WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 177 - Oblivion (2)

"First of all, I’d like to say that you did really well, accomplishing the impossible once again.

-Tak.

Dercia gently set a teacup down on the table in front of me.

It wasn’t so much tea as it was hot water faintly scented with some unknown flower. Still, after a sip, I felt my body loosen up.

She didn’t mix anything strange into this, did she? I hid my suspicious look and shook my head.

"If you asked me to do it again, I don’t think I could. I just got lucky.”

"Jern, you used everything you’ve built up until now. How could that be mere luck? Still, from what I heard…the road ahead looks quite dark.”

"...Yes."

I’d learned many things, but the biggest of them all was the depth of the Abyssal Sea.

It was far deeper than I'd imagined. There was no easy answer.

"If I may offer my opinion, continuing to strengthen the Water Partition is certainly one possible solution. But in the end, that is merely resisting the Abyssal Sea with your world, so the limits are quite clear. I’m not belittling you, Jern. This is simply the difference in scale between an individual’s world and the world inhabited by beings.”

It stung, but she was right. The Water Partition was undeniably my weapon for surviving the Abyssal Sea, yet I myself wasn’t especially gifted. If I hadn’t learned how to absorb traits by defeating the Slow Fish, I’d never have been able to expand the Water Partition this far, no matter how long I tried.

I didn’t even know how to work toward that kind of growth. As I nodded in agreement, she finally brought out her main point.

"Therefore, you must melt other worlds into your own.”

"Hmm."

Kill the Upper Tiers and let them sink into the Abyssal Sea.

Use their power. That was Dercia’s argument.

But.

"Didn’t you hear me say that the deep-sea creatures can also awaken to those worlds if I do that?”

Absorb the abilities of the Upper Realms and use them to descend further.

I understood the logic. Puppet had helped me immensely. If I devoured and cultivated other worlds, it would surely open new paths.

But the burden of the Abyssal Sea didn’t just end with pressure. The deep-sea creatures were there as well.

They, too, could become able to wield worlds that had sunk into the Abyssal Sea.

For now, only a single whale had used Puppet’s power, but what if others did as well?

...What if that octopus or Leviathan came to use Puppet’s power?

"Honestly, I don’t have the confidence.”

To survive by descending further, I’d have to make the Abyssal Sea itself even more horrific.

It was just so contradictory. Dercia nodded, as if she understood completely.

"I know. Clashing with creatures who wield the powers of the Upper Tiers would be impossible.”

"Then..."

"Then just don’t clash with them.”

"...What?"

"Jern. You said that, for some reason, the deep-sea creatures can’t easily detect you. Correct?”

"Well…yeah. Though some of them can find me.”

"Yes. Unlike the deep-sea creatures at your current depth, which have limited perception, those living deeper down can recognize you in one way or another. That’s what you said, right?”

"That’s the problem. If all of them can recognize me, pressure will be the least of my concern.”

“Then all the more reason that it must be done now.”

Dercia spoke with absolute conviction.

"Right now, while the surrounding deep-sea creatures still haven’t noticed you, this is the only window you have. If time passes and you descend deeper, then defeating the Upper Tiers and melting their worlds into your own will become nothing but a disadvantage. But now is different. As long as they still haven’t noticed you, this is the only period in which you can obtain the Upper Tier’s powers and understand them more easily and deeply.”

"Hmm, it wasn’t that easy though.”

"When those threads turn against you, you may look back and realize just how easy things are right now.”

"Hmm..."

Was that so?

I still felt an instinctive aversion to releasing other worlds into the Abyssal Sea, when Dercia took out several documents.

"And Jern, there’s one misunderstanding you seem to have.”

"A misunderstanding?”

"You were never meant to be suffering like this in the first place.”

"...What?"

"The reason your burdens suddenly grew so strong is because your burdens in the future increased drastically, correct?”

"Yes."

"Then how did they follow you back into the past? It’s something that happened in the future. Even if you were injured there, and even killed, that shouldn't have occurred in the past. So why did your strengthened burdens return with you and remain?”

"That’s…”

I tilted my head, trying to come up with an answer.

Certainly, when I returned to the past, everything else reverted to how it was, except for my burdens. That alone remained, grown and pressing down on me.

...Why?

Seeing my confusion, Derica explained, as if she’d expected this.

"Jern. Do you believe a world made solely of trees could exist? A world composed of nothing but a single, enormous tree?”

"I don’t really understand why you’re asking, but…I guess it could exist.”

"My people once thought that way. They mistook an ancient tree for a world and called it the World Tree. But yes, let us assume that such a world truly exists. If that World Tree were to burn, what do you think would happen?”

"...It would turn to ash, right?”

"And thus it would cease to exist. Would you still call that a ‘world?’”

"I don’t think so. It’s no longer a tree.”

"You could still call it one. You’d simply change the name. World of Ash, perhaps.”

"...?"

"Jern. Change is natural. In fact, not changing is what indicates something is wrong. No matter how cold the winter, spring always comes. No matter how fiercely a fire burns, it eventually dies down. Change is something every world inevitably undergoes. If it’s normal, that is.”

"Are there abnormal worlds?”

"You already know the answer. The Abyss Realms are such worlds.”

Dercia spoke gravely.

"A world made of a single tree would change easily. But if it were a vast forest, the size of a continent, the story would be different. Altering its essence would be no simple task. Like all Abyss Realms, the Abyssal Sea does not change easily. You have moved between past, present, and future, yet the Abyssal Sea was always by your side. That is proof that it is entirely unaffected by time itself.”

"That doesn’t sound reassuring.”

"It isn't. No matter how you struggle, no matter how long you endure, the Abyssal Sea will never change, which means you are doomed to endlessly sink into unfathomable depths.”

After saying that much, she paused for a moment, then finally brought out the main point.

"But we do know one thing. The only way to change this fixed, unchanging Abyssal Sea.”

Only then did I realize what she was getting at, to which I slowly nodded.

"...The Upper Tiers.”

"Exactly.”

I had once fused Puppet into the Abyssal Sea.

After that, the Abyssal Sea acquired the power of Puppet. The deep-sea creatures began to use it. For the first time, change occurred.

-By devouring other worlds, the Abyssal Sea itself would begin to change.

And the only worlds I could swallow were those of the Fallen, and among them only those who were powerful enough to project their worlds directly into reality.

In other words, only the Upper Tiers.

"But wouldn’t Scarlet Abyss consider this extremely dangerous?”

"Yes. If the only way to change the Abyssal Sea was to devour other Upper Tiers, that reaction would be natural. I believe that is why Great Void tried to draw you in and win you over by any means. And when that failed, he attempted to remove you from the board altogether.”

Whether I liked it or not, if achieving change required literally devouring the Upper Tiers, then…

I could understand why Scarlet Abyss had tried so hard to entice me with exceptional treatment and why, once that failed, they even interfered with my regression just to ensure my death.

The Grand Sea, Puppet, the Lump, Veil of Darkness, Great Void, Heavenly Balance.

All of them held the potential to be reduced to nothing more than drifting debris in that vast ocean.

By my very existence, I was something Scarlet Abyss could not help but love, hate, and fear.

"So all those drowned corpses were ultimately necessary for the sake of the Abyssal Sea alone.”

The reason Scarlet Abyss had clenched their teeth and deliberately drowned every mage they could find in seawater.

To create the Abyssal Sea—or to be more precise, to create the Grand Sea.

I thought they simply wanted powerful allies, that they were coveting the Three Calamities. I never imagined they were sharpening the one blade capable of stabbing straight into their own hearts.

This explained why Great Void had tried to take me along at any cost by showing me everything and why, when that failed, he chose to end things entirely in the past.

'So that’s what was behind the special treatment…’

While I was lost in thought, I noticed Dercia’s lips curl up slightly, and let out a sigh.

"So you were thinking about this from the very beginning.”

"If the Abyssal Sea cannot be overcome, then the only rational option is to change what we call the world itself.”

Mixing other worlds into the Abyssal Sea. In the process, sealing away all the Upper Tiers.

Ensuring that those monstrous beings could never again appear in this world.

Even while surviving myself. Even if it was unclear whether it would truly help, it was undeniably the only means of causing change.

I had pondered over it several times, but the conditions were pretty good actually.

I still felt uneasy about granting such powers to the deep-sea creatures.

"...Let’s try it once."

In the end, I made up my mind.

Just as I wanted to escape this godforsaken Abyssal Sea, Scarlet Abyss also had to be kept in check.

I had no desire to crawl out of hell only to find this world had become another hell to replace it.

As if she had expected this answer, Dercia unfolded a neatly organized list.

"Then let us begin immediately. We do not have much time.”

...as though she had known all along that I would make this decision.

The pages contained the names of the Upper Tiers I had told her about, along with fairly detailed notes pieced together from Knights that had directly confronted them and information and claims from information brokers who had been observing from afar.

Every face was blacked out with ink, yet each name instantly brought their deeds and faces to mind. It was almost impressive how every single memory I had of them was unpleasant.

Dercia took a seat beside me, flipping through the pages one by one as she began to ask questions.

"How do you think Puppet could be used in the Abyssal Sea?”

"For now it needs further development, but at this moment, it seems applicable in almost every way. Being able to control deep-sea creatures has extremely high utility.”

"That was my impression as well. Then what ability do you believe we will need next?”

"...As expected, it’s Decay’s.”

I clenched my teeth as I looked at the blacked-out entry for Decay.

The world of Absolute Zero.

Even my own Abyssal Sea froze sharply whenever I was in his vicinity.

Which meant it could truly freeze seawater.

But such an ability was trivial at best.

"You’re aware of Decay’s true ability, right? You’ve fought him several times.”

Cognitive delay.

The decay of thought. When measuring one second to ten seconds, the opponent would wait an entire hour.

Carose had countered it at an absurd speed, but that was because Decay had a reason to avoid being exposed.

Had he fought her head-on with all his might… Her chances of victory would have been quite slim.

With an ability that could freeze even thought itself, no matter how massive a deep-sea creature was, it could still be dealt with.

‘But because of that, I still have absolutely no idea how to counter it.’

"How did you deal with it, Miss Dercia? No, more importantly, why didn’t you tell me?”

I asked out of simple curiosity.

"If he had such a monstrous ability, you could have told me. Was there some reason you had to keep it hidden?”

"Hmm, Jern…”

Dercia twitched her ear, wearing an unusually puzzled expression.

"I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

"What?"

"I understand that Decay must be captured. But what is this ‘cognitive delay’ you speak of, exactly?”

"...?"

We stared at each other for a moment, our understandings failing to align, before Dercia began to explain the Decay she knew.

"As far as I recall, Decay never used such an ability. Delaying an opponent’s thoughts? Is that truly possible?”

"No, wait a second.”

I frowned and shook my head.

No matter how strong Decay was, he couldn’t have faced Dercia with only his freezing ability.

He must have used cognitive delay. If not, that would be even worse. It would mean he was hiding something far more terrifying.

"You didn’t feel your thoughts slowing at all? Then how did you fight him?”

"After our first encounter, I sensed something was off..."

Dercia rubbed her chin, lost in thought.

Then she stopped. For a full five minutes.

"...Yes, that is indeed strange.”

"What is?”

"I can’t remember.”

"What?"

"This is quite troubling…Jern.”

Dercia pressed her fingers to her temple, genuinely looking troubled.

"The cognitive delay you describe does not seem to be Decay’s true ability. It is merely a process.”

"Then what is it?”

She then revealed the shocking conclusion.

"It seems that Decay possesses the ability to freeze the target's thoughts entirely.”

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