Extra's Perfect Ending

Chapter 107: Glowing lake

The place looked like some kind of dinner table, and today’s meal was a roasted monster with some aqua liquid dripping off its corpse. Not the most appetizing meal in his opinion, but what did he know? He wasn’t a giant who used to rule this place.

More importantly, the corpse was already rotting. He doubted anyone could eat a rotten corpse, even if they were giant people. He wished it was just a normal rotten corpse and not a liquid-dripping one that he now had to traverse.

He looked around for something he could use to cross the aqua pool. There was some rubble lying around, so he tried to grab a piece to throw into the lake. But when he tried to lift it, he couldn’t move it. The rubble wasn’t that big, and he wasn’t that weak, but it wouldn’t budge an inch.

Puzzled, he tried to move one of the smaller pieces of rubble, but no matter how much effort he put in, it didn’t move at all.

This wasn’t normal. There had to be something he was missing for him not to be able to move objects in this place. He thought back on his journey so far.

For most of his time in this land, nothing had reacted to him. He remembered the field of reeds; it had parted as he walked by. Why did the reeds react to him but not this rubble?

He thought back to when other things reacted to him. There was another time: when the giant skeleton came out and killed him. Did he have to circulate mystic power for things to react? That seemed like the most logical conclusion.

But then, wouldn’t the skeleton come for him if he used mystic power here? It didn’t really matter, though. In this place, he couldn’t actually die; he would just come back, again and again. Some of his happiness seeped through his body.

He let the mystic power circulate through his veins as he picked up a rock nearby. With a heave, he threw the rubble as far as he could. It bounced four times before sinking to the bottom of the lake, creating ripples across the surface.

Reeva smiled, letting out some emotion after suppressing it for so long. The liquid felt very different from water; it seemed denser and murkier than normal water.

Seeing that he could potentially use the rubble to float across the liquid, he pushed a larger piece of rubble onto the surface. He didn’t expect much since this piece was much bigger than the one he had thrown, but surprisingly, it floated. He wondered if he could actually walk across the entire liquid.

It was dense enough to make a giant piece of rubble float, so it might be enough for him to float as well. However, he wasn’t about to gamble on the liquid being safe.

Earlier, he realized that when he touched the liquid with a body not infused with mystic power, he seemed impervious to its effects. Now that he had infused himself with mystic power, he would likely get hurt if he touched the liquid.

He’s pretty sure that this theory is true, if not he would just look like a fool but if true he would be a lot safer.

With careful steps, he got onto the big piece of rubble. One foot at a time he got in the rubble testing if it was floating. He puts more weight on the stone rubble until his body is finally on the whole thing.

With careful steps, Reeva got onto the big piece of rubble. One foot at a time, he tested if the makeshift raft could hold his weight. Slowly, he put more pressure on the stone rubble until his entire body was balanced on it.

Spotting a nearby piece of rubble shaped like a long paddle, he grabbed it and began to use it to row. It wasn’t very effective, but it moved him forward. Each stroke took effort, and the thick consistency of the liquid made rowing uncomfortable. Every push brought him a little closer to the pile of bones in the middle.

With each stroke, the liquid separated, revealing a light blue color beneath its surface.

Suddenly—

Plop.

Something moved in the vast lake, and Reeva was pretty sure it wasn’t his doing. A slight ripple formed in the liquid a few meters away from him. A sense of dread crept over him, he didn’t want to know what lurked in this thick lake where rubble floated.

Carefully, he retracted the paddle from the water’s surface and quickly scanned the area, looking for whatever had caused the disturbance. Soon, he spotted it. The surface, murky and thick, parted in a way that wasn’t caused by him. It was at least ten meters away.

Reeva dipped the paddle back into the water but this time, he wiggled it gently, trying to get a sense of the thing beneath. He couldn’t imagine what was inside the lake. The liquid didn’t seem to support life. Whatever was moving must have survived off the rotting pile of flesh left behind by the giant monster on the plate.

A few moments later, another ripple appeared, this time closer. Reeva’s heart quickened as he saw it, a fin breaking the surface.

Is it some kind of fish? In this lake?

He didn’t want to stick around to find out, not before he reached the island of bones in the middle. But it seemed the creature in the lake had other plans. The fin cut through the water, heading straight for him.

Reeva started rowing faster, each stroke heavier than the last. The paddle fought against the dense liquid, but he pushed with all his strength. The fin moved closer, cutting a sharp line through the surface. He could see it clearly now—dark and sleek, like an unnatural predator adapted to this strange environment.

The surface of the lake bulged, and Reeva saw a glint of something metallic under the liquid—a row of sharp, serrated teeth. The creature lunged.