Chapter 115: Escaping the Abyss
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 115: Escaping the Abyss
“Ah. What a nostalgic feeling. How long has it been since I stood here and gave a lecture?”
Was this the first time since Tyr’s rampage? Lost in sentiment for a moment, I tapped the chalkboard with a piece of chalk to begin the class.
The Regressor, who had been pushed away from the teacher’s desk because of me, wore a rather sullen expression.
“Ninety days? How is that possible?”
“Now, now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”
It was my turn to work, after all this time. I coated the tip of the chalk with Alchemical Glow and tapped the board again.
This was the method for escaping the Abyss that I had read from Lieutenant General Ebon. I had originally intended to keep it a secret for myself, but since I couldn't get out with my strength alone, I was making a special exception and revealing it.
I took out a paper packet I had prepared earlier and spoke.
“Everyone. While you were all lazing about in this Abyss, I have endured all sorts of hardships to find a way to escape.”
I had to cling desperately to the golem to request supplies, investigate every single item that came down, and even engage in psychological warfare with it.
It may have seemed like peaceful days were passing by, but behind the scenes, I had been working tirelessly. And finally…
I found out by simply reading Lieutenant General Ebon’s memories.
…It felt like everything I’d done until now was meaningless, but I hoped my efforts were still worth something.
“As a result of disassembling every single item sent down from the Military State, I have discovered one astonishing fact. And that is…”
As I spoke, I scattered the contents of the paper packet onto the desk. Srrr, the fine particles rolled across the unfamiliar surface.
The Regressor tilted her head.
“Dirt?”
“That’s right. It’s dirt!”
As if I had discovered some grand truth, I spread my arms wide and exclaimed.
“Every single item dropped here from the Military State! Whether it was a parachute, something carried on a person, or even packed into a tiny crevice! Every last one of them contained dirt from the surface!”
This was a fact I had uncovered through my meticulous, piece-by-piece investigation.
While you all were just playing around.
“Originally, not a single speck of dust is supposed to fall into this place, cursed as it is by Mother Earth. If that weren't the case, it would be impossible for there to be no collapsed earth around this enormous hole. Even if you were to throw a grain of sand into the Abyss, it would stick to the walls and return to the embrace of Mother Earth… But! That is precisely why this dust can serve as a catalyst!”
The Regressor, having some magical knowledge, quickly understood my meaning.
“A catalyst?”
“Yes! The Abyss is a land of infinite falling. But where in the world is there such a thing as infinite space? The world is round, so if you fall forever, you should end up on the other side! But we don't. Why is that?”
I drew two long, parallel lines on the chalkboard. To show they were infinitely long, I cut them off in the middle, then drew Tantalus and a large question mark.
“Because in this Abyss, coordinates and space itself lose all meaning! Here, everyone becomes a lost child, falling for eternity!”
“…However, if space itself has no meaning, then to reach something within it, you would need…” the Regressor muttered to herself, catching on. I nodded emphatically and drew a large star over Tantalus.
“Exactly. In the night sky, over a vast, dark ocean, the light of a lighthouse becomes the target, the landmark, the coordinate. This Tantalus, too, has decided to become a landmark in the Abyss. How?”
From here on, it was a combination of my own deductions and the memories I’d read from Ebon. I announced it in front of everyone.
“Because when this Tantalus was built, it received the blessing of a priestess of Mother Earth! The entire land, that is!”
“…She actually agreed to something like that? For a priestess of Mother Earth, the Abyss should be a place they must never approach.”
Yes, I thought so too.
The Regressor had a hand in my discovery of this fact. The ‘her’ from the Regressor’s memories was, no matter how I thought about it, a priestess of Mother Earth.
“Even if the entire ground is concrete, its essence comes from the earth. The ground was paved and the building erected with concrete made from blessed sand and gravel. However, even if its origin is the earth, this concrete is ultimately a man-made structure. Tantalus, existing on the boundary between Mother Earth’s body and a human building, was able to maintain a precarious balance.”
A single piece of land within an infinite space.
They built a prison upon a contradiction that shouldn't exist, yet brazenly does.
“Only one thing is needed to reach this place. A catalyst that can specify this location… dirt. As long as you fall with it, you will naturally arrive here, just as rainwater eventually flows to the sea.”
The bracelet that led Finlay here, the supply boxes—they all contained dirt.
Nabi had dirt on her, too. It was just that, as the Cat King who was promised a safe landing, she had no need for something like a parachute.
In any case, I understood the principle. All that was left was to apply it.
“Now, here’s a question… We needed dirt to reach Tantalus, deep in the Abyss. In that case, if we want to ascend from this Abyss to the surface, what should we use as a catalyst?”
The first to raise his hand was the Undying, but there’s a pecking order for everything, and even among the Undying, seniority matters. I pointed to Tyr, who had slightly raised her parasol.
“Yes, Tyr!”
“…That would be.”
Tyr hesitated for a moment, then answered with a frown, as if she truly disliked the answer.
“The light of the sun, I suppose.”
“Ooh, correct! As expected of the one known as the nightmare of the Sanctum and the Challenger of Heaven! How knowledgeable!”
She got it right on the first try. What a shame.
“Oh! It wasn't a tree branch? It points toward the sky, doesn't it?”
‘Wasn’t it Chun-aeng…? Is it because it’s space itself that it can’t be a catalyst…?’
I really should have heard both of their wrong answers.
I wanted to say something even now, but it was too much trouble, so I moved on.
“Yes. The sun! If the dirt of the Abyss is a lighthouse, then the lighthouse of the sky is the sun. We can only escape this Abyss by ascending while bathed in sunlight!”
I clapped enthusiastically for Tyr, who had answered correctly. Tyr waited for the applause to die down before asking calmly.
“However, this Abyss is a place where sunlight does not enter. How could we possibly ascend while bathed in its light from here?”
I thought so too. But I had discovered Tantalus’s blind spot.
Tantalus is surprisingly bright. As if mimicking the sky, bright daytime lights and dim nighttime lights alternately illuminate the prison. During the day, one naturally wakes up and grows accustomed to the bright light.
That’s why I didn’t notice it myself until Ebon looked up at the sky.
That the vast expanse above the Abyss isn't always dark.
“It’s not that sunlight doesn't enter. It’s that it sometimes does, but we just don't notice it.”
The golem had ordered me to persuade Tyr. It said it wasn't time to ascend yet, and that ‘you cannot ascend in that manner.’
However, if the Abyss was a place from which escape was impossible no matter what, that warning was quite strange. Whether they tried to ascend or not, they wouldn't achieve their goal anyway, so there would be no reason to stop them.
That question was answered with Ebon’s appearance.
Ebon had waited on the rooftop for the right ‘time’ to escape to the surface. That meant the gate opened at a specific time.
That must have been why the golem tried to stop the two of them. It was afraid that the vampires, who don't eat, drink, or feel boredom, would just keep climbing until the gate opened… until the sunlight shone upon them.
It had worried that Tyr might try to force her way out and told me to stop her.
“The time when the noon sun is directly overhead. A time when, no matter how deep the place, the infinitely stretching rays of light are bound to reach.”
All the puzzle pieces fit together. I declared with confidence.
“That time is exactly three months from now. Three months from now, at noon, the moment the sun briefly passes over the Abyss. That single moment is our only chance to escape.”
It was a grand discovery, but the reaction was smaller than I expected.
After all, this was right after the Regressor had declared they could get out in nine months anyway. The fact that the time had been reduced by two-thirds didn't cause much of a stir.
“Incredible, Hu. Have you unraveled the secrets of the Abyss itself?”
Only Tyr, who had been interested in my story from the start, was purely delighted.
In any case, the fact that we could leave in ninety days was encouraging. Now that we knew the structure of the Abyss, we could escape at any time, even if we missed the next opportunity. We no longer had to desperately cling to the hope of ‘her’ arrival, which may or may not happen.
It would be impossible for me alone, as I couldn't defy gravity to ascend, but with Tyr and the Regressor, it would be possible…
“Huh? Wait a minute.”
Just then, as if the thought had just occurred to her, the Regressor asked a question.
“How did you know? Did you get it out of the lieutenant general?”
To be precise, I read the lieutenant general’s thoughts.
Lieutenant General Ebon only knew what time the ‘gate’ opened; he didn't know the exact principle behind it. He just knew that he had to ascend when the sunlight shone.
It made sense. A general only needs to know the password, not master the principles of cryptography.
I had simply picked up the pieces of information they had and connected them to reach a conclusion.
But it was a pain to explain, so I just nodded vaguely.
“That’s right…”
“That's impossible! When my fist hit him, he was practically dead! He couldn't even speak!”
The Undying answered before I could.
The Regressor’s expression grew increasingly suspicious. I shot a glare at the Undying, my mouth agape.
You clueless oaf! Why do you think I asked you to cover your ears?!
The Undying’s eyes widened as he saw my expression.
‘Was I not supposed to say that? Hmph, so many secrets. Fine. I’ll cover for you.’
Please do. It’ll be a problem if I become any more suspicious.
An enigmatic being, met by chance in the Abyss.
It’s best if I’m remembered as just that.
That’s why I’m trying to get out of the Abyss as quickly as possible.
“Then what? What did you do to a man who couldn't even speak?”
When the Regressor pressed him, the Undying thought for a moment, then gave a thumbs-up and exclaimed.
“The Teacher was mostly muttering to himself! I had my ears covered, so I can't say for sure! But the Teacher probably figured out the answer about the Abyss on his own and was just confirming it with the lieutenant general!”
‘There, that should do it! Now the Teacher will seem even more incredible!’
…You just made me look even more suspicious!
Just say I extracted the information from the lieutenant general. That’s closer to the truth!
“He figured out how to escape the Abyss… by himself? Well now, isn’t that something.”
The Regressor muttered, feigning indifference, but in stark contrast, her senses were focused entirely on me.
“But I get it. You’re definitely not an officer.”
“Haha. That’s right. I’m a laborer…”
“A mere laborer can’t kill a colonel. Nor can they deflect Chun-aeng. Everyone knows you’re no ordinary laborer, so how long are you going to hide it?”
Her movements were slow, as if she were probing me. The Regressor didn't seem to expect much, but she asked with a glimmer of hope.
“Are you really not going to reveal your identity?”
‘If you would just give me… certainty. Just enough to decide… whether I can trust you or not…’
To the terminally suspicious Regressor, my existence was apparently a major thorn in her side.
The desire to trust and the inability to trust coexisted within her, so much so that she herself couldn't make sense of it.
But it can’t be helped.
I’ve survived, so I need to start preparing for the me of the next timeline, don’t I?
Which means I have to get through this situation somehow.
I let out a deep sigh and spoke.