Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 183

WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 183 - Oblivion (8)

Reaching the place called the Dwind Mountains took about a week even though we drove the carriage nonstop.

Of course, during that time, the burden of Absolute Frost grew steadily worse. At first, Brimdal’s fingers were only stained purple, but by the time we arrived, the tips had turned back.

There was no mistaking what it was. Necrosis.

The flesh would gradually freeze, then fall away.

Even faced with something more horrifying than death itself, slowly becoming unable to grip a sword as a Knight, Brimdal seemed strangely unconcerned.

If anything, the way he calmly looked out of the window made me feel foolish for worrying.

"Hmm, this should be it, according to my memory. Can’t say for sure, though.”

"...I can’t see anything at all with my eyes."

I replied, barely hiding my astonishment. He shrugged and said something rather odd.

"Didn’t I tell you that my memory isn’t all that exact? Try spreading out that sensing magic of yours a bit wider.”

"?"

Tilting my head at Brimdal’s meaningful words, I did as he said and widened the range of my Tide Sense.

And I immediately ended up frowning.

"We’re already at the outskirts.”

"Right."

The road we were climbing was very gentle, but it did slope upward.

Looking toward its end, I saw it lead straight into a mountain.

—A mountain tall enough to touch the sky.

"This is…This is supposed to be a mountain range? One mountain alone looks as big as an entire range.”

-Crunch

Stepping down from the carriage and placing my feet onto the frozen ground, Balkan surveyed the surroundings with awe.

Even the single mountain we stood before made the capital appear small. Seeing countless mountains like that one stretching endlessly into the distance went beyond majestic, making it almost feel as if they were placed here intentionally.

Even Dercia looked incredulous as she glanced at the range, then scooped up some of the snow from the ground.

"I read records on the Dwind Mountains. They all described it as enormous, but none made it clear that it was to this extent. At least 80% of this is probably accumulated snow.”

"E-even so, this is excessive…”

"First, let’s see if it’s even possible to pass."

-Clap.

The moment Dercia clapped her hands, Suken Mire hesitantly emerged from the carriage.

She immediately crossed her arms, shivering, then glanced once at the gigantic mountain range before turning pale and muttering to herself.

"Th-this really is Lord Decay’s territory…If I get found out, I’ll really die…”

"...’Lord’ Decay?”

There was no way Balkan would miss that. He instantly frowned and glared at Sunken Mire.

Throughout the journey, Balkan had clearly shown his dislike of Suken Mire. Considering Sunken Mire’s rather odd personality, that wasn’t exactly strange though—

"I think it’s about time I got an explanation. What is that thing? And why is it that one Fallen after another keeps popping up in the capital?”

Balkan wasn’t actually fixated on Sunken Mire’s personality, but on the fact that Fallen were appearing inside the capital.

I didn’t know the details, but it felt like an occupational disease of a Guardian Knight.

"As I said, she’s part of the Fallen we were experimenting on in the capital.”

"I’ve never heard of such a thing. All Fallen were supposed to be isolated. Are you telling me there were experiments being conducted without my approval as the Commander of the Guardian Knights?”

"This was carried out under Her Highness’ authority.”

Dercia cut in with a sigh.

The moment the Princess’ name was mentioned, even the most eccentric Knight usually shut their mouth and just nodded in agreement. I’d expected it to work on this Guardian Knight as well.

"But that only makes it more necessary for me to know. Just what kind of experiment was Her Highness conducting?”

However, Balkan didn’t back down.

Perhaps because his relationship with the Princess wasn’t good to begin with. He didn’t look like he intended to stop with just this.

With time being critical and him picking pointless fights, it seemed Dercia’s patience was running out, seeing that she was frowning, so I hurriedly stepped in.

"It wasn’t so much an experiment as it was an infiltration.”

"...Infiltration?”

"Yes. About a year ago, I was given a mission and infiltrated Scarlet Abyss. I spent some time inside gathering information and relaying it to Her Highness.”

"Wh-what did you say?!”

"As a Guardian Knight, you should know. Hasn’t there been an unusually large amount of information about Scarlet Abyss revealed over the past year? That was all me.”

At the sudden confession, Brimdal shot me a slightly worried look.

But people like this wouldn’t back off unless you gave them something to chew on.

And to begin with, I didn’t care if I was slandered or made into an enemy.

The problem was when others got dragged into it.

Talking about my own actions didn’t bother me much.

"I operated within Scarlet Abyss for a year, returned to the palace recently, and was planning to go back again when this incident happened. That’s how I ended up acting as a guide.”

Strictly speaking, I’d already infiltrated them again before my regression.

But that future no longer existed. He wouldn’t believe it anyway, and I had no reason to tell him. As Balkan rubbed his chin in thought, he glanced at Sunken Mire.

"So that thing was something you picked up from Scarlet Abyss?”

"I-I wasn’t picked up or anything…I…I came on my own.”

Sunken Mire’s timid protest didn’t draw even a slight reaction from him.

"I hope that satisfies your curiosity. Right now, time is critical.”

"...This is enough.”

Seemingly satisfied, Balkan stepped back with a blank expression. Sunken Mire then approached and placed a hand on my shoulder.

"Lord Undercurrent, you really want to go under this mountain range, right? It's going to be really dangerous…are you sure you’ll be fine??”

"Yes. And if possible, I want to move around freely. Can you do that?”

"I-I can. But there are a few precautions.”

Sunken Mire raised a finger with a serious expression.

"First, you absolutely can’t hit me.”

"What are you talking about?”

"From now on, I’ll be applying the maximum level of burden I can toward you, Lord Undercurrent. When I do, every piece of ground you step on will melt away, and you’ll sink downward. Forever.”

"What? That long?”

"...Actually, about 2 hours. That’s my maximum output.”

"Then what do you mean by ‘forever?’”

"...Anyway, while you’re in that state, you need to have a way to move your body on your own. Otherwise, no matter how you walk or swim, you’ll just keep sinking. Can you manage that?”

"Easy. Don’t worry.”

For someone like me, who could use water pressure and currents, Sunken Mire’s conditions were so easy they almost made me yawn.

Not knowing my abilities in detail, Sunken Mire continued to fuss and pile on warnings.

"And, if the surrounding soil starts to harden, you need to come back up. Otherwise you’ll be buried alive. Ah, though you did mention that you don’t breathe anyway…maybe you could dig your way out somehow.”

"Understood."

I patted my shoulders as if to loosen up.

"I’m ready. Sink me.”

"...I really did warn you, okay? Don’t complain later…”

"Want me to take you with me?”

"I’ll see you in two hours!”

-Swoosh!

The moment Sunken Mire glared at me, the ground beneath my feet began to tremble unsteadily.

The drop was so sudden that it made what she’d done to me when we first met feel like a prank in comparison.

By the time I came to my senses, dirt and dust were plastered all over my face, and I couldn’t see anything with the naked eye.

'Is this a swamp, or just filthy water…'

I spread my Tide Sense and realized that I had already sunk about 10 meters underground.

Gritting my teeth, I used water pressure to halt the swamp around me and waved my hand experimentally, testing Sunken Mire’s ability.

"Hm."

The result was far more impressive than I had expected.

It wasn’t that I’d underestimated her just because she didn’t have a Great World, but still.

Seeing soil that had been frozen solid like steel turn sticky and soft, almost like pudding, made admiration rise up in me.

It wasn’t perfect, but it was properly liquefied at least.

I gently pushed my body with a current to test if it worked.

"...Oh."

It was a bit sluggish, but I could move far faster than I expected.

I was—swimming underground.

It felt like I had turned into a mole. Considering I had no vision and was relying entirely on my Tide Sense, the comparison wasn’t actually that far off.

After savoring the strange sensation for a moment, I shook my head and focused again.

'Now’s not the time.'

2 hours. Short in some way and long in others.

Clearing my thoughts, completely relying on my Tide Sense, I recklessly moved through the mountain range.

Just moving beneath a single mountain was enough for my Tide Sense to perfectly detect even the number of insects living inside it. It took barely 5 minutes.

By repeatedly shortening the time, which would have been utterly impossible if I’d climbed, I explored more than half of the Dwind Mountains and sketched out a rough map in my head.

A feat accomplished in just an hour and a half. Since I still needed time to return, I was about to head back and receive Sunken Mire’s swamp burden again.

"...?"

When a sudden pain flared in my abdomen.

Something sharp had jabbed into my stomach as I moved.

Fortunately, it wasn’t sharp enough to pierce through my clothes and skin. Wondering what it was, I brushed over it with my Tide Sense—

And realized that the swamp hadn’t fully melted the shards of ice.

Pausing, I surveyed my surroundings. The soil was frozen in an unnatural way.

-Just like my Abyssal Sea had frozen solid when Decay drew near.

'Found you.'

I’d achieved my objective far too easily.

I immediately swept the entire mountain I was in with my Tide Sense, but unfortunately, I couldn’t feel anything.

Did he have some way to evade my senses?

Suppressing my disappointment, I hurried back. Even so, I’d already narrowed down exactly which mountain Decay was in.

All that remained was ambushing him.

"Pwah!”

I returned the way I came, forcing my way back up through the ground.

As I crawled out, brushing dirt off my body, Balkan, who’d been sitting by a bonfire, flinched and scowled.

"You crazy bastard…You could’ve said something before popping out like that. You nearly scared the guts out of me.”

"I found Decay’s location.”

"...Already?”

"I’m certain. About 30 minutes on foot from here. It would be faster if we rode the carriage, but we’d probably get noticed.”

"So it’s finally time to escape this white night?”

Brimdal sighed as he brushed the dirt off me and gripped his greatsword.

"I don’t know much about this Decay fellow, but I’ll make sure he lives up to his name. He sleeps, right? Or should we just strike now while we can catch him off guard?”

"We’re assassinating an Upper Tier. We need a proper plan.”

Dercia cut them off, glaring coolly at Balkan and Brimdal, who looked ready to charge out immediately.

"A plan? Sneak in and kill him. Isn’t that enough?”

"How will you sneak in, and how will you kill him? And in battles against Fallen, you must always prepare a countermeasure for their world. You’re already struggling with the superficial burdens of his world, aren’t you?”

She calmly glanced down at Balkan’s gauntlet and continued.

"If it turns into a direct confrontation, you should assume that these burdens intensify dozens of times over. You know you can’t win without your hands and feet intact.”

"Hmpf..."

"Kgh..."

Even now, their fingers were necrotizing. If they actually fought him, no one knew what might fall off next.

"But we didn’t come up with any other method. Cut his throat before our fingers fall off, that’s all. What about you, elf?”

"That answer was exactly what I predicted, down to the last syllable. For your sake, I’ve personally prepared a method.”

With an expression that suggested she hadn’t expected anything else, she pulled two bottles filled with a transparent liquid from the carriage.

"Drink."

"...? What is this?”

"I’ll explain after you drink it.”

Balkan and Brimdal swallowed the liquid with deeply uneasy expressions.

A moment later, their eyes widened as they tore off their gauntlets.

"Oooh…! This is incredible.”

Color was slowly returning to those fingers that had been purple only moments ago.

Even Brimdal, who had openly sneered at her for being an elf, nodded with visible satisfaction, a pleased expression on his face.

"To think an elf could be this useful. What is this?”

"It’s blood extracted from my kin.”

"?"

"Elf blood.”

"Wh-what did you just say???”

"I didn’t say it beforehand for this exact reason. I assumed you’d refuse.”

"No, why the hell would you make us drink something like that?!”

Dercia calmly explained to the flustered Brimdal.

"We elves are a long-lived race, even among long-lived species. Our metabolism is extremely slow. Using components extracted from our blood can significantly delay burdens. Burdens are ultimately just something that progresses over time after all. As you can see, it was really effective.”

"Even so, that’s still…”

Watching the dumbfounded Brimdal, I extended my hand toward Dercia.

I didn’t particularly mind drinking elf blood. If it let me survive in this extreme cold, a little blood was nothing.

"Could you give me some as well?”

"...Hm.”

But Dercia…

For some reason, she avoided my eyes as she replied.

"Jern, you don’t need it.”

"What?"

"You don’t need to drink this.”

"..."

...Something—