[1% LIFESTEAL] Chapter 165 - Life on the Back Foot

Sophia stared at Freddy, who was still frantically looking around, eyes scouring the sky.

The night was cloudy, with small splits revealing the sky above, a stark moonlight piercing through in vivid rays. In contrast, the city was relatively dark. It was a city that was often rather bright during the evening hours, but given the recent instability, people appeared to have opted for nights in and lights out.

Sighing, Sophia placed a hand on her chest to calm herself, and then asked. “Okay. So. Madness? So I’m guessing you’re finally figuring out what’s going on?”

Freddy, who was busy counting the splits in the clouds above and how they compared to the cardinal directions, nodded at her. “Yes. I know what’s happening. Well, not really, but I can at least kind of explain why I’m feelin’ what I’m feelin’.” Suddenly, he slumped as if a massive weight had fallen off his shoulder and leaned against the parapet. A few tears made their way down his face.

He wiped them off. “I really thought I was going insane… Shit.” He chuckled, then groaned and leaned his head against the cold concrete, sighing in overwhelming relief. “But I’m not.”

“Are you gonna tell me what’s happening?”

“Yes,” he said, then sharpened his gaze as he looked back at her. “I think I was given a sort of concept implant. Back when I first got it, I suspected it to be the greatest of the rewards I received from the dungeon. Now, I know that to be the case. It’s basically a sixth sense for anything insanity.”

Sophia’s eyebrows rose at that. “That seems…” She then scowled. “Useful?”

Freddy laughed at that. “Very,” he said with a severe nod. “Someone just did something really insane somewhere.” He squinted his eyes and looked up. “There is a touch of insanity in everything. Think of it like a massive body of water under the surface of the world. The same thing applies to every grand concept when taken to an extreme. And someone had just dropped a big fuckin’ rock in that body of water. And I”—he pointed at himself—”can see the waves.”

He paused for a moment as he focused. “I can’t tell where it’s coming from, but it’s… distorted. It happened too far away to feel out the details, maybe in a neighboring city. These days, I’ve been feeling the small but quick waves. Now, the huge wave hit. Whatever had happened, it had happened well before I felt that first small wave. So a week ago at the very least.”

Sophia nodded slowly. “Okay. So you’re not just crazy. But… do you even know what happened?”

“No,” he said, shaking his head. “I have absolutely no idea.”

“And you said we’re in danger?”

He stopped to think about it. “Very likely, given the magnitude of what I’m feeling.”

“And you’re sure that”—she speculatively pursed her lips—”someone didn’t like… put mayonnaise on chocolate cake?”

He laughed. “That would be insane, but no. This kind of impact would only be caused by something that brought a new power into the world. Kind of like when I picked ‘bomb’ as my Tsunami Strike upgrade, but on a much bigger scale.”

She appeared nervous upon hearing that. “If it’s that bad, won’t the empire step in?”

He nodded vigorously. “Oh, I’d be surprised if they hadn’t already.”

“So why are you so panicked? You’re acting as if it’s guaranteed to cause trouble for us.”

He hesitated. “I’m cursed. Kind of.” He leaned back again and took a deep, disappointed breath. “My desire for power had created a sort of fate for me. When big things happen, I’m likely to get involved, even if I don’t want to.” He chuckled.

“So.” She chuckled awkwardly, pointing with her thumb behind her back. “We running away then?”

He thought about it for a moment. “I’m tempted to. But… You know, in hindsight, I’m starting to realize that I’ve lived through my life like some sort of microbe that follows bright lights and runs away from loud sounds. I’m passive. I keep my head down and grind, waiting for trouble to react to.”

Sophia walked over and sat next to him, curling in on herself and rubbing her knees to stave the cold away. “Well… is there something wrong with living like that? I mean… you’re still alive. And you have more power than most can even dream of. It seems to have served you quite well.”

He simply smiled. “No. It hasn’t. Living on the back foot isn’t good. By all means, I made it to where I am despite living the way I do.” He sighed.

Freddy could feel the wave of madness subsiding, ebbing as it washed over him and continued somewhere away, a direction he couldn’t readily determine. All that was left in its wake was an undulating unease, a wrongness in the way the wind played on his skin. Then, he suddenly got up and turned to Sophia. “Let’s go have some fun.”

“Huh?”

Before she could say anything, he picked her up by her arm and pulled her away.

They got dressed and left the building, sitting down on the motorcycle and driving towards the center of the city.

Sophia went along without asking many questions.

Freddy pulled up before the plaza surrounding the public passage. He stopped and folded the bike, putting it back into his storage ring.

There were only a handful of people outside, and many of the stalls surrounding the passage were closed. And that wasn’t because it was nighttime. They used to be open 24/7, but given the recent happenings, there was a lack of people qualified to run them. The usual healers were also absent, which drastically increased the danger of delving.

Thus, the only people there were those were either desperate or confident. Mostly desperate.

“Come on.” Freddy said as he took a step towards the passage. “Let’s go.”

“Hold up,” Sophia said. “Okay, where exactly are we going?”

“Remember how I told you there’s a path in the local interspace towards a beach somewhere in the middle of the ocean?”

She chuckled. “And you want to go there now?”

“The difference in time zone means it should be early morning there.” He grinned. “And hey, you’re the one who said we should do something fun.” Swinging his arm, he gestured broadly at the city. “Unless you have another idea…?”

Smiling, she shook her head then shrugged. “You know what? Fuck it. Lead the way.” She slapped him on his back and marched beside him. “Onwards we go!” she shouted. Then she paused. She suddenly turned on her heel and went the other way, still shouting, “We have no swimsuits! Let’s find those first!”

He laughed, shaking his head as he followed after her.

There were very few places open at this time, but the archhuman world never truly stopped spinning.

Inside one of the bigger buildings was a giant hypermarket, one quite similar to the one Freddy used to work at. There were a few more security guards than usual due to an increase in theft, and there was a bit of a lack of fresh produce. Hell, almost all the food shelves were nearly empty, and what was left could only be bought in limited amounts, to prevent people from hoarding and making the situation worse.

But for non-perishables, it was business as usual.

Needless to say, in a place like the Northern Belt, swimming was very low on the list of popular hobbies. But there were indoor pools. And hell, some brave souls even went to a nearby river. So there were still swimming suits for sale.

Freddy grabbed the largest swimming shorts he could find, and Sophia opted for a pretty basic bikini.

They debated whether they should bring anything else, but in the end, they decided against it. They could catch fish for food, and they were both taking a much-needed break from alcohol.

Getting to the actual beach was quite a bit easier than either of them expected. It was a couple of steps away, but all the intermediary realms were barren and relatively small.

The actual passage to the beach was tucked in a small cave. It was pretty difficult to find. And even then, the actual passage was damn small. It was an irregular oval in shape, and only about as wide as Freddy’s leg from knee to toe. It took quite a bit of squeezing for him to make it through, and at one point, he even thought he’d get stuck half way.

On the other side, it was located inside a thickly overgrown forest. Lots of bugs were buzzing around. Freddy saw a snake scurrying through the nearby grass.

The air was unpleasantly humid, and the smell of the forest was quite overwhelming, with swampy notes and an intense herbal scent.

“This place sucks ass,” Freddy said. “I hate bugs.”

Sophia finished squeezing through the passage and got to her feet. “Oh shut up, you big baby.”

The path to the beach was quite obvious. It was well-trodden. Despite the immense danger of coming here, it appeared that a surprising number of people were willing to risk it.

On their way to the beach, they spotted a few pieces of garbage strewn aside, further cementing the traces of human activity.

Eventually, the foliage started to clear up, and the sight of the beach became apparent.

Freddy suddenly paused as an intense feeling of danger overwhelmed him.

Sophia stopped next to him. “All good?”

He took a deep breath. “Yeah. I just remembered the last time I went to a beach. Didn’t go well.” Then he laughed and started walking forward. “Really, is there anything that hasn’t traumatized me yet?”

Taking the last few steps, they finally spotted the sea.

“Wow,” Sophia said.

The sight before them was mesmerizing. They were a bit up on a hill, so they were looking from above down on a vast stretch of blue ocean, with uncountable islands poking out of the infinite stretch of sea.

Down below was the sandy beach, and it was a lot longer than either of them had expected. There was at least half a mile of clear sand, without a single plant growing there.

Freddy nodded. “The waves have to get pretty crazy.”

“Yup,” Sophia said, grinning and then looking down. There was a clear path carved down the hill, likely created by an earth-affinity archhuman. “Let’s go,” she said, jumping down and heading first.

Scoffing, Freddy followed after her.

As they made their way down, they stumbled upon a few surprising things. One of these things was a small wooden building. It was rather open, little more than a thatched roof propped up wooden beams, but it provided a cozy shade. There were further signs of human activity, such as more trash and even a pile of neatly folded towels.

And this wasn’t the only building around. There were all sorts of things there, such as beach chairs, parasols, raised stone platforms, and a number of other, smaller buildings.

Other than them, though, nobody else was there.

“People must come here a lot,” Freddy noted. “I’m genuinely surprised. I’ve never heard of this before.”

Sophia shrugged. “Works for me, I guess.” Then, she appeared to get a little taller.

Freddy looked down and noticed that she had morphed her legs into the deer-like shape that allowed her to run faster.

“Race you to the beach!” she said and took off.

He scoffed. “Come on. This isn’t even remotely fair.”

“Not my fault you’re slow to react!” she yelled from the distance.

Sighing, he activated Hydraulic Flex. In about three steps, he overtook her, practically flying above the ground. “Not what I meant,” he said with a grin, literally leaving her in the dust as the wind behind him kicked the sand up.

“Pfft—pff,” she spat as he waved the sand out of her eyes. “Hey!”

He laughed as he finally reached the shoreline. Then, with a mighty leap, redirecting all his momentum straight into the air, he soared into the sky, making it impressively high. Turning his back midair, he put his hands behind his back as he dropped into the water, making a massive splash and actually sinking to the bottom, where he smacked the back of his head into a rock.

It didn’t actually hurt him, but it was a bit embarrassing. So he kept quiet about it as he swam back outside.

As soon as he made it back out, he was welcomed by Sophia’s feet as he landed on his head and then used his face as a jumping board to get some extra air.

He turned around and caught her playfully giving him the middle finger with a wide grin as she also vanished beneath the surface of the water.

For a couple of hours, they simply swam around.

At one point, Freddy started diving, and before long, he found himself quite fascinated by it.

He could use his essence manipulation to coat his eyes with a stable lens of water to allow him to see more clearly.

Under the surface of the sea, a breath-taking sight welcomed him. Schools of fish swimming beneath the piercing rays of sunshine, dancing around rising leaves of algae and branches of coral.

With his essence manipulation, he could swim quite fast, even though he did have to fight against sinking due to his body density.

To his surprise, neither of them stumbled upon any hostile animals or monsters near the beach. That didn’t mean there were none there, but they clearly weren’t as common—or as hostile as they had presumed. It was no coincidence that so many appeared to feel safe coming here.

Freddy was the first to have enough. He made his way back to the beach, where he sprawled out on the sand and soaked in the sun. His ghastly pale skin glistened in the sunlight. Looking above, the sky appeared so vast and limitless. Freddy vaguely spotted the minuscule outlines of floating islands way above. His perception was just barely good enough to make them out.

Eventually, Sophia joined him, laying down next to him. “This is so cool,” she said. “I wish I could spend a couple months here just chilling, you know?”

Freddy cackled. “Repentawa might just go up in flames if we take that long.”

She side-eyed him. “Who said I need you here?”

He snickered and shook his head. “Bitch please. I give you a day until something eats you alive.”

“Wow. That is some disrespect. Are you forgetting who I am?”

“You are still pretty weak,” he said. “You might be a peak one-star and hella skilled with a sword, but you have practically no abilities. Don’t let your ego blind you.”

“You…” She clicked her tongue. “I can still hold my own.”

“Maybe. But you have a lot of work to do.” He lifted himself up into a seated position. Tons of sand was sticking to his back and arms. He half-heartedly tried scrubbing it off with his hands, but quickly gave up. Sighing, he pulled a small object out of his storage ring and threw it at Sophia.

It hit her in her cheek and then fell to the sand. “Ow. What the hell is this…?” She reached with her hand and grabbed the object, raising it above her head to take a look. As soon as she realized what it was, she leaped into a seated position. “Is this a—”

“Death-affinity shard,” he said. Then, he proceeded to tell her where he got it from. He hid nothing from her.

By the end, Sophia clasped the small object in her hands and pressed it to her chest. “I still have some vague impressions of his memories in my head,” she said. “He had done many terrible things. Things that plague my dreams. But at his core, he was someone who loved humanity as a whole, perverted as his love might have been.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “Hey… am I weird for crying now?”

“Hell yeah you are,” Freddy said, which earned him a punch in the arm. “Ow!”

“Asshole!” she proclaimed with a shake of her head. “You’re not supposed to say yes!”

“Hey, I’m just being honest here.” But then, after a moment of silence, he tapped her on the shoulder. “But I get it. Though I can’t say I care about his means, I do sympathize with his goal. We’re fish in a pond. I also have a feeling some scary shit will be coming our way relatively soon.”

“Speaking of scary… What are you gonna do about this crazy danger that’s coming?”

“Well… I’m not going to just sit and wait. I’ll prepare.” He glanced at the shard in Sophia’s hands. “We’ll prepare.”

“Okay then. What’s your plan, big guy?”

“A few things. But first—” He got up to his feet and looked over the vast ocean before him. There, slowly coming from the dark depths, he felt something unusual. Something he interpreted through the sixth sense for insanity.

And something he suspected was resonating with his unique affinity.