Versatile: Alternate World

"Eternal Ice was at first one of the most coveted resources after it was proven to be a really good mineral for making weapons. Most people before have believed that the Eternal Ice is just like ores or magic stones that spawn just fine in different areas. Back in the day, Eternal Ice is pretty common. However, one of the events that involve the aforementioned mineral changed the view of the people on it forever," she explained.

"An incident?"

"It's a secret incident and I just recently uncovered it. In fact, if you ask the majority of the people in Aquagius, only a handful might still remember that. Perhaps the old insect people do but most people don't know about it. Only those who are history geeks or just pure researchers have found out about it. So... this incident is very similar to this little nameless town that got wiped out from the map."

"Insect Kingdom is not the only kingdom that exists in the land. I am not counting the Kingdom on the Sea as obviously, they are in the sea and they still thrive to this day without any sort of disturbance that would cause the Eternal Ice to appear. But this particular kingdom is the rival of the Insect Kingdom as it is as big as the former. However, do you know why only the Insect Kingdom continuously prospers and the other kingdom seems to be nonexistent?" the researcher guy looked me straight in the eye.

"Because of the Eternal Ice?" I answered.

"Ding ding! Yep, you are right. The f*cking chunk of ice that never melts is the main cause that the kingdom that I mentioned that should have been the rival of the Insect Kingdom. A whole kingdom disappears alongside all of its people, rulers, and animals, everything that has been living in that kingdom has been reduced to a block of ice. Of course, instead of letting it remain, the king at that time decided to destroy the whole place by bombing it and reducing it to ruins the moment they learned that the people inside the kingdom are beyond saving and there is a big chance of it spreading which is why the place is no longer present no matter where you look as the king at that time ensured that the Eternal Ice present there are destroyed to the very last piece."

I see. So that was the reason I have not heard it in the past timeline. By the time the Eternal Ice is discovered, the sources are either destroyed or already harvested as this was a danger as a phenomenon. No wonder even in my past life, I have not heard of this item at all. It was because it is controlled so that it won't spread any further and sacrifice the lives of people.

"The reason the Eternal Ice is not that popular despite its uses is due to the fact that a village or a community of people needs to die just to manifest the Eternal Ice and it randomly happens so to make sure that it won't manifest ever, it is being controlled by those who knew what they are and any sort of signs of the Eternal Ice forming is also the time the higher-ups will have to deal with it and depending on the actions, its either to abandon the area where the Eternal Ice will develop or destroy it before it blooms fully."

So the only way for Eternal Ice to form is just to live in Aquagius with many people like a small community? That is just a plain suicidal attempt. No wonder I don't see any villages in Aquagius as much as on the other continents. It was due to the threat of Eternal Ice.

"So if you are planning to go and take a few of the Eternal Ice, go ahead but be sure to be careful Even if Eternal Ice is different from the normal ice, this thing is still pretty much slippery/ Don't forget to also offer a little prayer while taking a chunk. Who knows if you have taken a human part as a chunk of Eternal Ice?"

"Will do," I answered as I turn to look at the whole Eternal Ice before me. Now that I know what it was now, I am now careful about touching it. This mineral is the most dangerous mineral I have ever encountered playing this game. If Almira already knew about this, why did she still want me to fetch a chunk?

Not only that but I am disappointed that I wasted my time going back in here. Not only do I not find the one I am looking for, but I also learned something about the origin of the ice that feeds on humans just to form naturally.

As I pick up some of the Eternal Ice to put in my inventory, I felt some tremors beneath me. I am not wrong about it as I can feel it underneath my shoes. Since I am not touching the ground and I am standing on the Eternal Ice, every single reverberation happening below the ice, I can feel it up above it.

"What is going on?" I questioned as the reverberation keeps getting stronger and stronger.

"Are you sure there is no earthquake?" Cath Palug also noticed what is happening. If it was, it shouldn't be like this that happens periodically."

The warrior girls seem to notice that I am seemingly having a hard time.

"Are you okay there?"

I was about to say yes just so I won't disturb them any further but the reverberations didn't stop and it just made worse that even they realized something is happening.

"Everyone, to arms! Something is lurking underground!"

The other girls immediately ready their weapons as the tremors have just gotten stronger. The researcher who is just keeping calm is no longer showing an unfazed look on his face. This time, he is genuinely worried. Cath Palug who is just staying on my shoulder is also getting serious.

"Kid, get ready. Something big is coming. Don't dawdle as we might die if you made one single mistake."

As Cath Palug said, the ground breaks open, the ice crystals break into pieces and a big mouth appeared underneath that seems to try and swallow what was above. Cath Palug immediately grabbed my clothes while I quickly pull out the Versatile Weapon, change it to a hook and chain and throw the hook to the top. Before the giant mouth closes, I immediately used the retraction action to lift me out of the mouth and escape being swallowed by something big once again. Once is enough. Twice is no longer funny.

The moment I arrived above the ground and landed, the researcher is the first one to come to me to check up on my condition.

"Stranger! Are you fine? That was very close to you being swallowed!"

"I am fine. That was too close. I didn't expect something like that would happen here. Half of the area is swallowed up by that thing," I stood up as I gaze through the big hole where the monster earlier appeared.

"That was the Sea Worm. An omnivorous predator that eats anything that it finds fancy to eat. I didn't expect it would appear on this island. I never heard of it attacking an island and eating something on it!"

Sea Worm. It's a monster that normally appears in the oceans and is a constant threat if you decided to use boats in travelling or if you decided to become a sailor and sail around the ocean of the game. If the real world has the threat of Krakens in the legends, the Sea Worm is the equivalent one of it, Not only does it swallow many things in one go, it is a menace to kill as it is similar to a boss despite not being a boss itself. They are just categorized as normal monsters. It's kinda sh*tty. And for it to appear on this island, that means underneath this village is the previous hole that was used by that octopus monster that I killed last time. Now that it was gone, it seems that was the one that decided to take over the area and claim it as its feeding grounds.

,m "Oh no... Leader is not here!" the gunslinger female warrior caught my attention when she shouted that their leader is gone.

I looked around the place and indeed, she didn't seem to be hiding. The last thing I remembered her location is...near my position. The moment the ground fell, she also fell. I didn't notice her fall as I prioritized saving myself as I was the center of the mouth and if I didn't take action, I would get swallowed by another monster once again.

There is only one fate for her. And that is she either fell through and managed to avoid the mouth of the f*cker, or she fell and got swallowed by the Sea Worm.