Chapter 88
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 88
Chapter Title: Declaration of War
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Abyss Gate.
The origin beyond it.
The negative mana generated here is what mages call "pure abyss mana."
This mana instills an instinctive fear in those who handle mana. Of course, the lunatics who worship the abyss are the exception.
To sum up pure abyss mana in one phrase, it's mana infused with every negative emotion a human can feel.
Despair, terror, fear, and so on.
Just sensing this mana pushes those emotions to their extremes. It hits even harder for those favored by mana.
Because they can see the mana.
"Ugh... ahhh..."
A pallid face drained of color.
Legs trembling like aspen leaves.
Just from laying eyes on pure abyss mana, Noa and Dilia froze stiff as withered old tree trunks.
Ullan was no different.
His face was hard as stone as he stared straight ahead. Of course, what his gaze fixed on was slightly different from what the two girls saw.
"......"
He couldn't see mana to begin with.
So what Ullan beheld wasn't the mana itself, but what lay beyond it—the rift in the empty air from which the pure abyss mana flowed.
Ullan knew what it was.
'...An Abyss Rift.'
Back in his previous life, when the Abyss Gate opened.
Monsters flooded into the world.
But there was something odd.
Monsters appeared even in places far from the Abyss Gate. Abyss monsters showed up in Ullan's homeland at the northern edge of the continent, the Northern Plains.
There was only one reason for that.
These "Abyss Rifts," like the one before his eyes now, had opened across the entire continent.
'Dilia told me about it in my past life.'
An Abyss Rift was a kind of passage born when the boundary between the world and the abyss weakened.
Its essential role was the same as the Abyss Gate.
In other words, the rift's purpose and reason for existing was to bring abyss monsters here without needing the Gate itself.
But there was one key difference.
Unlike the Abyss Gate, which persisted forever unless sealed shut directly, rifts closed on their own after some time.
'I heard the reason, but...'
The explanation was too complex for him to grasp.
So he only remembered that they inevitably sealed themselves eventually. Ending his recollection, Ullan stared intently at the Abyss Rift again.
'But why has it opened now?'
As he had pondered earlier.
Abyss Rifts formed when the boundary between the abyss and the world weakened. They only appeared after the Abyss Gate had opened.
'No way the Abyss Gate has opened...'
The thought flashed through his mind, but he dismissed it immediately.
It was an impossibility.
If the Gate had truly opened, the area around Mana Spring would have been obliterated by now.
So why had the rift appeared?
The nagging question looped endlessly without resolution.
As frustration creased his brow—
"...!"
Ullan's expression changed abruptly.
The Abyss Rift began to writhe. Like liquid bubbling and boiling.
A phenomenon he had seen often in his past life.
Realizing what it meant, he shouted swiftly.
"Everyone, get behind me!"
His bellow shook the surroundings.
Perhaps thanks to his resounding voice, Noa and Dilia hastily gathered their wits.
Clutching their trembling legs, they barely managed to duck behind Ullan's back.
And at that instant.
Kwarrr rumble!
Something gushed from the rift.
A sticky black liquid like sludge. It spewed out and swiftly blanketed the area, then surged upward.
Then it began to take form.
Some resembled humans, others beasts, and still more twisted into monsters or magic beasts.
Creatures of every shape and form.
The moment she faced them, Dilia unwittingly gripped Ullan's arm tight.
"Ullan, those things..."
Her thin lips quivered.
Even her usually serene golden eyes shook with agitation. Her gaze now locked onto the monsters, nearly fully formed.
"...What are they?"
Fear laced her voice.
The monsters were composed of ashen mana near-black in hue. Pure abyss mana.
Monsters made purely of mana?
She had never read of such a thing in any book.
Meanwhile, only Dilia voiced her confusion.
Ullan and Noa showed no agitation. As if they already knew what they were.
[Krrrarrr!]
Then the creatures all turned toward them at once.
Jet-black eyes like bottomless pits. They swiveled their deep, sucking voids and twisted around.
The instant their gazes met.
Dilia hunched her shoulders, and Noa silently backpedaled. Instinctive reactions to fear.
Ullan, however, was different.
Thud!
He stepped forward boldly.
His eyes gleamed with fighting spirit.
No trace of fear even against these unknowns. It was only natural. To Ullan, they weren't unknowns at all.
They were all too familiar.
Because in his past life, he had fought these bastards until he was sick of them.
'Abyss monsters.'
The most common variety among them.
Shapeshifters without even proper names. Thus called fiends.
The moment his memory's flashback ended.
Fierce battle-lust enveloped his body.
A murderous intent that set his blood ablaze. Ullan readjusted his grip on his axe. With that, the fiends kicked off the ground, and the savage axe cleaved the air.
Heralding the battle's start.
2.
Meanwhile, around the same time.
When shocking news from Zone 2 reached them, Arsen Academy erupted in chaos.
The news spread not just to the Arsen Guard, but to the deans of each department. Magic Faculty Dean Deplin Chernio was no exception.
"Professor Direk turned into a monster?"
"Yes, that's correct."
Deplin blinked wide-eyed in disbelief.
In response, Rodeil—a senior mage from the Special Task Force—nodded and placed prepared documents on her desk.
"Here's the report summarizing the details."
A report compiled from testimonies of students evacuated from Zone 2. Deplin skimmed its contents.
Today was a crucially important day for her.
The long-prepared experiment—to open an Abyss Rift—was set to commence.
Just an hour ago.
Deplin had activated the top-grade mana stones pre-placed at the edge of Zone 3.
To be precise, the runes engraved on the mana stones had auto-activated at the scheduled time.
'But...'
An unforeseen problem arose.
The Abyss Rift hadn't opened.
A hasty check revealed the mana stones were in Zone 2, not Zone 3.
'Meaning someone moved the mana stones.'
As she sought the culprit, this news arrived. The submitted report immediately identified the suspect.
『Around 9 AM. Professor Direk entered Zone 3 to collect research materials. Returned approximately one hour later.』
From the time the mana stones were installed until now.
Direk was the only one who had visited Zone 3. He had to be the one who took them.
'That explains why he turned into a monster.'
Top-grade mana stones prepared as reagents.
They brimmed with abyss mana.
Unless one was a master or archmage who could freely control their internal mana, most would be devoured by the abyss mana.
'And then...'
Mana overload would warp the body, ultimately transforming them into an abyss creature. That had to be why Professor Direk became a monster.
'The experiment hit a snag.'
A result utterly unlike what she expected.
Yet she showed no displeasure.
Instead, her face lit up with excitement. Deplin recalled memories of Professor Direk.
'He was at the senior mage level, right?'
Even turned into a monster.
The mana stones he stole remained intact.
Once he fell, the runes would activate normally. The Abyss Rift would still open.
'Then Professor Direk's body and soul will...'
Serve wholly as the sacrifice.
A delectable lure to entice those beyond the Abyss Rift.
In essence, a senior mage as the offering.
Deplin couldn't hide her thrill.
What she thought practically impossible had come true.
As her eyes sparkled.
A voice snapped her from reverie. Rodeil, who had delivered the report.
"One detail not in the report: students are isolated in Zone 2."
"Isolated? Who?"
"Ullan Bator, Noa Darshen, and Dilia Arpen, who came for the substitute exam."
"...!"
Her violet eyes widened round.
All three were ones she personally kept tabs on.
"We're forming a rescue team. A request has come to you as well, Dean."
"......"
No reply came.
Deplin just pursed her lips and tapped the desk. Lost in thought, Rodeil inwardly sighed.
'She doesn't want to move.'
Deplin rarely left her dean office or lab. Nor did she usually meddle in such matters.
Probably the same this time. Concluding thus, Rodeil bowed.
"If you'd rather not, you can decline..."
"I'll go."
"...Pardon?"
Rodeil blinked in surprise.
An unexpected response. Deplin smiled brightly.
"As Magic Faculty Dean, I can't stand by while students are in danger."
Of course, a lie.
No reason to rescue them to begin with.
Ullan alone had felled two imperial masters. Plus, two mana-favored ones among them.
'Unless an Abyss Lord pops out, their lives aren't in danger.'
She wasn't worried at all.
The "rescue team" was mere pretext.
Deplin's true reason for heading to Zone 2 was to inspect the anomalous situation caused by Professor Direk.
'I want to see it!'
Direk, unwittingly offered as sacrifice.
Not the usual beast corpses, but a senior mage's body and soul—what powerful entity would emerge?
She was dying to know.
'And one more thing.'
Another variable existed.
Noa and Dilia.
Mana-favored ones. Prized sacrifices coveted by Abyss Lords.
'With those two near the rift...'
An Abyss Lord might catch the scent and react. Finishing her thoughts, Deplin's eyes burned with fervent research lust.
Her ecstatic expression faded briefly.
Deplin snapped from her musings. To turn imagination into reality.
"Assemble the Special Task Force immediately."
"Yes, understood!"
The hearty reply came promptly.
Rodeil exited the office at once.
Left alone, Deplin donned her crimson robe. She grabbed her staff from the wall and let out a sinister chuckle.
"Hee hee, can't wait to see it."
Her face flushed with excitement.
Deplin too left the office.
But perhaps too elated.
She never noticed.
In the corner of the dean office, something had waited all along for her to leave.
Shrrk!
Pale mist rose from the floor.
Taking the form of a wolf. A white wolf.
[Grrr!]
The white wolf moved without hesitation.
It headed to another room connected to the office. Deplin's private lab.
There, it found what it had eyed for days: over twenty top-grade mana stones.
The white wolf grinned in satisfaction.
Like a hunter spotting plump prey.
3.
Kwachak! Pwoom!
Each furious axe swing cleaved the air.
The fiends burst apart in droves.
A truly terrifying might.
The fiends couldn't even approach amid the barrage that demolished everything. As Ullan dominated the battlefield alone.
"......"
Noa remained mired in confusion.
She had barely escaped the fear from pure abyss mana, but spotting the Abyss Rift while regaining her senses plunged her back in.
'Why now of all times...'
An Abyss Rift had opened?
That only appeared after entering the late game in the original story? Noa's eyes flickered like a candle in a gale.
'The future has completely changed.'
Of course, the timeline had twisted from the moment Professor Direk turned into an 8-star magic beast, but even so, an Abyss Rift at this point had never happened.
At least, not in Noa's knowledge.
Then, suddenly.
An ominous speculation arose.
'...No way.'
Had the Abyss Gate opened?
No, impossible. It shouldn't open for at least another 20 years.
Yet she couldn't be certain anymore.
The future had already shifted greatly.
'If the Gate really opened...'
Hidden pieces or whatever, it was all over.
Like starting the final battle right after the tutorial in a game. No way to survive such a scenario.
The thought of such a desperate situation naturally shattered her composure.
Anxiety, fear, terror.
A torrent of negative emotions raged. Then, a sound accelerated her dread.
Kuuuung!
The ground quaked.
Noa snapped to. Soon, she realized the vibration's source.
"Th-that's...!"
A massive shadow blanketed the battlefield.
A colossal monster matching its size appeared. An unidentified beast like a carnivorous dinosaur. Noa knew what it was.
'Korkus!'
In the original Arsen Continent Chronicles.
Abyss monsters fell into three broad categories.
Classified by threat and strength: lower, mid, and upper tier.
The initial fiends were lower tier.
But the Korkus now emerging were upper tier. Powerful abyss monsters that only appeared in the very late game.
Even worse, there were three of them.
"Ha... haha..."
A dream? Had to be a dream. It had to be.
Nothing like this could be real.
Noa shook her head fiercely.
But the approaching tremors only proved the scene before her was reality.
The Korkus drew perilously close.
Noa just stared blankly.
Her expression half-mad.
Then, the world split in two.
"...Ah."
A gasp slipped through her lips.
Her eyes widened gradually.
She realized too late.
It wasn't the world that split.
Creeeeak!
With the sound of flesh cleaving, the Korkus's body parted cleanly.
"...!?"
As Noa gaped.
The Korkus split neatly in two. Then collapsed like crumbling ruins.
Splatter! Kwarrr!
Crimson blood rained down.
Her hair and clothes soaked in gore.
But she had no time for that. A familiar voice rang in her ears.
"You're fine."
A calm tone piercing her despair.
A muscular frame caked in monster flesh. The man brushed back his blood-drenched hair.
The moment their eyes met.
Noa mumbled blankly.
"U-Ullan...?"
She wasn't the only one rallying.
Dilia, gripped by fear, clung to sanity at his voice.
Facing the two girls.
Ullan continued flatly.
"Don't be afraid."
Even before that many fiends.
His expression unchanged.
Not the slightest intimidation. Without a hint of agitation, Ullan turned.
And stated matter-of-factly, as if commanding.
"I'm right here in front."
That was all.
Yet strangely, from that moment, an overwhelming relief washed over them like waves.
Waves washing away fear and anxiety.
Their hearts grew steadfast.
Just having Ullan there made them fearless.
"Huuu."
Exhaling held breaths.
Noa and Dilia slapped their cheeks hard.
Moments later, with reddened, swollen faces, they spoke in unison.
"...Thank you, Ullan."
"Yeah. We're good now."
Unlike their burning cheeks, their minds cooled swiftly. Reason returned, and Noa flashed cold eyes.
'I don't know what's going on...'
But she couldn't just keep being protected.
So she steeled her resolve.
First, help Ullan defeat the abyss monsters, return to the academy, and investigate today's events.
Purpose born, her trembling ceased.
And at that instant.
[Kraaaaa!]
The remaining two Korkus roared.
The battle resumed.