Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 75

WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 75 - Selection (6)

I had no idea Brimdal had come here with those intentions. I thought he followed me to continue my Arcane Strengthening training.

Turns out, he was here to steal me from Dercia.

...Wait, more importantly, since when did he start thinking so highly of me?

Still trying to grasp his words, Dercia turned towards me, her expression stern.

[What is the meaning of this? Is it true?]

"Yes. He’s my master."

[Why in the world would you become the apprentice of this mentally unstable dwarf? I understand you were desperate, but he’s a Knight, not a wizard, correct? And one who permanently breaks his apprentices at that.]

"Watch your mouth. I only broke their spirits, not their bodies."

[Which I believe is worse. What is the reason?]

"... Didn’t you fall into that slumber because you knew my condition? Or was it a trance?”

[I have no idea what you’re talking about.]

"My body was rotting from the inside. I was told that if I don’t train in Arcane Strengthening, the mana around me would become my greatest enemy."

[Hmm.]

Dercia tilted her head, then responded.

[So that happened.]

"...Ah, yeah."

I felt like something about her words was off.

I couldn’t quite place in what way, though.

[In any case, you have nothing to worry about anymore. With me here, you can stop trying to patch things up with that temporary method.]

"Temporary method? Hah!”

Brimdal snorted, meeting Dercia’s gaze.

"I will forge him into the greatest blade. A sword that will endure even the deepest layers of the Abyss.”

[Humans cannot become swords.]

"No, they absolutely can. Everything I did up until now proves it.”

He looked at me, his expression still seeming rather unsure, then muttered,

"I’ve seen what he thinks, where he stands, and what he aims for. What drove him to grasp a sword? And what he is willing to abandon.”

I had been feeling as if someone was watching me all the time lately. So he was spying on me after all.

As I listened quietly, I suddenly caught some rather unfair stray bullets.

"Honestly, he isn’t exactly talented. Not as a wizard nor as a Knight. His talent is utterly hopeless.”

"?"

"He’s smart, so he’s probably aware of all that. But he has never complained once. Not even when others would have long collapsed and given up.”

[...That is true.]

Dercia bowed her head slightly.

"Even if his own world turned against him and tried to kill him right now, he wouldn’t despair. He’d struggle until the very end.”

[I agree. It seems not all dwarfs have knotholes for eyes.]

"If he won’t break, I want to grind him down myself. I want to see with my own eyes how far that struggling will take him.”

Brimdal, his words eerily similar to Dercia’s, threw down the short sword he had behind him.

What was a short sword in his hands was a greatsword in mine. When I barely managed to catch it, he folded his arms and declared,

"Choose. I’m not like that elf who might abandon you and run away again at any moment.”

[I have never run away.]

"Which makes it even worse. An elf who doesn't even consider this situation as running away.”

"..."

Both Dercia and Brimdal stared straight at me.

[Are you out of your mind…? Do you seriously think that Jern will choose the path of a Knight?]

"I have my own reasons here.”

I looked between Dercia and Brimdal—

Then stabbed the sword into the ground.

"I’m sorry, but I’m in no position to choose.”

"What?"

[What did you say?]

"Don’t look at me like that. I really don’t have a choice.”

Feeling wronged, I spread my hands and explained.

"If I stop learning Arcane Strengthening from you, Brimdal, I'll rot to death. If I don’t learn magic from you, Dercia, I’ll die even if I master Arcane Strengthening. Choosing one means abandoning the other, and I simply don’t have that kind of luxury.”

My life wasn’t such a leisurely thing that I could choose anything.

Unless the world’s greatest mage and the world’s greatest Knight helped me at the same time, I wouldn’t last long. That was the cold, hard truth.

"That’s how it is. I’m sorry.”

"...Tsk."

Brimdal clicked his tongue in disappointment and stepped back.

"If that’s what you mean, then it can’t be helped. But that means you’re willing to at least give me half of your time.”

"Yes. If that’s what helps me survive, then that is what I want.”

To endure the burdens of the Abyssal Sea with my body alone.

I had never even considered that I could possibly do something like that—but Brimdal wouldn’t be saying such things without reason.

[...Hmm.]

Dercia also seemed satisfied enough and stopped arguing any further.

"Then I’d like to hear the details now. I don’t think you’re lying when you said that you wouldn't harm any of the elves, but I’m still curious about what method you want to use—and why you had to do it in your homeland of all places. It’s not just me who is curious about that, but all of us.”

[...Yes. I must explain myself.]

As she began to speak, her tone lowered.

[It seems you truly do not understand that your stopgap method is wholly unnecessary. I guess I will have to show you.]

"?"

Hadn’t she been satisfied?

Just as that thought entered my mind—the countless moving objects I had detected using Tide Sense suddenly increased by hundreds.

They were underground.

The ground was vanishing beneath us. That was what it felt like.

"What in the—run!”

"What? What is going on?!”

My warning came too late.

Crack—!

Dozens of hair-covered, living tree roots burst from the ground and coiled around me.

"...Tsk, can’t trust those pointy-eared punks after all!”

Brimdal reacted instantly. He drew his sword in a flash, severing the roots that bound me—but thousands more shot up, wrapping around his legs.

"J-Jern—!”

"Crazy…”

Ciel, Arael, and even Linmel.

All of them were wrapped in roots. They didn’t exert enough force to injure them, but even if they struggled, they wouldn’t let them escape.

Dercia quietly watched this scene unfold before she declared,

[I planned to fetch you in a week anyway. But I suppose persuading you with words wouldn’t have worked.]

"Let go of Jern! You senile old hag!”

Linmel had absolutely lost it. Still tied up by roots, I panicked and quickly spoke to Dercia.

"She’s a kid. Please ignore her words. You understand, right?”

[...Yes.]

Her answer was a bit delayed.

The roots sank back down from where they had emerged.

Taking only me with them.

"Jern...!!"

Linmel’s desperate screams gradually faded into the distance.

* * *

"Ghk, peh, bleh...!"

"I apologize. These roots weren’t created to transport humans.”

I spat out some dirt and scanned my pitch-black, rather empty surroundings.

Since I couldn’t see a thing using my eyes, I used Tide Sense and confirmed that I was in a long, narrow earthen cave.

"Where are we…? Actually, never mind. Under the World Tree, right?”

I stood up, dusting off my robe, and faced Dercia.

Or more accurately, I scanned her using Tide Sense. She seemed mostly unchanged from the last time I had seen her.

She was just Dercia. Her actions seemed insane, but I guess that had always been the case.

This time they seemed a lot more extreme, though.

"Yes. Manipulating the elves was easiest by interfering with the World Tree.”

She abruptly turned and began to walk deeper into the cave.

It was a silent command to follow her, so I had no other choice but to do so while constantly checking my surroundings.

Strangely the soil was still damp—yet the cave was implausibly stable.

In other words, I could escape anytime if I wanted to. I didn’t need to breathe, so digging myself out wouldn’t be a problem.

But I was pretty sure that Dercia wouldn't just let me do that.

Walking ahead of me, I could hear her voice echoing through the cave.

"Jern. When I heard those words from you, I was deeply shocked.”

"What words?”

"That I do not intend to save you.”

"...I mean, those weren’t my words. Just some nonsense from Scarlet Abyss.”

"I am aware. What matters is that it was true.”

At that moment, I felt my eyes widen involuntarily.

"...Huh?"

"I did not give it my all. Just a simple shift of perspective would have shown me that. I am not an incompetent mage. So why? Just why did I act like that? I couldn’t understand my actions, and I couldn’t accept them. Even though I clearly knew it was a mistake, the magnitude of it was far too large for me to ignore.”

Hmm.

There was something off about her. She was talking far too much.

"And after agonizing over it for a while, I realized something.”

"What did you realize?”

"I was being greedy.”

Dercia stopped before a thick tree root and turned to look at me.

Her face was blank, devoid of any emotion.

"I wanted you to survive as you are. That was my greed.”

The root split apart like a door, revealing the massive chamber behind it.

It was a circular space where about ten elves lay unconscious, bound to thick roots. Thinner roots were embedded in their skulls, pumping some liquid into them—and they weren’t the only ones here.

Several humans and beasts were here as well, all in the same horrific state.

There were tables with thousands of books stacked on top of them scattered everywhere, and the ceiling was covered in spells in a language only she could possibly decipher, resembling constellations.

"U-uugh…Agh…”

"Agh, hehe…uwah..."

I took back everything I said up to this point.

Dercia was absolutely not in a normal state.

She had always been quite eccentric, but this was a far higher level of insanity.

"I know exactly what you are thinking, but every one of these subjects is perfectly fine. They will return to their daily lives with no memories of this, living without the slightest issue.”

"...That’s not what I think is wrong here though.”

My voice dropped so low that even I barely recognized it.

Dercia must have noticed but simply chose to ignore it. She simply raised one of her fingers.

-Creaak...

A small root, about the size of my wrist, pushed through the spell circle overhead.

Dercia picked up a dish from somewhere, catching the liquid that had begun to drip from the root.

"U-uuugh…”

At the same time, the elves began to writhe in agony.

Dercia handed me the filled dish.

"Look. A world."

"Huh?"

Wondering what she was talking about, I looked into the bowl.

I stared at the white liquid for a while—then froze.

Inside it, I could see a single star swimming gently.

I felt goosebumps appear all over my body. I looked up at Dercia.

"...What is this?”

"You worry too much. I didn’t kill them. I simply reclaimed what I gave them.”

She placed the bowl down, then quietly gazed at the bound elves.

"They weren’t originally wizards. So I personally crafted worlds and bestowed them to these subjects. This is nothing more than me extracting what I gave them.”

She spoke so casually, but I couldn’t imagine how arduous it must have been to realize this miracle. Even for a 9-star, it couldn’t have been easy.

"Why would you do something like that?”

"I experienced a fascinating phenomenon in my battle against that Fallen, Decay.”

Dercia slowly lifted bowls, each holding a tiny world.

"I felt my thoughts slow, my limbs freeze. A Great World can declare its domain onto reality and force everyone within it to suffer its burdens.”

"..."

Even as I listened to her, I still couldn’t understand where she was going with this.

I kept listening while mapping out the maze-like cave system with Tide Sense. I didn’t know whether it was necessary, but I felt like it was better to know where the exits were in case I needed to escape.

"Do you understand what that means?”

"You’re suggesting that we should extract my world and hand it to someone else?”

"How absurd. Turning a person’s world into liquid is not possible. These worlds are special cases, since I have created them.”

Dercia stroked the bowls holding the worlds lovingly—

Then she took out a vial of black liquid and let a drop fall into them.

Drip, splash… The reaction was violent. The liquefied worlds convulsed. enough to throw the stars out of their orbit.

"Jern. My objective is to neutralize your burdens.”

"Neutralize…you say?”

"It’s simple. For example, while you are freezing to death under your burdens, somewhere someone else with a world whose burdens are boiling them alive should exist.”

"Yes, there should be.”

"You simply need to take on that world’s burdens. Wouldn’t that leave you in a normal state?”

"...?"

Dercai declared it as if it was some universal truth.

"Wait, that doesn’t make any sense though?”

I was dumbfounded. Had she gone completely insane after sleeping for too long?

"If you combine a burning burden with a freezing burden, you don’t become normal. Rather, you’d just freeze and burn at the same time. Isn’t that obvious?”

"Yes. Correct. You are doing very well.”

"..."

Ah.

This was one of those topics I shouldn’t argue about. I shook my head, completely cleared my mind, and pointed towards something else.

"Let’s pretend you’re right. You did research it for a long time after all. Are you going to ‘inject’ that world into me?”

"No. One cannot inject a world into someone who already has one. It would only become poison to the mage.”

"Then what are you planning to do?”

"..."

Dercia just stared at me.

As if to say that I already knew.

I prayed I was wrong and shook my head.

"Master."

"There are still many experiments I have to run. But the first step is to inject it into a human.”

"This is literally what Scarlet Abyss does, you know?”

"They spent hundreds of years searching for ways to survive. In the end they chose this path. When you reach the extreme, you inevitably arrive at similar answers. The difference is, I’m significantly more efficient.”

"This isn’t a question of efficiency.”

"Jern, didn’t you swear you would struggle and claw for survival, no matter the cost?”

"Yes. I will. But if I wanted to make use of that method, I would have put on that red choker and walked to Scarlet Abyss’ side long ago. My struggle isn’t about dragging others walking on the surface down with me.”

I was no saint. Not even close.

One day, I might sacrifice someone else so that I can live. Maybe it’s because I still live comfortably enough for me to say such things now.

But—this wasn’t just a sacrifice for my survival.

"You’re not just killing them. You’re throwing them into the same hell I’m in. Not for no reason like those guys—but for the bullshit reason to save me. You’re condemning others to a fate worse than death, on my behalf.

It was the first time I had ever talked back to Dercia.

Maybe it was because Ren’s face appeared in my mind.

"I don’t want to be defeated by my own world. Over my dead body. So I don’t want to turn into a world that crushes others either.”

I looked straight into her eyes and expressed my refusal.

"..."

Dercia stared back at me in silence, then slowly closed her eyes.

"I see. So you weren’t struggling just to survive, were you?”

"...It seems you understand.”

Yes, this was the Dercia I knew. Her essence wasn’t so different from mine.

I felt warm relief bloom in my chest.

"But I must still conduct this research. Because this may be the only way to save you.”

"Wait, Dercia. Have you completely—”

I didn’t even get to finish my sentence before a root bound my mouth and pinned me to the wall.

It was gentle enough that it didn’t hurt but firm enough that I couldn’t open my mouth anymore.

I stared at her as if to ask if she was seriously going to go through with this—

"Jern, I’m sorry.”

"..."

"Hate me if you wish. But ignoring an obvious method because of superficial things isn’t how I live. You can blame me as much as you want once you’re back to normal.”

With those words, Dercia left the chamber.

The ground rumbled—no surprise. She wouldn’t sit idle with someone like Brimdal waiting up there.

"Hungh…"

I sighed through the root gagging me and scanned my surroundings.

Although the entire chamber lay within the range of my Tide Sense and I could make full use of the currents and water pressure, they were completely useless here.

The roots binding me were far too strong for me to break free.

The same went for the other captured elves. Well, Dercia knew my powers far too well to leave me any chance of escape.

Alright, I had to think.

If this continued, Dercia would become a murderer.

I couldn’t have my heavenly master become a criminal. I had to somehow get out of here, bring her back to her senses, and convince her once again.

"Seriously, she’s such a terrifying woman… To think that was her goal.”

At that moment.

Suddenly, one of the bound elves jerked and came back to their senses.

"?"

"Uwagh, what the hell is that? What’s stuck in my head?”

They noticed the root lodged in their skull and gasped in horror, then took a deep breath.

-Crack!