WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 194 - Oblivion (19)

I couldn’t really tell how much strength I had poured into it.

At most, a minute—probably not even half of that. I had literally taken on the full burden of pressure strong enough to crush solid rock…

"Ugh..."

I tried to spit out the blood pooling in my mouth, then stopped when I remembered I was in the Abyssal Sea. If deep-sea creatures swarmed here now, that wouldn’t be a joke.

Even aside from the metallic taste of blood filling my mouth, it was a stupid stunt I never wanted to repeat. The whole plan had been nothing more than gambling on which one of us, Decay or me, was tougher.

However…

I had been in the Abyssal Sea for longer.

-...Clink!

"...Ah."

As the strength drained from my limp limbs, things slowly began returning to something resembling normal.

Decay was no longer blurred.

Of course, considering he had taken that burden head-on, he looked surprisingly intact. Except for thin cracks running through his body, as if it were made of ice, he calmly stood and looked down at me.

Compared to that, I was practically half-dead.

If this hadn’t been the Abyssal Sea, my body would probably have been lying, shattered, on the ground. Nearly every bone in my body had been broken.

Slowly sinking downward, I looked up at Decay, who stood there seeming almost unharmed.

Anyone comparing this to our first encounter would think I had clearly lost…

But there was one thing in my favor.

"Did you let your guard down?”

Right now, I could clearly see the bitter expression on Decay’s face.

Which meant—his lifeline was in my grasp.

He neither attacked me nor attempted to flee.

From the moment he entered the Abyssal Sea and lost the means to resist the pressure, both he and I knew that everything was meaningless.

“If you’ve got any last words, say them."

My pronunciation was slurred since some of my teeth had broken, but the meaning should have been clear.

After receiving my burden earlier, Decay could no longer slow my thoughts.

He must have pulled ever bit of his power into resisting the pressure just to stay alive. Returning what he had given me, I watched as he slowly spoke.

"What do you plan to do next?”

"I guess I’ll start with killing your comrades one by one?”

"To escape the world of the Abyssal Sea?”

"Yes."

"You’re choosing a difficult path.”

Decay frowned and let out a sigh as he replied.

"If you killed Puppet, do you know what she truly was?”

"A world borrowing a human body. The same kind of bastard as you.”

Great Void had used some method to reincarnate the worlds of Fallen, creating monsters who retained the memories of their original selves yet possessed completely different ways of thinking.

Creatures who lived while chewing over their memories as humans, striving to fulfill their desires…

"...?"

Right then, something suddenly occurred to me. I tilted my head and looked at Decay.

Puppet, who had been one of their members, tried to fulfill the wish of her original self, the princess, who dreamed of a world where everyone could live happily as a family, so she forced humans to play family roles and kept them together.

Then…what about Decay?

What wish could an unborn fetus possibly have?

"Surprisingly, even I, who had yet to be born, had something I desired.”

"And what was that?"

"Not being born.”

"...What?"

"It wasn’t just mine. It’s the wish of every child. Why do you think babies cry the moment they are born?”

Decay continued speaking calmly.

"I achieved my wish from the very beginning. I never set foot in this world.”

"...Ah, I see."

As expected, those people were insane.

Just as I reaffirmed that thought, Decay looked at me again.

"You are different. Your wish is far more dangerous.”

"What are you talking about?”

"Puppet wanted a family. I wished to not be born. Both were simple desires—but your goal is absurd. To escape the Abyssal Sea.”

Decay titled his head, genuinely curious.

"The Abyssal Sea wishing to escape the Abyssal Sea—I can’t even imagine what such a thing intends to live for.”

"Is that so? There’s one thing I still don’t understand.”

I nodded and slowly raised my broken hand.

It wasn’t like I really needed to.

"Why do you think I’ll stop being human like you lot? Is it just some optimistic belief that Great Void will beat me?”

"It’s not a simple matter of victory or defeat.”

Decay shrugged.

"Your will rivals Great Void. Melting me alone won’t be enough, but if you keep devouring the others, who knows what might happen. Still, that isn’t what matters.”

-Crack, craaaack.

Even as fractures spread across his entire body, Decay continued to speak.

"Great Void gifted us with worlds, but did nothing beyond that.”

"..."

"I’ll watch from right beside you. It won’t take very long.”

Ice shards spread throughout the Abyssal Sea.

They were the remnants of a world that had, until moments ago, maintained a human form.

Watching that, I tried to think about Decay’s final words.

Unfortunately, I failed.

"...Not yet.”

This wouldn’t do.

I could no longer keep my eyelids from closing.

* * *

"You want to know about the Abyssal Sea?”

A dream.

With just that single line, I immediately realized that what I was experiencing right now was a dream.

As was often the case with dreams, I nodded in agreement despite it not being my will.

"Since he’ll come looking eventually, I thought it would be good to know.”

"Hmm..."

Sharmia, or rather Heavenly Balance, expressionless and frowning, rose from her seat and scanned the study.

"There isn't much information on it here either. It’s mostly similar to the Grand Sea, but the pressure is incomparably worse, so any Fallen dies the moment their world manifests. And it’s one of the Three Calamities…That’s about it.”

"That’s why I came to you.”

"I’ve told you everything I know. Decay.”

Decay’s dream.

Why was I dreaming about this guy? As I frowned and tried to race my hazy memories, I, no, Decay, spoke again, his voice clearer.

"I’ll ask directly. I want to hear the part that you told Great Void, but not me.”

"..."

At those words, Heavenly Balance closed her mouth tightly and glared at Decay even more sharply.

Decay smirked as if it didn’t bother him at all and continued.

"I’m not complaining that you hid something from me. Neither you nor I, none of us, tell the full truth. I hide things from you, you hide things from me, Great Void hides things from me, I hide things from Great Void…”

He continued slowly and playfully, like he was joking. Then he suddenly swept his gaze across the desk and met Heavenly Balance’s eyes.

"—You hide things from Great Void.”

After locking eyes without yielding even slightly, she eventually shook her head.

“You will die.”

"Hmm, a threat?”

"No. It’s what you wanted to know.”

Heavenly Balance replied casually.

"I’ll say it clearly. I know nothing about the Abyssal Sea. However, I do know that the one guarding ‘that tree’ was a Fallen of the Grand Sea. I was the one who discovered it and reported it to Great Void… Do you know how long it took Great Void to come back after he went underground?”

"I wasn’t with him at the time.”

"A week. Great Void barely made it back alive. He nearly died to something that was already dead.”

"...”

"To a mere corpse."

...The tree she mentioned was probably the one that produced the soil used as the material for the World-Sealing Elixir.

But hearing that Great Void had nearly died fighting the skeleton near that tree was news to me. I had always assumed it was a Fallen of the Abyssal Sea as well.

"If he really is a Fallen of the Abyssal Sea, then the one doing the hunting wouldn’t be you. It would be him.”

With a look that seemed to ask whether this was the answer he wanted, Heavenly Balance finished what she wanted to say, leaving Decay to stroke his chin before responding.

"I see… Even so, no matter how hard I try to imagine it, I can’t picture the princess of me losing to the Abyssal Sea.”

"That’s right. That would be the normal conclusion. But there’s one thing you misunderstand. The reason I predicted your death isn’t because your opponent possesses the world of the Abyssal Sea.”

Heavenly Balance shook her head and glanced behind her.

Only then did I realize where we were. It was in the underground of the tower that served as Scarlet Abyss’ headquarters.

In other words, behind that wall were the corpses that had been drowned in order to create something like me.

"I simply cannot imagine what it means for someone to survive while bearing the hostility of a world far deeper than the one that drove Great Void to the brink of death.”

"...I see."

It was a strangely flattering statement. Among those of Scarlet Abyss, Heavenly Balance seemed to be overestimating me quite a bit.

Decay nodded as if he understood, then turned his body as though he had gotten all the answers he needed and began heading out of the tower.

"You’re leaving?”

"Yes."

"Tsk, what a waste of effort explaining it. If you weren’t going to change your mind anyway, why bother threatening me?”

"No. Heavenly Balance, you definitely changed my mind.”

"...?”

"Until I heard what you said, I had no intention of meeting him. But it seems even I still possess something like curiosity.”

As Decay stepped out and closed the door, he left Heavenly Balance, who looked rather bewildered, with those final words.

"Both Great Void and I think the same thing. That he is merely a suitable vessel for the Abyssal Sea chosen by Dercia. Whether we’re right or you are… I’ll go experience it myself.”

-Thud.

The moment the door shut, my eyes snapped open.

"Ugh..."

It was a dream after all. Though it had been a bit too realistic.

I tried to sit up quickly, but dizziness struck, so I slumped back down. The slightly soft sensation beneath me made me momentarily think I was lying on a bed.

"You’re awake.”

"...?"

But I wasn’t.

I was still inside the carriage. Beside me were Brimdal, who was soaked in blood, wearing a worried expression, and Dercia, whose face looked the same as usual.

Realizing that I had been using Dercia’s lap as a pillow, I hurriedly sat up, regained my composure, and looked around.

"What happened? The Lump, that bastard, was there too. What about Balkan…?”

"Calm down. It’s all over. Sir Balkan…”

Dercia paused, so Brimdal continued with a bitter expression.

"He’s gone. Went like a true Knight."

"...I see.”

Thankfully, it seemed like the Lump hadn’t regained control over Balkan’s body and betrayed them.

As I let out a sigh of relief, Dercia asked me this time,

"And what about Decay…? That’s what we want to ask you. After I returned from the revolving lantern, the only ones left were myself and this dwarf. On our way to you, avalanches erupted so often that they overturned the entire mountain range and reshaped the terrain.”

"Coming straight here might have been the wrong call. He was practically a god within the domain of these snowy mountains.”

Brimdal, wearing a sour expression, lifted his sword. The blade was chipped. A testament of the fierce battle that had taken place.

"After cutting him down about ten times, he finally calmed down. I thought he’d run out of strength…”

"I found you.”

Since I already knew what question Dercia was about to ask next, I scratched my head and nodded.

"Yeah. I probably defeated Decay…? I think?”

"What do you mean ‘I think'?"

"You know how many times he’s fooled us?”

More than three times, he had vanished right before we could finish him off.

His skill at running away rivaled even the Lump’s. Even after crushing him with pressure, I couldn’t be completely sure he was dead.

And for having been his final moments, he had seemed far too calm.

At this point, even if he suddenly burst out from the snowbank right now and started threatening us again, I’d probably just shrug it off. We’ve been messed with that many times.

Dercia nodded as if she completely understood, then extended her hand.

"Did you defeat him inside the Abyssal Sea?”

"Yes."

"Then we can confirm it.”

"...”

When I killed the Puppet, her corpse had remained within my Abyssal Seal, and I retrieved the Thread Ring from it.

But now, I couldn't see Decay’s corpse anywhere. However, what Dercia wanted to test was something else.

"Because that world leaves physical traces.”

"That’s right."

I closed my eyes and spread my Tide Sense, searching through the Abyssal Sea.

In the dark, murky ocean depths, I saw a massive shape that hadn’t been there before.

"...It’s there."

I forced myself to calm the excitement rising in my chest as I answered.

It was a huge mass of ice embedded deep within the Abyssal Sea, reminiscent of a glacier that had sunken down.

That was proof that I had defeated Decay—

[...?]

And also meant that the deep-sea creatures had gained access to the power of Absolute Frost.

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