Chapter Four: The Abyss Gazes Back at You
The Abyss is responsible for many, many adventurer deaths. This is partly due to the hostile and treacherous environment, as well as the dangerous monsters. Different layers of the Abyss cycle between different biomes. Some contain strange and wondrous flora and are full of light, while others are merely barren stretches of rock. The omnipresent gloom obscures sight within those desolate caves, while constant pinpricks of noise create a tense atmosphere between party members, leaving them on edge. It is nearly impossible for anyone to maintain constant vigilance; prolonged expeditions and accumulated fatigue mean cracks will inevitably form. And once they appear, the hunters within the shadows strike.
By most metrics, the denizens of the Abyss are weak monsters. Most Silver-rankers and above would find it easy to confront them. However, these monsters are perfectly adapted to their natural surroundings, whereas few adventurers have skills capable of penetrating the unnatural darkness of the Abyss. Mundane skills like [Night Vision] or its Tier One magic equivalent do not work. Normal light sources, such as torches or [Light] spells, can be used, but regardless of how bright the source is, illumination never travels more than a few feet away from the origin. And so, with their instinctive mana-cloaking, blade-like claws, and ability to end lives with a single strike to the vitals that puts [Assassins] to shame, the monsters of the Abyss have earned the nickname ‘Deathbringers’.
But their innate weaponry and instincts alone are not why they are feared to such an extent, for these Abyssal residents grow in strength and cunning with every encounter, a constant cycle of stimulus and evolution.
* Excerpt from “The Greatest Hidden Realm of Iskaera”, by Silvar Aari Vohra
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Crystalline growths crunched underfoot as Ciel made her way upwards through the Abyss. After a few hours, she’d noticed that there was indeed a main ‘path’ that wound along the outer edge of the Abyss, too uniform to be anything but intentional. The slowly ascending circular ramp reminded her of the grooves in the holes that she had once seen a [Metalworker] drill into plates of bronze, to fit a screw inside. But if the Abyss was the hole, then where was the screw?
The silence was deafening to someone who had lived in Arkress her whole life. Even Floor One had some background noise and a hubbub of voices, whereas here the only sound was that of her footsteps echoing off one side of the path. A few meters away, the other was open air, with a direct view of the distant, imposing walls, marked with fissures. In the dim light, everything seemed a shade of grey or black and she couldn’t see well at all. But even to her unadjusted eyes, the stone was dominated by unending jagged ravines and irregular rifts, giving the impression of having been shattered like a pane of glass and pieced together afterward.
“...!”
“What’s this?”
Several paces ahead, the tunnel opened up into a landscape that wouldn’t have been out of place in a children’s storybook. A cold and dense mist hovered a few inches above the ground, obscuring her feet and shifting in waves as if swirled by an invisible wind. The fog rippled with every step she took, sweeping her forward under the aegis of towering, pulsating mushrooms and vines drifting lazily in midair. Rough gravel floors gave way to blades of grass barely as thick as a single hair, as the cavern ballooned to a width of at least a hundred meters.
Ciel poked one of the translucent vines hesitantly with one finger, warily observing it for any changes, any signs it would suddenly turn hostile and drag her off or try to melt her face with acid. Not that she really thought it would do so, but being cautious felt like a good move considering how many people had told her how dangerous the Abyss supposedly was. Of course, she’d never been down here before, since only licensed adventurers could leave through Arkress’s exit points to venture deeper. Although thus far there had been exactly zero signs of the aforementioned danger, that didn’t mean it wasn’t there.
“...”
“...”
Nothing happened. The plants’ soft blue and purple light didn’t vary even a bit. She poked it again, more insistently. Then, after the lack of response became clear, she grasped the vine in both hands and pulled, as hard as she could.
Still nothing. Finally, she backtracked outside the entrance of the forest, for it was what she imagined the forests on the surface world looked like, and retrieved a rock, which she threw against one of the fat, bulbous mushroom stems. This accomplished nothing and failed to provoke any reaction apart from causing a bruise when the rock bounced off the squishy stem and hit her on the shin.
After Ciel stopped clutching her leg and hopping around, she straightened her back, taking in the stunning sight fully for the first time. Each separate plant bobbed and pulsed from side to side, dancing eternally to an unheard tempo. With so many light sources, it should have been intolerably blinding; instead, she was left feeling as calm and tranquil as a placid pool of water. She took one step, then another, compelled by an indescribable force. She walked, then ran, bounding through tufts of slick tendrils. Ciel was a whirl of motion, twirling and twisting, dancing and darting with pure unadulterated joy, letting out laughs of happiness halfway between hushed and shouting as if she couldn’t decide whether to keep quiet. Faster and faster she spun, until her vision blurred and all the serene blue and purple glows melted into one big glittering mess that left her panting for breath, a grin plastered onto her face and her hands planted on her knees for support.
And yet, all too soon, after just a few minutes, the glowing oasis within the Abyss came to an end, replaced by a desert of utterly somber gray. The vegetation became scattered, growing sparser, until it vanished completely, transitioning to hard stone. She stared at the rocky tunnels that appeared like a promise of her near future, and her smile turned bittersweet.
“...If something like this, some tiny little forest underground in such a dangerous place, so close to the city where I’ve lived all my life, can be so beautiful… Then how much greater is the surface high above?”
“...”
At that moment, Ciel tripped, slicing her right palm open on a particularly sharp stalagmite. Hissing softly, she cradled her hand and-
A minute, inaudible skrrtch of nails on stone, vibrations emanating through the air. Hair rising and pricking the back of her neck, an instinctive warning. She jerked upright and turned in a circle, searching for any sign of movement, but the instant she’d left the forest keeping the gloom at bay, visibility had fled her again.
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A flurry of shadows, leaping out of her peripheral vision, too fast to react even if she could see clearly. An impression of something four-legged flashed past, as obsidian claws scythed through the air and tore five slashes into her shirt, but failed to rend flesh. Her ill-fitting clothes had worked in her favor this time; whatever was coming after her had misjudged the distance and missed. There was a brief shower of orange sparks and the whine of metal on metal as it landed, then all was dark again.
Stumbling seven steps backward until her shoulder blades felt the jab of the cavern wall, she swept her arm in a semicircle, shining droplets of blood flicked from her cut hand in an arc like a fisherman casting bait, falling and landing on her attacker’s body. Other beads of teal light spattered the ground, and altogether their illumination allowed Ciel her first glimpse at the Abyss’s horrors.
Matted, putrid fur. Patches of hard, blackened scales. A maw of serrated teeth made for sundering, and slavering with drool that silently gave rise to smoke when it dripped onto the cave floor. Twin glassy orbs of lightless void acted as its eyes, with muscle and sinew of a cosmic purple bordering on black fully tensed and stretched taut. The shape was vaguely reminiscent of stray dogs she’d seen in the streets of Arkress, but the sounds reverberating from its vocal cords were anything but. Facing her head on, it made a rattling deep-throated roar, bestial and savage instead of a dog’s rapid bark. Perhaps it knew she could see it now, and was choosing intimidation rather than maintaining its previous stealth.
Whatever the case, it certainly worked. The mere sight of the beast froze her for a second, and it was wholeheartedly pure luck that she didn’t have her stomach torn open in the next moment. As the monster pounced for the second time, her knees gave out and she sank closer to the ground, once again narrowly avoiding the attack. Even with its target gone, the monster couldn’t very well maneuver in midair and its face smashed into the wall directly. The force from the collision alone, powerful enough to shatter the stone and send broken shards flying, the needle-thin projectiles piercing her skin, convinced Ciel of one thing.
She couldn’t fight it and expect to come out alive.
…So she forced herself to her feet and took off running as fast as she could through the tunnels, not sparing a single look back. Behind her, the monster rose slowly, disoriented but recovering quickly, and bowled after her.
Footfalls thundered in an uneven rhythm as she streaked past fork after fork, picking whichever path seemed to lead upward the most. This was nothing like her earlier, leisurely pace; there was no time to deliberate, no time to carefully take step after step. Her toes scrabbled for traction on the ground, each near slip scattered a spray of slick gravel shooting behind her, lacerating the skin on her soles. She paid no heed to the scrapes; if [Mana-Body Regeneration] could take care of a thousand-meter drop, it could heal these minor scratches.
Ciel flinched as the monster lunged and missed for the umpteenth time. Frankly, the only reason she hadn’t been run down by now was probably because it kept diving at her whenever it was close enough and letting her get ahead again instead of continuing to run and catching up. Her legs were already burning and her breaths were ragged, but strangely her heartbeat wasn’t thumping in her chest as it normally would be. Another lunge saw her pursuer’s jaw snap shut dangerously close to her pumping arms.
“Think! How do I shake this thing off my tail?”
She cursed herself for not trying to see if the [Shaper of Mana and Magic] aspect of her Class allowed her to cast any spells, which would have been extremely useful, seeing as she doubted her puny, twelve-year-old strength would do anything against the beast’s hide and scales if it didn’t eviscerate her first. Admittedly, she had no idea where to start with that, but she should have at least tested the speed and totality of her regeneration, and what it even required! Only a fool blindly trusts in something they can’t understand. There was no way her regeneration was free, it had to have limits.
She risked a glance back, noticing that the monster always skidded a few meters even after landing.
The beginnings of a half-baked plan were coming together in her mind. It couldn’t properly arrest and control the momentum of its explosive movements.
Suddenly, a rippling ball of yellowish-orange fire soared through the air and detonated in between both of them.
The blast sent a pulse of flame outwards, cratering the ground with molten lava in a three-meter radius, blistering and burning skin, and the shockwave knocked both monster and girl off their feet, leaving her no time to question where the fireball had come from.
Eyes blurred and stinging, ears shaken and ringing, she scrambled to regain her footing just like the four-legged monstrosity was doing. One of them recovered faster than the other.
And it wasn’t Ciel.
Time slowed to a crawl.
Staring wide-eyed, she had the clearest view of its jagged knife-like incisors penetrating her right arm. Ligaments, tendons, bones, all were severed perfectly at the elbow. The stump felt as though she had dunked it in ice, adrenaline numbing the pain. She watched as blood slowly began spurting from the remaining arteries as they finally realized they were exposed.
The monster skittered back a few steps, still holding her severed forearm in its jaw. The sight sent a fresh wave of nausea through her body. Instead of charging forward, it stood back, reveling in the victory, taking its sweet time. It thought it had won, bested its prey.
Then time resumed its inexorable march again. Everything in her body hurt, and her nerves were on fire. Her mind blanked, mouth hanging open, saliva flying onto the ground, eyes clouded with thoughtlessness, as she threw herself away, her sole remaining arm dragging uncooperative, shaking legs toward the edge of the Abyssal pit.
The beast- no, the dog pawed the ground and poised low, preparing its final strike to rip out her throat and bring an end to the farce of a hunt. It tensed, then leaped.
And just like before, Ciel’s body slackened, falling to the side, too late for the dog to adjust course. This time, there was no floor for it to land on and reorient, only empty space.
Betrayed by its own power, she watched as it finally let out a sound befitting of a dog as gravity carried it deeper and deeper; a shocked, high-pitched yowl. Nothing like its earlier pressure.
But a deathly silence was already falling. Everything became still, as the stream of unconsciousness bore her into murky darkness. The last thing she heard was this:
[Seeker of Abyss and Sky, Shaper of Mana and Magic: Level 6!]
[Skill Granted: Mana Sight!]
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The Abyssal beast growled, a low whine between pain and anger, gritting its teeth so hard even the star-forged enamel creaked and threatened to shatter. Its twenty claws, front and hindlegs both, screeched precariously from their positions lodged into the walls of the Abyss, preventing it from sliding down further. Below was a fall so large it would have been pulverized on impact while landing.
“I HAVE BEEN… OUTSMARTED, THIS TIME… ONCE. BUT… THERE WILL NOT BE A THIRD.”
This, the creature vowed with all its heart.