WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 43 - Declaration of War (6)

I tried taking a step forward, as if possessed, but Dercia stopped me.

"Jern, beyond that point it’ll be ‘different’.”

"...Huh?"

I looked down at the plain field where I was about to step.

There was nothing unusual about it. No clear line, no change in the atmosphere.

Of course, Dercia wouldn’t have said that without reason, so I carefully stepped back.

But then, she simply walked forward as if nothing was wrong, and turned to look at me.

"Aren’t you coming?”

"...Didn’t you just imply I might die if I step inside?”

"You might. But that doesn’t mean we can just avoid it, right? I was simply stating a fact.”

She was right. Shrugging, I decided to follow after her.

"So what’s different about that place?”

"It’s a different world.”

"...A world?”

"Yes. Though I can’t say for sure.”

Those words made anxiety instantly shoot through me.

I never thought it possible for Dercia to not know something except for the circumstances surrounding my situation.

"I’ll spread out Tide Sense more.”

"There’s no need.”

Dercia reached into her robe’s pocket and pulled out a rather long, thin stick.

At first I thought it was some sort of wand, but judging by the faint nib at its end, scratched and stained with ink, it seemed to be a fountain pen.

However, it was so dirty and worn that you couldn’t tell unless you looked at it extremely closely. The nob was covered in clumps of dried ink, making it hard to see. Fresh ink kept leaking from the barrel, staining her pristine, pale fingers and dripping onto the ground.

Instantly, Dercia’s hands were completely covered in ink. Of course, she didn’t really care about all that, just kept walking while leaving a trail of ink behind.

"Let’s go."

"Yes."

The city gates were wide open.

However,

"...Tsk."

I clicked my tongue as I looked at the reddened moat.

Horses, arms, and legs. All brutally mutilated.

Nothing remained intact. Corpses drifted in the murky water, the stench of blood thick enough to draw swarms of flies.

They were all gathered around the edges of the moat.

...It seemed like they had died while trying to flee.

Dercia quietly raised her left hand and covered my eyes.

"You don’t need to worry. I won’t be shaken by something like this.”

"Yes, I’m sure you’ll be fine, Jern. That’s precisely what worries me.”

"?"

"It shouldn’t be normal for you to look at something as ghastly as this and not feel something. You seem to have forgotten, but you are still 10 years old, my disciple.”

"...Right."

I wasn’t exactly a saint.

But it was hard to not feel anger surging up in me faced with this horrifying sight. Perhaps I felt it even more intensely, since I was like them.

They killed others to survive. I couldn’t condone it, but I couldn’t fully deny it either.

When it came down to it, the most important thing was one’s own life. If one were to put the lives of complete strangers on the other side of the scale, even those who preached virtue and what not might hesitate before deciding which was to tip it.

Still, was this really the result of such a choice?

Was it truly necessary to throw the bodies of children into that moat?

I pulled Dercia’s hand off my eyes, forcing myself to take in the whole scene, resolving that I would get an answer to those questions once I met them.

"I’ll remember all of this, then.”

"You might fall even further.”

"That’s a funny joke.”

I brushed it off with a laugh. After all, I was probably standing at the lowest point in the world.

As soon as we entered the city, the same horrifying scenes greeted us, accompanied by faint screams. Dercia scanned our surroundings, frowning, then turned toward an extremely tall spire.

"I found her. Your pupil is in that tower.”

"...Wait, how did you know?”

I was genuinely surprised. Of course, I knew how capable Dercia was, but for her to figure that out in a matter of seconds was outside of my expectations.

Yet her expression didn’t seem particularly positive.

"The mana I spread out is being repelled.”

"Ah, so that’s how you located her. Can you tell if she’s alright?”

“She is… not.”

Dercia sighed, her words as abrupt and unexpected as lightning coming from a clear sky.

"If she can even reject my mana, that means she’s on the verge of falling. It’s fortunate that she hasn’t yet, but it’s only a matter of time in my opinion.”

"...Let’s go.”

"Yes."

As long as she was alive, anything could happen. I was proof of that.

Just as I steeled myself and rushed towards the spire, someone suddenly came running, shouting at us.

"W-wait! It’s dangerous over there!”

I turned to see a Knight wearing blood-soaked armor. There was an insignia of a white swan on it. He seemed to be of a rather well-known Knight Order.

However, both Dercia and I immediately raised our hands without intending to hear him out.

"Kuargh—?!”

The moment I pushed him back with my current, a red line appeared across his neck.

His head tumbled into a nearby pond, and his body, still staggering a bit, fell to its knees, bleeding profusely.

Dercia seemed a bit astonished.

"How did you know?”

"In a situation like this, I don’t think any Knight in their right mind would run up to some suspicious strangers just to warn them. What about you, Master?”

"Remember this, Jern. It is considered the highest offense for a Knight to approach a wizard with a drawn weapon. A Knight trained in Body Reinforcement can kill a mage instantly as long as we are inside their range. At the very least, their sword should remain sheathed, and their hands far off the hilt to prove that they mean no harm.”

"--Ah, right. There was that rule.”

Those weren’t my words.

The Knight’s body twitched and began to swell grotesquely.

It collapsed into a writhing mass of flesh covered in discolored skin, arms and legs barely even distinguishable from the rest, without anything that could be called a face.

It was the most hideous thing I had ever seen in my life. I wasn’t even sure if I could call that disgusting stuff alive.

Then a hole opened on the fleshy mass’s abdomen, seemingly some sort of mouth. It had no lips, no teeth, and no tongue, yet a voice emerged from it.

"How'd you kill me? That Knight just now was quite skilled in the art of Body Strengthening. He wasn’t the type to die from some half-assed spell.”

The lump of flesh raised what might have been its hand and let out a crooked laugh. Or what sounded like a laugh, at least.

Goosebumps appeared all over my body. Dercia merely stroked her chin as though she wasn’t surprised by anything that was happening here, then nodded.

"You."

"Call me the Lump. That’s what everyone calls me. Hahaha!”

"You’re already living in hell.”

"...What?"

The lump seemed confused.

Dercia’s eyes held something one could call pity, something quite rare, as she looked at it.

"You suffer from the second most dreadful burden I’ve ever seen. Especially since you can’t even die of your own volition when that would be the kinder option.”

"Heh, lady. That’s pretty rude for a first meeting, don’t you think? What the hell do you know about me?”

The lump laughed, clutching what seemed to be its belly, but Dercia just sighed and continued.

"You told me to call you the Lump, correct? And quite cheerfully at that. Then answer me one question.”

"Hm? What? Why we attacked this place?”

"No. Who are you really?”

"---"

The lump’s grin disappeared, or at least that was what it looked like.

"Let me be more specific. Who were you before this? Since you’ve probably forgotten everything already, you are no different from a corpse. Then what are you now, you who calls itself ‘the Lump’? What did you come from? Who did you turn into…? Though I doubt you even remember.”

The lump just stood there for a moment, hearing Dercia’s words, seeming dumbfounded, before—

"...Pft, wahaha! Just wow!”

Laughter shook its gigantic frame.

"Wait, this is actually pretty creepy? Who are you?”

"You’ll find out soon.”

"Sure look forward to that. But let me correct one thing, okay? I’m happy with what I am. At first, sure, I hated forgetting who I was. But when you think about it… that guy isn’t really me anymore, right?”

The lump began to compress slowly.

Soon it turned into a naked man, his body covered in scars and bulging muscles. The body of a seasoned warrior.

His voice dropped low and solemn, though his tone remained just as frivolous as it was before.

"So if you think about it that way, wasn’t it that guy who carried all the burdens or whatever? I only got this power out of it! I was born because he died like an idiot!”

"One day, you’ll realize that the idiot you despise was your true self and that what you are now is nothing but a parasite clinging to the shell he left behind. I wonder what choice you’ll make then.”

"Can’t deny that! Well, I guess I’d better struggle as much as I can before that day comes, huh?”

-Boom!

The gigantic figure vanished. And for a moment, the sun went out.

Or so it seemed, because the shadow of that man, soaring far up in the sky, completely blocked out the sun.

"Master—!"

Too late. I tried to crush that thing using water pressure, even as those thoughts passed my mind, but Dercia only looked at me with a serene face.

"Jern."

Time seemed to slow as she gave me a knowing smile.

"Do you think the sky you reach using wings is the same as the one you reach by piling up stone?”

When those nonsensical words reached my ears—

Rain began to fall.

"...?"

Pitter, patter… I watched hot, red rain pour down, barely able to grasp what had happened.

“Smashed to pieces” wasn’t enough to describe this.

There was literally nothing solid left. Not even a single shred of flesh, nor a shard of bone, only pure blood flowed down from the sky.

As a result, the Lump disintegrated in midair.

Dercia, completely untouched by the blood, walked on as if nothing had happened and launched into an oddly appropriate lecture.

"The Abyss Realm and the Celestial Realm are clearly of the same domain. If the Fallen could fully use their own world, someone like me, who has yet to reach the Heavens, would have no way to resist.”

-Thud!

At the same moment Dercia took another step forward, a hand reached out from the pool of blood.

It was a thinner man. However, before he could do anything, red lines randomly appeared all over his body.

"?"

The Lump burst the instant it laid eyes on the lines scrawled across its own body.

With a small sound too small and weak for a human to make, the puddle grew a bit larger.

"But—could those hated by their own world ever hope to borrow its power? Of course not. They merely wield what they gained as its residents. Their strength is simply strong in this world. Imagine a tiger dropped into the desert.”

Dozens of hands shot up from the pool at once.

And this time they weren’t even permitted to take on a human form. The hands that sprang forth were immediately traced with red lines and then burst.

"In the end, they are not creations, but exiles. How could they rampage without even understanding that?”

"No, wait—”

A face emerged from the puddle. It burst.

"They are not the same.”

Dercia looked down at the pool with cold eyes.

Nothing emerged from it again.

"A position gained through trickery doesn’t even reach my toes.”

"...Ah, right.”

A lump reformed on a roof several dozen meters away.

It seemed like some drops of blood had splattered all the way over there. But that didn’t matter.

The Lump looked at the lines still wrapping around its body and, unlike before, seemed to scowl deeply.

"The Crimson Death Line… Dercia, Dercia Aspandil. Aah~ no wonder you were able to nail down my inner world instantly.”

"What an honor for Scarlet Abyss to know my name.”

"...I’m the one who’s supposed to say that. Just how did you find us and arrive here in only two hours? This is just ridiculous.”

Hearing Dercia’s utterly disinterested tone, the Lump sighed.

"We don’t even have a chance here. What do you want me to do?”

It was true.

Our opponent was one hell of a monster. No matter how many times he transformed into all manner of Knights, killing and being killed yet not dying. Even when it was reduced to just a puddle of blood, it revived. Who knew what kind of world it was living in. It probably was one of Scarlet Abyss’ leaders.

However, Dercia was just a lot more monstrous.

I knew she was strong, but I didn’t expect her to have such overwhelming power in battle. She hadn’t even used her basic skills.

That was all it took. The fight was decided.

The Lump raised its hand with a look of resignation on its supposed face.

"Fine, I’m out.”

"Do you really think I’ll let you leave?”

Drip, drip… Ink began to fall faster from Dercia’s pen, staining the ground around her.

The Lump only shrugged.

"I wasn’t talking to you.”

"ㅡ!"

In an instant, I felt an overwhelming sense of dread wash over me.

It was so strong it nearly froze me. I urgently started to shout.

"Master!”

"Jern?”

"You have to kill that thing now!”

Boom—!

Dercia didn’t answer and just acted.

The red lines around the Lump moved about as if they were alive, tightening until its body exploded.

Dercia turned to me with a calm expression.

"Is it done?”

"...No.”

I clenched my teeth.

For the first time, I saw the waters of the Abyssal Sea freezing.

Craaaack…!

I stumbled back, careful not to touch the ice. It was a sight I had never imagined I would ever see. It was the worst possible match-up for me. If the Abyssal Sea froze, I’d die.

But contrary to what I was sensing, the Lump’s blood boiled instead. It was unlike the previous times it revived without any warning.

Not long after, a man in proper clothing began to crawl up from it, head first.

There weren’t any lines marking his body.

"..."

Aside from the mask covering his face, he looked like a normal person.

He completely ignored me, fixing his eyes on Dercia as he muttered.

"Dercia, huh? You sure brought me a troublesome opponent, Lump.”

"Jern.”

Dercia’s tone when she spoke was as serene as it was before.

"Go and do what you must.”

"Will you be alright?”

"It won’t be an issue. Just—”

Her brows furrowed slightly.

"This one doesn’t seem like someone I can fight while protecting you.”

"Okay.”

If she said I’d only get in the way, then retreating was the right choice here.

The man sat on the edge of the roof, his voice weary.

"This world is a frozen tundra. Don’t you think so?”

"I remember reading about this before. You’re declaring your realm, aren’t you…?”

Dercia shook her head, her reply almost bordering on mockery.

"Please don’t force your delusions on me.”

"It seems you don’t understand. What a pity.”

After hearing that short exchange, I slammed the spire door shut and went inside.

Only then did the frozen shards of ice vanish.

"Haah…”

I took several deep breaths before standing up straight again.

As long as those monsters stayed out there, I’d be safe in this spire.

I had to find Elisia and get out as fast as I could.

"Gh-ghrg."

"?"

Hmm.

The spire, filled with blood, flames, and silence, had tons of things with black eyes stumbling all over the place.

They were corpses. Their entrails were spilling out of them.

"..."

Even before I fully understood what was going on, I decided to act cautiously, putting one foot before the other, trying not to provoke those things.

As slowly as possible.

—Clang!

"No."

I wasn’t the one who did that.

I glared at the chandelier that just so happened to give in just as I took my first step.

But it was already too late.

"Ghrrrrg, Grhg."

"K-kill."

"S-split.”

Those corpses seemed to have been given a rather clear and easily understood order there.

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