The sea. The father of all nature and the starting point of all life.

Countless forms of life had emerged because the sea existed. It could be called the source of all water. Without water, any living creature would simply shrivel up and die, which made the sea more important than anything.

But as nature's “father,” the sea was stern. Not just stern, but unfathomable. Someone once said that even after humanity understood the entire universe, it would take longer still to understand the sea.

The rise and fall of sea levels also determined whether people could live somewhere. That was how intimately the sea was tied to our lives, even as it remained complex and dangerous.

SHHHHHH

A thought suddenly occurred to me. It looked like a color made by melting blue sapphire crystals.

A flat sandy beach without any squelching mudflats. Waves gently wetting the sand. On the surface, it was an ordinary, beautiful sea.

A salt-laden breeze and seagulls flying freely through the sky. It couldn't have looked more peaceful. But I absolutely could not let that fool me.

SHHHHHHH!

Turning my head, I saw the river connected to the sea. Strangely, their colors were sharply divided, as if marking the boundary between river and sea. That, too, looked beautiful. The reality was another matter.

'... The sea is flowing into the river?'

The sea was where rivers ended up. It was safe to say that nearly all rivers flowed into the sea. At least, that was what I knew as “common sense.” I'd never heard of the reverse. And here I was, watching that common sense get utterly destroyed with my own two eyes.

'This can't be happening...'

When I first came face-to-face with the sea, I'd felt surprisingly little despair. I'd spotted a river branch flowing in another direction along the way, and there had been places worth exploring.

But the moment I saw seawater flowing backward into the river, my head reeled. It felt as if everything I knew was crumbling. I doubted whether this was even the kind of “environment” I understood.

'I need to check... whether it's really the sea...'

Slightly unhinged by the sight, I decided to check whether this really was the sea. There was salt in the breeze, but perhaps it had picked that up elsewhere. I wouldn't be satisfied until I'd taken a sip to check.

“Pffaugh! Ptoo! Ptoo! Ptooey!”

It tasted like intensely salty water, with some sand mixed in. Judging by that, it was definitely the sea. The intermittent waves backed that up.

Guess what I found following the river?

Wild Grylls

(Photo of a vast sea)

(Photo of the sea surging backward into the river)

That's right, I found the sea! Amazingly, instead of the river flowing into the sea, the sea flows backward into the river!

Fantasy worlds are so fascinating! How does nothing but this kind of bullshit ever happen here!

Do I have to swim across that sea to escape? Someone, anyone, please tell me!

└Heavenly Demon A beautiful sea indeed. But are you all right? Despair seems to seep from your words.

└Sword Masta Obviously not. Read the room, please...

└Heavenly Demon Have I done something wrong?

└Sword Masta Yes. At times like this, just shut up and offer encouragement.

└Heavenly Demon You're really showing how little experience you have dealing with people...

└For real. If they're actually an old fart, that's seriously bad. Otherwise they're probably just a kid.

└Nah, surprisingly many nobles are like that. Spoiled rotten, clueless little shits.

└Especially kids born to older parents.

└Starlight Lady I've never seen a sea flowing into a river... You're sure that's the sea?

└Wild Grylls Yes. I took a sip just in case. It was incredibly salty.

└Starlight Lady Hmm... Stay strong. I don't really know what else to say.

└Wild Grylls Seas never flow into rivers, right?

└Starlight Lady Never mind “never.” Such a thing is impossible in a world shaped by the gods. What sort of place is the Forest of Four Seasons...?

└Wild Grylls Maybe the gods are incompetent?

└Don't Abandon the Hero Don't blaspheme! The goddess is perfect and infallible!

└Wild Grylls Perfect and infallible my ass, lol. The very existence of a forest like this makes no sense.

└Don't Abandon the Hero That still doesn't mean you should insult her! There must be a reason!

└Wild Grylls I'll have to swear my head off at her once I hear the reason. Or just swear at her anyway.

└Don't Abandon the Hero Just stop swearing at her!!!

└Allfather A sea flowing into a river... Could you show us some more footage?

└Wild Grylls (Video 2 of the sea flowing backward into the river) Want to see more?

└Allfather No. That will suffice. This... I don't understand this either. It completely violates the laws of nature. I cannot make sense of it.

└Maybe the lake and the sea have swapped roles?

└But Grylls, wasn't the river water salty?

└Wild Grylls Nope, not salty at all. Just tasted normal.

└That's weird in its own right. Why isn't it salty?

└It really won't let anyone even get close...

The forum went wild. Naturally, since a phenomenon that completely defied the laws of the world had appeared. Even in a world that mixed fantasy with martial arts, nature apparently worked much the same way. Well, a world where space twisted at random and seas flowed backward as a matter of course would be insane. It would be no place for people to live. Normal really was best.

Just asking to be sure

Wild Grylls

Space doesn't warp and seas don't flow backward in this world, right? It's just this place that's weird?

└Nope. If that shit was normal, this world would be doomed.

└There are some monsters who can casually slice through space itself, but they have to count as exceptions.

└We have common sense too, Grylls...

└Wild Grylls That's a relief.

I'd asked just in case. Everyone said this was abnormal. Apparently, immense powers sometimes collided and warped space, but those were extremely rare exceptions. Besides, most such cases resulted from “artificial” forces. For something like this to happen “naturally” was impossible.

'Anyway, this is so fucking pointlessly huge.'

There was nothing but sea stretching out past the horizon. In contrast to that wide-open view, I felt completely hemmed in. What should I do now? The sea was so damn vast I couldn't come up with a plan.

'Let's look around first. I need to find some sort of trace.'

Thanks to the backward-flowing river, I didn't need to worry about getting lost. The clean sandy beach was easy to walk along, too.

'I'd better be careful. There might be more weird things living here.'

That didn't mean I could drop my guard. For starters, there were far too many suspicious things here. First, it was too quiet. The creatures at the lake had been busy fighting each other. The river was no different. Hadn't I just seen some spotted predator go flying before I got here? By contrast, this place was too quiet, even for the seaside.

'It's too clean, too.'

Second, the beach was far too clean. I couldn't see a single trace of any animal. At least the lakeshore had little crabs. There weren't even any of those here. Surely that meant some powerful beast lived nearby. Every step made me nervous.

SHHHHHHH!

'There's more than one river.'

Before long, I found another river. Here, too, the sea was flowing backward into it. Following it with my eyes, I saw a jungle far denser than the forest I lived in. Trees were packed tightly together, with green everywhere. It was a jungle in every sense of the word. Perhaps I'd have to go there someday.

'And not just the jungle.'

The snowy mountains, desert, swamp, volcano, and other places I'd seen across the river. I might have to venture into those places to find a clue to escaping. But if I did go there, wouldn't it be when I'd lost most of my hope of escape? However strong I grew to suit this forest, those places would be difficult to survive.

'I'd just be going there to die...'

RUMMMBLE!

I was staring at the jungle entrance, briefly lost in thought, when the ground began to shake. Nothing good had ever come of the ground shaking. I immediately went on guard.

'Where? Where's it coming from...?'

FWUMP!

As I frantically searched for the source of the tremors, something burst out of the ground. It was mostly red and towered well above my head. With suckers visible along its length, it looked unmistakably like an octopus arm.

It whipped around.

“Aaagh!”

The octopus arm that had burst from the sand wrapped around my leg and yanked me off my feet. It happened so suddenly I nearly dropped my sword and shield. Just as it was about to drag me into the sand, I barely managed to cut through it with my sword.

SHICK!

The octopus arm sliced off easily. It shuddered, perhaps in pain. Taking advantage of that moment, I sprang up and readied my gear. I'd pull off the severed arm clinging around my leg like a rope later.

FWUMP! FWUMP!

Had losing an arm really pissed it off that much? Several more arms shot out of the sand, swaying like tentacles. After considering my options, I chose to break straight through. Getting out of here came first.

WHOOSH!

One of the many octopus arms hurtled toward me. This time it plunged down from above, apparently trying to impale me rather than bind my feet. The other tentacles—no, arms—weren't idle either. Downward stabs, whipping strikes, attempts to grab my legs. The variety of attacks made my head spin, but I stayed as calm as I could.

'The closest ones first!'

I dodged the downward stab and barely blocked a whipping strike with my shield. Finally, I cut through the tentacle trying to bind my feet before it could reach them.

SHICK!

A large chunk of an octopus arm fell away. The other arms twitched, perhaps from the pain. I seized the opportunity and decided to run for it. If the fight continued like this, I'd end up at a disadvantage.

SWHOOOSH!

As I fled, the arms began chasing me. The ones I'd cut stopped partway, unable to reach any farther, but the others didn't. In the end, I had no choice but to fight. Still, this was much better than being attacked from every direction.

'Dodge, block with the shield, cut with the sword.'

I blocked whatever I couldn't dodge with my shield. Even blocking demanded speed. And a block wasn't the end of it. Without a proper counterattack, I'd be trapped in an endless cycle.

Every strike mattered, but I had Heavenly Demon's sword and aura. The aura in particular let me cut far beyond the sword's natural reach.

SHICK! SHICK!

ROOOOOAR!

As I repeated the process, cutting off its arms, a strange sound came from beneath the sand. Its body was probably screaming in pain. Served it right.

SWOOSH! SWISH!

Apparently deciding this wasn't going to work, it finally retreated. The octopus arms vanished back into the sand. I panted heavily, then steadied my breathing.

That ambush had nearly cost me my life for nothing. Thank goodness I'd sensed something suspicious and been ready.

'But is it really an octopus?'

The suckers made it look like one. But an octopus living in the sand...

'No. Don't get hung up on common sense.'

I shook my head. It was all meaningless anyway. How many times had this place already defied everything I knew? I couldn't rely on common sense. An octopus living under the sand wasn't strange here.

'If the land is like this, what lives in the sea?'

I turned to look at the sea. The starting point of all life. What sort of monsters lived in those waters? I was already afraid, but I still had work to do.

'There's an octopus this way, so I'll have to go the other way.'

Finding a clue to escape. That was my top priority.

'I will get out of here.'

No matter what.