Hatching

I confirmed the end of the Abyss.

And the fact that there was no way out.

— Day 6

Wasteland. A place with nothing to drink, nothing to eat.

People were reaching their limits.

At this rate, hundreds of thousands might start devouring one another.

And Baal finished absorbing the entire body of the Dreadful Omen.

I had a bad feeling about this.

— Day 8

Goooooh.

Early morning. Accompanied by a strange sound.

…Baal woke up.

Laden with even more of the Dreadful Omen's dread.

But something was off.

The awakened Baal spent a long time pacing restlessly through the Abyss.

— Day 9

Since yesterday, Baal had been mutilating itself and screaming.

Gracia bravely approached and managed to assess Baal's condition.

Something seemed to be fighting inside it, he said.

Had some kind of personality split occurred?

— Day 15

After thrashing for so long, Baal stopped again.

It collapsed, gasped for breath, and then began to melt.

So it was dead?

But it wasn't dead.

It had finished evolving.

One who was the Abyss itself, descending into a deeper Abyss.

……But what was that?

Baal's belly split open, and from within it a black egg emerged.

If that thing hatched, would it truly be the end?

What was certain was that after the egg appeared, the "veil" surrounding the Abyss had begun to collapse.

Perhaps we could escape from here.

……

Baal of the Four Calamities.

That being once called a Calamity God, a walking disaster itself—

was now being eaten.

— Crunch! Crunch!

By something of an ominous shape.

But that should have been impossible.

When Baal sensed a threat capable of killing it, the "thing it had hidden away" was supposed to burst forth and slay the opponent.

It had killed them. So how had they come back to life?

But Baal could no longer resist.

From the moment they first met inside it, "that thing" had been greedily devouring Baal whole.

Something that was human, yet not human.

Even Baal had never encountered anything like it.

The instant they made contact, Baal could not resist.

It was like a god—yet far more terrifying.

Something more dreadful still than Baal itself, who had been called life and curse incarnate; more dreadful even than a Calamity God.

Baal had everything stripped away by that thing.

Consumption complete.

Just as it had become the King of Corpse Crows and then the present Dreadful Omen—

"that thing" had taken all of Baal's traits for itself.

But that was not all.

Not everything of Baal had been extinguished yet.

The last remaining piece: Baal's Soul, that vast flame of spirit.

— Kyakyakyakyakyak!

Hell sucked it down as if it were delicious.

All of it. Without the slightest waste.

And then a single wing sprouted from Hell's back.

Chapter 124. Hatching

The loss of Jeju Island, Korea.

A fortnight later, no one denied that it was gone.

Not only Koreans—countless "eyes" overseas agreed.

Master, in particular, had openly declared that "there is no hope for Jeju Island."

"……Master. Thirty days have passed since Korea's Jeju Island disappeared. And yesterday, you officially posted on social media that people should give up on Jeju. Why did you do that?"

And today, Master appeared publicly on a famous American television show.

After nearly two months of vanishing, he had finally moved.

Everyone who heard of his appearance crowded in front of their televisions without exception.

Master faced the host with the same leisurely expression as always.

"That place is a location called the Abyss."

"The 'Abyss'? What is that?"

"Dead land. Sunken land. Land you enter and from which you never return alive."

"……Wow. Just hearing it is chilling. But I'd like a more concrete definition of the 'Abyss.' It doesn't seem to match the dictionary meaning."

At the host's sharp observation, Master nodded.

"Correct. In the other world, the Abyss means hell."

"Hell……?"

"To put it simply, it's a place filled with countless demons and Hell Kings. No matter how great a warrior you are, if you stay in the Abyss for more than twenty days, you die. Without exception."

No exceptions.

Not even a sliver of possibility.

Jeju Island was lost, and everyone who had been on Jeju Island was dead.

The reason he spoke with such confidence was that Master had conducted the experiments himself.

Not just once or twice.

Pangenia's Abyss was an unknown place.

Sometimes immense treasures were hidden there; sometimes unbeatable monsters lurked.

But if one could freely ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠explore the Abyss, one could build a force so strong that even the Empire would not dare to fear it.

And so Master had explored the Abyss.

Dozens of times. Hundreds of times.

And failed every single time.

I failed, but I got data.

It had not been a completely meaningless experiment.

He had obtained information others could hardly acquire.

For example—

First, if you enter the Abyss, you disappear from the Hall of Fame.

When a ranker sinks into the Abyss, the Hall of Fame instantly processes that person as "deceased."

Their name vanishes from the rankings entirely.

Through that, he could roughly identify which ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rankers had currently sunk into the Abyss.

The high rankers who vanished from the Hall of Fame around the same time: Phantom Randolph, Sword Saint Gracia, Hermit MintChocoIsDelicious, Dragon Slayer Barmush.

Four names that still had not reappeared on the Hall.

All of them powerhouses who recorded Danger Level 9 or higher.

If you stay more than four days in the Abyss, your mind breaks.

That was another reason he described the Abyss as hell.

So when assaulting the Abyss, you ran it as a short campaign.

If it were only the mind that broke, that would be one thing.

After ten days, bruises cover the entire body and physical deformation begins.

And yet the person themselves doesn't notice.

As if irradiated by radioactive material, they bruise and pour blood.

But they don't know it.

They treat their dying flesh as if it were not their own body.

And gradually they cease to be human.

After twenty days, you either die or become a monster that follows the master of the Abyss.

There were no exceptions.

No one had ever lasted past twenty days.

Of course, the four listed above might hold out a little longer.

He had never experimented with powerhouses of that caliber. But even so, they would only last a few more days.

He was certain that by now, a month later, it was over.

They had either forgotten themselves and become monsters, or already left this world.

If even they were like that, could Earth's humans endure the Abyss?

Don't be ridiculous.

That's also why I came out here.

Randolph, Gracia, and the other two who kept nagging at his mind—all dead.

This world now had no alternatives.

"……Jeju Island has become the Abyss. A hell you can neither enter nor leave. But it is too early to despair. I will keep all of you safe so that Baal cannot launch the next invasion."

No one but him.

When Glutton consumed Baal, rejection reactions erupted through the entire body.

Of course they did.

Baal was a monster of a class incomparable to Corpse Crows.

Absorbing it and wielding it as one's own—was that even conceivable?

Corpse Crows understood human structure, mimicked it, and lured humans in to eat them.

In other words, they possessed a certain degree of human understanding and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠traits.

Baal, by contrast, was a beast that from the beginning had never needed such things.

Created by Ruin—a conglomeration of "malice" forged to destroy the world.

Above all…… the Fragment of Ruin hidden inside Baal possessed an absolute nature that even Hidden Traits could never break down.

Glutton had devoured "Baal," but it had not managed to digest the "Fragment of Ruin."

The Fragment of Ruin was the very "malice" that had driven Baal for ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so long.

— This body is excellent. I will take it.

And so the Fragment of Ruin, in turn, sought to claim this body for itself.

Baal had submitted to this human's trait—but the Fragment of Ruin was different.

A being that could warp the world's balance and rules to a certain degree.

A kind of bug—that was precisely what the Fragment of Ruin was.

— A human who holds all thirteen "Keys." But a "key" that has not opened a door is useless.

If the keys had been used, it might have been different—but not a single one had been properly spent yet.

Well, a human would hardly know the location of the "doors," so it was only natural.

The Fragment of Ruin slowly seized control of the body.

The more control it took, the more the Fragment of Ruin was satisfied with this body's potential.

A physique with greater potential even than the Baal that Ruin had created.

But things did not proceed entirely according to the Fragment of Ruin's will.

……The very moment it tried to seize full control—

the Transcendent Baal Set fused with the flesh.

That was the hidden option.

The final move for Baal's "complete control."

The people of the old Empire had known of that "malice" dwelling inside Baal.

They had completed one last measure for those who would come after.

So this "complete control" was a method designed solely to bind the Fragment of Ruin.

— Even so, it's fifty-fifty. As long as I hold half, you cannot wake.

Sleep forever, and be slowly eroded.

It's only a matter of time.

Somewhat unsettling, but time was on its side either way.

But the Fragment of Ruin had overlooked something.

As the Transcendent Baal Set melted in and locked into a tug-of-war with the Fragment of Ruin—

…Experience beyond imagination had accumulated, and the level rose.

Hwaaaaaak!

— ……

The Fragment of Ruin was speechless.

A level-up?

When you level up, every "anomaly" is restored.

All experience is spent to raise one's class, and in a single instant everything recovers.

Of course, it shouldn't have mattered.

This "anomaly" under the Fragment of Ruin's control was not something a mere level-up could heal.

But this body was an extreme vessel that could only raise its level by accumulating an enormous amount of experience.

And it had leveled up.

Vast, boundless experience erupted like an active volcano.

Hwaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaak!

Countless blessings that seemed to scorch the body—not merely climbing a single step of a staircase, but a transcendence of class that crossed space itself—occurred.

— What kind of absurd "required experience" is this……!

But the Fragment of Ruin could not understand.

— You've only unlocked the eighth latch, and the "required experience" is this high? Of the ten latches, only the eighth has been opened.

Holding all thirteen keys had increased the absolute amount of experience needed, but this quantity could not be explained by that alone.

Only Level 7, and this much "required experience"? For that, it was far too overwhelming.

Truly as vast as the cosmos.

There was something else.

Something else that had inflated the required experience.

— Are you undoing seals? It feels exactly like erasing seals one by one.

Then what would happen when the tenth latch was unlocked?

But if something truly were sealed, the Fragment of Ruin itself would not fail to notice.

Then how was one to explain that amount of experience?

Everything was incomprehensible. It could not understand.

Afterward, the level-up instantly erased every "anomaly."

And—

"What a ridiculous bastard."

…I opened my eyes.

I can't hold on any longer.

I don't want to hold on.

The long wandering through the Abyss.

Gracia was gradually reaching his limit.

Not only Gracia—every one of the six hundred thousand people here.

"……Lord Gracia. The phenomenon of the barrier collapsing has stopped."

"I know."

The barrier. As the edge of the Abyss crumbled, everyone had dreamed of escape.

But that phenomenon, too, ended today.

Faces and bodies gaunt from starvation.

The "warriors" were somehow enduring, but the problem was the people of Earth.

They had held on with the single hope that the barrier was falling—once they learned it had stopped, what would happen?

"Are we all going to die like this?"

The Players. They, too, were at their limit.

Gracia had given them looks to keep the secret, but that was only a matter of time.

The one small mercy was that there were still no phenomena like "mental collapse."

"……We will not die."

He said so, but honestly he had no confidence.

In this Abyss there was nothing to eat, nothing to drink.

They had endured this far only because the Players had shared all the water and food they carried.

Through their inventories they had held considerable stockpiles.

But even that had run out long ago.

No Player walked around carrying enough food for six hundred thousand people in the first place.

Nothing can grow on this land.

They had planted "seeds" in the ground and tried every method to force rapid growth, but all of them died before even sprouting.

"Even the food we saved for last is gone now. At this rate, cannibalism is only a matter of time."

"I will not permit it."

"……Isn't it fine to eat the ones who are already dead?"

One Player said.

The already dead. Wouldn't it be acceptable to use them as food?

The problem was that this was not one person's opinion.

"He's right. How long do we have to look after those people?"

"We have power. If we reduce the number of mouths, we can survive longer."

"At this rate we'll die!"

"If everyone dies, what good is this lofty nonsense?"

They had all gone mad.

Gracia silently shook his head.

"As long as I do not die, I will not permit it."

"Are you secretly eating 'food' by yourself, by any chance?"

"……What nonsense."

"That's something we can just check! We aren't as lofty as you. And keeping on following your will is hard, too."

Shrrk!