The biggest thing that jumped out at Nathan was that the fish was looking at him.

  Whales and fish had the eyes at the sides of their heads, ordinarily. This thing was an anatomical anomaly.

  Nathan also noted the fact that in his internal thoughts, he referred to fish and whales as the same. This was obviously incorrect, because whales were mammals and—

  The whale opened its mouth and Nathan felt the fear of God strike him like a lightning bolt.

  Pressure hit him from all sides from sudden placement underwater—if he had had time to adjust, it wouldn't have been too big of a deal.

  But as it was, he was feeling an enormous amount of strain.

  Wait a second, Nathan thought. I'm underwater!

  Nathan transformed his body into water.

  His harpoon sank toward the ocean floor.

  He felt the pressure recede. This made sense, as he was now water instead of squishy human flesh.

  So that means I'm pretty much invincible, Nathan thought. This thing can't get to me. I'll go get my harpoon and then—

  Was something tugging his body?

  He tried to pull away, but couldn't.

  It was like he was being sucked in, along with all of the water surrounding him.

  And what direction was he going in?

  The whale's open mouth, of course.

  Either that whale could somehow sense where Nathan was, or he was just having the worst luck of his life.

  He strained and pulled against the whale's gullet, but to no avail.

  You've got to be kidding me! Am I really about to get killed by a freaking whale?!

  Nathan didn't want to know what would happen when he got into that thing's intestines.

  Nathan summoned his energy and [True Maelstrom] appeared over the whale's head. A swirling vortex of water. It crashed down onto the whale and the whale was forced back. Despite that, the pull continued. If anything, it looked irritated instead of scared.

  A wave of fatigue washed over Nathan.

  It had only been yesterday when he'd been shot through the freaking neck. Now he was fighting a giant killer whale?

  The iridescent sheen of the harpoon seemed to flood his awareness.

  He reached out with one of his watery tendrils and wrapped a limb around it.

  Instinctively, he knew that the amount of force he'd be able to generate with his water limbs wouldn't be as high as with actual muscle. He transformed back into a human and gripped the harpoon with his fingers.

  We used to hunt things like you with things like these, he thought.

  The whale kept on sucking. He reared back his harpoon and then swung forward as hard as he could.

  The harpoon shot through the water, leaving a vortex behind it.

  The whale stopped sucking in liquid and moved away with surprising speed for something of its size.

  For a moment, Nathan thought that the harpoon would actually miss.

  And then it performed a perfect 90-degree turn, keeping all its momentum, and speared directly into the chest of the whale.

  The whale writhed in the water and red mist colored the ocean.

  [You have leveled up!]

  [You have leveled up!]

  [You have leveled up!]

  [You have leveled up!]

  A rainbow gleam.

  The harpoon sped back toward Nathan and his heart jumped.

  He covered his chest and folded his body and—the harpoon stopped right in front of him, flipped around, and knocked into his closed fist.

  Nathan's eyes opened.

  The harpoon hovered next to him.

  He hesitantly reached out and grabbed it.

  In the background, the whale sank toward the ocean floor.

  Huh, he thought. Okay, looks like the harpoon upgrade was worth it.

  He narrowed his eyes.

  Wait, if I had put my fishing rod in there, would it have upgraded it to something past A-rank?

  Ah, shit.

  Nathan swam back to shore over the course of about an hour.

  He eventually concluded that no, the upgrader probably wouldn't have upgraded his fishing rod to A-rank. He suspected that it had automatically maxed out whatever he had to A-rank, no matter the starting rank of the weapon. It was either that, or there would have to be such a thing as SSSSS+ rank given how many times his harpoon rank had jumped. And granted, Nathan didn't have any evidence that said SSSSS+ weapons were impossible, but he thought B32's aesthetic sensibilities would mean that it wouldn't make any sense.

  He still felt like a little bit of an idiot for not putting his fishing rod into the upgrader.

  When he did finally get back to shore, the beach was empty, save for the occasional palm tree. He had no idea where the village was, and he didn't particularly care.

  “Now,” he muttered. “Following the pattern, I'll accidentally stumble upon the third Celestial Laser Beam Generator and be forced into activating it.

  “But not this time,” he said. “This time, the main quest can go screw itself with a pole. There's no way that anybody on the face of the planet could possibly convince me to change my mind on this.”

  He looked up at the sky, half expecting that the generator would drop on top of his head. Nothing.

  Still nothing.

  He squinted at the horizon. “Huh. I really thought the universe was gonna strike me down for that comment.”

  Still nothing.

  He shrugged. “Must finally be my lucky day.”

  After the hell he'd just been through, Nathan supposed he was entitled to a little bit of luck for once.

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  Nathan set off in a random direction and walked along the beach.

  By the time night had fallen, Nathan was feeling sleepy.

  This was strange, given that Nathan didn't actually need to sleep.

  Guess that shows just how worn out I am, he thought.

  Despite this, he kept on walking. He wanted to get somewhere with a comfortable bed, and those lights in the horizon indicated that some kind of village wasn't too far.

  By the midway point, he breathed a sigh of relief. It was the same village he'd come from. The pier stretching for an absurd distance indicated it.

  An individual at the edge of the village greeted him.

  “Fisherman!” the woman said. “How was the hunt?”

  “Good.”

  They fell into a silence.

  Nathan waited for the other shoe to drop.

  She tilted her head. “Do you plan to get a bed at the inn, fisherman?”

  Nathan jolted. “Yeah, sure.”

  “It's just over that-a-way. Have a good rest.”

  She sniffed the air and made a disgruntled face. “And please, get a shower. You stink like fish.”

  Yeah, that didn't really surprise Nathan.

  He walked over to the inn, sweat building on his forehead. Where were the screaming crowds? Where was the news of some incident that required him to attend to it? At first, the pattern being broken was a bit of a relief. Now he was starting to get anxious, because that meant something was bound to happen eventually.

  He slammed the inn door open. The innkeeper jumped. “Why would you do that?!”

  “Is there somebody in town who's disappeared? Someone you haven't seen in the past three days?” Nathan said.

  “No? Who starts a conversation like that?”

  Nathan stomped up to the counter. “Are you absolutely certain?”

  “Yes! If somebody went missing, the entire town would know about it in a matter of minutes. There's only fifteen of us!”

  Nathan ground his teeth together. “Are there increased monster sightings? Tales of old creatures in the woods? Someone who died recently? Anything?!”

  “No! Nothing has happened! Now can you please get off the counter?”

  Nathan, unconsciously, had leaned over the counter and brought his head right next to the innkeeper.

  Nathan awkwardly pushed himself back. “Sorry about that. Old habits.”

  The innkeeper shook their head. “Weirdo.”

  Nathan's breath came in and out faster and faster. In his old life, before the apocalypse, he might have thought he was about to have a panic attack. Now, he knew better.

  He was about to have a panic meltdown.

  His palms were clammy and his head was spinning. All because there wasn't a disaster to deal with.

  It was because there was something that he'd missed. There had to have been something—there's no way that the universe would let him get away with—

  "Shit!" He dug his hands into his hair. "I can't believe I missed it, she was obviously plot relevant!"

  "Sir, if you don't quiet down I'm going to have to kick you out of the inn—"

  Nathan slammed his hands back down on the counter.

  "Stop hitting my counter—"

  "The priest girl. The one with the funny outfit. Where is she?"

  "Over by the pier? I think she mentioned something about going for a walk."

  Nathan dashed out of the door.

  At the end of the pier, a figure walked along, dress fluttering in the wind.

  Nathan broke off at full speed and a gigantic dust cloud was left in his wake. He hit the wooden boards and ran up to right behind the figure, then skidded to a stop.

  The figure turned around. "Nathaniel?"

  "If you were planning on activating the third Celestial Laser Beam Generator, don't!"

  "Why would I do that? That's not my job. And how would I even go about that in the first place? I don't even know where it is."

  Nathan's breathing halted.

  "You don't?" he said.

  "No." She shook her head. "Do you know where it is?"

  "No."

  Nathan looked from left to right. The horizon was smooth and completely flat. The occasional wave crested the line once in a while, but that was the most interesting thing thus far.

  "Nathaniel, are you well? As a Priestess, I can heal your wounds if you're injured."

  Nathan giggled. He sounded like he'd been in the asylum for the past seven weeks.

  "I'm fine!" he said. "Absolutely fine. Zero issues whatsoever. You've never seen someone in a healthier state than me."

  She gave him a long look that indicated that she didn't believe him.

  "What exactly is this about?" she asked.

  Nathan hissed. "Don't you see? It's a trap! Things have been running too smoothly, I haven't hit my daily quota of suffering yet!"

  "Your daily quota—" Her eyebrows furrowed together. "What are you talking about?"

  Nathan pointed at her. "You've been deceived! You fell for the trap, and now that we're out here, something stupid is about to happen and I'm going to be press-ganged into saving you!"

  She looked to the side and hummed. A thoughtful expression came over her face and she nodded to herself.

  "Fisher King," she said. "When's the last time you rested?"

  "I slept a while ago."

  "How long ago is a while?" she asked.

  Nathan strained his brain to try to remember when he last slept.

  "I forgot," he said. "But it doesn't really matter. I don't actually need to sleep."

  "Everyone needs to sleep."

  "I don't. My constitution is freakishly high! I have so many points that I don't think I even need to eat!"

  Her expression turned strained. "As someone who's done a great deal of research into the system, I can assure you that while the system reduces your need for rest, it doesn't eliminate it. I can also confirm that it's the same for food and drink."

  "Then how exactly have I been alive for this long?" Nathan put his hands on his hips. "If that were accurate, I should have died months ago!"

  "You haven't slept in months?!"

  Nathan squinted his eyes. "It wasn't months. I'm pretty sure."

  "Either way, it seems abundantly clear to me that you haven't been taking care of yourself." Her breath hitched. "Weren't you grievously injured less than a few days ago? And you've been exerting yourself physically this whole time?"

  Nathan unconsciously brought his hand up to the cut on his throat.

  It was less of a cut and more of a bag of dried blood, but the point still stood.

  "Why have you not rested?" she said.

  "I've been resting! I spent several hours fishing! That's rest!"

  She chewed her bottom lip. "I suppose." Her eyes sharpened. "But was that all you did?"

  "I may have fought a giant whale—"

  "You just got here yesterday!"

  Nathan threw his hands up in the air. "How do you think I feel? It's not like I try to go out of my way to find trouble!"

  "Then how did you end up underwater?!"

  "I was teleported, obviously."

  "Why were you teleported?!"

  Nathan opened his mouth to respond, then stopped. "It's a long story, and I'd rather not go in depth. The point is that it's not my fault."

  Charity reached out and put her hands on his shoulders. "Fisher King, I need you to listen to me very carefully."

  "What are you doing?" Nathan said.

  "You are going to turn around," she said. "And then you are going to go to the inn. And you're going to sleep in a comfortable bed for the next 12 hours."

  "But what if something happens? What if someone gets killed? What if—"

  "Fisher King." She squeezed his shoulders tight. "Nothing will happen. The world does not revolve around you."

  "You literally believe that I'm the subject of an ancient Messianic prophecy written by a multiversal entity who talks like a disgruntled programmer!"

  She nodded slowly. "Yes, I do. But I also know that that prophecy will still be there whether or not you take a nap."

  "B—B—but—"

  She turned him around. "No excuses. Let's go."

  She shoved Nathan forward and Nathan had to fling his legs out to stop himself from falling. He stumbled forward a few steps, then Charity came from behind and kept a steady pressure on the back of his neck. His feet marched in front of the one in front of the other, forced along by her pressure.

  "How many points did you put into strength?" Nathan muttered.

  "Very little. The fact that you are yielding so easily should be a sign that you've pushed yourself far, far too hard."

  Nathan chomped his teeth together and opened his mouth to reply—

  When he realized that she was completely right, and that this was pretty pathetic for the number one apocalypse Delver.

  If a freaking Priestess who'd been min-maxing in magic since the day she got the system could push him around like a wet noodle, that probably meant something was deeply wrong.

  Oh my goodness, Nathan thought. She's actually right. I just had a freaking panic attack.

  Honestly, Nathan probably should have seen this coming from 300 miles away. He'd been in traumatic situation after traumatic situation pretty much non-stop for the past who-even-knows-how-many months.

  "My therapist is going to be a very rich man once we're out of here," he muttered.

  "I'm unaware of what a therapist is, but I assume this person being rich is a good thing?" she asked.

  "Kind of? Depends on how you look at it."

  She removed the pressure from his neck, and stepped over in front of the inn door. She pulled it open, and Nathan followed behind her.

  Charity walked up to the innkeeper.

  "Two rooms."

  The innkeeper looked behind her at Nathan. "Not for him. He's a complete loon!"

  "He's also the Fisher King and he's had a very stressful day."

  The innkeeper's eyes blanked.

  After several seconds, their jaw dropped and they flailed backwards. "Let me get you a key!"

  "Thank you very much."

  Charity dragged Nathan up into a room and Nathan fell onto the bed with a soft thud. His eyes fluttered and exhaustion hit him like a wave.

  The next thing he knew, he’d fallen asleep.

  When Nathan next awoke, it was to the sound of a rooster crowing.

  "Huh," he muttered. "There are roosters here. Does that mean I can get some fried chicken?"

  He stumbled out of bed and peeked through the window. The smell of the ocean hit him and he breathed it in deep. The waves not far from him crashed onto the shoreline repetitively. The sun was a quarter of the way into the sky, and Nathan felt better than he had in a long time.

  He stretched out and groaned. "I needed that rest, didn't I?"

  A faint whir.

  His eyes shifted to the left. A massive hulking form just off the coast stretched across a portion of the horizon. It was enormous, blue lines running up and down the sides like some sort of twisted imitation of a circuit board.

  Nathan’s heart stopped. He dashed down the stairs. The innkeeper jolted and nearly fell out of their seat.

  "What's all this ruckus, why are you—?"

  "Charity." Nathan stomped over to the counter. "Where did she go?"

  "The High Priestess? She went into that structure that appeared overnight."

  The world shifted underneath Nathan. Everything felt distant and blurry, like he was looking at the world through a warped and half-melted glass pane.

  "Sir? Are you okay?"

  Nathan held up a hand but was forced to drop it onto the counter to steady himself.

  He turned his head and stared out the window.

  He recognized that structure.

  It was a Celestial Laser Beam Generator.

  And Charity had gone in on her own.