Chapter 19: Battle of the Abyss (Part 1)
Gentle sunlight was shrouded by dark clouds.
A faint metallic scent wafted into the air, mixing with swirling dust that churned the erratic winds.
It felt as if this world had turned cold and grim.
“Little Hil…”
Aili hesitated behind me, words almost forming.
“Aili, evacuate. I’ll go find you all.” I quickened my pace, not looking back. “Now, go!”
I could clearly sense the bubbling and restlessness of the abyssal aura not far off, and that inexplicable sense of belonging that was etched in my bones made my heart race. I forced down the uneasy thrill.
“Aili, listen to Little Hil… you guys hurry and go. Don’t worry, I’ll go with her.”
Barry stepped forward as he spoke.
“Barry! Don’t come over!”
“Little Hil…”
“It’s coming! You all hurry…”
“Silvya! I’m telling you, no matter who you are, I Barry will not abandon…”
“Boom—”
Barry didn’t finish his sentence before a thunderous roar resonated from afar. The ground quaked beneath us again, as countless familiar black smoke clouds shot up into the sky like fireworks, bursting and then collapsing into a massive black smoke ball.
“Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—”
As the smoke gathered more and more, it thickened instantly, raining down black torrents like a deadly black sun replacing the obscured sunlight, hovering high in the sky.
Barry’s eyes were glued to the apocalyptic scene, swallowing hard, and the bravado he’d been building up vanished into thin air.
Then a voice emerged from the atmosphere.
“‘Abyssal Speech’ I… am… who… what is… happening to me… I am… I… clearly… I… ah… heh heh heh… I am… the will of the gods… I am… the endless abyss… annihilate.”
The voice started with a hint of confusion, as if trying to confirm something.
However, it soon morphed into a chilling, emotionless tone, like a soul had been discarded.
Before I could even ponder the meaning, a howling wind rushed toward me.
“Boom—!!! Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—”
Countless giant black blades shot out from the smoke ball, sweeping across countless kilometers in a catastrophic indiscriminate attack.
“Boom, boom, boom, boom—!!”
The blades, riding the fierce wind, smashed down onto the ground like powerful missiles, the explosions echoing continuously as dirt and debris flew everywhere.
“Oh my god…”
Someone uttered a desperate sigh. At that moment, a blade shot straight toward me.
My pupils constricted, inhaling deeply as my left hand shimmered with a starry blue light.
“Ha—!”
I swung my small hand forward with all my might.
“Bang—crack, crack, crack, crack!!”
With a series of crisp explosions, a massive ice wall sprang up just in time to block the incoming black blade.
The ice wall stood tall like a small mountain, its bone-chilling cold palpable from a distance. The scattered frost left tiny ice crystals on the villagers’ eyebrows and hair.
Yet this power, transcending their understanding, was merely a futile defense against the blade.
“Crack—!”
The black blade, with unstoppable momentum, easily pierced through the hardened ice, showing no signs of slowing down.
My focus sharpened; everything around me felt like it moved in slow motion.
Just as I saw the ice wall cracking, my body instinctively prepared to dodge.
Then I glanced back.
Aili, Barry, Ailien, and the villagers—all wide-eyed and slack-jawed, frozen in fear, directly awaiting d*ath’s embrace.
With gritted teeth, I stopped in my tracks.
A thin veil of black smoke rose from the ground and enveloped my scythe.
Everything unfolded in an instant.
In Aili’s eyes, the usually soft and seemingly weak Little Hil flashed a glance at her, a serious expression rarely seen gracing my youthful face, raising my farming scythe to face that terrifying force.
“Clang—!!”
The winds howled, debris flying.
The sound of metal clashing threatened to rupture eardrums.
The world was painted black, the giant blade looking like it would swallow me whole.
At that moment, I felt like a mere mortal standing against a truck’s collision. The overwhelming force pushed my small body backward, carving a long, deep groove into the ground, and I was on the verge of crashing into the crowd behind me.
“Ahhhhh—!!”
I roared, exerting myself to lift the scythe upward.
“Whoosh—”
The blade whisked past everyone’s heads like a lightning bolt shooting far away.
I took a deep breath and glanced at the deep gouge on the back of the scythe, my right hand trembling slightly.
“Quick! Go! I can’t protect you all!!!”
“Glurp.”
Behind me, Barry swallowed hard.
The bravado he had failed to express earlier was long gone.
“Go! Hurry! Don’t make it harder for Little Hil!!”
His eyes were filled with scarlet, whether due to guilt from holding them back or the terror of surviving.
“Run!!!”
Finally, the villagers snapped out of their daze, hoisting the immobile ones and sprinting away with all their might.
“Little Hil!!!” Aili shouted loudly, “We’ll wait for you! You are! My sister!! You must… come home!!”
The little girl’s unwavering cry hit deeper than ever. I turned back to meet her gaze and nodded gently.
Yeah, for sure.
Even though that small house we called home was now a ruin.
Watching them gradually distance themselves from the battlefield.
“‘Abyssal Speech’… annihilate.”
The Demon’s Whisper echoed in my ears again.
“‘Abyssal Speech’ I’ll annihilate your father—!!!!”
The girl’s voice still sounded childlike and lacked intimidation in its anger.
But the ground beneath me erupted in towering ice pillars.
During my time left in the village, I certainly couldn’t just act like a simple village girl. I had been diligently practicing power usage without a moment’s slack. Now, tossing aside the black smoke, I had become quite skilled with frost power.
With the thrust of an ice pillar, I leaped nearly twenty meters high, tracing a parabolic arc before quickly erecting another ice pillar where I landed. I rapidly closed the gap with the smoke ball, continuously propelled by the ice pillars.
The endless abyss did not unleash those horrific flying blades again. Instead, it summoned a slew of humanoid creatures with blades for limbs.
These creatures were pitch black, twisted into shapes far from human despite having human forms. They roamed the village, some even stumbling, but always quick to harvest lives at the first sight of them.
A constant flow of pale blue light drifted from the ground, entering the smoke ball.
So, this is what the abyss really is.
Wherever it passed, everything perished, leaving not even a soul behind.
Anger surged in my heart, and my eyes turned red.
I dove toward the ground, landing directly in front of one monster, raising my nearly two-meter-long scythe high.
A flash of cold light sliced through the air.
The monster’s head flew skyward, turning to black smoke in no time.
“Clang—”
Without missing a beat, my scythe danced again, Grandma Claire’s teachings ringing in my head.
“Take small firm steps, bend your waist, grab with your left hand, sweep with your right. Strike quickly and steady.”
Just like harvesting wheat, each slash took at least one monster away.
These little things were no match for me.
But there were simply too many.
I dared not unleash the frost world here; that would k*ll all the surviving villagers.
Is there any solution…
“Help! Help us!!”
Hearing cries for help not far away, I dropped the head of a monster, summoned an ice pillar, and leaped into the air to see Ryan.
He was desperately fleeing from two monsters hot on his tail.
Without hesitation, I twisted mid-air, hurtling toward them like a cannonball.
