Chapter 165
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 165
Chapter Title: ???? Floor - Abyss (5)
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Day 16.
The nature of the Abyss can sometimes turn into an advantage.
The reason this place is called the mages' graveyard isn't just because mana recovery is impossible.
As Sharkma and her fairy underlings experienced, the living darkness of the Abyss blocks many things.
It's not just vision or senses—it's far more than that.
The light here doesn't reach as far as in a normal environment.
Yet the veil of darkness remains.
The Abyss's darkness blocks the flow of mana itself—or in other words, the flow of energy.
The heat was intense, but it couldn't fully pierce the thick darkness enveloping the planetary fragment.
Even in this blazing layer's environment, places far from the center were just mildly warm—perfectly livable.
The abominations that must have originally inhabited this place had foolishly charged toward those flames, it seemed.
The inside of the darkness veil was astonishingly clean.
Arcana assessed the current situation positively.
[This could work. Better than expected.]
"Yeah, I was a bit thrown off at first, but that thing has high utility."
High energy meant immense mana as well. The two were one and the same from the start.
Day 18.
A pretty decent result came out.
With some engineers' quick thinking and the mages' magical knowledge put to use, we created something like solar panels—a mana supply source.
The batteries and mages could now recover.
However, for the living to recover mana this way was far too risky, so only the three undead made use of it.
Just being able to freely wield magic solved a ton of problems.
We could illuminate the entire Abyss without dispelling the darkness that blocked the heat.
But not everything was perfect. Food supplies were starting to run critically low.
The Federation's combat rations were packed with insane calories, but after nearly three weeks adrift, limits were hitting.
And there were just too damn many people.
There was no way to procure food in the Abyss.
Day 20.
The colonel made a proposal.
"The soldiers are starving. They think it'd be better to die once and resurrect as undead."
I briefly questioned if he was sane. But his breathing, gaze, and pulse were perfectly normal.
This commander was conveying a conclusion reached through utterly rational thinking.
I glanced aside in disbelief, and Arcana nodded.
[Becoming undead to offset non-combat losses isn't common. There are few skilled necromancers, and the Empire has plenty of troops anyway. But here, we have me and my master.]
Thanks to the vampire's presence, perhaps? Resistance to undead wasn't just absent—it felt downright friendly.
I couldn't bring myself to refuse, and the goblins gathered the last of the food for the party members before taking their own lives.
Then they rose again as skeletons.
The Hunter let out a hollow chuckle.
[Hate to say it, but those goblins feel so alien now. Creatures willing to discard their will to live like that... Unbelievable.]
Fanaticism.
The discomfort we'd overlooked because we were all fanatics ourselves came crashing in at once.
Yet the Hunter himself, who said it, was reasonably content with undead life.
[No fatigue is advantage enough. Still feels weird moving around, though.]
The goblins' training included becoming undead soldiers. They adapted to their skeleton goblin bodies faster than the Hunter.
Hiu shuddered.
"This is a bit..."
The little mage watched with an uncomfortable expression too. The old man looked outright grim.
The kid was intently observing the necromancy mechanics.
The youngest just prayed.
The goblins didn't hesitate—not a single one.
Day 25.
We built more mana charging devices.
The undead soldiers had far greater resistance to the heat and moved more easily.
They didn't even need rest.
With no issues wielding massive mana, we could approach the still-scorching planetary fragments.
Just to search the stairs.
I found something odd.
"...Isn't this that thing?"
A shimmering card floated in midair. Light obscured its shape.
After a moment's thought, I figured it out.
The hidden dungeon from the 15th floor boss fight... was inside the planet. Deep inside.
We really might never have found it.
Its presence here was pure luck's guidance.
Or inevitable, in a way.
Hiu had to become an angel, so an angel card had to appear somewhere.
Here it was.
I called Hiu over.
In this hell of flames, moving wrapped in mana, Hiu beamed and clung to me.
Was she treating this like a date?
We didn't have much time together anyway.
Hiu mostly lounged while I drowned in work.
I skimped on sleep to manage mana.
Made more makeshift batteries, more lights.
One might think undead soldiers, being immune to the Abyss's darkness.
No.
Having become beings of the darkness, they needed even more light to maintain their sanity.
Plus, more mana was always better.
Could I summon Sylphid?
Even so, that seemed tricky.
Hiu reached for the card. The gold card, tempered in flames, shed its light.
Its pattern was wings on...
"Hold up, that's not it?"
Did the future change?
It depicted a pointed-eared fairy silhouette. No animal ears, no petals.
This was a Grove Fairy card.
I panicked a bit, but seeing Hiu's equally stunned face snapped me back.
Right. Floor 10. The angel card came on Floor 10.
Damn it, we should've grabbed it then.
Would've made things dozens of times easier.
I just sighed.
Roguelikes—or roguelites—never go as planned. That's the charm.
Even this mishap felt tediously familiar.
Day 26.
We moved to the next floor. Naturally, I handed the card to the Hunter.
His empty sockets looked ready to weep.
This tiny card might be something he'd craved his entire exile life, in another sense.
I whispered slyly.
"It's over, right?"
[Pardon?]
"You're not an exile anymore, yeah?"
As a skeleton, the Hunter could hide his expression. But his jaw trembled.
"Overthought it, but you took the bait. Don't pull that on your wife."
The Hunter ground his teeth bitterly.
[She's a good fairy. Wouldn't suspect that.]
"That's the charm of fairies."
Before the Hunter tucked the card away preciously and left, I quietly expressed thanks.
"Thanks for not telling."
[Just embarrassed. After 100 years, that's all I achieved.]
"Yeah. Fair enough."
Some things go without saying.
The Hunter hadn't told anyone he'd staked his true death to block for Hiu.
No matter what, knowing there's a next time even in death becomes a final mental bastion.
Hiu and the youngest, still on their first run, knew the Hunter could've died permanently.
But not that it might have been eternal.
If that truth spread, it wouldn't lead to anything good.
A small thorn lodged in the heart.
You might ignore its presence, but it's always ready to prick painfully.
Keeping one's devotion secret like that isn't as easy as it sounds.
This man did it.
The Hunter deferred using the card.
In the Abyss, he figured his undead skeleton form was more useful than his fairy one.
Day 32.
We passed two more layers.
The abominations from the first layer, fortified and hunted, provided plenty of quality gear.
That accelerated the army's hunts.
Soldiers no longer got injured or fatigued.
Abomination extermination sped up.
Of course, awakened abominations swarmed from all sides, but with magic firepower now available, they couldn't breach us easily.
In a few close calls, the old man with Mjolnir or I lured them away.
Not crisis-free, but stable enough.
Last run, we'd cleared the Abyss just like this.
Against heavy numbers, this was the answer.
Outnumbered and outgunned? No such thing without reason.
And upon entering the next layer, we encountered an unexpected survivor.
"Huh? Great Warrior?"
Haggard appearance, tattered gear, and similarly worn-down soldiers.
Arcana reacted first.
[You're alive!]
The Sword Master first saluted me, then bowed to Arcana.
Exhausted, but his posture unwavering.
Before I could speak, the decision was made.
Arcana invested far more than basic undead revival, befitting a Sword Master: reborn as a Death Knight.
Honestly, I couldn't have stopped it anyway. Food was still gone.
Day 35.
We advanced seven more layers.
With the Death Knight joined, progress eased further.
Stopped deploying Hiu and other party members to the front.
Needed to conserve food. Calories too.
The Death Knight took Hiu's role.
A Sword Master of this era wouldn't lack marksmanship, and luring abominations? Handled masterfully.
He'd crossed layers trying to rescue as many goblin troops as possible, he said.
Seemed the Goddess hadn't had bandwidth for most scattered forces.
We started finding Federation standard gear in abomination guts.
I gave them quick, simplified blessings.
With my actions and their faith, goblins truly believed their fallen fought happily by the Goddess's side.
Even if common, it felt off.
Party members except the youngest grew a bit distant from the goblins.
But goblin attitudes remained steadfast.
And the colonel was finally relieved of duties.
Thanks to extra generals joining.
Retired from frontlines once, but they'd rolled hardest back then—they reminisced and took command.
Goblin organization improved. The Federation apparently lacks deadweight—or dead candy?
Whatever. Point is, no such concept.
Work by ability is devotion to the Goddess; rewards are communal equality. No room for politics in the ranks.
You watching, Marx? Your ideal might be realized here.
Not sure if they assume a goddess concept.
Day 47.
Advanced twenty more layers.
Our scrimped rations finally hit zero.
Party members already weren't eating properly.
Even I and the kid struggled to feed on blood—human and orc members were that weakened.
Hiu hadn't seen frontline duty in ages.
Lots of layers left, I guessed.
Hiu'd get her card, so undeading her was fine.
A queasy feeling rose from my gut. She'd accepted without much thought.
The little mage and Trdongt looked uneasy but consented, knowing no alternatives.
The youngest would follow the Goddess's will.
Nice guy, but hanging with goblins was rubbing off oddly.
Then, the devil appeared.
"Humans and undead in a place like this? Quite rare."
Red skin, black hair, goat-like horns, mustache, monocle, suit—a gentleman.
I lit up.
"In the name of our god Chaos, I request trade! No contracts!"
"What? Great Warrior? Hold on. The God of Chaos lives?"
The devil's calm pupils shook.
Playable races on cards usually have three sub-types.
Devil subs: pure mage demons, battle-mage devil hybrids.
And this textbook devil look—utility magic specialists: imps.
They wander servers, Abyss, dimensional shards—like moss dwarf upgrades.
Bottom line: a guy who could sell us food appeared.
"Damn, can't be helped. Neglecting Chaos's Great Warrior goes against merchant ethics."
No devilish shady deals. He priced honestly and traded.
Food piled up massively.
"Not a great deal. But next time, better fortunes. Don't die."
The devil grumbled off. Honest trade doesn't balance ledgers, or something.
Hiu, stuffed after ages, slept with her waistline slightly changed.
Beside her, the kid—now fully maternal—nibbled her arm for blood.
While practicing mana control precision.
Both so damn cute.
Hmm. I dunno anymore.
Day 66.
Advanced nearly sixty more layers.
Three-digit floors loomed.
Abominations thinned noticeably.
Instead, tentacle-filled monstrosities like those from between Floors 2 and 3, or grotesque slimes appeared.
Hiu, who'd avoided even glancing at abominations while luring, now couldn't fight at all.
Weaker than abominations, but far more numerous.
Three months. Huh. Three months? Could end faster?
Day 79.
With the end nearing, everyone pushed harder.
Skeleton goblins, able to move nonstop, even got tricks for finding stairs.
Just weak mobs compared to abominations—no fear.
After a hundred more layers, massive golems appeared. Ones circling preset spots with temples on their backs.
Three-to-four-digit floor boundaries always spawn Abyss temples.
I prayed to the Goddess.
Thought you were dead!
She yelled first, but with a weepy undertone.
Sniffle. If this party died, I'd have died again! Why didn't you come sooner!
'You knew something'd go wrong in those three months.'
Three months for you! I can't track deep Abyss time flow! A goddess waiting desperately! Waaah!
The Abyss exit opened.
Space appeared.
The God of War had left it in space, far from war scars.
Fleets rushed to greet us.
I asked first thing.
"War over?"
The captain saluted sharply.
"Yes! But victory unproclaimed till your return, Great Warrior. Eight years here!"
"...Alliance?"
"Fairy King staged a coup and restored himself!"
Ah, that guy was under house arrest or something.
Nature God laughed. Voice I'd missed.
Uniting fairy power wasn't easy.
Good. Fairy King's friendly to me.
After the Abyss's sticky darkness, space's dim void felt refreshing.
Party members flopped into our dedicated transport ship, waiting eight years.
Bodies and minds thoroughly worn.