just


    want


    so


    remo leviatan


    cielo remo leviatan


    little


    [... And what of your fighting chance?] [If you had simply ignored her and headed straight towards the boat, you would have been able to easily survive the night.]


    You’re an Archive of the Altered Swarmsteel Systems—servant to the Worm God and his wandering bug-slayers, As if you’d have told me to run and leave her to die in my stead.


    [True. I would have splintered your eardrums before you could even think about running away.]


    Are you sure you’re even on my side?


    [I am on humanity’s side. Make of that what you will.]


    … Alright, Archive, I didn’t think this through. What do I do? What are my chances of beating that thing head-on?


    [One hundred percent chance of failure. Please refrain.]


    Then what? I just try to skate forward through the fog? Try to outrun it?


    [There is no telling what else is residing deeper in the fog. This is the giant remipede’s territory, so as long as you stay here, the giant remipede will be the only bug you face.]


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    [Indeed, remipede antennae are ‘prehensile’, which means they are appendages adapted for grasping and holding. In fact, many water-based bugs and arthropods possess prehensile antennae, including the fairy shrimp you slayed–]


    Okay, so I can’t skate deeper into the fog, but I’ll eventually run out of steam if I just keep skating around in circles here! There has to be a way to hurt it, right? You knew what it was the moment you saw it, and you had its information in your database—what did the last guy do to kill one?


    [The last two people to have a recorded kill on a giant remipede were the Worm God and the Thousand-Tongue, and that happened twenty-nine years ago.]


    Oh god. I’m dead–


    [They quickly came to the realisation that neither their rifles nor their wands had the necessary power to shatter its chitin… back then, anyways. I am quite sure the Worm God can lift this giant remipede with a single hand now, but I digress,] [When they realised it was too heavily armoured on the outside, they decided to bait it into devouring their rowboat. Once they survived the initial acidic flood that melted everything around them, they blew it open from the inside out. It was messy cleanup work for the Harbour Imperators that arrived on scene later, but they did manage to kill it.]


    … What? Why were they sailing across the great blue in a tiny rowboat?


    [Irrelevant. My point is: search the wreckage around you for anything flammable and explosive—most explosives in the Deepwater Legion Front can detonate even when they are wet—so gather them all and light the fuse.]


    Got it!


    looked


    That’s it, right? Now I just light the fuse and let the ship blow up? With me still standing on top of it?


    [You need the giant remipede to swallow the rest of the ship first, and then detonate the explosives. You cannot jump off now.]


    Then, what do I–


    [Find a crate. A barrel. Something sturdy that can withstand the explosion, like… that conch shelter over there.]


    slightly


    That thing?


    [It is an emergency shelter designed by the Harbour Imperators of the Whirlpool City. The conch itself is nigh-impenetrable, and it floats by itself, too. Your safety is all but assured if you jump inside and hold the door really, really firmly.]


    I’ll take your word for it!


    … Speed is fine, That… was not speed.


    [By definition, it was,] [I cannot detect wave motion outside the shell. Please gently push the door open and confirm if you are floating on the sea’s surface–]


    bit


    [Well.]


    [Now there is no door.]


    How helpful you are.


    And where… in the Great Makers’ good name… am…


    …


    … Welp.


    The explosion didn’t work.


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