Chapter 55
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 55
Chapter Title: Hello, Esira
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"Hello, Esira."
I hurriedly pressed my hand to my stomach.
If my memory was right, there should have been a stab wound on my abdomen. Blood should have gushed out in a torrent, followed by the agony of my insides twisting—that would have been normal.
"......Gone."
There was only smooth skin. Perfect, without a single scar.
'What the hell happened?'
Did someone heal me? But there were too many strange things about that explanation for it to hold water.
I was sure I'd died.
The pain had lasted right up until my consciousness faded.
'Is this hell?'
I blankly pushed myself upright. Forcing strength into my trembling legs, I looked around.
Only pitch-black darkness stretched out endlessly, so thick that even the boundary between up and down was indistinct.
A void world where nothing existed.
If this was the afterlife, it was far too barren. If it was hell, far too quiet.
"Is no one here?"
It felt too anticlimactic to die like this. I had only myself to blame for letting my guard down, but still—what was I supposed to do now? It was utterly hopeless.
Mom.
Oh, right.
Esira?
Yes, right before my eyes closed.
I could still see the afterimage of the real Esira rushing toward me, wailing in grief.
I'd left her alone in that hellish cave.
No, Marigold and the Commander were there, so she wouldn't be by herself.
"Esira......"
It felt like my heart was being ripped out.
"I miss you. I'm so sorry......"
This kind of silence was unfamiliar.
A fierce longing surged up—to return home, to her side.
But it was futile. The Abyss had already swallowed me whole. There was no way back, and reunion with Esira might be impossible forever.
'......I might never see Esira again.'
Eaten by the Abyss.
'Nothing left of me now.'
My mouth went dry. My insides felt hollowed out.
What had become of my body by now?
Melted away in the Abyss's stomach acids, leaving just a worthless pile of bones?
Then what about Esira—what had happened to her?
No, she had to be fine.
She was a playable character in the original story, after all.
She survived there intact, so she must be safe here too.
And the Commander, the protagonist himself, was with her.
With his protagonist buff or whatever, he'd figure it out somehow.
This was a game world, after all.
It had to be.
Please, there had to be some kind of rule somewhere.
Respawn, regression, even a horrific glitch—anything, just let something happen.
I'd sell my soul for it, cling to its leg and beg if I had to. I had to get back.
Just one more time. Please, just one more chance.
That was when it happened.
Something stirred in the distance, amid the silence. An amorphous shape writhed grotesquely.
'......Something's there.'
It looked like rotting, putrid mud, or a tangle of slimy snakes.
I'd thought this was an empty space.
An obsessive urge to check it out overtook me.
One step, then another.
Finally, standing before it, I couldn't help but catch my breath.
The being I'd faced so many times, the one that had ultimately devoured me.
"......Abyss."
I'd thought it was hell. It wasn't.
This was the bottom of the Abyss.
"Where the hell is this place?"
As expected, there was no reply.
Not because it was ignoring me—it simply lacked the means to respond in the first place.
It could only speak by disguising itself as Sage or Esira.
"I have no idea why I have to keep seeing your ugly mug even after I'm dead."
I wasn't expecting an answer. It was more like a resentful mutter to myself.
"Fine, you win. I got smashed to pieces pathetically, and I've got nowhere to go. Isn't that enough? Just let me die in peace."
"......"
"What more do you want that you're still holding onto me?"
"......"
"Wasn't killing me enough for you?"
At that question, the Abyss's movements changed. Just a little.
The writhing mass paused for a moment.
Silence stretched on. After a tense standoff, the Abyss moved first.
It surged toward me.
As it slowly closed the distance, I could only weakly stumble back.
I hate this. No, stay away.
Don't come closer.
There was nowhere to run. This was a space devoid of anything.
In an instant.
Black tentacles coiled around my waist.
"Ugh......!"
Because of my skimpy outfit, the Abyss's touch pressed fully against my exposed stomach and waist.
Sticky, cold slime. The tightening sensation choked the breath from my lungs.
I tried to resist, but against the Abyss that had already wrapped around me like a snake.
All I could do was stay still.
No weapons. I had no idea where my greatsword was.
I soon gave up entirely.
I bit my lip to stifle the sigh escaping me, but an indescribable sense of helplessness spread through my whole body.
"Haa......"
It was pathetic. I knew the game was over, but to be toyed with like this even after death.
"Fine, there's nothing I can do. You won."
I muttered down at the Abyss coiled around me.
To think I'd be so utterly violated by this horrific monster.
Is this my fate?
The Abyss stayed still around my waist, as if savoring its prey's reaction.
I forced myself to feign composure.
The old me wouldn't have endured this humiliation without losing my voice entirely.
I spat out a question only someone who'd fallen as low as I had could muster.
"......Now you're going to desecrate my corpse too?"
Misery welled up into my throat.
The Abyss offered no answer in the end.
I only felt the pressure tightening around my waist.
The more I tried to breathe, the tighter it squeezed.
Cold energy seeped under my skin.
Soon, the Abyss's thickest tendril slowly approached my chest—right over my beating heart.
'Ah, it's going to kill me now.'
Empty-handed, without a single weapon. All I could do was flail my arms through the air.
The tip of the Abyss pressed firmly into the center of my chest.
"Ah......?"
There was no pain.
Instead, my breath caught. An inexplicable pressure crushed my lungs from within, as if my entire body lay in the Abyss's palm.
Right then.
The Abyss let out a grotesque sound as it split open to either side.
Squelch, rip.
It was like massive eyelids opening, or a beast's maw yawning wide.
The membrane tore, revealing something inside.
The deepest, darkest core of the Abyss.
Light flowed out from there.
Red light.
Blood-red, yet utterly pure, not filthy at all.
Strangely clear and transparent, an eerie hue that left me entranced.
"......Blood Cell."
Suddenly, I recalled the Abyss's words.
"We don't use Blood Cells. We are the Blood Cell."
Was that true?
Then another fact came to mind.
It had said my heart shared the same fate.
"......Am I not human?"
The moment I faced the Blood Cell, the Abyss's voice—the one I'd wanted to forget—burrowed relentlessly into my head.
"Mom."
"Yes. You're our mom."
"Mom, I missed you."
It had whispered those words with Sage's body, in the tone of a clingy child. That bizarre innocence had been truly terrifying.
What had I said back then?
"I never had a child like you."
I'd drawn a clear line.
So why did my heart react as if it were part of that red stone the moment I saw it?
The Blood Cell's crimson glow expanded in an instant.
The pitch-black space of the Abyss shattered like broken glass, blinding light pouring through the cracks.
I squeezed my eyes shut.
How much time passed?
The fresh scent of grass tickled my nose, and a gentle breeze brushed my cheek. I opened my eyes.
"......Where is this?"
I couldn't help but lose myself in the sight.
Wildflowers bloomed in profusion over endless gentle hills.
Sunlight poured down from the blue sky above.
It was a paradise on earth, peaceful enough to warrant the name.
The fact that I'd just been inside the Abyss felt utterly unreal.
If this was the afterlife, it was too dazzling. If a dream, too vivid.
As I scanned my surroundings in confusion, my eyes caught a woman standing blankly atop the hill.
Her hair was snow-white, like freshly fallen powder. An elegant yet somehow lonely silhouette from behind.
It felt like looking in a mirror.
"Asrania......?"
The silhouette matched mine perfectly, but the aura was completely different. Especially her clothes—they were a much brighter tone than what Asrania usually wore.
I moved toward her as if entranced.
I had to ask why she was here, what this place was.
As I reached out to call to her, she gracefully settled onto the hilltop.
She hadn't seen me.
No, it seemed she wasn't aware of my existence at all. She didn't spare me a glance, just gazed off into the distance.
'A hallucination? Or a record from the past?'
Before my questions could fade, someone stirred in the distance.
Approaching her with steady strides.
Only then did Asrania speak.
Her voice was beautifully soft, like welcoming someone long awaited.
"Hello, Esira."