Chapter 238

238th Chapter

The Abyss of the Deep Valley, Erebore 8

The Flame of the Beginning.

If I recall correctly, it was something akin to Elpride’s most powerful ultimate move.

This magic, which takes over ten minutes to cast, sends a small orb similar to a fireball, a basic fire attribute spell, into the air.

But wasn’t its power something that couldn’t compare to a fireball—something so potent that it incinerated anything it touched?

Grrraaaahh!!

The giant of Ulgiart, who had taken this lightly, finally began to scream.

Elf, this, this is ah, ugh, uuhhhhh-!

It was clear that the creature was horribly screaming as it roasted. It must be painful. Is there anything as terrible as being burned alive?

Only, there was a problem: I, trapped beneath the hand of the giant, felt myself melting under this terrible heat.

We have to put the fire out!

Hwaaack, Hwaaack-.

At that moment, there was a sound like a colossal fan shaking the surrounding air.

Though I wasn’t certain, I could tell that the giant’s enormous wings were flapping busily.

Of course, Elpride’s ultimate skill was so devastating that it wasn’t something ordinary wind could dispel.

Crrraaaaahh!! Is this Surt’s flame!? A technique that consumes life—Elf, this is a flame of your own life! You won’t last long either—withdraw your flames quickly-!!

“Haa, haa… Fireball-.”

Pvwwaaaang-.

Many fireballs struck the creature, creating a loud commotion.

As we overexerted our joints, suffering to push off the giant’s hand, so too was Elpride giving her all in response to the situation.

Whether it was effective or not, the enormous hand that had been pressing down on me like a roof was finally shoved aside, and with a heavy thud, the giant collapsed.

Only then could I relax the tension in my jaw and breathe heavily.

I recently invested heavily into my stamina stats, but even then, if I hadn’t held on, I would have been squished flat like a pancake.

“Hmph, it was nothing. Samaritan, are you hurt anywhere?”

I was still catching my breath, but Hippolyte, who had struggled similarly to lift the hand, had already gathered her composure.

Although sweat ran down her forehead, watching her remain composed despite our shared struggle made it clear just how far apart our levels still were.

After all, if it had been Hippolyte, she likely could have easily dodged the giant’s hand. It seemed she only held it up to spare me from being squished. That was likely the truth.

“Haa-, svvel.”

Though many thoughts crossed my mind, for now, I was fortunate to have survived.

The charred remains continued to burn with a fierce crackle, reducing muscles, flesh, and feathers entirely to white bones.

A pungent and strange odor filled the air, clouding our minds, while both Hippolyte and I, relatively unscathed, helped Elpride and Antiope to their feet.

“Ugh, what, what is it? Is it over already?”

Had Antiope bumped her head when she fell off the giant’s shoulder? A large bump had formed on her forehead as she blinked repeatedly, waking from a daze after several slaps to her cheeks.

She appeared to have no serious injuries.

Only, Elpride was in no good shape.

“Huuu, haa…”

No matter how much we tried to talk to her, she couldn’t respond, only gasping for air.

Her crimson pupils were dilated, and her cheeks and forehead seemed like they might burst into flames.

Hippolyte placed her palm on Elpride’s forehead with an unusually calm voice.

“Her mana is spiraling out of control. When you push beyond your limits, this is what usually happens. Is there any holy water left?”

Responding to Hippolyte’s words, I pulled out one bottle from the sack slung over my shoulder.

I had lost or broken all the other superior holy water bottles I had purchased for a hefty sum, leaving only this one.

After unscrewing the cap, Hippolyte sprinkled the liquid, shimmering with a white glow, onto Elpride’s forehead.

Sizzz-.

Like water splashed on a scorching hot plate, a white wisp of smoke rose.

Thanks to that, Elpride, who had been gasping for breath as if about to suffocate moments before, seemed to stabilize slightly.

“Hh…”

“Her condition has greatly improved. But it’s only temporary. We need to take her to a clinic quickly. The abyssal beings have likely noticed us after that battle. We must find this portal or whatever it is and escape this place as soon as possible.”

Ssshhk-.

After hoisting the unconscious Elpride onto her shoulder, Hippolyte approached the enormous throne once again.

Strangely glowing runes could be seen in the midst of the raging flames—circular patterns that swirled like spirals. Any observer would conclude that this was clearly a portal.

“Elf, is this what you referred to as the portal? Can you activate it?”

“…Mercury-.”

With Elpride’s faint mutter, the swirling magical circle began humming with light, engulfing all of us in its radiant glow before everything went black.

*

When consciousness returned to me, we were in darkness.

However, this wasn’t the impenetrable void of the abyss but rather a room with a small hearthfire glowing faintly.

A fireplace. A bed. Old, well-stocked shelves of books. Our descent from the nothingness of the abyss into this space, reeking of human presence, was simultaneously comforting and unsettling.

Moreover, who exactly was the man seated in the chair wearing a white robe?

“Do you know anything about the Silver Rose?”

Hippolyte asked, her sword pointed at him. In response, the cloaked figure chuckled in a low voice.

“I have wanted to meet you once. So I’ve arranged this place where no interference comes our way. By spreading baits into the abyss, with great help from Erebore.”

“Let me ask again, who are you?”

Hippolyte’s voice was cold, and her readiness to strike was obvious. However, the man sat silently, absorbed in his own tale.

But the next moment brought something astonishing.

“Do you even know who I am? You Amazonians are rather noisy. This is all thanks to Mars.”

The white-robed man raised his hand from his seated position.

“Be quiet for a moment.”

Simultaneously, sparks—like electric currents—flew everywhere and struck Hippolyte, Antiope, and Elpride on the floor.

“Ugh, ughaaah, aaaaah-!”

Even the mighty Hippolyte writhed on the ground, shaking like someone hit with a taser. It was the same for Antiope and Elpride.

I immediately realized:

This guy was several times more dangerous than the monstrous giant we had faced earlier in the darkness.

My danger sensors at the back of my neck buzzed like a malfunctioning alarm, and my heart pounded violently.

sh*t, I messed up.

What in the world is going on here?

While I was dumbfounded with confusion, the man lifted the hood covering his head with a smooth motion.

The stranger’s head brimmed with platinum hair so bright it seemed to glow. His sunken eyes flickered with golden brilliance, almost blinding to look at. His neatly trimmed beard and faint creases by his eyes suggested a perfectly sculpted man, one who could be unsettling, even.

He resembled the image of Lord Nox, only this man wasn’t the Goddess of Night but likely someone else entirely.

And if my guess was correct, maybe—?

“Could you be—”

“Enough. Do we need formal introductions between us? I’ve observed you from above for quite some time, Zigress. The more I watched, the more you reminded me of someone else.”

“T-t-that’s…”

My mind went blank.

Until now, I had regarded deities as merely powerful beings, unworthy of much concern, but the man before me seemed of a different dimension entirely.

I had no clue what to say or if angering him might result in my body being barbecued.

“Is there something you wish to tell me?”

“Not especially. Even if there were, it is not something I should say aloud. However, the toy you’ve been playing with lately seems rather dangerous.”

“Toy…?”

“It is appropriate to issue a warning like an adult, isn’t it? Henceforth, necromancy is forbidden, Zigress.”

“N-necromancy…?”

“No lies can deceive me, not for others anyway. It’d be wise not to try my patience.”

I instantly realized there was nothing I could conceal from this man.

His claim of watching me wasn’t likely a lie.

“But forcibly taking it away might incite backlash. If I give you something you’ll like as compensation, how does that sound? I’ve already dealt with a foreign deity from a distant continent, and it’s only fair to be rewarded.”

“Reward…?”

Pzzt-.

With a sharp crackle, the man sitting in the chair disappeared.

I was confused—what just happened? Suddenly, he appeared right before my nose, pressing his palm into my abdomen.

Kwadduck-.

No description could better fit the act: this man’s hand was literally penetrating my belly as if through skin.

“Haaaaaahh-!”

At the odd sensation of having my insides kneaded by a palm, I involuntarily screamed in horror. It wasn’t exactly painful, but my vision spun uncontrollably.

“Still sealed, I see. You worked hard creating the vessel, but in the end, it was suppressed. Reflecting on it, he always was a man filled with worry and concerns.”

“Gwheeeek-!”

“Oh? Seems I’ve touched something I shouldn’t have. Well, mistakes can happen.”

“Hheehiiiii!”

“…This is more challenging than I thought,”

“Haaaah-!”

All I could do was scream in horror.

When would this terrible sensation finally end? As I regained my senses, I found myself collapsed, pressing my palms and knees to the floor.

The delayed pain was arriving now.

Meanwhile, the man who had been rummaging inside me sat casually in the chair, as if nothing had happened.

“Go to Delphi. Accept your fate there.”

“Delphi…?”

“That is all I can say now. So, Erebore, it’s your turn, but do you have anything to say?”

The man’s eyes appeared to look past my shoulder. Was there someone behind me?

Before I could tremble in confusion at this thought, a voice reached my ears.

Not particularly.

“Hmm, I see. Anyway, my words have come to an end. Now, Erebore, do as you wish.”

Kwaarrr-.

With a loud thunderclap, the white-robed man disappeared without a trace. The chair where he had been sitting was charred, as if struck by lightning.

It really wasn’t much different from being struck by lightning.

Is it over already? I was slightly relieved when a voice came from behind me.

Zigress.

The oppressive sensation was suffocating, and it was difficult for me to gather my senses. Perhaps because he had directly rummaged through my stomach, my vision began to blur.

I have a rule in Erebore. Of those who enter the abyss, one must be offered to me. Zigress, choose a sacrificial woman from these.

Sacrifice a woman?

That voice made my senses snap.

Guuuuuu-.

Simultaneously, a massive tremor altered the structure of this narrow room.

And what emerged was a strange hook. On a tall pole resembling a gallows hung a sharp hook, with fairly familiar women on it.

“Delphina-?”

They were Delphina and the rest of the party excluding her—Liri and Edwin, I believe. Seeing them dangling on that hook, I nearly fainted.

Choose someone from among those who came here with you as a sacrifice. Then I will let the rest go.

I slowly turned around to look at the women kneeling and trembling before me—Hippolyte, Antiope, and Elpride.

Hippolyte and Elpride had already lost consciousness long ago, and only Antiope gazed up at me with eyes wide with fear.

To withstand such intense lightning and still not faint—was it because she was tough, or did the lightning tattoo on her back somehow provide resistance?

“Ahhh, no. I don’t want to be a sacrifice. I-I volunteer! I, I’m the least close to you, so pick me!”

She must have misinterpreted my stunned expression. After all, given the situation, her panic wasn’t unusual. In my place, I’d have wet myself without lying.

“Sacrifice…?”

Do I have to choose one of them to let this end?

It’s absurdly unjust.

At the same time, a disturbing thought began to creep into my mind. My eyes landed on Elpride, who was unconscious and sweating profusely.

How much trouble has this girl caused me? I often wake up suddenly, kicking off the covers in the middle of the night.

If I had to abandon one from among them, it would naturally be Elpride.

But somehow my lips wouldn’t move. As I tried to speak, images of the time we had spent together came flooding back.

The first time she gave me pocket money, or when I successfully disarmed a trap and received her praise.

Hence, for a moment, silence enveloped the atmosphere.

It was disrupted by a low voice.

You’re weak.

“Excuse me?”

Indeed, the gods of Hypos are wrong. You, Zigress, aren’t fit to sit by the side of the gods.

“Does that mean… I’m not suitable for Luna?”

Well. But it resonates with me. If you had sacrificed someone, I would have imprisoned you too, deep within the abyss.

Giiik-.

At that moment, the tightly shut door in a corner of the room opened. Beyond it revealed only complete, pitch-black darkness.

Go. I can’t hold you any longer. I too have my responsibilities; the throne of Hell I inherited unwillingly turns out to be pretty busy.

Are you letting me go like this?

There’s no such thing as free favors in this world.

I felt a lingering anxiety that if I somehow escaped safely now, that dark being might change his mind later and trap me.

So, rummaging through my shoulder bag as if offering a bribe, I pulled something out.

“T-that… Thank you very much. This is all I can offer as a token of gratitude…”

What I took out was a voodoo doll crafted by Luna to resemble her own form.

Interesting. Very well, I’ll take it.

And that concluded my conversation with the dark shadow.

Tying everyone together—the party members including Delphina—I dragged them all into the dark and disappeared inside.

When I regained consciousness, I found myself in a dim, cave-like place with stalactites protruding everywhere and lizards crawling around.

The glowing moss and strangely luminescent mushrooms were quite familiar, and so I realized we were somewhere near the cave where I had encountered the Skeleton Knights.

Still, there’s always the possibility of error, but at least we had successfully escaped from wherever we were in the abyss, be it the deepest layer or otherwise.

“Did we escape?”

Antiope rubbed the lump on her forehead and looked around.

“d*mn it, d*mn it! What… What did I just see? d*mn it!”

She spat out foul words, struggling visibly to calm down. My heart, too, raced and my stomach churned only now realizing the situation.

“I thought we were done for.”

“None of us would have been surprised if we died! Do you have any idea what we just encountered? Ah, who would even believe this if I told them?”

“Svvel, sounds about right.”

“How can your reaction be so… so indifferent! We just encountered some great beings! Breathing was hard for me…”

“Anyway, we survived, that’s all that matters. Let’s move quickly. Can you carry them?”

“Talking like that after encountering such powerful beings casually… It’s unbelievable. You, just who are you? They seemed to know so much about you…this is…”

Antiope was clearly deeply shocked by what just happened.

Being a Shrine Knight who worships Jupiter, meeting the very core she had prayed to all this time must have been overwhelming enough to drive her mad.

As she muttered alone for quite some time and hesitated awkwardly, Antiope finally spoke to me in a small voice.

“Um, th-that… Hassan… sir.”

[Author’s Postscript]:

Today, I tried a four-hit combo…

It was akin to diving into an opponent’s tower with full force…

And as a result, I might take a little break from writing soon… ㅠㅠ

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