Caught in one of the oldest traps in the book, Axel, Nina, and Fenrir had no choice but to slide along. Of course, aside from Nina—who lost all composure and screamed at the top of her lungs—the other two kept a watchful gaze forward.

'These sorts of traps normally have a deadly finisher at the end!' Axel thought.

His body was tense, and his hand was ready to move at a moment's notice. No matter what sort of deadly trap awaited them at the end, he was sure he could cancel it out!

"Master!"

Fenrir's shout reached him before they could slide to the end, however.

"A big pool of water is waiting ahead! Please prepare!"

"Water?!"

Hearing this, Axel felt a bit of relief.

Since they were landing on water, their speed didn't really matter. All they had to do was land properly, and everything should be A-OK.

"I... don't know how to swim!" Nina shouted with a pale face.

That additional comment made him gasp. He turned to Nina behind him, who was tumbling uncontrollably and screaming as if her vocal cords would snap.

Axel himself wasn't a professional swimmer. Although he could manage himself, he wasn't skilled enough to save Nina.

"Fenrir!"

With no other choice, he called out to the only person he could rely on.

"Take care of Nina upon landing! Don't let her drown!" He commanded.

With that, everything was prepared.

However, they continued sliding over the flood of slime and sloped ground, accelerating even faster. By now, they were moving faster than a roller coaster on a steep drop.

The slight friction against the non-slimed ground scraped against their skin, causing minor friction burns, but it did help slow them down a little. Of course, such minor injuries didn't apply to Fenrir, who was tougher than metal.

A few seconds later, they finally reached the end of the slide.

It was a large, gaping hole, seemingly dropping them into a deep, dark void.

If not for Fenrir's words about the water's presence below, Axel would've panicked and done everything he could to prevent their fall then and there.

Fenrir was the first to slip off the edge.

As she did, she timed a kick against the slide's lip perfectly, sending herself vertically downward with great momentum.

The moment Axel and Nina slid off the edge, they saw why Fenrir had rushed ahead... and the grim situation further below.

She did tell them about the water... but she hadn't mentioned the dangerous fish swimming within it!

"Damn...!"

The fish weren't normal either, but monsters—giant shark-like creatures, their fins gliding across the water's surface. No matter what, they were definitely meat-eaters!

But Fenrir moved faster. She wouldn't dare let Axel face such dangers.

She rushed ahead and clad her fist with what looked like white lightning—a buff spell she had cast.

As she approached the surface, she extended her left leg forward while pulling her right arm back, stretching her body to store energy for a single, powerful strike.

"DAH!"

With a short shout, she twisted her body, throwing her fist forward as she swung her leg back. All her strength focused into a single blow, meeting the mouth of a shark larger than she was.

And then, when the spark met the shark—

An explosion of light, accompanied by a rumbling clap of thunder, echoed.

The white lightning covering Fenrir's fist traveled through the shark-like monster and into the water, electrocuting all monsters present. With hundreds of millions of volts and tens of thousands of amperes surging through their bodies, none were spared.

In one strike, hundreds of demonic fish were killed!

"Now—!"

But Fenrir didn't stop there.

Using her ability, she teleported to Axel's side and caught him, pulling Nina in as well. Then she teleported once more—this time reversing their direction, sending them going upward from the water's surface.

"...!"

With gravity working against them, their falling—no, rising—speed began to mellow out. When their velocity reached a safe level, Fenrir teleported them again, dropping them back onto the water's surface with only a small splash.

"Bah!"

Axel quickly swam up, keeping himself afloat.

Thanks to Fenrir's help, the fall didn't hurt nearly as much as he expected.

"I'm dying...! Help! I'm—blub blub!"

Nina, still in Fenrir's grip like a baby cat, splashed wildly like a fish out of water. Of course, she wasn't actually drowning. She was simply panicking after being submerged and swallowing some of the cold water.

That much didn't trouble Fenrir, so Axel ignored them and focused on observing the area.

It was a large dome, roughly 500 meters in diameter. It was barely lit by embedded, glowing stones near the waterline, with the slide's opening about a hundred meters above.

It wasn't an overly exaggerated height, but it was deadly enough for a normal person—at that height, hitting water was almost like slamming into solid ground.

Glancing around, Axel found no visible exits.

It seemed like a closed space where escape was impossible.

'No, there has to be an exit,' he thought.

After all, those shark-like monsters had to eat to survive. They couldn't be eating each other, given their numbers or how long they had been in isolation.

'That means there's an exit underwater.'

As soon as the realization struck, a new notification window appeared.

But it wasn't the usual one—the window wasn't blue, but black.

[

Prime Quest: Discovering the System's Origin!

Requirements:

- Explore the Ruins of Hrimvaldr

- Reach the "Hangar"

Rewards:

- Overall System Upgrade

]

"This is..." Axel paused. "Navi, you didn't make this quest, did you?"

[Yes, Contractor.] Navi answered plainly. [This quest was issued by someone else—not me.]

A quest not curated by Navi, with vague requirements and rewards.

Still, it wasn't something Axel could ignore.

If Navi could display it without knowing who issued it, then whoever did had access to a System more advanced than the current Harem Settlement System.

"...But I guess I can only ignore that for now."

Brooding over it wouldn't help them at the moment.

"Let's just explore this place properly and find a way out."

Staying in water filled with dead, giant shark monsters was asking to get sick.

"So, Navi. Help me collect their corpses. We can sell them, at least." He muttered. "I've never tasted shark-fin soup before, but I heard it's expensive—I mean, delicious."

[Righto~!]

Navi responded cheerfully, as if trying to ride the momentum and forget about the mysterious quest.

"Help...! Blub blub... Bah!"

"..."

But first, Axel needed to deal with Nina—who was somehow drowning without even being underwater.

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