Wizard of the Abyss – Ch. 200

Wizard of the Abyss

[Extra Novels]

Chapter 200 - Journey (6)

Maybe it was because she was familiar with Iavon, or maybe she was doing it for my sake.

Elisia said she really liked my Abyssal Sea. She liked it so much, in fact, that she even mentioned she’d rather spend the entire vacation playing inside the Abyssal Sea than outside.

It wasn’t a bad thing for me either, so I had no reason to refuse.

"Close your eyes for a moment.”

"Hm? Why?”

"...Seawater might get into them.

Every now and then, if something appeared that Elysia probably shouldn’t see, I would cover her eyes.

I was diving deeper into the sea every day. As a result, creatures living in the Abyssal Sea were becoming increasingly more grotesque to the point that even I occasionally flinched when I saw them.

An octopus with suckers resembling human hands and feet was the kind of thing that could give even an adult nightmares.

"So, what do you think? Did you understand it?”

"Hmm, hmmm..."

Elisia crossed her arms and tilted her head back and forth as she thought.

“I don’t really get it. It’s hard…”

"Really? Which part doesn’t make sense?”

"Hmm, when I used my ability on other Fallen before, I could suddenly feel what kind of world they lived in. I just knew.”

"...Feel?"

"Yeah. I could tell. Something like, ‘This person is suffering because of something like this…’"

As she said that, Elisia suddenly opened her eyes wide as if she had realized something.

"That’s it. I think this is it! Pain! You know how when someone’s hurt, you can tell right away? Like if the place they’re in is really hot or sticky or something that causes suffering.”

"Yeah. That’s right."

"But your world feels really peaceful.”

Elisia looked around the Abyssal Sea, the octopus already gone, seeming puzzled.

"It is…peaceful, right? I don’t know what exactly about this place is supposed to be painful.”

"Not being able to breathe, for one…”

"But you’re breathing right now.”

"It only looks that way. I stopped breathing a long time ago.”

"Then what about me?”

"I brought air inside my Water Partition so you could breathe. But that can’t last very long.”

"When you explain it like that, I kind of understand, but…”

Elisia sighed, holding her head.

"Honestly, other than feeling a little cold, it just feels like a really dark place. I can’t really tell what’s supposed to be painful.”

"Hmm, I figured as much.”

I returned us to the real world and let go of Elisia.

Naturally, an ordinary person without my Tide Sense couldn’t really see anything in the Abyssal Sea.

It was pitch-black down there. Unless you were very close to one of the few sources of light, all you could see was absolute darkness.

You couldn’t feel the Abyssal Sea. Nor the despair that came from it. And there was no way for me to make someone else feel it either.

"Wow…We really were in another world. Even though there’s nothing to do, can’t we stay a little longer?”

"If we stay any longer, we’ll fall off this carriage. Let’s talk about the details once we get back.”

The carriage rattled as it rolled along the unpaved road.

We were on our way back after finishing what could be called a short vacation. I also wanted to talk to the others about the information about the sacred relics I had found out, though it hadn’t been verified yet.

'Well, whether it’s true or not, it probably wouldn’t hurt to look for more…'

But would there even be a way to find them?

I had stumbled upon this robe rather easily, but if relics existed in a form like that tiny tree root, gathering them would be almost impossible.

And…the mechanism of absorbing relics was rather unsettling as well.

This time my robe seemed to have absorbed the root, but what if it happened the other way around?

This robe was a valuable item that reduced the burdens of my world. If absorbing relics reduced them even further, that would be great, but unfortunately it didn’t seem to work that way.

"Come to think of it, Jern, how did you get that pearl from there—”

As I listened to Elisia’s words, while thinking…

-Screeech!

The carriage stopped abruptly.

"Huh? What’s going on?”

"A checkpoint."

Since I had already sensed the situation with my Tide Sense, I lightly brushed it off.

Recently, after Scarlet Abyss’ rampage, checkpoints had been popping up along the roads everywhere. It wasn’t that unusual. Just as I was about to take my mind off it, the small window connecting to the coachman suddenly opened.

"S-Sir Jern, Young Miss. I’m sorry, but we may have to turn back.”

"Turn back?”

"Yes. The soldiers say there are bandits ambushing people up ahead.”

"Bandits?”

What kind of nonsense was that? When we came through earlier, there hadn’t been even a deer in these mountains, let alone bandits.

As I tilted my head in confusion, one of the soldiers at the checkpoint knocked on the carriage door.

When I opened it, he seemed startled to see that there were only two children inside. After glancing at the coachman, he quickly bowed toward me.

"Greetings, young master. Intelligence reports say that unidentified bandits are hiding in this mountain and taking civilians hostage for ransom. Knights will arrive soon and begin a full search, so unfortunately we must ask you to turn back…”

"I’m also a Knight.”

I silently showed him my seal.

"...Pardon?"

The guard stared blankly at me and the seal, looking back and forth between them before trying to hide his disbelief.

"Erm, y-yes. From which unit…?”

"Jern Aspandil, member of the Waxed Wings Unit. Well, technically speaking.”

"I-I see. But even so, it would be dangerous for a single Knight to go alone.”

"Really? There must be quite a lot of bandits then.”

"There aren’t that many, but there’s information that a Fallen is among them.”

If there were many enemies, I had planned to simply turn back rather than get my hands bloody. But when I heard the word "Fallen," I slowly turned my head.

"Are they affiliated with Scarlet Abyss?”

"Surprisingly, no. It’s an independent Fallen who was identified by the Empire and then escaped. We believe their goal is to make contact with Scarlet Abyss, which is why they’re causing such a disturbance.”

"Hmm..."

"It’s not that we doubt you, Sir Knight. But considering that the target hasn’t been captured yet, the danger level is quite high..."

"I’ll keep that in mind.”

"Pardon?”

"Elisia, you stay here. Don’t come out, no matter what.”

After firmly warning her, I walked into the mountains.

The moment I stepped past the entrance, I saw a corpse.

"..."

Not right in front of me, of course. If a body were lying at the entrance, the soldiers at the checkpoint would have reacted far more seriously.

But halfway up the mountain there were bodies everywhere, their entrails spread out. And among them, an old man wearing ragged cloth was curled up like an animal, sleeping.

His hands and feet were drenched in blood, and his body had grown long fur and sharp spikes.

"What the hell is this…?”

What kind of world could turn someone into that?

I stared at the half-man, half-beast figure. The moment I got closer, the creature suddenly shot upright, sniffing the air. Only then did I realize something when I saw those mad eyes, completely devoid of reason.

That man, no, that thing, had already been crushed by the burdens of his world.

Someone with a world filled with fire might only leave behind a burned corpse. Someone with the Abyssal Sea might only leave behind flattened flesh—but this kind of world left behind a monster that was lethal to humans.

-Grrrr

As it opened its mouth and drooled, it revealed its sharp teeth, closer to the fangs of a beast than the teeth of a human.

The creature easily leapt onto a tree, scattering the nearby corpses and leaving blood everywhere.

Then it waited. Watching the direction I was coming from.

'So it still has some instinct left.'

Since the soldiers didn’t seem to know about this thing, it must have been devoured by its burdens after entering the mountain.

The people with it were probably the bandits. Either way, I couldn’t just leave something like this in the mountains, so I approached the area littered with bodies.

"..."

"I know you’re in the tree. I also know you’re aiming for the back of my head right now.”

I pretended not to notice and spoke casually, but there was no response. Apparently it didn’t retain enough intelligence to understand human speech.

From the trembling fur and the sweat pouring down its body, I couldn’t even guess what it thought I was. Instinctively, it seemed to understand that running away from me was impossible.

So it aimed to ambush me. A beast’s decision.

To give it a clearer opportunity, I calmly walked toward the burnt-out campfire.

I deliberately exposed the back of my neck and rummaged through a nearby bag as if searching through it, acting completely defenseless. If I didn’t finish this in one strike, things would just become annoying.

"Grrk, sniff!”

-Bam!

The tree it had been standing on exploded as the creature launched itself. All that momentum shot straight toward the back of my neck.

Its strength and speed were far beyond those of an ordinary beast. It was almost comparable to a Knight's. Combined with the advantage a surprise attack brought, it could easily kill an inexperienced Knight.

However, every single one of its movements was perfectly captured by my senses.

-Crunch.

"Ghk...!”

The creature suddenly stopped midair, its face filled with confusion. 

It seemed unable to understand why its claws had slashed through air instead of through my throat.

Even if it was just a beast, I had no desire to cause unnecessary suffering. There was no information left to extract from someone who had already fallen this far, so I gently closed my hand.

-Pak!

"Uh, hmm..."

It had died instantly, so there probably wasn’t any pain.

But the sight was quite gruesome. It was enough to make me frown, reminding me once again of just how horrifying my world really was.

Just as I was about to head back down to inform the soldiers, thinking that I should just cut the neck of my opponent instead…

My body suddenly stopped.

"?"

My body moved like a puppet, acting outside my own will as it walked toward the corpse of the Fallen.

Even while confused and startled, I quickly reviewed the situation. The thing moving right now wasn’t me—

It was my robe, frantically rushing toward the corpse.

Before I could stop it, the hem of the robe touched the body, and at that exact moment, the same phenomenon I had seen with the root occurred.

-Slurp!

Like someone who had found an oasis in the desert, it began to madly drink the blood.

'This can’t be…a sacred relic.'

There was no way the corpse of a mere Fallen counted as a relic.

While watching the robe drink the blood frowning, the strange phenomenon from earlier happened again all of a sudden.

[Sa, sa…]

A voice began to come from the robe.

At first I thought it was just the sound of cloth rubbing together in the wind, but it was clearly trying to form words. Feeling a chill run down my spine, I answered.

"What are you?"

[S-sa…ve…]

"Are you the First Mage? Were you inside the sacred relics?”

It was a reasonable guess.

If gathering all the relics resurrected the First Mage, then it was possible he had divided his body and sealed it within those relics.

Whether that was possible or not didn’t really matter. Questioning the limits of someone close to a god would be pointless.

I was already prepared to burn the robe immediately if it tried anything strange. Then the words it spoke finally became understandable.

[S-save.]

"What do you want me to save?”

[Save me...]

"...?"

I had expected something like, ‘Yes, I am the First Mage. I will devour you and return to my true form.' Instead, I froze.

Meanwhile, the fabric rustled even more violently, as if filled with anger.

[You…crazy…bastard. You’ve been…wearing me…for a whole year…]

"Uh, huh?”

[D-damn it. At least… Use me in moderation… I’m dying here…]

"...Wait."

What came out sounded less like a conversation and more like complaining, and the contents of said complaints were quite poignant.

"You were taking on my burdens for me?”

[Ye…ah…you…son of a…bitch.]

"...”

[A-at least…when you wash…take me…off… Y-you, Abyssal Sea idiot…]

The rustling sound of the collar gradually weakened.

Only then did it seem to realize something and hurriedly spit out another piece of information, almost like a complaint.

[Th-the other one…quickly…quickly…disappearing.]

"Disappearing?"

[Can’t endure…the Abyssal Sea…long. If you go deeper…disappear.]

The fragmented words carried an unsettling meaning.

[To survive…if you give…blood…then I…]

"Really? And what would you give me in return?”

Honestly, if the robe that reduced my burdens disappeared, that would be troublesome for me as well. I would have had to save it anyway. But the thing sounded desperate, so it seemed like I might be able to squeeze something out of it.

Sure enough, the moment I adopted a sly tone, it hurriedly offered me compensation.

[I…can help…find things…inside your Abyssal Sea.]

"What things?"

[W-World-Sealing…Elixir.]

"...?"

[The materials…are…inside the Abyssal Sea.]

After saying that much, the robe’s collar drooped.

The sense of force behind it vanished. It felt as though it returned to being nothing more than an ordinary piece of clothing.

But something had clearly changed.

When I clenched and unclenched my fist, a bit of color had returned to my skin.

The world felt slightly less cold.

My burdens had decreased.

"Nice."

With a faint smile, I started walking.

I now had something to do when I got back after all.

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