WETRIED TRANSLATIONS

Wizard of the Abyss

[Translator – Aren]

Chapter 78 - Selection (9)

I was told to head upward.

So I looked up at the ceiling. The cavern was large, seeming a little under 10 meters from floor to ceiling. I couldn’t find a single hole either.

The simplest method would be to blast a hole in it using Thunder Gale and then climb up.

But…

"...That’d be dangerous."

I rolled across the floor a few times and confirmed that the damp soil was holding together far more solidly than I expected.

Anyone who had ever done even a little bit of construction work, no, even a kid who had played with dirt behind their house at least once, would know this. Wet soil collapsed quite easily, no matter how hard one pressed and compacted it.

And yet, in this deep underground space, where a massive hollow like this should have collapsed immediately—even though roots shot through it so many times, it still held together firmly.

I rubbed the ground and, just as I had suspected, found countless tiny roots, woven together like mesh.

These things were holding the soil together. If I tried to blow a hole through this structure with Thunder Gale…

My escape attempt might very well turn into a live burial.

"Hmm."

And yet my lips drew themselves into an arc.

This was the perfect environment for me to test my abilities.

I closed my eyes and let my Tide Sense deeply permeate through the area. I saw the cavern—and the underground tunnel far beyond it. Slowly a map of this whole place appeared in my mind.

“...”

The results shocked me.

"..."

Truly shocked me.

There were far more roots than soil in this place. Those fine roots—woven together like a net—were the only reason this ridiculously deep tunnel hadn’t collapsed.

Dercia had created all of this. I began to grasp just how far her ability reached.

A realm far beyond magic. A realm of miracles.

If those who wielded mana were called wizards, what would one call someone who could freely wield miracles?

I didn’t bother putting the answer into words. Instead, I shoved my hand into the cavern wall, grabbing both soil and some roots. Then I focused on the roots.

Every root had a vascular path. I didn’t know how Dercia was able to control them, but if there was anything I could try to do, that was it.

I pushed the current into the root’s vascular line.

-Crack, snaaap…

The roots severed themselves and gathered around my hand.

I frowned.

They weren’t supposed to snap. After several failures, I finally seized control of the roots—tens, no hundreds of thousands. Far more than I had anticipated.

-Fssssh...

"Did I succeed…?”

I clutched my dizzy head and looked at the tiny hole forming in the wall.

A small space, barely 1 meter wide, but it was a space I had created myself.

I slipped inside and began to walk. The moment I did, the tunnel leading back to the cavern collapsed behind me, but that didn’t really matter.

All I needed was to maintain this 1-meter space. If I could do that, escaping would be no problem.

Breathing?

I didn’t need to breathe.

If there was one thing I had to worry about, it was maintaining my control over those hundreds of thousands of fine roots while sustaining my Tide Sense across several hundred meters in case of an emergency.

It was—strangely easy. Almost to an unsettling degree.

My Tide Sense had gotten sharper in the process of my Arcane Strengthening training with Brimdal, and the burden was reduced after I had gained my second star.

Thanks to those two aspects, I could easily perform techniques I would have never been able to before.

However.

[...? ?...]

"Oh."

There was just one.

One burden that hadn’t lessened.

However, it had undergone a change.

An eel covered head-to-tail in eyes was swimming by—and suddenly froze right beside my ear.

As if it had noticed something.

[...?]

It only lasted a moment before the eel drifted away again, carried by the current.

I watched its retreating figure with uneasy eyes.

This made it the third time.

Once when I spilled my blood into the Abyssal Sea. Once when I directly entered it myself. And now.

It was too obvious to dismiss it as a mere coincidence. Every single one of those eyes had been focused on me without a doubt.

...If I somehow managed to drag Dercia back to normal, I already knew the very first question I would ask her.

"Haah…"

Climb one mountain, and an even bigger one is waiting right behind it.

I let out a long sigh and kept walking steadily.

After a few minutes, I started to feel incredibly uneasy.

There was no end in sight.

"...?"

One might think that I was already whining after only walking for a few minutes, but my expanded range of Tide Sense now reached 500 meters.

By the way, the world’s deepest subway station, Pyongyang’s Yeonggwang Station, is about 150 meters deep.

I think the tallest building in Korea is around 550 meters tall.

I should have been able to sense the surface a few minutes ago, no, even when I was still in that chamber.

The only thing I realized was that Dercia was completely abnormal.

"What the—"

Halfway along, my previously quiet senses suddenly began to pick up something.

If this were a radar, I’d probably be faced with a screen completely filled with red dots. I quickly focused on the targets and learned two things.

One. They were roots.

Two. Dercia was definitely that shaman’s disciple.

"Mandragoras…or something like that."

I had no idea what their proper name was.

However, thousands of hair-roots were crawling out from the tiny, baby-like limbs stretching from their root bodies, covering the soil and expanding the tunnel.

Efficient. That was the first word that came to my mind.

Rather than personally controlling every single root, she had placed controllable creatures under her command to manage them for her.

Honestly, it made sense to leave this tunnel construction to a specialist. If she had help from all the creatures living underground from the very beginning, it seemed quite reasonable that they managed to create a burrow this deep.

A part of me even wanted to learn how she did this, but for now, I avoided them as carefully as I possibly could. Fortunately, they had no interest in me. They seemed to be doing something…but what?

I tried to reach out a bit more with my senses.

-Thump.

"...Ah."

And right then, I made a tiny mistake.

It really was tiny. A wandering root brushed against one of the thin strands the mandragoras were exuding and snapped it.

A split second later.

[--------!!!!!!]

Thousands of mandragoras whipped their heads around, looking toward me.

I winced slightly, but if they only used those fine roots, I might somehow manage—

[Gkh- Gkh- Gkh-]

The moment I thought that, they immediately retracted all their fine roots.

And then, they began extending the big ones Dercia had used to bind me—roots bigger and thicker than their own bodies.

Just fantastic.

I sighed and began activating Thunder Gale. Piercing through all these several thousand roots was practically impossible.

My only option was to fall back to the chamber I had previously been in, buy some time, and find another route, even if it took a while.

-Booom...!

There were so many roots that the ground began to shake as if an earthquake just hit.

-Thud, thud, boom…!!

And these tremors kept coming in rapid succession…?

"What in the—”

While I was checking my escape route—

Something appeared on the upper edge of Tide Sense’s range. Above the mandragoras. Somewhere above everything.

At first I thought I was just imagining things, because I could see the surface.

Since the surface that I couldn’t sense before at all just suddenly appeared, I naturally thought it was some kind of glitch.

But—then I saw the surface getting closer and closer. I narrowed my eyes.

"What the hell is this…?”

I couldn’t comprehend at all what I was looking at. It was something completely unprecedented.

Something was carving away the ground.

Whatever it was dug away what dozens of excavators would need to work at full power for a day in mere seconds.

[...?????????????]

The mandragoras seemed to share my sentiment.

They completely forgot about me and scrambled to defend against the intruder, building barriers using those thick roots.

They were reinforced roots harder than sedimentary soil.

However, their digging speed didn’t slow.

-Crrrrack!

[.....]

The only difference was the sound the digging emitted.

The mandragoras, who lost their limbs—probably limbs—in the blink of an eye, were quick to respond.

Escape.

One might wonder how something considered to be a plant could flee, but judging by how those things created these spaces with their roots, moving through soil was probably as easy for them as swimming is for a fish.

They quickly extended their fine roots and grabbed onto stones and other nearby roots, dragging themselves away.

All to avoid that phenomenon.

I, on the other hand, was still preparing to make my exit.

To be honest, I couldn’t imagine Azrael being capable of something like this. I didn’t think this was Brimdal’s doing either, since he had probably gone to deal with Dercia.

Whatever was capable of doing something like that was far scarier than those mandragora.

But it was slower than me.

Someone was standing on the surface.

By the time I could feel them, they were already ‘dropping down’ again.

-Kabooooooom!!!

It wasn’t the kind of impact that would clear out just the horizontal layer of ground but created a clear line down.

It wasn’t a technique that blew away hundreds of meters of earth—but focused every ounce of its power on a single point.

With just one step, that being arrived right in front of me.

"...Hmm."

No time to escape. My Tide Sense, useless.

Their landing was perfectly accurate. Not a centimeter off. Perfect control.

The only thing separating me from that unknown monster was a 3 cm thick wall of packed earth, thin enough to crumble with just a single poke. It was already crumbling, actually.

As a last resort, I considered shouting for Dercia. Something like, ‘Okay, fine. Let’s just create Azure Abyss or whatever. I’m in!’ But before I could turn my thoughts into action, I saw the face of that being beyond the mud wall.

"...?"

Blonde hair, slightly torn clothes, armor that didn’t quite fit her, and about twenty years old.

She was a strange Knight, with no discernible emotions on her face, but something about said face seemed familiar to me.

So familiar that it took me quite some effort to process all this.

For about 30 seconds, we simply stared at each other.

"Lin..."

"Y-young mage."

The Knight suddenly spoke up.

Her tone was solemn and rather serious.

"Huh?"

"I am—A Knight of Heavenly Retribution summoned by that apprentice to rescue you.”

"??"

What was that about?

The Knight in front of me, while looking a little older, was definitely Linmel.

Azrael somehow managed to summon a future Linmel.

Wait, but how? Did he sacrifice the current Linmel to make this possible?

I needed some confirmation.

"Who might this apprentice be that you mentioned?”

"The Dark-Night-Thunder-Scourge Knight named Linmel.”

She spoke that title without the slightest tremor.

In fact, she even seemed proud of it.

I see.

This wasn’t future Linmel, but just a grown-up Linmel.

The only difference was that her mental age was still that of a kid.

Feeling slightly relieved, I nodded.

"I see. Thank you for rescuing me, Miss Unknown Knight.”

"...Hmpf! This is nothing. I’m overflowing with power.”

"What do you mean by that?”

Linmel (Grown-up version) opened and closed her hand repeatedly, wearing a proud expression.

"Just that. I'm full of strength… It’s honestly amazing. I finally understand how much power I’ve been wasting all my life. Every movement I make now feels like a precious lesson.”

Was she actually trying to hide her identity here?

Muttering to herself, she suddenly flinched and vigorously shook her head.

"Ahem. Anyway, it just means I’m really strong. So don’t worry.”

"I see. Then, if you don’t mind, could you possibly help me in the upcoming battle? I’m going to fight a really powerful opponent, and I believe it would be great if I had someone as strong as you to help me.”

"...I’m sorry. That I cannot do.”

Linmel suddenly lowered her voice, sounding indignant.

"I—had to borrow the power of a Demon to come here, and the price I had to pay was incredibly steep. So I only have a few minutes left. I must quickly return from whence I came to protect the world.”

If I had to translate that sloppy explanation.

‘There’s a time limit. It’s almost up. After that, I can’t move.’

While it was a shame, she had already done more than enough. She helped me avoid the mandragoras and escape quite easily.

"I understand. There’s no need for you to apologize. I’m already grateful that you came to my aid.”

I bowed deeply in gratitude.

Even if it wasn’t the grown-up version of Linmel, I would have done the same. However, the one receiving my thanks was greatly flustered, grabbed my shoulders, and lifted me up.

"Wh-why are you doing this? I-It’s fine, so just sta–…raise your head.”

Her knightly speech was quite lacking. It seemed like she had only properly learned swordsmanship. Anything else she thought constituted a Knight seemed to have come from some novels she happened to read.

"Yes, Dame Knight."

Still, it seemed like Linmel wanted me to see her not as herself, but as some noble Knight she wanted to be for some reason, so I played along.

She immediately tried to hide her happiness, her lips squirming as if she was desperately trying to suppress a smile. Soon her expression returned to that solemn one she had been showing me before, nodding.

"I should be the one thanking you. For always serving as the apprentice’s purpose.”

"Huh…What?”

I tilted my head.

"I am Linmel’s purpose?”

"Yes."

She nodded without a moment’s hesitation.

"Linmel—the apprentice wishes to become a Knight like you.”

"I’m literally the least Knight-like person there is.”

"That’s not true. The more she studied about knighthood, the more convinced she became that the word perfectly refers to you.”

"She definitely still doesn’t know what the word means.”

"---A Knight must be someone willing to be sacrificed. Did you know that?”

Linmel suddenly said something quite strange.

"No."

"It’s the first truth one is taught when becoming a Knight of Heavenly Retribution. Someone who can give their life for another and willingly at that. That is who is most suited for this role.”

"That definitely isn’t me then.”

I immediately shook my head in disgust.

"I can help others, but I’m not someone who can sacrifice my life for them.”

"That’s right. I think so too.”

Linmel lightly acknowledged it as she sheathed her sword.

...That was when I realized it.

I couldn’t sense a single one of her motions using Tide Sense.

Just like with Brimdal—no, even more extreme. She seemed to be wavering between existing and not existing.

A being completely severed from the world.

Someone untouchable by any magic, Abyssal magic, or anything else.

A weapon crafted to kill wizards, Fallen, shamans, and Knights. All of them.

—A perfect Knight of Heavenly Retribution.

"I believe knighthood isn’t about the willingness to sacrifice but about having the ability to protect."

"The ability…to protect?”

"Yes. Not everyone can be a Knight. A Knight must be upright. There must be a distinction between a child swinging a twig and a young man holding a blade.”

"That’s true.”

"Those with that ability, and the resolve to sacrifice, can save the weak.”

Linmel looked at me and smiled like a child.

"That’s what the apprentice thinks a Knight is. She realized it by watching you.”

"..."

A thought only a young child could hold.

An innocent, hopeful idea that sacrifice is something you accept only when forced, never losing anyone.

But—maybe Linmel could really do it.

Following the illusion she built up around me, she might actually reach that fairytale-like future where she doesn’t lose a single person and saves everyone.

I nodded before realizing what she meant, then frowned immediately.

"Wait, then this Dark-Night-Thunder-Scourge Knight or whatever—”

"Yes."

She replied immediately.

"Doesn’t she sound a lot like you? You know, cold, calm, kind of sharp…”

"Absolutely not.”

"Huh, what?”

"Please tell her that she doesn’t resemble me, even remotely. Just tell her to stop right now.”

"...Huh?”

I felt a stab of guilt hit me square in the chest.

I mean, it was bad enough that she was probably acting this way because she thought I was like that…

...It seemed that I indirectly bore some responsibility for her strange tastes, accelerating Sir Gwallan’s hair loss.

* * *

"Er, um, right! I suddenly have a very urgent matter to attend to, so I’ll be going now!”

A slightly sulky Linmel suddenly leapt out of the tunnel in a panic.

It seemed like the time limit must be close. I climbed up the vertical shaft she had opened for me, using the roots to support myself until I reached the surface. When I arrived, I could see Azrael cackling in the distance.

He looked extremely pleased with himself. The moment I moved to go rescue my master, he laughed even harder.

"What are you laughing at?”

"I mean, this is so funny. In less than twenty years, the title of strongest in the Empire will flip. Centuries of effort that idiot dwarf piled up will turn to dust in an instant. How is that not hilarious? That dumb dwarf actually chose you over having that monster? Pwahahaha! Such a foolish decision, yet I can’t help but agree with it, which is the strangest part of it all!”

Azrael clutched his stomach, laughing like the madman he was, then eventually slumped onto a stump and sighed.

"Haah… Seeing things like this…it’s both funny and sad. That is the only kind of life fate allows us.”

"That’s your fate, not ours.”

How absurd. Azrael had no right to feel regret.

He was the one who locked the elves in cages, and now he was being all melancholic?

As I shot him a venomous glare carrying that meaning, I turned to leave, but Azrael burst into laughter again, stopping me in my tracks.

"Wahaha! You idiot. How old do you think those elves over there are?”

"...Huh?”

"I may be old, but the others aren’t exactly young, you know? Keke…”

I tilted my head. What was that supposed to mean? Then I froze in horror.

This wasn’t something I could just ignore.

"...They agreed to this?”

"Well, I didn’t really want to do all this, to be honest.”

"So those primitive looking elves weren’t always like that—is what you mean?”

"Right. Not before handing their memories over to me.”

"...What were they doing before that?”

"Let me think…”

Azrael scratched his head, then stared into empty space as if he was trying to remember something, then replied.

"Well… That one who tried to burn me alive first was once the emperor of a nation whose territory made the current Empire look small. The one next to him, screaming, now pouring water into a cracked bucket every day wondering why the water leaks out of it, was a 7-star mage. And the one next to him…”

"That’s enough.”

So this was—one gigantic, twisted family roleplay.

A family consisting only of livestock and their keeper, all by their own choice, putting their memories and lives in the hands of a single shaman.

There was only one question in my mind.

"Why in the world would you live like that?”

I genuinely couldn’t understand it.

Why? Why did they choose to live that way?

If a deranged shaman forced leashes on every elf because he thought he was preserving the race like that, then I could somewhat understand—that would just be the classic path of a dictator thinking himself to be a prophet. One could find someone like that anywhere, not just among the elves.

But the reality that all the elves had willingly put collars on themselves and handed Azrael the leash was beyond insanity.

If they were going to live like that, wouldn’t simply ending their lives have been a better choice?

This time, Azrael didn’t brush me off with a “You don’t need to know.”

Instead, wearing a bitter expression, he let a passing bug crawl across his palm, then answered.

"It’s the price of our challenge. The price we all had to pay."

"Challenge? What did you challenge?”

"Ourselves.”

Another cryptic answer. Thinking of beating him up until he talked, I prepared to activate Thunder Gale—only then did he decide to elaborate.

"So impatient. Our challenge was whether we are a race worthy of living.”

"What kind of stupid challenge is that? Why in the world would you need to prove whether you deserve to live?”

"Elves are a gentle, peace-loving race."

"Cut the sentimental bullshit right there.”

"Can’t deny that it is.”

Azrael and Dercia.

Even though there were only two examples, they were enough to prove my theory that ‘All elves were insane.’

Azrael shrugged as if he agreed.

"We once used our near-infinite lifespan, overwhelming talent, and beauty capable of captivating any other race to rise as rulers of this continent. Back in the age before magic even existed.”

"In those days…yes, we committed quite a lot of atrocities. I won’t bother with explaining the details, but we seemed revolting and vile beyond words even to ourselves. Every race joined forces to hunt us down.”

"We were able to survive. But—their desperate cries of resentment shook us so deeply that we could no longer pretend that we didn’t hear them.”

"One of us then started to ask, 'How did we end up like this?'"

"At first, we too were a peaceful race, living in the forest. Then we stepped out into the world, raised our hands, and noticed the dried blood sticking to them.”

Azrael gazed up at the sky, as though he was looking at the distant past.

Despite being an elf, he had the appearance of an old man.

If this wasn’t somehow self-imposed, how many years would it have taken for his skin to wrinkle like that?

"I became their caretaker, doubling as a judge who tests the elves.”

"I release one elf at a time from the cage. I watch what they do and what choices they make.”

"And I judge."

"We don’t want to live like this either. The conditions are quite lenient. If even one, just one elf could find satisfaction in their life—if even one, by my judgement, managed not to become twisted—then perhaps we have some hope. A choice other than being reshaped by our endless lives, turning into monsters.”

"Then I will release them. All elves will reclaim their memories.”

After Azrael’s muttered declaration, silence fell upon us.

Having heard all he had to say, I blinked, then realized the obvious.

"Dercia—My master is this era’s pick.”

"Calling it this era isn’t quite right. It has already been a few hundred years.”

"Are you satisfied with her actions?”

"Not at all."

"What are your criteria?”

"My own judgment. Formed from witnessing the entire rise and fall of elven history.”

"..."

And Dercia had failed to fulfill those criteria.

Well, she didn’t seem satisfied with her own life.

It seemed like she didn’t even know what she truly wanted.

If she herself wasn’t content, there was no way Azrael would deem her a success.

After some hesitation, I finally asked,

"Why are you telling me these secret histories of the elves?”

"Who knows?”

Azrael smirked.

A smile steeped in scheming malice.

"Why do you think? How about you guess?”

"No."

It was too obvious, too transparent, to even honor it with a proper answer.

Azrael believed I might be able to bring Dercia back to normal.

He probably thought that I might be useful for the so-called ‘liberation’ of the elves.

Let him think whatever he wants.

Either way, what I had to do didn’t change. Not once, from the beginning.

I needed Dercia in order to survive.

"Where is Master fighting right now?”

"Heh, see for yourself.”

"?"

-Rumble!!

Before he even finished speaking, lightning cracked through a completely clear sky.

Shaaaaa—

Heavy rain followed instantly. It was pretty clear—this wasn’t natural.

Azrael grinned at the sight.

"Hmm. If you don’t hurry, someone’s going to be in danger.”

"Who?”

"You’ll only know if you go see for yourself.”

“..."

The curtain was about to fall.

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