I can’t defeat them, it’s just that their sharp beaks and terrifying appearance alone frighten me. I’m a magic wolf, so I can easily defeat penguins. Really.

“Judging by the tracks… it looks like the worm did this.”

“Huh.”

We swam down to the bottom of the sea. Seeing it up close, I could better appreciate the horrific scene.

Not only seaweed but also clams, barnacles, crabs, and fish were all dying under the sand.

Looking at the tracks that resembled a long cylinder sweeping across the land, it seemed to be the work of the mechanical worm that had swept through every inch of the ground.

“Kkang kkang, kkang!”

“Seol-gu….”

Seol-gu cried out loudly, “Kkang kkang,” as if angered by this destruction of nature. I couldn’t even speak properly.

When the mechanical spiders were mining ice crystals, honestly, it didn’t really resonate with me. To me, they were just glowing blue stones.

Even when Sister diligently explained the importance of ice crystals, strictly speaking, I was only shocked that the Ice fruit was disappearing.

But now, seeing the living creatures suffering with my own eyes… it hurt my heart.

Perhaps it’s just because my body is young. Children are naturally emotional. But even so, the fact that this scene shocked me remains unchanged.

“Seol-gu, I’m sorry….”

“Kkang?”

“I actually… took lightly your suggestion to defeat these bad machines.”

I treated catching the mechanical worm with Seol-gu as a kind of fun game. I only thought using magic was fun.

But now I think I understand a little. How big of a deal this is. How… important it is.

I steadied my resolve and shouted to Seol-gu.

“So, from now on, I’ll help you for real…! I, the strong and powerful wolf Rang Seol-ah, will… Huk.”

“Kkae-aeng!!”

I frantically barked “Kkang kkang” at the fading stone. Fortunately, I was able to restore the stone before the magic wore off.

“Sigh….”

To ruin the entire atmosphere like this in an instant. It’s sad.

Seol-gu licked my cheek as I sighed. I’m not sure if he was trying to comfort me, but it was ticklish.

“Kkang kkang.”

“It tickles, stop it.”

I pushed Seol-gu’s face away with a sulky expression. Still, I can’t deny that I felt a little better.

“Uncle, what’s over there?”

“No. Nothing.”

“What do we do now?”

Uncle was searching the surroundings nearby. But there was nothing in this empty sea wasteland. Since there was nothing, there wasn’t much we could do.

Even though I had resolved to defeat the bad machines…

We gathered together and put our heads together to think.

“We either go home or, like you said, catch that worm or eel and go home.”

“Can we go home?”

“If we follow this ridge up, we’ll reach land. If we go in the opposite direction from where we came from the tunnel, we’ll find the lake we entered. Then we can go home.”

“How do we break through the ice?”

The water surface was completely blocked by ice. I don’t know if it’s a glacier or just frozen seawater, but it seemed like there was no way for us to go up.

“That ice sheet is too thick to break through. We have to find a hole.”

“Can’t Uncle break it?”

“I can’t use my full strength underwater.”

“Huk….”

I remembered Uncle breaking the ice sheet by hitting it with his fist during ice fishing. But it seemed impossible now that we were underwater.

If so, it means we have to find a hole to get out… I asked Seol-gu.

“Seol-gu, can you find a way out?”

“Kkang kkang.”

Seol-gu gave a confident expression as if to say, ‘Just trust me.’ I’m not sure if he’s trustworthy, but his face makes me want to hit him.

“So… we can get out, but what do we do now?”

“I don’t know about that.”

Fortunately, I received confirmation that we could go home. So, the remaining question is whether or not to catch the mechanical worm, but to do that, we first need to know where the mechanical worm is.

I pondered for a moment, resting my chin on my hand, and asked Seol-gu.

“Kkang kkang kkang, kkang kkang?”

“Kkang kae-aeng kkang kkang!”

“Kae-aeng… yip?”

“Kkang!”

Seol-gu nodded affirmatively. I asked Seol-gu again.

“Kae kae-aeng, kkang kkang?”

“Kae-aeng, kkang kkang.”

Meanwhile, Uncle, who had been watching us converse, interjected.

“You communicate with just ‘Kkang’? That’s amazing.”

“No, I was just saying anything.”

“Huh?”

How could a person communicate with just ‘Kkang’? I’m not a polar fox like Seol-gu. I was just barking “Kkang kkang” next to Seol-gu out of boredom.

“Kkang?!”

Seol-gu cried out in surprise upon hearing my words, as if asking, ‘Was it really like that?’ His expression was quite amusing.

Heh heh, maybe it’s because he’s a fox. I never thought he’d be so easily fooled by my casual “Kkang.”

Anyway, enough with the games. I cleared my throat and asked Seol-gu properly.

“Seol-gu, do you know where the mechanical worm is?”

Seol-gu has excellent sensory abilities. He can sense danger and warn us.

Seeing as he didn’t know about the tunnel collapsing, it seems like his ability activates based on his own preferences, but for now, Seol-gu was all we had to rely on.

Seol-gu immediately barked “Kkang” and pointed somewhere.

His short front paws pointed towards the deep sea. Following the direction, I could see Seol-gu’s small, round, and soft paw pads.

… I want to touch them.

“Huk.”

No, this isn’t the time for that. I asked Seol-gu again.

“How far is it? Is it a distance we can swim?”

If it’s too far to catch up, it’s better to go home first. If we can catch up, it’s better to deal with it here and now.

“Kkang kkang, kkang!”

Seol-gu barked. But I couldn’t understand what he was saying. I asked Seol-gu again.

“Speak human language!”

“Kae-aeng… yip.”

Seol-gu made a displeased expression. But since I couldn’t understand, there was nothing I could do.

Seol-gu swam to the bottom and, surprisingly, began writing numbers in the sand with his front paws. I was startled and said with wide eyes.

“Huk… You can write?!”

“Kkang kkang.”

Seol-gu replied calmly, as if it were nothing. While I was surprised by Seol-gu’s talent that Sister hadn’t discovered, I looked at the numbers Seol-gu wrote and saw ’10.’

“10? 10 minutes? Or 10 hours?”

“Kkang kkang.”

Seol-gu shook his head and wrote numbers in the sand again.

“9?”

“Kkang.”

Seol-gu wrote numbers again.

8.

7.

6.

“S-surely….”

I looked at Seol-gu with a pale face.

Then, a very loud roar echoed throughout the entire sea.

-Kiiiiiiik!!

“Seol-gu, you have to say things like that quickly!!!”

The meaning of the numbers Seol-gu wrote was that there were 10 seconds left.