Chapter 133
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 133
Chapter Title: Countermeasures (2)
‘The Abyss truly belonged to Sephiroth.’
It was the moment when what I had suspected turned into certainty.
And the fact that the Abyss wasn’t being properly managed meant Sephiroth had a reason he could no longer oversee it.
There were still plenty of questions, but it was true that things were starting to take shape.
The Hero had vanished, and Sephiroth had disappeared for some reason as well.
The ones to follow in their footsteps were the next Hero, Roselin, and me, the successor.
A long, empty gap stretched between them.
What on earth had happened during that interval?
I kept reading down the stele.
The stele compared the Abyss to stars, likely because of its structure.
On the underside of the world, the Abyss was a construct designed to contain chaos, taboos, and anomalies.
It was the heavenly order inverted, each layer like a celestial body harboring its own unique laws—laws before which prisoners could neither resist nor deviate.
Above all, the stele described the Abyss as a repository that recorded the trajectories of fate…
‘Symbolically chronicling the flow of the world’s laws, fate, and order?’
Honestly, I couldn’t fully grasp the meaning with my current understanding.
That was probably because I’d only ever been near the entrance of the Abyss.
As I read on, it became clear.
The primal power capable of manipulating the Abyss was, of course, true primal mana.
What I wielded was strictly a derivative at best… so whether I could freely control the Abyss’s structure at my current level—like the Hero’s first arrangement—remained uncertain.
Honestly, I’d have to try it myself. To see if the derivative primal mana I could produce was enough.
‘Guess I’ll have to go back.’
I’d already been thinking along those lines anyway.
No matter that prisoners from the first layer had begun escaping, I couldn’t just leave it be.
I couldn’t be certain the Forces of Evil’s plan was limited to opening the door to the first layer.
They might have been caught by the Tower of Intellect and killed before executing the full scheme.
So it wouldn’t be strange if they were plotting something else, and I needed to confirm it.
The explanation of the Abyss continued, and finally, the stele mentioned the arrangements left by the Hero.
- An arrangement left for the successor's seed.
- Beginning, Silence, Star, Time, Shadow, Wind, Blood.
- Find these.
I fell silent for a long while, staring at those words.
‘…I’m not a bard.’
Of course, I was used to oracle steles overflowing with metaphors and symbolism by now. The headache was another matter.
What could these possibly mean…
For starters, it was clear there were seven arrangements in total.
And I’d already found one of them.
The arrangement left for the Hero before he became a Transcendent.
‘That was the ‘Beginning,’ huh.’
And another one.
‘Star… That has to be the Abyss.’
The oracle had likened the Abyss to a star, after all.
Did that mean one of the Hero’s arrangements was hidden somewhere in the Abyss?
Suddenly, a broken thread snapped perfectly into place.
The Abyss, unrestricted to humans.
The human Hero.
And the fact that it could be controlled with primal mana, just like the site of the first arrangement…
One more reason to return to the Abyss.
That left… Silence, Time, Shadow, Wind, Blood.
Five more.
‘No clue on the rest.’
I withdrew from the trance for now.
I hadn’t been under for long.
In the chatroom, after my message as ‘(0)’ saying I’d check the oracle stele, there hadn’t been much back-and-forth.
I’d already mentioned that the Tower of Intellect was acting as Burning Glory’s caretaker, so there’d only been a brief exchange about that.
But how is Burning Glory doing right now?
Not exactly sure.
Seems like they’re gradually getting better, though.
The moment to directly tangle with the Forces of Evil was fast approaching. From here on, there’d be even more clashes with them.
It was time to present the point of direct confrontation with the Forces of Evil—and our response to it—in the chatroom.
Since they’d set something in motion, I had no choice but to step up actively.
And I’d already been planning for this long ago.
Excluding Naked Truth and Burning Glory, who’d joined unexpectedly fast, this was the moment when the groundwork I’d laid to properly utilize the chatroom members would finally pay off.
First, I needed to revisit what the Forces of Evil wanted.
I couldn’t know for sure, but judging from their actions so far, their goal seemed aimed at shaking the very foundational structures of the world itself.
To dominate the entire world?
Even I had to admit it sounded a bit absurd.
Reducing their aim to mere power would likely miss the essence.
Then let’s think in terms of systems. Their leader, a great being, undoubtedly held a unique system unlike any other.
I’d confirmed as much through the magic tome handed over by Philip Deran’s clone.
The core of that system was erosion.
I’d viewed erosion as the complete antithesis to me, and from then on, I’d defined the Forces of Evil as my true ‘enemies.’
The ultimate target of that erosion.
To dismantle the existing rules and establish a new order where only their rules functioned.
So, were they devouring systems one by one to unify the world’s framework under one?
If so—and they were preparing some move to seize systems—releasing the Abyss prisoners was just to divert attention elsewhere.
That was the flow the Forces of Evil were trying to create.
How should I counter it?
Our chatroom’s momentum was flowing toward the Abyss.
Tower of Intellect, Root of Understanding, Merciful Crown, Son of Courage, Naked Truth, Burning Glory.
The six epithets floated in my mind.
The Tower of Intellect was currently caring for Burning Glory, who naturally couldn’t fulfill their role in that state.
Merciful Crown was waiting for Chamar, the escaped first-layer prisoner, to lift their curse.
Naked Truth had their own constraints as well, which I hadn’t even identified yet.
The ones I could utilize right now to disrupt the Forces of Evil’s flow were Root of Understanding and Son of Courage.
Especially Root of Understanding.
He was connected to the heart of elven forces and could leverage them to a certain extent.
Meaning I could draw on a mighty power no one could easily touch at this point.
Things had been quiet on Root of Understanding’s end lately, but that was actually a good sign.
They’d established some foundation in the empire’s north. Not fully, but Maron’s group hadn’t mounted a major obstruction.
If I could utilize such a powerful force… maybe I could track the Forces of Evil’s movements to some degree?
When my clone was kidnapped, I’d learned of one of their hideouts.
Monitoring the area to observe their movements… was too cumbersome for me to handle personally, demanded too much time, and was beyond my current capabilities anyway.
‘Perfect timing to entrust it to Root of Understanding right now.’
With my thoughts sorted, I sent a message right away.
Root of Understanding.
You have a job to do.
I’ve been waiting.
The time for my recompense has finally come.
Calm as ever, but laced with a peculiar joy, like someone who’d prepared for this for ages.
I’ll tell you one of the Forces of Evil’s bases.
Your job is to continuously monitor their movements.
Of course, don’t expose yourself.
A far more direct mission than I expected.
But not for me to do personally… you mean use my allies.
The purpose of releasing the prisoners is merely to divert attention.
That makes sense.
Releasing the prisoners doesn’t mean they can control them.
Which means there must be some other purpose requiring a diversion.
The base I mentioned is accessible to any of their apostles. Don’t forget that and proceed carefully.
I’ll be careful.
As expected, quick on the uptake. No need for further explanation from me.
Root of Understanding was the only one I could actively utilize right away, but…
Not just Root of Understanding.
For the Abyss, I’d call in the Tower of Intellect and Burning Glory, and bring Roselin there too.
Of course, I planned to move as Cedric as well.
‘In the end, that means I’ll finally meet Roselin.’