166. The Manifestation of an SSS-Grade Entity of Peril
The manifestation of an SSS-grade entity of peril. In its aftermath, the world lost all laws and began to crumble. The land and sky, along with every other material, mixed and melted like paint. It was the collapse of a world.
Hedgehog was extremely flustered, slowly wiggling its butt.
—[...Duumba?! What's going onyot!?]
—[World collapsing. Because the Abyss Lord was summoned.]
Iris emphasized it again. The world had ended up like that because of summoning the Abyss Lord.
Hearing that, Hedgehog jumped in surprise, bounced its butt five times, and looked at the Abyss Lord.
—[Abyss Lord! What did you doyot!]
—[I did nothing, teacher.]
The Abyss Lord rose from its lotus position in midair, answered while standing, and bounced its butt once.
Duum-ba.
Then the world began collapsing even faster.
Ku-gu-gu-gu-gu-gung-!
—[Oh my.]
The Abyss Lord seemed flustered too, halting its butt mid-motion and looking up at the sky. It wasn't intentionally trying to destroy the world.
For my part, I didn't panic. After all, this wasn't happening in my world—it was somewhere else entirely. That's why I could stay calm.
"Dochi. First, let's unsummon the Abyss Lord."
—[Duumba? That's impossibleyot!]
"Impossible? Why?"
—[When I contracted with the Abyss Lord, I added a clauseyot. It has to shake its butt a thousand times to return to the Abyss!]
"Why the hell would you add a clause like that..."
—[Duumba...]
To send the Abyss Lord back to the Abyss, it had to shake its butt a thousand times. But we couldn't do that. Every shake accelerated the collapse.
I sighed and asked the Abyss Lord.
"Abyss Lord, can't you do something about it? Don't you have some power to stabilize the dimension?"
—[I could annihilate the world, but sadly, I lack the ability to stabilize it. My power is far from anything protective.]
That figured. It wasn't a normal spirit—it was an undead one. It might manage a mid-tier protection buff, but nothing capable of repairing a collapsing dimension.
It had given Hedgehog a robe made from its own soul instead of a mere protection buff, after all.
Anyway, there seemed to be no way to stop the dimensional collapse.
"...Iris. If the world collapses, what happens to you guys?"
—[Ordinary beings vanish. But we won't from something like this. We'll fall into a dimensional rift.]
"So you're all safe?"
—[No issue. Even if we fall into a rift, we'll return to the Ancient Labyrinth after some time.]
Ppururu was right—it was a relief, at least. Our side would be fine even if the dimension collapsed.
—[Um... teacher. Is this my fault?]
—[Yesyot. Abyss Lord, it's your faultyot.]
The Abyss Lord let out a low hum, stroking its chin. After a moment's thought, it extended its right arm and spoke softly.
—[Then I shall take responsibility.]
"How?"
—[Normalizing a collapsing world is impossible, but I can save the lives here.]
Snap! The Abyss Lord snapped its fingers.
In that instant, massive vortices of darkness began swirling across the world.
—[I'll drop all living beings in this world into one of my subordinate abysses.]
"Will that save them?"
—[No. They'll die. But that's no problem. They'll be reborn as denizens of the abyss under my grace.]
It would be far better than helplessly vanishing here, the Abyss Lord added. If a dimension collapsed, the souls tied to it would likely crumble too—making reincarnation impossible. It would take in these poor souls and grant them new life. As bodiless beings.
—[Then, I'll reap the souls now.]
The snap echoed once more. The dark vortices intensified, rapidly sucking in the world's lifeforms.
—[G-Go-ooooh!]
—[Gooo!!!]
—[Kieeeek!]
—[Uwaaaah!!!]
Dinosaurs and all other creatures were pulled into the darkness. Their bodies, collapsing along with the dimension, were grotesquely twisted.
"...Well, that seems like a decent resolution, all things considered."
As I watched Iris's screen, Merino brought me a warm cola.
"Gauntlet-yang. Here's some nicely warmed cola, yang."
"Thanks."
I sipped the cola leisurely, watching the chaos-drenched world. Then a sudden question occurred to me, and I asked Sage Lunaris.
"Sage. If an SSS-grade being manifested on Earth, could it cause dimensional collapse like that world?"
"Huh? So that world and Earth are similar in level? Without the veil, that means Earth's a low-rank dimension too?"
"Hmm... so basically, even average-level dimensions can't handle SSS-grades?"
Taking in the allies' chat, I nodded slightly and organized my thoughts.
First, pre-seal, Elemen시아—with my SSS-grade power—definitely qualified as high-rank. Not because it withstood me, but because its baseline was that high. Any other SSS-grade would be fine too.
Now, sorting other worlds from high-rank down:
1. Ancient Labyrinth.
2. Azeras's home, the Celestial Realm.
3. Elemen시아.
4. Rise's world, Lumina.
5. New Kendorra, Earth, Hedgehog's current dispatch world.
1-3 can handle SSS-grades. True high-rank dimensions.
4: Unconfirmed.
5+: Can't handle SSS-grades, or highly likely not. But SS-grades are fine.
That was the summary.
'But if my seal lifts and I go to Earth with my full SSS-grade body, it should be okay.'
Like how SSS-grade Hedgehog—weak main body, summoner type—had no effect there, I probably wouldn't impact the world just by existing either. I was a pure physical powerhouse with no special abilities, just overwhelming bodily prowess.
'Still not certain... so once fully unsealed, better avoid Earth.'
Not like I had a way to go anyway. Even if I did, no real reason to. By the time I dominated the labyrinth or fully unsealed, Earth's dimension might not even exist anymore.
Anyway. This dispatch yielded key intel: Don't send SSS-grade monsters to non-high-rank worlds like Earth—unless you want to end them.
As I finished sorting my thoughts—
—[Dimension on verge of total collapse. We will be naturally ejected into the rift soon.]
Iris's voice returned. The world's end was imminent.
Noticing it too, the Abyss Lord carefully pulled Hedgehog into its embrace. The SS-grade spirits had already returned to the abyss.
—[Teacher. Might be dangerous, so stick close to me.]
—[Duumba! We'll dance freely in the dimensional rift yot!]
......
The paint-mixed world soon lost all color. No more sounds echoed.
Even the concept of space vanished, and the world met complete annihilation.
......
......
Iris's screen went pitch black.
......
—[Dimensional rift arrived. Safe.]
Iris's voice resumed. Its view returned.
In a blank, paper-white void—
—[Duum-ba, duum-ba! Time to dance freely yot!]
—[Duumba!]
Hedgehog and the Abyss Lord passionately shook their butts.
Good thing they were safe.