Chapter 187: Awakened
…?
What is happening…?
My body is floating in the air, surrounded by a thick darkness where I can’t see anything. It feels like being wrapped in a warm, gooey substance, giving me the illusion that I’m still in Abyss Mud. I feel groggy, and as I instinctively move my limbs, I suddenly lose whatever was dragging me and, whoosh! The black mist dissipates, and I start to plummet—
“Ah!”
I can’t help but exclaim as I go “splash!” right into the water.
“Blub blub blub…”
Oh no, I can’t breathe! I’m going to drown…
In a panic, I start flailing about in the water, constantly blowing bubbles, but then I realize something’s off. I pause for a moment, and with a loud “whoosh”, I stand up in the water.
“……”
…The water is so shallow.
Didn’t I fall into a lake?
As my mind tries to piece this together, I’m still a bit dazed. I stand there for a while, watching the black mist around me gradually clear up. Then I look up, and there it is—the dawn light peeking from behind the hills in the east.
It’s morning…
It’s morning!?
I’m dumbfounded for a moment as my heart suddenly drops.
How is it morning… where am I… what about the Jester??!
As my mind clears, memories from before my slumber slowly bubble up. I’m left astonished, scanning my surroundings—there’s a giant pit, a roaring waterfall, the lake water only shallow enough to reach my chest, and the mountains in the distance are outlined by the rising sunlight, trees lush in the midsection…
Only the sound of the breeze fills the air, it’s so quiet.
The Jester…
Right, I seem to recall having killed him…
I unleashed the power of the Abyss, and he got swallowed up…
And then I fell asleep…
I try to sort through my chaotic thoughts while gently pushing the water surface with my hands, slowly walking out of the water. The mud underfoot is slippery, and I stabilize myself on a slanted mud patch. I look down at my tattered skirt and the little boots that have my big toes poking out, both sleeves burned, revealing flawless pale arms—all smooth, not a single blemish to be found. Even my entire left shoulder and slender collarbone are exposed. If it weren’t for the soaked dress clinging tightly to my body, I could almost see my deep and mysterious abyss below if I tilted my head down.
Good thing there’s no one around…
My mind is too jumbled, and I suddenly have these random thoughts. I quickly tuck my hair behind my ear, clamber out of the pit, and shake my head vigorously to fling off the water droplets from my wet hair. Then I slap my cheeks, take a deep breath, and feel a little more awake.
Power…
I stare at my hands, fingers splayed as if grasping at thin air. Maybe it’s because I fell into a sleep afterward, but the earlier battle didn’t leave me feeling tired at all. The moment I clear my head, I sense this surging energy within me, like an endless ocean—a boundless supply.
Order, Chaos, Sin—three powers swirling like a gigantic and intricate whirlpool, both independent and yet seemingly one. I can clearly feel their restless stirrings within me. While I’ve had similar feelings before, I’ve never felt them this clearly, almost like I could destroy the heavens and earth with a mere gesture.
My power has grown… again…
As I ponder this, my starry eyes flash with a fleeting crimson glow. Veins like bloodlines emerge on my abdomen momentarily, and my skin temperature skyrockets. “Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle!”—the moisture evaporates from my body, and just like that, my dress is dry, and my hair becomes fluffy and soft.
Moments later, the black mist inside me erupts, instantly enveloping me. The swirling fog gradually condenses into a cold, thick liquid, solidifying around my chest, back, waist, legs, arms, and forehead. It feels hard now. I breathe in slowly and exhale, streamers of dead smoke and tiny sparks of red fire wafting from my mouth. With each breath, a dark Abyss Mud armor takes form, and my hair drifts around me like pale snow.
But soon, that snowy color fades, turning back to black.
Rustle, rustle, rustle…
“Who’s there?!”
I hear the soft rustling of leaves from deep within the distant forest, a sound that doesn’t seem like it could be caused by the wind.
Someone’s over there!
Boom—
With a Moon Step, my figure darts forward.
The moment my foot touches the ground, it suddenly sinks, and with a loud “bang,” cracks spread out around me, sending rocks flying in all directions. In an instant, I’m off, leaving everything behind.
Thirty… fifty meters…
I’m still climbing higher.
The strong wind whistles past my ears as the pit below shrinks rapidly in my view.
The force of this jump surpasses all my expectations. The moment I hear the noise, my body reacts on instinct. My feet push off with practiced skill, no reserves held, but the speed and height are enough to catch me off guard, making me feel like I’m flying. I start to lose my balance in the air.
Don’t panic…
I spread my palms in midair, ejecting two streams of Ice Mist with a “bang” to regain my balance. I look down to find where I might land and realize I’ve already jumped past the mountain peak, leaving behind the location where the sound came from. A little surprised, I quickly release a third stream of Ice Mist, and with a resonating “bang,” my petite figure darts back through swirls of frost, plummeting—
Swish swish swish…
I descend the mountain ridge, skimming just above the scattered treetops, breaking countless branches. With a thud, I land heavily.
My knees bend slightly to absorb the impact, and I stand up straight, kicking my feet. I realize that my body’s strength has already risen to a whole new level.
But honestly, that doesn’t concern me much right now.
Where are people…
I stand amongst the trees on the mountainside, scanning my surroundings. My brows furrow in concentration as I listen to the sounds around me. After a moment, my little face scrunches up.
They’re all gone…
Without hesitation, I leap towards the tallest tree I see.
With my first leap as experience, I gauge my strength just right this time—no leaping over the top, but I still slightly misjudged the landing. I aimed for the thickest trunk, but out of caution, I jumped too lightly and miss the height ever so slightly…
The trunk suddenly looms before me, and I smack right into it. “Whoops!” I crash against it chest-first. Thanks to the armor, I don’t feel much, just a bit foolish, and my face heats up a little. I grab onto the trunk and climb up, steadying myself with a sigh of relief.
“Phew…”
With a flash in my eyes, I take in the entire hillside, the creek below, and the winding path in the distance.
No one is here…
What is going on… is someone watching me…?
…Hmm?
What is that—
Suddenly, I see, hundreds of meters away along the mountain passage leading toward Stag Town, the ground smeared dark red with countless fallen corpses clad in golden armor…
The knights of the First Knights Order…
I freeze for a second, then immediately spring off the tree trunk again, racing like a bolt of lightning. I leap across the treetops along the mountain ridge while familiarizing myself with the power in my jumps, speeding toward the mountain path, snagging a fruit on the way and popping it into my mouth.
Not long after, I land.
The smell of bl**d, mixed with the stench of rotting corpses, hits me hard.
I take the fruit from my mouth and grip it tightly.
Looking ahead, the narrow path extends, flanked by dense grass, littered with the corpse of knights, all wearing golden armor, lying gruesomely still.
And there are the corpses of the horned horses.
Some bodies are missing limbs, some are sliced clean in half, others even missing heads. The sturdy armor crafted in the central workshop is shattered under some terrifying attack, as if cut by a laser; the clean edges appear charred and perfectly sliced.
High temperature…
That must be the power of Infernal Fire…
These fallen knights have bulging eyes and horrid faces, resembling mummies scorched for days under the sun, their exposed skin looking like the shriveled bark of a dying tree. Once stout warriors, now their bodies have shriveled into twisted forms, like little kids in adult armor.
bl**d…
Their bl**d has been completely drained…
That cursed Heretic…
Vultures caw as they descend, gathering around the corpses to feast, and in the distance, I see some nameless beasts, startled at my arrival, poking their ugly, furry faces covered in bl**d from the body of a dead horned horse.
I feel a bit dazed.
Stag Town…
I need to go back to Stag Town and see…
I can’t bear to look at these knights any longer, fearing I might remember their current state. My face pales as I turn and step out using Moon Step, sprinting along the mountain trail, sweeping through the trees, over the mountain peak, and soon arrive at the eastern entrance of the town.
“Phew, phew…”
Gasping lightly, my footsteps falter as I step into the town.
All I see are burnt houses and broken walls.
The collapsed stone pathways are crusted with cooling lava shaped bizarrely, and occasionally there’s a corpse lying beside the road, half-submerged in the solidified magma. The skin is so charred it’s impossible to tell gender—they met a tragic end, their bodies exposed just like the knights, drained of bl**d by those Heretics.
To the east of the town, in the central square, I walk toward the ruins of the church that once stood proudly. Following the small road beneath it, I edge toward an untouched area not ravaged by the Infernal Fire. I don’t even know what luck I’m holding onto, wandering aimlessly in this dead town, searching, trembling lips ready to scream, yet no sound comes out.
They’re all dead…
I haven’t found a single living soul.
Not one…
They’re all gone…
I kneel beside a corpse, trembling.
This one, too, has a face so burnt that it’s unrecognizable, but the remnants of fabric suggest it once belonged to a common person. An odd smell wafts from it, sharp and sickly. In a trance, I reach out with my pale hand toward the corpse’s face, hoping to close its wide, staring eyes.
“I’m sorry…”
I don’t even know who you are…
But you died here, I’m sorry…
My hand is shaking uncontrollably.
I force myself to close its eyes, but it just won’t work. I try over and over, but those eyes just stay wide open, forever staring…
“It’s all my fault… It’s me, I couldn’t… I couldn’t do anything…”
“I’m sorry…”
