Wizard of the Abyss – Ch. 187

Wizard of the Abyss

[Extra Novels]

Chapter 187 - Oblivion (12)

The Lump was the kind of bastard who enjoyed ruining people’s mood.

I had never studied psychology or anything, but if I had to guess why it does that, it might be due to fear.

It couldn’t distinguish itself from itself. There was no way for it to tell whether the “self” before sleeping and the “self” after waking were the same being.

Neither its purpose nor its consciousness was independent. It was nothing more than a mass of residual thoughts stitched together from multiple humans.

So this might be its way of proving that it wasn’t that. A desperate attempt to create something more stimulating, something that set it apart from others.

Or maybe I was just overthinking.

This was all just speculation after all. Honestly, it was far more likely that it was just a fucking asshole.

And that shitty personality caused yet another problem.

"Hey, what the hell are you?”

"..."

"Kgh, cough. Shit, fuck…Did I stay dormant for too long—?”

In this situation bizarre enough to be called grotesque, I instantly started to understand what was happening since I knew how the Lump imitated people.

"...Huh?"

"Yes, I see now. So this is the decision His Majesty spoke of. That must be why the look he gave me was tinged with such sadness…Even with my jumbled mind I can finally understand.”

Balkan stared at his own hand for a moment, his eyes heavy with sorrow, then, in an instant, his gaze twisted into pure madness.

"This is exactly why I said I'd never deal with lunatics! Fuck, fuck!”

And just like that, he returned to being Balkan, his expression clouded with confusion.

"-But I still don’t understand why he chose a Fallen like you.”

"I don’t recall ever being chosen…”

"You were, without question.”

-Slash!

My eyes trembled.

Balkan had cut his own ankle with his sword.

The Knight’s blade sliced through flesh as casually as if it were cutting weeds. Unable to stand properly, Balkan dropped to one knee, blood soaking into the ground.

It was his own body. And yet there wasn’t the slightest hint of hesitation. Even I was shocked, but Balkan continued to speak without blinking.

"Go."

"Go where?”

"I will stay here and keep this thing, this monster that has devoured my body, from moving.”

At the same time, he pulled a necklace set with a red gemstone from his pocket and threw it to me.

"That necklace will take you to where the elf is.”

"...Understood. But before that, there’s something I need to say.”

Balkan looked at me, puzzled, before I continued.

"Of course, defeating Decay is important. But if you manage to dominate the Lump’s consciousness, Sir Balkan, that alone would be an incredible achievement. The Lump is a hive that doesn’t die even when killed. Right now, you’re the only one who could possibly defeat it…”

"That’s impossible."

Balkan shook his head with his eyes closed.

"What?"

"The only reason I’m still conscious is because this monster allowed me too much time. To avoid being noticed by the shrine maiden, no, the princess, it left me mostly myself, only nudging my impulses slightly.”

Clutching his head as if struck by a splitting headache, Balkan continued.

"That gave me time to forget. I’ve already lost most of this monster’s memories. They’re resurfacing now, one by one. This brief window I’ve gained is the only resistance I can offer.”

"Then…after I defeat Decay.”

"I will carry out His Majesty’s orders.”

Determination.

Even in agony, his eyes burned with certainty as if it was the obvious thing to do.

He was far more resolute than I had expected.

"..."

When I remained silent, Balkan let out a short, self-mocking laugh.

"The Lump, was it? Like I said, it only stirred the smallest desires. Maybe my head was already filled less with loyalty to His Majesty and more with the ambition to rise higher…”

"...That’s not true, Sir Balkan. Of all the Knights I’ve met, you’re the second most faithful.”

There were those who could swear loyalty even at the cost of their lives.

However—to receive an order to offer one’s life was something no one could do without hesitation, no matter how loyal.

Balkan did exactly that. The moment he understood the situation, he acted without the slightest doubt in his mind.

—He accepted that he was a disposable piece.

No person solely focused on their own ambition could ever make such a decision.

"You damn idiot…”

I spoke with a trace of reverence, but Balkan scowled as if offended.

"When you say something like that, you’re supposed to call me the best. So tell me, who’s the greatest Knight you know?”

"I’m sorry. Dame Carose.”

"Tsk, can’t argue with that.”

Clicking his tongue, he waved a trembling hand, clearly signalling me to leave.

"Go."

"..."

Hesitating here would only trample on Balkan’s resolve.

I clenched my teeth and ran in the direction the necklace pulled me toward.

"...Please.”

Collapsing forward, grinding his teeth as if resisting something inside himself, he forced the words out one by one.

"I implore you, make sure that our Empire, built upon our ancestors’ blood, will never be buried beneath ours…”

The weight of that sentence was crushing.

"...I swear it.”

So heavy, in fact, that even I, who was already beneath hundreds of millions of tons of seawater, felt suffocated.

* * *

The necklace led me to a small cave buried beneath the snow.

Fighting through the now-raging blizzard, I barely slipped inside, and the moment I crossed the threshold, the storm vanished as if it had never existed.

"Tsk, is this the place…?”

With a heavier resolve than before, I surveyed the cave.

Aside from being slightly spacious, there were no signs of anyone having been here.

As I carefully walked further, spreading my Tide Sense to not miss any detail—

"?!"

Something appeared in it. Startled, I dropped to the ground and brushed over the ground.

The floor was covered in ice. That alone wasn’t that strange, but what was encased within that translucent ice was something I couldn’t ignore.

"B-Brimdal?”

Brimdal’s figure, warily scanning his surroundings, was frozen into the ground.

...He almost seemed like he might start moving again at any moment.

A chill ran through my body as I slowly stepped back.

"The Lump didn’t follow you?”

"Ugh!”

I immediately unleashed water pressure in every direction.

It was pointless. Decay wasn’t there.

I couldn’t sense him at all, neither physically nor with my senses.

I scanned the area again and again. The cave, the surroundings, even hundreds of meters beyond the entrance.

"Look ahead.”

"..."

Frowning, I slowly turned my head—

And saw something pale drifting in the air.

Black, white, a waving haze. Something closer to a phenomenon than something that could be described as having a human form…

"...?"

Was that—Decay?

This looked nothing like any form I had seen him in before. Even with my Tide Sense, I could tell there was nothing there, and yet this being stood before me.

I instinctively stepped back. The haze rippled, producing something akin to laughter.

"Ah, I must have made you worry too much. What you’re seeing is…Hmm, yes. An afterimage.”

"An…afterimage?"

"Even if you can see a flying arrow, does it look the same as an arrow standing still? What you’re seeing is the arrow in flight, not the arrow at rest.”

"..."

Which meant—The burden I was suffering from was already so absurdly severe that my current movements were slower than a crawling turtle.

—As expected.

"With that much of a gap between us, it’s almost surprising we can even talk.”

"It’s difficult to speak slowly enough for you to hear. And besides…it’s hard for me to interfere from this side.”

So that was it.

Decay couldn’t touch me right now.

Of course, he couldn’t.

"Why don’t you try touching me?”

The moment he did, he’d die.

At this very moment, I was crushing everything that approached my skin under tens of thousands of tons of pressure, compressing everything to the extreme.

Even if I stood perfectly still, the instant Decay tried to touch me, he’d be crushed and burst.

Throwing something at me wouldn’t change the outcome either.

An armor made of pressure. The exact opposite of my Water Partition that I usually relied on.

Scoffing, I extended my hand and walked toward the haze.

Naturally, just before I could reach it, it mockingly vanished. He knew.

"...Tsk."

Defensively, it was working to some extent, but offensively? That was another story.

After all, there was no way I could defeat an enemy that I couldn’t touch.

Right now, I needed to find some way to attack.

"What did you do to Dercia?”

That would’ve been the perfect problem for her to solve.

I hadn’t asked with any expectations.

I didn’t trust that guy to begin with.

I wasn’t even sure the Brimdal beneath us was real.

Still, one thing was clear. He had separated them the moment they reached the mountain somehow.

"Hmm..."

After letting out a thoughtful groan, Decay spoke in a relaxed tone.

"Would you like to see her?”

"What? Did you kill her?”

"No. She’s alive. To be honest, I have no confidence in defeating someone who’s reached the world itself by her own strength alone. So, I ran away.”

"...?"

"It’s cold, isn’t it?”

The sudden small talk sent a chill straight through.

A kind of fear no words could properly describe.

The sensation of death standing right before me.

"—Winter hasn’t ended yet.”

With those words—

The entire world froze.

"...What?”

More precisely, it stopped.

Decay was already gone.

"...?”

Tilting my head in confusion, I stepped out of the cave and immediately sensed something was wrong.

It was quiet.

The blizzard had stopped.

"Huh?”

Walking on with an uneasy expression, I felt something brush against my clothes. I casually flicked it away—

And then my heart dropped.

'My pressure…’

The water pressure shield was no longer functioning.

I immediately poured all my strength into reinforcing the pressure around me.

Then I turned to look at what could have possibly pierced even my fully raised pressure.

"?"

It was snow.

A single snowflake that had just fallen from the sky.

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