Wilbur grabbed the old man''s hand. The next second, the old man tightened his grip once more. Wilbur applied force in the opposite direction, pushing back against the old man''s strength. Yet the old man quickly yanked Wilbur behind him from a different point of strength, hurling him heavily against the ground.


    "Not bad, but you''re stillcking a little. You''re running out of time, though. If we don''t head there soon, the merfolk wille looking for us. If a lot of theme here, our world might be doomed."


    Wilbur got to his feet. "So, you''d go even if I don''t, right?"


    "Exactly. Now listen up, I''m going to tell you the secret to wrestling. First, you must find a fixed point. Then you need to defend yourself in the opposite direction of the force that your opponent exerts. Lastly, adapt as you go. That will solve half of your problems."


    "I see. Thank you, sir. I''ll remember that."


    "Let''s go."


    The old man turned to walk ahead, and Wilbur scrambled to follow after him. The two of them walked in a line and quickly reached the foot of Mount Taite. They each took a deep breath and then began to climb. Due to the path being mostly covered in snow, the climb was quite a feat on its own.


    The two men took two whole hours just to make it to the top of the mountain. The mountain breeze whistled through the air as they looked down. Sure rough, a hugeke had formed at the entrance of the volcano. For some reason, the water of theke was a murky ck color. Wilbur hurled a rock down and was able to see that theke was almost endlessly deep.


    "Sir, thiske looks really deep," Wilbur said.


    "We haven''t got much time. Cut the crap and go!"


    The old man grabbed Wilbur by his shirt, and the two of them leaped off the mountain into the water. The next second, the old man emitted a white glow that lit up his surroundings before wading further into theke with Wilbur in tow.


    Wilbur could clearly detect an immense sucking force from the bottom of theke that intensified the closer they got to it. Soon enough, he saw a whirlpool that promptly sucked him and the old man inside.


    At the end of the whirlpool was a door emitting a blinding glow. Wilbur and the old man rushed through the door. White light shed in front of their eyes, and the two of them then found themselves in the middle of a glowing underwater city that lit up the ocean.


    The old man said, "This powder is emitted from the sun coral. It lights up the underwater city in the daytime and returns to the corals at night, so everything goes dark."


    "I see."


    Wilbur widened his eyes all of a sudden. "How am I talking right now?"


    The old man said, "Things are vastly different in the world of the merfolk. The water here is lighter, and just slightly denser than air so it does not muffle your voice."


    Just as the old man''s words rang through the air, two merfolk holding pitchforks swam over. One of them muttered something, and they both pointed their weapons at the two men. The old man bowed to the two merfolk, saying a few words to them in theirnguage.


    The two merfolk exchanged nces, and finally let their guards down. They waved their pitchforks at Wilbur and the old man, signaling for them to follow after them.


    Wilbur was confused. "Where are they leading us, sir?"