WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 239 - Depth (6)

'No, that’s not it.'

After the initial shock faded, I took a closer look. The features were human, but only crudely imitated.

Like something that had only heard of humans and tried to copy them as best it could.

Well, if it were actually human, it would’ve been crushed by pressure long before turning into something like that. As I was organizing my thoughts, it tried to close the stone door again.

I had no intention of allowing that.

-Cruuunch!

[...]

Its pressure pulling the stone shut and my pressure holding it open clashed, creating a strange vortex.

As the boulder began to crack with an eerie sound, it frowned first and released its pressure.

[Let go. You are not the one I was waiting for…]

"Tell me what you’re waiting for and I’ll let go."

[...]

After a brief hesitation, it lowered its eyes and answered.

[In a place like this, there’s only one thing to hope for. I’m waiting for my end.]

"I can give you that right now."

As I casually formed a blade of pressure, it twisted its mouth into a sneer.

[Sure, you can turn me into scattered remains. And then?]

"What do you mean? The end is the end.”

[You know well what happens to remains in this world. Another creature will consume me, and I will regenerate.]

"...What?"

I frowned at the incomprehensible statement.

It slammed its head into the ground and began to wail, spreading its blood scent even more thickly.

[Why…why did I wish to survive? Why…?]

"So—if another deep-sea creature eats what’s left of you, it becomes you?”

[...]

It didn’t answer. That silence was confirmation.

Dumbfounded, I crouched down and met its gaze.

"Then that’s a blessing, isn’t it? You can’t die.”

[...?]

It abruptly stopped screaming and looked up at me with that grotesque face.

It was impossible to read what it was thinking. After an awkward moment of eye contact, it spoke again, its voice clearer now.

[Who are you? You’re not the one I was waiting for, but neither are you a being that moves without awareness.]

"Someone trying to escape this place?”

[You’re insane. If only I could lose my mind like you… If only I could escape the curse of self-awareness.]

Having come to its own conclusion, it lowered its head and muttered.

[To live forever in hell is a curse. Not a blessing.]

"Hmm..."

Well, even if you were immortal, being stuck in the Abyssal Sea like this indeed sounded pretty awful even to me.

But there was another reason I called it a blessing.

"Then why not head downward, if you have that kind of immortality?”

[Downward...?]

"If you go to a deeper depth, isn’t there a way out?”

[Hah.]

Even with that hard-to-read face, the scoff was unmistakable.

[The bottom of hell is still just a deeper hell. If there were an exit there, why do you think the so-called gods of this abyss are still trapped in a place like this?]

...That was a pretty reasonable point.

Had Heavenly Balance lied to me after all? As I belatedly began to doubt, it sighed, looking even more dejected.

[Still, I cannot mock you. I, too, once headed deeper.]

"Yeah? Even knowing it was the end of hell, why bother?”

[Because it was the only direction left for me to go.]

The creature looked at me with hollow eyes and spoke.

[Even if the bottom of this hell was a worse place than here, I thought that if I reached it, I might find a way to erase myself forever. So I suppose I too once dreamed of escape…]

"And that’s how you ended up like this?”

[I devoured everything I could. Thinking it would help me descend further. But it was all a delusion. Down there, you cannot endure simply by withstanding the pressure of the water..]

I had been half-listening, distracted by thoughts of Heavenly Balance, when something I couldn’t endure caught my attention.

No matter whether I’d been deceived or not, my current goal was to simply descend.

And now it was saying that this descent was blocked.

"What do you mean? There’s something stronger than the water pressure?”

[It’s not a matter of pressure. To go below this point, the mid-layer, you must be granted permission.]

"...Permission? From who?"

[The rulers of the mid-layer.]

I gazed down into the depths of the Abyssal Sea.

[You’ve devoured quite a few of your kind, haven’t you? The way you manipulate the flow of the world…your power may be lacking, but it is refined. It reminds me of them.]

The flow of the world.

It was clearly talking about the currents.

[But it won’t work on the rulers. From beneath this surface layer, the mid-layer and below, every inch of space is under the dominion of the beings that live there. Each has its own territory. You and I cannot descend further.]

In other words, everything below, the so-called mid-layer, was completely blocked.

By beings that perfectly controlled the space—whether they were Outer Gods, or something else entirely.

The moment I learned about the Outer Gods, I’d assumed they’d be at the very bottom, not somewhere like the mid-layer.

"You’re saying it’s completely blocked? Then how do you get in?”

[Did I not say it? You cannot, unless you receive their permission.]

"...Can’t you force your way through?"

[If you think you can, try it. Even if you succeed, you’ll be devoured instantly.]

So something that wasn’t even an Outer God was that dangerous.

It didn’t sound like mere bluffing. As I fell into thought, it added in a drained voice.

[If you truly wish to enter, then one of the rulers of the mid-layer must die or descend further, leaving a vacancy. Even then, the gap would only last briefly before another ruler takes the place and seals it again.]

"So basically, it’s impossible.”

[Yes. I waited here, giving up my life over and over again, but such a thing never happened. Now, I only wish for the end…]

Its voice remained gloomy. It seemed being unable to even descend to the bottom and kill itself had been quite the shock.

"You said dying isn’t the end either. Then what do you even want?”

[Someday, something will appear that can absorb my consciousness.]

"What?"

[A demon that will devour everything in the Abyssal Sea, including me, and reduce me to nothing…]

Listening to it, I wasn’t really in a position to call it insane.

It seemed like it had lost its mind, though.

[The end will come…someday…the end…]

"H-hey?”

After that, it just repeated the same words like a broken record, and the conversation couldn’t continue.

Even if it wasn’t truly human, it still had a human-like form. I didn’t feel like eating it.

And the part about it regenerating after being consumed bothered me.

In the worst case, it might manifest as another consciousness inside me. And the idea of something like that living in my head was horrifying.

Carefully closing the stone door, I left the cave. After a brief moment of thought, I continued descending.

'No way I’m just going to believe that without seeing it myself.’

I couldn’t accept that, going, ‘Ah, I see.’

So, deciding to see this so-called mid-layer with my own eyes, I kept descending.

"...?"

What I saw before long was a pure white floor.

The bottom of the Abyssal Sea.

* * *

One of the biggest problems with this Abyssal Sea was how completely it distorted your sense of time.

There was nothing to track its passage after all. More than once, I’d check the hourglass I kept on me, only to realize it had run out long ago.

Three days passed like that without me even remembering to flip it.

Along the way, I hunted every new species I encountered, restoring my abilities to nearly 90% of their original state.

'Normally, I should’ve recovered everything by now…’

For some reason, the more I recovered, the slower the progress became.

Still, at 90%, I no longer struggled against the deep-sea creatures. With my Tide Sense mostly restored, I could detect them easily and strike first.

Enduring the ever-increasing pressure, I kept descending.

"What?”

Until my Tide Sense seemed to touch the ground.

In other words, the bottom of the Abyssal Sea.

That couldn’t be right. Startled, I hurried downward and soon confirmed it with my own eyes.

What I found was a floor covered in white sand, like a beach. There weren’t any deep-sea creatures in sight. A truly empty seabed.

-Crunch

My foot touched down, making a soft sound.

"...It’s real."

If this wasn’t the bottom, then what was?

There truly were no creatures around. After walking along the endless seabed for about 5 minutes, I spread my arms and closed my eyes, trying to invoke the authority of an Outer God.

Of course, nothing changed. Far from becoming a god, my body still felt as if the burdens pressed down on me, along with a constant urge to vomit.

Something was wrong. If this really was the bottom, that octopus-like Outer God should’ve greeted me enthusiastically long before I even arrived.

After a moment of thought, I stirred the currents and began digging into the ground.

-Thud!

'If this is really the bottom, then no matter how much I dig, nothing should come out.'

Since it was just sand, digging a hole through it wasn’t particularly difficult.

After digging down about 10 meters, the layer beneath the sand came into view.

There was nothing there.

Because beneath it was another abyss.

"...What the..."

I frowned as I stared at the abyss hidden beneath the abyss.

-Boom!

Snapping back to my senses, I immediately blasted currents outward in all directions, blowing away all the surrounding sand.

This sand was nothing more than a layer of sediment piled on top, built up over time.

Between these seemingly identical seas was an invisible, transparent floor. I tapped on that transparent barrier.

It felt solid like striking metal.

And also quite familiar.

"...A wall made of pressure?”

It was a wall formed by a force that pushed everything away with constant pressure, making it as solid as metal.

It was something I could do as well.

But standing up and looking around, I grimaced.

The idea that this entire seabed was being held back like this was absurd.

Curious as to how far it extended, I decided to walk and find out.

1 hour later.

"There’s no end."

Looking at the trail of footprints behind me, I let out a sigh.

I was certain that no matter how long I walked, the scenery wouldn’t change, so I decided on a different approach.

Attack.

In other words, trying to intrude.

"Haah…”

I slowly gathered pressure, forming the sharpest blade I could create.

A pressure blade, compressed and fired through a tiny point, sharp enough to slice through even steel like tofu.

In terms of cutting power, it was nearly absolute.

Still, I didn’t immediately try to cut through recklessly. I hadn’t forgotten that creature’s warning.

If I split the wall and something like an Outer God appeared from the other side, I’d be in trouble in my current state. The pressure alone was already becoming difficult to handle.

So instead, I made a cut no larger than my palm, from the farthest distance where I could maintain the blade.

-Szzzt!

'That cut way easier than I expected…'

I thought it would take several attempts, but it went straight through, carving a hole.

It didn't seem very thick. I tensed up and carefully examined the area through my Tide Sense from a distance.

In case something changed.

Then–

-Bubble, bubble…

"...Bubbles."

From the small opening I had cut, bubbles rose. Evidence that water from the mid-layer was coming up.

Other than that, I sensed nothing. No dangerous creatures, no tentacled limbs, and no sense of impending death.

If it were safe, maybe I could try putting my body through.

That was what I was thinking.

'But why isn’t it mixing?'

Something was off.

What came through the hole was seawater. In the end, it was still the same ocean and water.

A normal person would never be able to tell the difference, but as someone half-adapted to the Abyssal Sea, I could perceive something strange through pressure and currents.

The water from the mid-layer and the water from the surface layer weren’t mixing.

Whether it was salinity or something else, my Tide Sense clearly distinguished the two bodies of water as they moved around each other. They overlapped, but never blended.

That slight unease made me observe a bit longer, and that caution saved my life.

[...]

Suddenly, the mid-layer water gained color.

It took on a shape, something vaguely human, similar to the grotesque being I’d seen earlier but far more refined. It scanned its surroundings with emotionless, black, colorless eyes.

Then it noticed the hole it had emerged from and frowned deeply.

[Did the shellfish do this? Are they still unable to grasp their place…?]

The being dissolved again.

Its form vanished instantly, returning to mere water, and was sucked back through the hole.

By the time it was completely gone, the hole had already sealed itself.

"..."

I covered my mouth, watching the scene. Only then did I barely manage to let out a strained groan.

"Cough, ugh…!”

My mouth was full of blood.

It hadn’t done anything. It had simply existed.

And that was the problem.

'The moment that thing appeared, the pressure was…’

It felt as if I’d been dragged thousands of meters deeper in an instant.

Just standing in the same space changed the burdens on me entirely. Would these burdens start pressing down on me once I entered the mid-layer?

Wiping the blood from my lips to keep it from spilling into the sea, I finally understood what that creature had meant.

"So the mid-layer isn’t a specific place..."

That thing I’d just seen wasn’t some species of deep-sea creature living in the mid-layer. It was a concept.

A kind of existence that, by merely existing, imposed pressure on everything around it.

It was the mid-layer itself.

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