Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 150

WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 150 - Connection (11)

When I left the basement, climbed to the first floor, and opened the door, I immediately realized something was wrong.

Beyond the open doorway was not the spire.

"..."

Warm sunlight stung my eyes.

A clear stream flowed through lush grass, so transparent that I could see fish swimming inside of it. A few spotted deer drank from the water without showing any fear, not even bothering to look behind them.

The source of that confidence was the vast, endless green meadow, which provided no place to hide. In that beautiful landscape, where no predator should exist—

A hand gently stroked one of the deer.

"The weather is lovely, isn’t it?”

I glanced back, noticing that the door I had come through was gone.

Of course it was. I slowly stepped backward, preparing myself, when Great Void turned his head to look at me.

His gaze was so gentle and warm that one could almost call it affectionate.

"Hmm?”

"Were you abused as a child? Or did your parents die? That so-called ‘prophet’ bastard is trying his damnedest to keep this rotten world alive, so why are you so obsessed with ruining everything?”

The world we stood in was basically Heaven. A place no one had ever reached.

But it was a world destined to collapse, and so the one called the Prophet appeared, spreading magic across the world to mend it somehow. Any sane person would think we should help.

But this madman had harbored hatred for that effort for thousands of years, maybe even longer, and had devoted himself to destroying the world.

I simply couldn’t fathom why he was so desperately clinging to a future that held nothing but hell, ruin, and hatred.

Great Void blinked once, then smiled kindly and shook his head.

"It seems Heavenly Balance failed to make you understand.”

"How could I understand? She said that when the world ends, pain won't even be pain anymore. How the hell am I supposed to accept that?”

"We were made to perceive pain as pain.”

Great Void casually lifted his hand and—

struck the neck of the deer he had been petting with a single tap.

-Splorch!

With nothing but that light motion, without using a blade, the deer’s head fell to the ground.

"..."

I frowned, trying to make sense of the slaughter, as blood soaked into the grass.

The headless body twitched and staggered, but the severed head continued chewing grass, completely unconcerned.

"What the hell…?"

I immediately expanded my Tide Sense, scanning the surroundings. It looked like an ordinary plain, but it was endless.

...It seemed I was already far too late.

I clenched my teeth and focused.

Before long, all the waters of the Abyssal Sea spread from my perception into reality.

The worlds overlapped.

"Hmm, no matter how many times I see it, it’s beautiful.”

-Creeaaak!

In an instant, the entire world was crushed beneath an overwhelming mass of seawater.

Birds that had been flying were crushed. Deer that had been walking collapsed to their knees.

The grass flattened like living creatures, dying itself turquoise.

And yet, Great Void stood unharmed, lifting the head of the still-living deer.

"Does it hurt?”

"Of course it does, you psychotic bastard.”

"I don’t understand what you mean. I’m not asking about the deer, Undercurrent. I'm asking you. Are you in pain right now?”

"...?"

I maintained the Abyssal Sea, refusing to drop my battle stance, as he approached me, speaking up again.

"Of course it must hurt. You’re enduring a Calamity with your own strength alone. I can't even imagine your pain.”

"...I never once asked you to understand me.”

"And yet, think again. Are you truly in pain?”

"..."

At those words, I sensed something was off.

The birds that had been crushed were still twitching. The deer weren’t dead either. Their knees had only buckled.

"What?"

"An artificial paradise. That’s what I call this place."

"...?”

What the hell was he talking about?

But then I realized something. The pain crushing my body was far too weak.

When I unfolded my Realm, regardless of the state of the Water Partition, it always felt like my entire body was being shredded apart.

Great Void kindly explained it.

"You suffer because you endure the Abyssal Sea alone. It’s unjust and unnatural. Why should a single life bear the weight of an entire world…?”

"What kind of fucked-up world did you drag me into?”

"Didn’t I say it’s paradise? Here, your pain is no longer pain.”

"...What? That’s not—”

"Think of Puppet. She bore the burdens of others. That world was never hers alone.”

Ignoring my protest, Great Void reached out and reattached the deer’s head.

Surprisingly, it easily fused back in place as if glued.

"That is how things were meant to be. Heaven destroyed that structure and dumped the burden onto a few. You've seen the countless lives suffering from unbearable pain. Tell me, did they deserve that pain?”

"..."

"Heaven is nothing more than a grotesque evil god that devoured other worlds, melted them down, and redistributed them to its own creations. We are born, love, and die paying that price for its actions. And when liberation finally approached… the Prophet merely postponed it once again.”

Great Void clenched his teeth as he stroked the revived deer.

"How long must we wait? How long must we live in this hell? Have you ever truly thought about that?”

"Not once."

I shook my head.

"It’s just bad luck. I’ll escape with my own strength.”

"Do the beings living in your Abyssal Sea hate you?”

I frowned at the sudden question.

"...Probably?”

"Why does a world hate its master? Because it was forced to exist.”

Great Void muttered softly as he watched the deer run off with pity.

"Your deep-sea creatures will hate you. Your Abyssal Sea itself will hate you. They were born and sustained by your existence alone.”

"Even if I die, the Abyssal Sea won’t disappear. I’m not its master. I’m just a castaway.”

"One who sits upon the throne is treated as king, even if he denies it. If you come to understand, you too will come to hate the Heaven.”

"Enough with your pointless assumptions.”

I shook my head and held out my hand.

-Cruuunch!

Pressure great enough to crush stone instantly pressed down on Great Void’s head.

Crack!

His skull exploded, blood dispersing into the Abyssal Sea. A few of the deep-sea creatures even turned their attention toward it.

"You want an answer? Fine. I’ll give you one. I know what you’re after, and if that goal is achieved by slaughtering every wizard in existence, I will never accept it. I will never stand on your side. Not even if you kill me.”

"It seems you’re misunderstanding something.”

Great Void spoke, despite being in that state.

"The beings you call ‘life’ don’t even recognize themselves as living. Yes, they are like seeds that have not yet sprouted.”

"...What?"

"Something that hasn’t decided whether it will be male or female, human or beast. Can you truly call that life? We are all seeds of worlds. Without becoming a world, one cannot be called alive.”

"...Hah.”

A hollow laugh slipped out from me at this sheer absurdity.

But Great Void continued, completely serious.

"When all fragments are erased, and Heaven collapses, leaving only free worlds behind, this paradise will descend upon every world.”

So even having your head blown apart isn’t considered death here?

In that case—

Swish!

"...Oho.”

Great Void looked down at the arm that had been severed, his head already regenerated, and smiled.

"You are truly loved by the Abyssal Sea.”

A truly humorless joke.

Ignoring him, I focused until my head felt like it was scorching.

If pain didn’t exist here, that was an advantage for him, but even more so for me.

Every direction exploded with torrents of current, forming blades of pressure.

If I couldn’t kill him—I would mince him.

"Isn’t it wonderful? A world where suffering and pain don’t exist?”

"Yeah, cutting you apart feels amazing.”

Right.

Water blades thinner than hair. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands—even more.

An unimaginable number of them formed and ‘sliced’ Great Void apart with meticulous precision.

The space where he stood a second ago had turned red.

It wasn’t just blood that had splattered everywhere. Great Void had become blood.

"Kgh, ugh…”

A tingling, electric omnipotence instantly surged through my body. My boiling brain made my whole body heat up. The burdens pressing down on me and the approaching fusion converged into a single sensation of unity.

The world gradually turned brighter. Then, my hypersensitive perception, only possible within my unfolded Realm, flooded me with an overwhelming amount of information that got processed all at once. This was something that never happened before.

'This is dangerous...'

This paradise truly lived up to its name. For a Fallen, at least.

Without any burdens, the Abyssal Sea’s power activated naturally.

If I could do this outside as well…

Then the Abyssal Sea would never be considered a curse.

It would be called the most glorious blessing in the world.

That sweetness kept poking at my mind again and again. More disgusting than any headache. I clenched my teeth when I suddenly noticed a deer walking toward me.

It was the same deer Great Void had decapitated.

"Let it go. There is no reason to cling to that body. Come join us.”

"...What the hell is this bastard?”

Startled, I recoiled and immediately shoved the blood cloud away with my current.

But the deer, with its grotesque mouth structure, continued to speak in Great Void’s voice.

"Burdens are merely suffering born from human bodies containing worlds. If you come with me, you will live in paradise for the rest of your life.”

I immediately crushed the deer with pressure and muttered.

"...So that’s how you seduced Nightfall.”

It seemed this was how Great Void had created Puppet in human form.

He lured the ignorant Nightfall to fuse with her world, created Puppet, and then filled it with her knowledge alone.

"She was simple-minded, but she made the correct decision. You are far more brilliant, so I believe you will make an even better one.”

This time, the voice echoed from nowhere, ringing in my ears.