The Second Level of the Abyss
Alice’s POV:
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Going back to the city, we chose a random spot to sit down and train. It was devoid of life for now, so it really didn’t matter. Now that many of the main leaders of the first level of the abyss had died, we were sure that chaos would erupt. As there were still many groups, who never made a move. Losing against us with such a group, made it clear that our city was really number one.
But taking over the other groups and purging the people within will be an obvious choice for the other groups. Gaia and Anthony were counted as our servants, the reason why we didn’t have to care about penalties. No one would lose their life, except for our enemies. Of course, if we were to break through to the eighth level, we would have to move down to a deeper level of the Abyss. We had plans related to this too.
Once there were enough people in our city, there would surely be a few who liked ruling over others. Such person at the later stages of the seventh level could inherit this place. We were sure that they would listen to our words, even if we moved away. There would be another boss, namely… but in truth, we would manage every place.
After cultivating for a week, along with a huge amount of World Crystals, and the soul of one of the cultivators at the eighth level, we easily reached the sixth stage of the seventh level. We planned to use the other souls at the same time when we comprehended the laws of death and life so that we might break through to the Universe Founding Realm in one go.
Entering our world, we decided to check how things were going. We didn’t have the time to care too much about our people lately, which was kind of sad… [Ehm… actually, we did have the time] Hiro chimed in, pointing out the truth.
[Grr… I only wanted to make myself feel better!] I exclaimed unhappily, making him laugh. After a whole week, we had enough time to calm down and think about our possibilities seriously. We were sure that the Abyss had a way for us. But it loved to play around with us. Maybe there were other people as well, who were its little toys.
Using our world, we felt everyone in it. What happened was a huge… mess? Wonder? Catastrophe? It could be called anything, actually… After looking back what happened in the past few days, we realized how fucked up our plans were. The number of sexual acts per day increased to unimaginable heights, compared to before. Looking at the faces of the people, we saw something that we missed before.
We didn’t see those deadpan faces, those empty eyes, devoid of life. We didn’t see those pointless people, who didn’t have a goal. People with freckles, overweight, ‘ugly’ faces… all of them had a pair. Hiro talked to a lot of people in his past life, and he too heard descriptions of ‘dream women’, which were an exact opposite of his. People just had to find their pairs.
Thanks to this new, cultivator society, no one had to care about things, such as jobs and economy. Jobs were meant to create an ecosystem, which could protect people from the dangers of the wild. To create safety, to create luxury and comfort, and to survive. In a cultivator society, people were chasing strength and comfort was secondary.
But these people had very advanced technology, which we also used in our city in the Abyss. That technology provided them with great comfort, no matter where they went. The internet was accessible anywhere. They had storage spaces early on, unlike us… They were like a new generation of cultivators, with completely different standards.
The cultivators in the outside world had this kind of luxury only above the fifth level. But even that was inferior when it came to quality… After ‘asking’ the people in our world, they also created the same kind of technology in our city. The crime was still present, as people would never live in peace. But we didn’t have a problem with that. It was a world of cultivation. Pairs betrayed and stole from other pairs. We too did the same. There was no need to play Saints and create world peace and unity…
We planned to let only people with bonds live in our city. For that reason, there was a separate district, which served the needs of new pairs. Once they found their halves, with our help, they could live in our city as well.
On the other hand, ever since breaking through to the Eternal Law Realm, we sped up the time of our world. One day in the outside world was equal to twenty-five in our world. This meant that under these two weeks, a year passed by in our world. It cost us a lot of years, but with the souls of the cultivators at the eighth level, it was just a joke. Even we had lifespans of six hundred million years.
With the new souls, it went way above that, reaching eons. Considering that one eon was two billion years… we could keep up this pace for a very long time and still stay young. Rose’s pregnancy was going smoothly, except for her random outbursts and the food she consumed… Hēi had a hard time and I couldn’t help but wonder if I was going to be this bad as well.
For example, not long ago, Rose went to a restaurant in our world and asked for meat. She never looked at the signs and didn’t notice that it was a vegetarian restaurant… Naturally, she had another outburst, cursing at the restaurant for not having what she wanted. When Hēi tried to soothe her, she snapped at him as well for not defending her. It was quite surprising that her baby still wasn’t coming.
But thanks to being cultivators, all of us knew that there was nothing wrong. It was just that her child was growing slowly and needed a lot of nutrition.
Opening our eyes, we stood up from our sitting position. Our bones crackled and our muscles felt a little stiff. Warming up a little, we went towards Gaia and Anthony.
Sensing them occupying our house in the middle of the city, we felt our brows twitching. They liked to stay in our room… Walking through the empty streets, I felt a little weird. “Whenever I see this place, I can’t help but think… What will become of this place?” I talked to myself silently, looking at the houses.
His arm around my waist, Hiro said laughing, “A city of perverts.”
Shaking my head sideways, I imagined these streets, filled to the brim with kissing couples. But it might not be like that. For example, we never saw Hēi and Rose kissing in front of us either. They are rather shy… Sometimes I can’t help but think about peeking at them to see Rose’s little red face.
Considering that there was about another year until Rose would give birth to her child, we could leave them here safely for now. We wanted to be there when she gave birth. Barging into our own room, we found Gaia and Anthony having a great time. We need a new bed… I thought unhappily.
They came out a few minutes later, visibly unhappy. “Next time do it in your own room. And you can take this bed if you came for that… Even though it was a unique one. Prepared for our use, from the best materials!” I said as soon as I saw them, crossing my arms in front of my chest.
“You should have asked for more such beds… and then we wouldn’t have got an urge to try it out. It is really comfy, you know? And what’s with those functions? It can even change its surface, which makes it perfect for a few positions…” Gaia replied, blushing and coughing towards her last words. Seeing us staying silent, she asked why have we come.
“We are leaving now. Rose and Hēi, come out…” I replied her, not bothering with the happenings.
Rose appeared in front of us, Hēi behind her. Her belly was round and big. “Can’t we go with you? Time flows much quicker in your world. Look, I’m already at the sixth level and Hēi reached the World Realm as well,” Rose questioned us with a pleading voice.
“You mean five hundredth level…” Hēi corrected her, earning a twitching brow from Rose. Unstable as always… When Hēi formed his ‘sea of consciousness’, the first thing they did was to bound their souls. His tables were working everywhere, so nothing changed for him. But after bonding, their leveling system went through a mixing.
Rose was able to train and cultivate at the same time, and she had access to the tables as well. Unfortunately for her, it didn’t matter too much at this point since she had to comprehend the laws. Meanwhile, Hēi stayed the same except for that now he too could cultivate. After their relationship started, he still had those seizures a few times, but thanks to Rose’s caring, they have disappeared completely.
“Do you really want to come with us? What if we die? Will you risk your child’s life?” I questioned her, my hands on my hips. “Also, Narihi and Poirlion will be there with us…” I started, but Hēi interrupted me.
“Please stop being pedantic! We all know that you won’t die, not to mention that you are stronger than Narihi and Poirlion. You don’t need our company at all, but we wish to go. Simple as that.” He didn’t talk too much, but whenever he did, I couldn’t refute… His words were true, and I wouldn’t lie for the sake of another result. It’s not like I minded it if they came.
“Haah- Fine. But you should still stay here…” I replied, sighing loudly, pointing out that Gaia and Anthony should stay.
“We wouldn’t go either way. Only if you commanded us…” Gaia replied mockingly.
They will do something to this city, won’t they? I thought unhappily. [I think so…] Hiro replied, his face stiff.
Saying goodbye, we turned around to leave. Teleporting away, we found ourselves over a dark pit, leading to the deeper levels of the Abyss. It was strangely silent. Rose was trying to comprehend the laws, while Hēi was training hard to catch up to his lover. With his current pace, he might be able to do it before the birth of his son.
We gave him hundreds of pills, which made him soar through the third level. At the fourth, we stuffed his mouth with Energy Converting pills. And now… he had tons of World Crystals to consume. Actually, he felt terrible because of this. He always wanted to refuse it, but we wanted to help, so he had a hard time…
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[Especially if Rose stuffed his mouth to the brim, with World Crystals…] Hiro remarked in my mind with a thoughtful face, remembering another outburst of Rose. She didn’t want to listen to our persuasion, so she grabbed Hēi’s head and stuffed his mouth to the brim with a handful of World Crystals. Hēi has never refused our help since then…
The place around us was a flat valley. The ground was made up of smooth and spotless black Abyss stone. There were walls all around us, going upwards. The walls were equally straight and smooth, leaving us with a feeling of insecurity. It was as if this hole was made for something else, other than a way down.
The ground was littered with dark tunnels, leading downward in a straight line. [It feels like worm holes,] Hiro thought in his mind, his hand on his chin. Placing my hand on his shoulder, I caught his attention.
“Ah, sorry. I was lost in my thoughts,” he said smiling, as he rested his hand on the top of my head, caressing it.
“I know. And I’m not a dog!” I replied, pushing his hand away, pouting.
Hugging me, “Hahaha, I know. You are a dragon,” he commented laughing.
“Alright, my dragoness. Let’s go,” releasing me, he grabbed my hand and pulled me into one of the holes. Even after so many years together, my heart still beat rapidly when I felt him hugging me like this. I felt defeated…
Anthony had told us to be careful as we couldn’t teleport from this point on. We had to walk or fly. As we were walking through the tunnels, every step we made, caused an echo to run through it. It was more than weird… Considering that the height of these tunnels was no more than two meters, it was hard to fly.
[You are saying that. I even have to go as far as to pull back my neck… Let’s fly in a laying position!] Hiro remarked annoyed, as he laid down in the air. Superman… was it? I chuckled in my mind as I followed his example.
We flew through the tunnels, moving downward hundreds of kilometers. After five hundred kilometers, we finally left those tunnels and found an amazing place.
There was a huge land below us, and these holes were littering the black ceiling. The edges of the tunnels were shining from tiny crystals, showering the world below in a dim light. There were thick forests and plains at the same time, while the plant life was shining with a stronger light.
As we stopped using our domains, we fell to the ground. The jungle was strangely silent… Thanks to Gaia’s guideline in our heads, we knew what to do. The Abyss was always changing. New places were added, with treasures, while old ones disappeared. But there were a few places which never changed, and this was one such place.
Unlike at the upper floors, the trading places were rarer and harder to find. This was because they kept changing positions. And even if we found one, we couldn’t be sure that it had what we needed. We had many points since we played a nice role in killing the people at the eighth level. Even if the formation was made by Gaia and Anthony.
It would have taken only a few minutes to fly out of the jungle if not for the number of monsters here. We were attacked every twenty seconds… There were even times when we killed a monster, only to see another one jumping towards us. All of them being at the seventh level didn’t help either.
At last, after two hours, we were able to leave behind that damned forest. The worst was that we couldn’t fly after landing in it and the trees were incredibly sturdy. We felt like mortals, who tried to hit a tree with their fists. Nothing happened… Beyond the forest, we found a few tunnels in the walls, leading off to who knows where.
Believing in ourselves, we picked one randomly. No matter how lucky or unlucky we were, when it counted, we always found our way. Walking through the long, smooth tunnels, we were surprised to see the tiny stone shards shaking on the ground. Everything started trembling around us, as a water-like liquid flushed through the tunnel. It was only a few centimeters deep.
Seeing the Abyss stone sizzling as it melted, we used our Destiny’s Descent to punch a tiny hole into the wall of the tunnel. Pushing our hands into the tiny holes we made, we grabbed onto the wall and jumped onto it. The acid flowed below us, seemingly never ending, as the shaking intensified. Some kind of stupid worm appeared in the tunnel. It had no eyes, just long and sharp looking rows of teeth, arranged in circles.
It was continuously opening and closing, about to devour us. Hiro swung his arm, releasing an arc of our mixed Qi. Although it wounded the monster, it was nowhere near enough to kill it. “Tsk… damn it. There you go!” Hiro said, clicking his tongue. Making five clones of himself, they jumped into the acid in their battle forms.
His clones’ legs started melting as soon as they landed. Not bothering with it, they combined our knowledge about the laws and a huge amount of energy into a single attack. Our merged form, made up of our mixed energy, rushed forward. Upon meeting the worm, Hiro’s energy attack devoured the head of the worm and the remnants of the energy destroyed its body.
Using Soul Eater, we devoured its soul, adding another few million to our lifespans. Sometimes we couldn’t help but wonder whether we would keep this look of ours or turn back into an even younger form… With the disappearance of the monster, the acid soon ran out of its source. Hiro’s clones had only half of their bodies left, but thanks to our current regeneration speed, they healed in a second.
Entering Hiro’s body, we were left alone once again. Walking through the tunnels, we saw the tunnels start branching out. But the air felt strange and everything was too silent. We haven’t met even a single person since coming here. Which was weird… [Let’s merge and transform. Just in case. It’s better safe than sorry,] Hiro said in my mind, dissolving his cells and flowing into my body.
Our cells merged, along with our brain, creating twelve hearts in our three meter tall body. Our veins thickened and our muscle mass grew. Blank covered our bodies as our cells split and our overall shape took up our merged monster form, with twelve brains and heads. Using our Mind Powers, we found nothing.
Let’s try our souls, I thought as I discharged our soul force in the form of a sphere. Feeling signs of life above us, we quickly turned our heads upward. There was a group of people above us, squatting in tiny holes, ready to ambush us. Just a few more steps, and we would have been attacked from the back. Opening our jaws, we used our breath attack to kill all of them.
They quickly jumped out of the holes, rolling on the ground. We swung our tail and snapped our jaws towards the people in front of us. Catching three out of the seven, we tore their bodies into pieces. Our tail hit one of them, cutting his body into two halves, crushing him. Releasing our martial attack with twelve stacks, right under ourselves, it exploded, killing everyone but us on the spot.
We couldn’t see anything in the lingering green light. Feeling their souls, we devoured them in one go, adding about a billion to our lifespans. We felt ourselves falling downward for a few seconds, before meeting the ground. The light soon disappeared, showing us nothing but the darkness. Looking up, we saw a huge hole in the ceiling, spamming at a few kilometers. There was supposed to be Abyss Stone connecting the tunnels…
As we separated, “reshaping it a little should be fine,” Hiro said with an unbothered face, shrugging his shoulders. Chuckling, I followed in his steps. After walking for a few minutes, we stumbled upon a clearing. It was weird to see a patch of grass in the middle of a stone covered area. Seeing that there were people camping, we decided to ask for directions. Or for their lives…
“Hello,” stopping beside the mini grassy plain, I leaned forward a little and said smiling. The group of beastmen with two elves among them, turning silent, looked towards us. They stood up hurriedly, their symbiotes covering their bodies and weapons in hands.
“Eh? Why are you hostile?” I asked, holding up my hands, leaning back.
[They didn’t even notice our presence. Something only people above the seventh level can do. What did you expect?] Hiro remarked in my mind, smirking.
“Who are you? What do you want?” The elf guy in the middle asked. At the same time, we felt Poirlion and Narihi breaking through to the first stage of the seventh level. Poirlion caught up to Narihi and thanks to their new bloodline, they trained much quicker.
“We just came to ask for directions. Do you happen to know of a Trading Spot nearby?” Hiro said calmly, his face unmoving.
“Is that so?” The same elf mumbled, as his mind power and soul force rushed past our bodies. Furrowing his brows, he measured us up before saying, “Why can’t I sense you?”
“Don’t ask for secrets. Just tell me whether you know of a place or not,” Hiro replied, furrowing his brows. His tail was swaying in a dangerous manner behind his back. He was ready to kill.
Crossing his arms in front of his chest, the elf answered, “I know. But what makes you think that-” before he could say any more words, Hiro shot his pointy tail towards the elf’s head. Using Nightmare, the elf was stunned for a moment. Hiro’s tail penetrated his head, making it explode into a bloody mist. Creating clones of ourselves, we stood with bows in our hands.
Mixing our energies, we condensed them into arrows. Releasing them in the form of Destiny’s Head, they flew towards the unfortunate souls. As they jumped to the side, we grabbed the elf’s soul and devoured it, gaining his memories.
Turning around, we released another Twelve Chains of Bane, killing everyone in a moment. It was so easy to gain years of life! This place was like a gold mine for increasing our lifespan! Rushing towards the direction of the trading room, we arrived within twenty minutes. This place was simply huge.
We found the same kind of circular room as when we entered the Trading Room before and, there were people in it this time as well. We felt our strength disappearing as we stepped into the room. But our jaws almost fell upon seeing one of them. It was Onas Sharurah, the elder who betrayed the academy and wanted to kill us! Nodding at each other, we hid our aura and sneaked towards his back.
Although we couldn’t use our symbiotes or our Qi, we had the strength of a mortal. Activating our battle forms, Hiro jumped towards Onas’ back and coiled his arm around his neck.
Feeling the air rushing out of his body in his surprise, “W-Who are- you?!” He shouted as he started coughing. Stopping in front of him, I smiled at him. Clenching my fists, I punched him in the face, breaking a few of his teeth. Even if I was just a mortal girl… I knew how to punch. And I had scales on my body, unlike this trash.
Looking at me with hateful eyes, he wanted to spit on me. But before he could do anything of the sort, I kicked him in the stomach, making even Hiro stumble backward. The people started watching the show, with excited faces. Stepping forward, I slapped him on the face, followed by another punch, resulting in a broken nose.
Hiro tightened his arms around his throat, his scales cutting into his flesh. His blood trickled down on Hiro’s arm, dirtying his clean scales. “You little shit… you should have never betrayed the academy. But to go as far as to attack us?! You were seeking death!” I shouted as I spun on my heel, kicking his head. I heard a cracking sound, causing me joy.
“How many hits it take to crack that idiot skull of yours? I wonder,” I said grinning, cracking my knuckles.
“W-Wait! It wasn’t my intention to attack you!” He exclaimed, holding up his arms, coughing. He was just an old man, with no real strength. While we were young and fit! He had no chance! Kicking his upheld hands, I heard another series of cracking sounds. Having enough of playing with this trash, Hiro coiled his right arm around Onas’ head, turning on it more than necessary. His neck cracked loudly as it broke.
Although we couldn’t use our Soul Force here, we didn’t have to. Using Soul Eater, we devoured his soul as it was. With so many high-level souls, our energies went beyond the sixth stage, reaching the seventh. Throwing out his corpse, Hiro turned into his Hydra form and ate his body in front of the people present. Onas’ blood spilled out of Hiro’s mouth, dyeing the ground blood red under it.
Gulping loudly, he transformed into his human body and came back with a smile on his face, wiping his hands. The people present had shocked and terrified faces as they looked at him. “Be careful of who you offend, little shit,” Hiro mumbled intentionally, catching the attention of everyone. They quickly turned around, to do their own things.
Stopping in front of a hole, the same kinds of texts appeared in front of us. Skimming through the possibilities, we found Anest’s little toy, which could seal our energy for two seconds… But there was nothing that increased the chance of Alice’s pregnancy.
[Where should we go, in that case?] I questioned Hiro, feeling sad. He put his hand on the top of my head, smiling at me.
[Don’t worry, Alice. We will find it soon enough. I can feel it] he said, soothing my mind. Kissing him, we left the Trading Room and walked randomly. We felt quite lost…
We didn’t even notice ourselves, walking on a huge plain. The ground was still that ubiquitous smooth, black stone. But something strange happened… The ground started trembling, along with space. The latter shooting off alarm signals in our heads, as nothing below the ninth level can do such a thing. Long cracks appeared on the ground below us, spanning for tens of kilometers.
Looking at each other with panicked faces, we quickly merged to make sure that we wouldn’t be separated. A Phoenix with green flames broke through the ground under us, who was being chased with the same kind of True Divine Beast. One of them was at the tenth level, while the other one was at the ninth level… It was surprising, to say the least…
But we had worse things to worry about. As the ground stopped existing under us, we fell downward. We couldn’t teleport, we couldn’t fly. We fell deep into an eternally dark pit…
Was this the place that held our answers? We shall find out, even if we fall into the deepest pit of this Abyss…