The Hollow God - 5 Take Me!!

*sniff sniff*

‘Grandpa manta, brothers 3,5, and 6 i’ll always remember you guys and i’ll definitely make sure to come back one day!!’ the little thing quietly made a promise in his heart.

As he got further and further away from the place he had made his home he started seeing less and less things around him. Coral, plants, even small animals started to dwindle the more he swam leaving only the sand underneath him and the black sky up above.

…….

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…..

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‘You know, looking around, The dark underwater sure is a little creepy. I guess I just never noticed due to the fact that I was surrounded by my manta family the whole time.’

The darkness all around him started to seem more and more like the maw of a great beast that he was slowly sinking into. The complete silence made any light noise like the rustling of the sand underneath him sound like whispers, and even the freezing dark water started to feel colder and colder.

The little manta started moving faster and faster unconsciously while being as low to the ground as possible.

‘Hmm! i’m not afraid at all! My mana is already almost full and even if I bump into those fish again I can definitely escape with my illusions!’

*rustle rustle* ….

‘Yup not afraid at all! even if i ran into a ghost which definitely don’t exist i still wouldn’t be afraid!’ the little manta stopped to look behind him and then to each side before he started moving forward once again.

‘E-Even if they do exist i’m sure my magic can affect them, yup it definitely possibly can’ The darkness felt as if it was slowly closing in around him making it harder to breathe.The small lone manta was swimming closer and closer to the ground as it was his only foothold in the complete darkness

‘Yup i’m a powerful magical beast in another word what could i possibly be afrai-‘ Fingers suddenly sprouted out from the ground in front of him trying to grab onto his body.

‘GAHH!!OIANHFLUIAOBENUBWDCOAINCD’ A black cloud was instantly released from the little manta covering both it and the attacker, then flapping his little wings as fast as possible he put some distance between his new enemy before he turned around to face it.

‘Aargg my heart! What the hell was that?!’ the little manta looked at the fingers coming out of the sand warily as it tried to make sure it was not having a heart attack.

Whatever was underground slowly came out of the sand. The first thing the little manta noticed was that the fingers looked a lot like legs now that he paid more attention to it, it was followed by a golden colored body and 2 small beady eyes with a very familiar look of disdain on them.

‘How is it you!?’ the little manta was stunned as he looked at the small golden crab that had come out of the ground.

The first thing the little crab did as he came out was look at the black cloud and then back at the little manta with a questioning gaze.

He felt embarrassed at the exaggerated response he had to the little crab and now his questioning gaze made him feel as if his face was burning.

“Cough cough, why are you looking at me like that? It’s a defensive mechanism alright?!”

The little earth crabs eyes started showing even more disdain but now it even had some ridicule mixed in.

‘How can such cold beady eyes express so much emotion???!’

“Ahem ahem, what are you even doing under the ground anyways?”

“Tired” a small voice responded.

It was only now that the little manta realized he had never spoken with the little crab before, he was extremely surprised to find that the voice sounded very cute like a young girl. It was so nice on his ears he could feel his fatigue going away from just hearing her voice. Who would’ve thought my lifelong rival was a girl?

“Oh .. ok .. uhh ..hmm” the sweet voice seemed to still be wringing around in his head completely halting all his thoughts. When was the last time he had spoken to a girl? Back on earth all he could do was dream of one day being able to get into a relationship with a nice girl and the little crab’s voice seemed to incorporate the perfect girl he usually imagined.

The mood suddenly became awkward as a small crab and manta continued to stare at each other in silence.

‘Snap out of it she’s a crab! A crab! You’re a manta it would never work’

“Ahem ahem. Anyways it was nice seeing you again…… see ya” flying past the little earth crab the small manta continued on with his adventure into the unknown

‘See ya? Why did I even say that? God i’m so stupid”

“WAIT!!!”

He immediately halted as he turned around to face the little thing which was now looking straight at him seeming a little nervous.

“What??” he knew he might sound stupid if he started speaking so he decided to say only what was necessary, short and sweet.

“Take me!”

*cough cough …cough the little manta suddenly choked as he heard what the little crab had to say. ‘Is choking on water, underwater even possible??’

“Take me with you!”

‘Oooh’

“huh? We are enemies, why would I take you anywhere??”

“Take me!!!” that sweet voice once again rang out like bell chimes.

“You know mantas eat crabs right? Why would you ask a manta to take you away??” The little manta said as he tried his best not to stutter.

“TAKE MEE!!”

‘Since she is all the way out here she had probably escaped when the light bone fish attacked. The fish came from the direction of the crab mound so they were probably the first ones to be attacked as well. She had also somehow made it all the way here on just her little legs no wonder she was resting underground.’ The little manta felt a bit sad for the crab. Most of his family had escaped but what about hers?

“Fine! god! You are lucky I’m such a nice guy! You’re probably scared of being alone right? Hahaha I guess i could take you with me and drop you off at the nearest crab hive or something”

He slowly floated down onto the sandy floor next to the crab allowing it to climb on him. The little thing walked up onto his back and sat down comfortably.

‘I guess this isn’t so bad, an MC needs companions right?’ rising off the ground carefully making sure the little crab wouldn’t fall off he flapped his little wings once more resuming his adventure