Grotesque life-forms that looked like bundles of tentacles lashed together by the strand emerged onto the deck.
They were unmistakably merfolk. Ishmael's guess—that this was a ship swept up by the wave—had clearly proven true.
Slash!
"Eek."
But first, deal with them.
This merfolk, true to its tentacled form, came at me while whipping the tentacles that made up its body.
Still, it was slow. The situation wasn't so dire that I had to do anything insane, and in a fight where all I had to do was handle my assigned role from a proper position, I could dodge it while yawning.
...I'm using my eyes, but I'm still proud of it. This is my ability too. What. Why.
After a light read, execute the motion. If I time it properly, almost like dancing... there.
Thud—
"────!!!"
"One hit, at least."
As always, it was a thoroughly defensive method of gnawing away at the enemy.
In a battle where I only had to account for one person's worth of work, there was no reason or need to do any more than that. If I didn't create variables, I'd win without issue.
Boring combat style, sure, but... well, in the first place, combat is better when there aren't any variables.
There's no need to do anything strange. Yeah.
"Hup!"
Slash—!
"────...."
"Good. One down."
Take it easy. Easy. I only step in when things get truly annoying.
The merfolk's assault ended before long.
The biggest reason was simple: the enemy had a limit to its numbers.
Unlike the last wave, this time they'd only suffered indirect damage when the ship was engulfed by the wave. Naturally, there could only be as many merfolk as there had been people aboard the ship.
"So they were... merfolk after all."
"They probably got so caught up in the party that they... forgot to follow the rules. So..."
"They got swallowed whole by the wave."
"Right?"
"So the ship was left with no one on it..."
"Even if our ship hadn't broken the rules, if we got tangled up with another ship that had and was swallowed by the wave, depending on the wave, we could end up taking damage too."
With a single moment of carelessness, a life sinks down into the depths of the lake.
The Great Lake is that kind of place. A place where everyone lives in a continuous struggle. A place where you can't survive unless you pry into the unknown, stay on edge to a pathological degree, and live a paranoid life.
...Just like Ishmael, right now.
I understood why Ishmael had once wanted to say something to the Sinners about the Great Lake. It had been a reasonable thing to do.
If she hadn't ended up clashing so badly with Dante, I would probably have supported her opinion to some extent too.
A meaningless hypothetical, though.
Given Ishmael's personality, she would have clashed no matter what, and I would have sided with Dante. In the end, that was the flow I had to follow.
...If I said I didn't regret not mediating between the two a little better, I'd be lying.
"So this is the road you've been walking..."
There was a hint in Dante's voice that suggested he understood Ishmael a little.
He was such a kind person to the prisoners that he'd probably even embrace the woman who stabbed him.
...Was it time to put an end to this rotten emotional brawl, too?
"We've dealt with the merfolk that came aboard, but if we waste time, that thing will start coming for us next. The party is over. Let's return."
Following Otis's instructions, we quickly left the cruise ship behind.
...
"In the end, we didn't get any real information. My judgment was wrong. I should have thought about it more carefully."
"......"
Ishmael silently looked at Dante.
Then she tossed out a single line.
"As long as we survived, that's enough."
...Had her feelings changed a little? Or was she just changing her attitude because she had to? I couldn't tell.
These eyes only let me glimpse one possibility or another. They didn't have some convenient ability to read people's hearts.
"Still, we did manage to secure more supplies."
Ah, getting luxury goods is important. Most of it was food, though, so in a few days it would end up in someone's stomach anyway.
...I could see a smear of cream at the corner of Rodion's mouth. Fast.
Hmm... come to think of it, it was about time...
"......"
A faint light returned to the eyes that hadn't been functioning properly for a while.
Beyond the sea... I began to see what lay "past" ordinary sight. More than that, the view beyond... at last, even our "destination" came into view.
Was it been a while since I properly activated it? Sure enough, I hadn't had much reason to use this at full capacity lately. I had used it a little during the wave, at least.
In any case, the endlessly spreading field of vision finally began to reveal a large building.
...It looks a little strange, doesn't it? Wait, just a little more...
The moment I caught it in my sight, a new signal appeared on the radar.
"Hey, something large that wasn't there before has shown up on the radar."
"...It's significantly closer to the center of the coordinates."
"Then this point is..."
"The Lobotomy Corporation branch in District 21... probably."
It does look like a Lobotomy Corporation branch, but... something's wrong. Normally, it shouldn't be covered in that much white...
"Ugh..."
The moment my concentration broke from the grotesque sight, the eye's ability cut off.
As the field of vision that had stretched to its limit suddenly narrowed, dizziness rose in my head.
What... was that?
Ever since [Synchronization] stage 4, the eye's performance had clearly improved, and it had captured that bizarre sight in full. That was also when I became able to use this ability properly.
Strange. The Lobotomy Corporation branch shouldn't have looked like that. Did I... misread it a little?
"...I'm going to step outside and get some air for a bit."
Then Ishmael moved to another spot. Should I follow? Ah, um... haah... damn it.
I thought it would be right not to follow, but my feet were already moving.
"Going after her?"
"I'm going to get some air too."
"...Come back safely."
"Yes. Ah, but you're not asking about what happened earlier? I thought you'd be curious."
"Would you answer if I asked?"
"No?"
"......"
Hey, I did give some advice that was at least a little helpful! That should be enough.
"If you try to learn too much, trouble follows."
"I don't think you're the one who should be saying that..."
"I'm already too late. Consider it advice from someone with experience."
Though right now, I'm only half-baked.
"...Fine. Just hurry back. Didn't you have something to say to Ishmael? You'll be late."
"Ah, right. Thank you. I'll be back."
I hurried toward the deck. It looked like things would get too busy for a private conversation before long. I had to move now.
"...Keep your head together. If you keep showing your feelings like that..."
"Ishmael."
"...!"
She looked at me, startled.
"You followed me..."
"Enough. I'm done with doing foolish things."
"What do you mean by that... ngh..."
I walked up close to her. Very close. Close enough to be pressed right against her.
And then...
Headbutt!
Thud!
"Agh...! What are you doing?!"
"Just being petty."
And a little bit of mischief.
"I wondered what you were doing, coming over here all of a sudden and saying something like that..."
"Keeping an eye on each other the whole time was stupid, so I just charged in first."
"......"
"Haaah, in the first place, I... no, forget it. No point saying it. You won't listen even if I do. See you later. Talk to yourself if you want. I'm done here."
I left right after that.
Maybe someone would call it impulsive. Hmm... sure, that wouldn't be wrong. Even I thought I looked like a lunatic.
Still, one thing was certain: the awkwardness in her eyes had definitely faded compared to before.
That makes this a little easier to bear. Though looking at that woman now, there was no way she'd be the first to start a conversation anyway.
But this was enough. My face was burning, but at least I no longer felt like I'd suffocate from the frustration right this instant.
Besides, her mind seemed to be a little out of it too. That should keep her from throwing some ridiculous fit.
...That sounds a little harsh when I put it like that.
Let's go back now. The real mission would begin soon.
...The exploration of the Lobotomy Corporation branch.
All the prisoners were out on the deck. At a time like this, there was only one reason for that.
Vergilius's low voice, clearly explaining that reason, rang out around us.
"Ah... so that's it. Our destination, the Lobotomy Corporation branch in U Corp."
"Will the survivors the pilot mentioned... be safe?"
"...There should be enough time left to live. If nothing happened."
While Sinclair and Yi Sang were speaking, the fog surrounding the Lobotomy Corporation branch began to clear, and the massive building came into view.
The sight was... horrific. The entire branch was covered in something like white mucous membrane. Worse still, that membrane was writhing like a living thing, with vein-like strands clinging to it.
...So what I saw earlier wasn't a hallucination. Unfortunately.
"Huh. Creepy."
If the most aesthetically ruined person among us described it that way, there was no need to add anything.
"So... that really is the Lobotomy Corporation branch?"
"Given how close it is to the center of the coordinate range, and how its size matches the information we were given, yes."
Faust answered Gregor's question.
...That answer just dropped the LCCB's survival odds below one in ten. No matter how you looked at it, that sight meant something had happened—the kind of thing Yi Sang had warned us about.
"Ah... ahh..."
"Ishmael?"
What now?
"I can make out the Lobotomy Corporation emblem between the white masses."
"Then... that really is..."
Rodion's unfinished sentence—Lobotomy Corporation branch—was swallowed back down.
Blasphemously murky white. And in the middle of it, the gleaming emblem of Lobotomy Corporation.
Our fifth exploration of a Lobotomy Corporation branch began with that grotesque sight.