Sin Archbishop From a Common Place To World's Strongest

Chapter 16 "Water, CPR, and Fresh Air"

She tried to make a break for it on foot, but it was already too late. The moment Mini Miledi turned around was when the grenade went off. The entire room was enveloped in light, followed by a massive shockwave.

Miledi's screams echoed throughout the labyrinth. Some time after, there might have been a very depressed golem going around crying as she had to spend even more time repairing her dungeon. Meanwhile, the trio that had been flushed out of the room was currently being carried down a long tunnel by a powerful current. There was no breaks for them to take a breath, so they just got swept along. It took all of their concentration just to stay conscious and avoid crashing into the walls.

They caught sight of a number of shadows passing them by as they were being swept away. Fish. The tunnel they were being funneled through must have connected to a river or lake somewhere. Unlike Hajime and the others, the fish were able to swim against the current and many of them passed the quartet.

One of them even came up to Shea's face as it swam by, keeping pace with her. She looked over at it. Their eyes met. Hers and the fish's. Or rather, what she'd thought was a fish. Though it had the body of one, its face looked like that of an old man. It was a difficult impression to convey, but that was the best way to describe it. Shea had run into a fish with a person's face. Its apathetic expression was oddly reminiscent of the fish in the old game Seaman.

Shea opened her eyes wide in surprise. She almost let out the breath she'd been holding in, but she managed to clamp down on her mouth in time. Still, she couldn't take her eyes off it. The two of them stared each other down as they were swept away by the current. They might have spent all eternity gazing into each other's eyes, but Shea was abruptly interrupted by a voice that popped up in her head.

—What the heck are you staring at?—

It was even accompanied by a mental clicking of the tongue. This time Shea couldn't contain her surprise. She opened her mouth with a garbled scream, letting out the air she'd been holding in. Wait, is this fish a monster of some kind!? One that can use the telepathy skill? But Shea's question would remain forever unanswered as the torrent of water swept them away, while the fish continued swimming in a different direction.

All that was left behind was a white-eyed bunny girl suspended limply in the water, as their party continued to flow down the water for quite a while...

A single carriage escorted by a team of horses plodded down a beaten highway. The horses' hoofbeats punctured the silence at regular intervals. They naturally had people riding them. Three men and one woman, all of them dressed like adventurers.

The carriage was being driven by a fifteen year old girl and a... cross-dresser that resembled a monster.

Crystabel: "Sona-chaaan, there's a spring coming up ahead, so let's take a break there."

Sona: "Alright, Crystabel-san."

Sona Masaka. Despite her strange sounding name, she was an ordinary girl with maybe just a little more curiosity in the more adult side of things than was normal for her age.

The two of them were on their way back to Brooke after an excursion to the next town over with a hired escort of guards. As his giant frame would suggest, Crystabel was insanely strong, so he often went out to collect his own supplies to craft his clothes. This trip, in fact, had one such instance. Sona had come along because one of her relatives in the next town over had gotten pretty badly hurt and her parents were too busy to go, so she'd delivered get well gifts in their place. The adventurers had been on the way back from a quest, so they decided to tag along as well.

They were around a day's ride out from Brooke. The party decided to rest at a nearby spring for the afternoon.

They let the horses drink from the spring while they made preparations for lunch. Sona headed to the spring to get water for the group. The moment she put her canteen into the spring, it started frothing. Gouts of water flew up from its center, splashing the nearby area.