Wizard of the Abyss – Ch. 244

Wizard of the Abyss

[Extra Novels]

Chapter 244 - Depth (11)

First, there was one thing that worried me the most.

"Can I even survive outside like this?”

Deep-sea creatures normally could only live in the Abyssal Sea.

Of course, this wasn’t exactly the normal Abyssal Sea…but I still had to go back eventually. What if, the moment I returned outside, my body exploded from the pressure difference?

[At least outwardly, you don’t seem to have changed that much…]

Malo answered, trailing off as if it weren't confident.

[Which means if your appearance does start changing, then things have already become serious.]

"Appearance?"

[Yes. Right now, you haven’t been in the Abyssal Sea long, so the changes aren’t significant. But if you adapt to the level you’re worried about, your outward form will definitely change. And when that happens, you can consider your life effectively over.]

"...Adaptation, huh."

I sighed and looked around.

Everything that had felt strange since I first entered this Abyssal Sea—

The sudden new senses and the loss of my previous abilities. There was only one reason for everything.

"I really didn’t want to become part of a world this messed up. Maybe I should’ve asked Heavenly Balance more questions.”

Because I had become a deep-sea creature.

Because I had become one of their kind. That was why all of this was happening.

It wasn’t a pleasant realization.

[....Perhaps, this was that Heavenly Balance person’s plan all along.]

As I was thinking, Malo muttered to itself.

"What do you mean?”

[Turning you completely into a deep-sea creature is, frankly speaking, impossible. Humans can swim in the ocean, but no matter how much they swim, they don’t become fish, right?]

That made me recall what Heavenly Balance had been preparing.

The pond meant to artificially mimic the Abyssal Sea.

[Simply giving up your path back to your world wouldn’t be enough. Whoever dropped you into this Abyssal Sea clearly intended for things to turn out this way.]

"Then that actually makes things better than before.”

[...What? No, it’s the opposite, right?]

Malo questioned me, clearly confused.

[You’ve been deceived! This was a plan to trap you in this Abyssal Sea you can never escape from and drown you in it!]

"I thought that at first as well, but after hearing you, I don’t think so.”

If Heavenly Balance were hostile to me, that would mean she was acting under Great Void’s orders.

But if I died here in the Abyssal Sea—then the ‘Fallen of the Abyssal Sea’ outside would completely disappear.

From Great Void’s perspective, that would be extremely inconvenient. He had only just obtained the world of the Abyssal Sea. He’d have to start over again, pushing mages into pools of water for who knows how long.

And if, even after exhausting all those wizards, he still couldn’t produce another mage of the Abyss?

"Then his entire plan falls apart. If she were his subordinate, she wouldn’t do something like this.”

[...That makes sense.]

Killing me here wasn’t the point. Just throwing me into the Abyssal Sea would introduce far too many uncontrollable variables.

Malo slowly nodded in agreement.

"If this isn’t a variable but the path Heavenly Balance intended, then things have actually become a lot easier. I just have to follow it.”

There was nothing holding me back anymore.

I raised my threads and pulled Fishman up, making it stand upright.

[Uh…Ugh...]

Now that it was fully subdued, it was completely under my control.

At last, the path toward the mid-layer had opened. As I thought that, Malo cautiously spoke.

[But Jern. There’s still a problem.]

"Hm?"

[What about your body? Even if Heavenly Balance isn’t on Great Void’s side, she’s not on yours either. That’s probably why she didn’t warn you about the risks before throwing you down here.]

"Yeah…true."

If she had known everything, she could’ve told me.

The fact that she didn’t meant she wasn’t fully on my side.

I shrugged and moved Fishman.

"Well, nothing I can do about it."

[What?]

A change in species?

I could just think of it as gaining one more burden.

And honestly, compared to everything I’ve dealt with so far, this one was practically kind. As long as my appearance didn’t change, that was enough.

"We just have to finish this quickly."

* * *

The entrance to the mid-layer. The false bottom of the Abyssal Sea.

Arriving at the place covered in fine white sand, I immediately dug away all the surrounding sand.

That was an incredibly easy feat to accomplish with my strengthened water pressure and currents. Standing on the now-barren transparent floor, I created a pressure blade.

Malo, who had been quietly observing, seemed intrigued by the strange floor and asked,

[What are you doing?]

"Fishing.”

[...What?]

The mid-layer was, in the end, a sediment layer.

A place where lifeforms that failed to endure the Abyssal Sea dissolved and sank, piling up due to differences in density.

And if that accumulation eventually formed a single consciousness—

Then all I had to do was target that one point.

'Last time, it took about 30 seconds to react after I cut it…'

Then I just had to be faster.

-Slice. 

I lightly cut into the floor with my pressure blade.

Just enough to create a hole big enough for a person to pass through. The moment the opening formed, I shoved Fishman, standing dumbly there, inside.

As soon as it went in, I quickly sealed the hole. I even reinforced it using my abilities.

"Let’s see..."

10 seconds.

20 seconds.

And then, 30 seconds.

Thankfully, the mid-layer didn’t surge upward. Fishman was quietly sinking below, and the puppet threads binding it were still intact.

-Srrrk

The threads slowly stretched downward, showing that Fishman was sinking deeper and deeper.

[What is this…?]

"Shh. I’ve got a bite."

Just as the dumbfounded Malo was about to ask what I was doing…

About 3 minutes later, the thread suddenly went taut.

It was natural for new sediment to pile onto the sediment layer.

The mid-layer judged Fishman’s body as just another layer being added—and swallowed it.

Of course it did. After all, Fishman had, however imperfectly, stepped into the domain of the mid-layer. If something like that suddenly appeared, it would naturally consume it.

Like bait on a fishing line.

"Kgh..."

Fishman slowly dissolved, becoming part of the mid-layer.

Of course, it was still under my control.

But the cost was dizzying.

[Jern? Jern!]

-Drip, driiip…

Blood poured from my nose like rain, which threw Malo into a panic.

I tried to say I was fine, but the dizziness hit so hard I kept my mouth shut. If I moved even a little, I felt like I’d throw up.

[You crazy bastard… So this is what you meant by fishing…!]

Malo finally realized what I was doing and reacted in shock.

It was simple. I was using the nature of the mid-layer.

In other words, the fact that everything within it became one.

'If it simply ate things normally, this wouldn’t work…’

But a puppet wasn’t a parasite.

If I controlled a rabbit and it got eaten by a wolf, that was the end of it. The thread wouldn’t transfer to the wolf. 

But the mid-layer was different. It was a collection of countless lifeforms, which meant the devourer and the devoured all became part of the same unified consciousness.

So if Fishman, still under my control, merged into the mid-layer, then my puppet threads would bind the mid-layer itself.

There was only one question.

Could I actually do it?

"...I didn’t expect it to be this intense.”

Still, the result wasn’t bad.

Through the tiny crack in the floor, threads were being sucked in endlessly. I had already poured in enough thread to control five whales—

Yet the speed didn’t slow at all. And the cost matched it.

It was lucky I had reached 3 stars and was able to strengthen my puppet ability.

Even so, it still wasn’t enough.

-Snap!

[Damn...]

In the end, the threads reached their limit.

The ravenous mid-layer devoured them, and I hadn’t even controlled a quarter of it.

[Did you fail?]

"We’ll find out."

I slowly calmed myself and focused.

I had definitely used far less thread than what would be needed to fully control the mid-layer.

But it had been used. The puppet control had successfully transferred from Fishman to the mid-layer.

In the end, what mattered was how much of it had taken hold.

-Shhhk. 

I cut open the floor again and peered inside, issuing a command through the puppet.

"Come out."

[...]

The dark, transparent floor of the mid-layer remained silent.

A pitch-black stillness, without even the slightest ripple to show that anything had happened.

After waiting for about 5 minutes, I grabbed my head and let out a sigh.

Maybe I should’ve prepared more threads before trying. No, if I had reached the level of 4 stars, scales would’ve already started growing all over my body.

Just as I thought that and began to stand—

-...Ruuuumble...!

[?]

"....An earthquake?"

The Abyssal Sea shook.

I froze for a moment. Naturally, the Abyssal Sea had no such disasters.

The Abyssal Sea itself was the disaster, so what more could there be? So this shaking wasn’t natural.

Maybe it was countless deep-sea creatures moving at once? As I looked down—

[...Jern, did you cut that?]

"....No."

-Crack!

The ceiling of the mid-layer was splitting apart, riddled with fractures as if it were about to shatter.

Even Malo could see the thin, artificial lines spreading across the transparent surface.

Through those cracks, water of a different density began to gush out.

[Th.....This.....]

[...!...!!]

"Wow.”

For a moment, I forgot the situation and looked around in shock.

The seawater—just ordinary water that made up the Abyssal Sea, but as soon as it brushed against me, I felt something strange. It had neither temperature nor pressure.

It was as if the water itself carried emotion.

And if that feeling was real, then the emotion was unmistakably rage.

[What...]

[How dare...]

[Who...]

Water filled with countless emotions surged in, pressing in from all sides.

It felt like standing in the middle of a furious crowd. The pressure alone made it hard to breathe…a physical suffocating force.

"I guess it worked a little at least…"

I forced a smile as the pressure began crushing my entire body.

Nothing could be seen with the naked eye, but I saw it clearly with my Tide Sense.

Water filled with emotion gathered, forming a massive wave.

[.....You]

[You.]

[You bastard...]

Within that wave, white threads flickered.

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