The Bubbling Abyss
Serverki family martial arts, the Red Dragon Sword.
Every single member of the Serverki family—including its young dragons—learned this sword technique from a young age.
Yet even so, the Red Dragon Sword remained no less precious.
Among the three great ducal houses of the empire, the Serverki family was often ranked first, and their basic sword was the one every family member was expected to master.
That stability, paired with a genius’s talent, promised boundless potential.
And right now, the swordsmanship unfolding from Luke’s hands was brimming with that very potential.
He took a slow breath.
One more breath, and he would unleash the devastating sword technique he had been saving for the perfect moment.
One more breath, and his muscles would erupt with the raw, monstrous strength he needed to end this.
His eyes sharpened.
Then he struck— a devastating slash aimed straight ahead.
-[damage] HP
Kaaaaaaaang!
His slash met Luke’s blade head-on.
“You actually summoned that kind of power with pure strength! An Innate Ability?”
One-Armed Jack roared, his voice thick with blue mana.
His face was deathly pale.
-[damage] HP
“Holy crap… this power!”
The mana user who simply burned mana to explode raw strength was nothing like this.
This was a genuine Innate Ability, the kind born only once in a blue moon.
But that didn’t matter right now.
What mattered was how to bring this arrogant little brat down.
“Die!”
One-Armed Jack’s mana flooded into his body and slammed against Luke like a tidal wave.
“AAAAAHHH!!!”
Right as Luke’s body looked ready to be crushed.
BANG!
He didn’t hesitate.
His leg shot forward and kicked the inside of One-Armed Jack’s shin hard.
“Kuk!”
One-Armed Jack staggered.
“Red Dragon Sword.”
Red dragon aura swirled in Luke’s eyes and coalesced on his blade.
Thud!Thud!Thud!
Each strike was relentless, patient, snake-like.
“This bastard!”
One-Armed Jack swallowed his curse.
If this went on, he might actually lose.
Then!
One-Armed Jack’s body was already covered in wounds.
He burned even brighter with blue mana and thrust his sword high into the sky.
“God! Grant power to this lowly servant!”
“Wait—!”
Luke’s eyes narrowed to slits.
Could it be… he had accepted the power of an evil god?
While Luke watched, the blue mana wrapped around One-Armed Jack’s blade slowly began to darken.
When the dark aura completely surrounded his body, Luke remained calm.
Tap.
He snapped his fingers.
“The Forest Witch, Elise Bystana’s Witch’s Magic.”
His eyes glowed as he stared down One-Armed Jack.
“The moment a lowly being on this land touches the power of an evil god is a sacred moment—yet holy nonetheless.”
A faint smile touched his lips.
“But a savior has appeared to ruin that sacred moment.
“Savior, please save this heretic.”
The power of Reverse Reason Magic was simple.
Interference.
One of the defining characteristics of Reverse Reason Magic.
The moment interference began, the thick black aura around One-Armed Jack started to fade.
“What?! How…! How could you have learned Reverse Reason Magic to that level?!”
Luke smiled and answered.
“Ah. Our maternal grandmother is quite impressive.”
He didn’t hesitate.
With a step forward, his sword sliced straight through One-Armed Jack’s neck.
“Kuk!”
That was the last sound.
One-Armed Jack stopped moving forever.
Whoosh.
Luke rolled his wrist and looked toward the beggars hiding in the shadows of Patina.
“Well then… let’s finish the rest.”
***
Peck!
While One-Armed Jack kicked aside the fake cultists in Patina and cleared the path, Mikhail kept asking Luke question after question.
“Whoa, young master. You’re amazing. You entered 3rd Tier in such a short time?
“I thought you were just talking big.”
“This guy is shocked.”
“Well, I was just lucky.”
“Did you know that, young master? With your talent, you’re the best even among your age group.”
“This is going to be a long walk.”
“I might even reach 5th Tier and start spitting Sword Gang by the time we get there.”
“Hah.”
While the two of them chatted, One-Armed Jack walked ahead and announced:
“It’s just a little farther.”
Luke nodded.
But the distance that had felt familiar suddenly struck him as strange.
“Wait a minute… this place is…?”
“Huh? Here? Now that I look at it…”
“Is this where I get Zigmalion’s Red Diamond Necklace?”
Zigmalion’s Red Diamond Necklace.
One of the special editions in the Zigmalion Series, the legendary dwarven craftsman’s creations.
Among his countless bizarre artifacts, the Red Diamond Necklace was also nicknamed the “Chaos Generator” for its ability to continuously produce chaos energy.
No matter how he thought about it, this path clearly led to acquiring that necklace.
“Maybe…?”
Luke immediately recalled the information on the heretic carrying that necklace.
“That guy’s patron god was… Bubbling Abyss, wasn’t it?”
The Bubbling Abyss.
Normally evil gods were ranked in four tiers: Extinction, Calamity, Disaster, Catastrophe.
Among them, the Bubbling Abyss was a true Calamity-rank evil god.
Yet even at that level it meddled in the mortal world far too often.
“The Bubbling Abyss. That guy’s a handful…”
Many people followed the Bubbling Abyss.
Even in the strangest moments, its influence would appear, earning players the mocking title of “attention seekers” in Sacred Souls.
“The Bubbling Abyss. Its cruelty was pretty vicious.”
It would offer a breath of air from the abyss—fragile hope—and enjoy watching humans clutch onto it.
Some actually achieved their dreams, which made the religion surrounding the Bubbling Abyss surprisingly strong.
That the Serverki family had somehow gotten tangled up with such an entity was… not a good sign.
“This damned duke… what the hell is he trying to trade with that attention-seeking bastard?”
Luke bit down on the word “duke” and gently touched the wooden box in his chest.
“Let me think. What did the Bubbling Abyss cult mainly collect?”
“Ah.”
“Young master?”
“…Nothing. Mikhail. Just nothing.”
“You sound so vague.”
Luke answered Mikhail vaguely and remembered something else.
“…Damn it. The attention-seeking bastard loved hope and despair.”
Hope. Despair.
The emotions the Bubbling Abyss cult mainly collected.
That attention-seeking bastard would give a thread of hope to someone drowning in despair, keep them clinging desperately, and then harvest the despair when they finally failed.
In the game, players said its conversations were the most delicious of all.
That was why it created fake cults—to offer hope to its followers and collect the despair that followed when they lost.
It was an evil god that actually contributed nothing.
That was exactly the Bubbling Abyss.
Luke took the wooden box from his chest and shook it lightly.
“Young master?”
Whatever Mikhail said, Luke kept shaking the box.
“…That’s it. The Crystal of Emotion.”
It looked roughly the size of a glass marble.
The Crystal of Emotion—simply put, solid human emotions distilled into a physical form.
Evil gods and dark mages who worshipped them loved these.
Looking at the size, it seemed to contain the distilled emotions of quite a few people.
Tsk.
“Damn it. He really did put a lot of effort into this.”
Luke clicked his tongue and tucked the box away.
“Young master, if you keep shaking it, you’ll break whatever’s inside.”
“…Mikhail. Do you know what’s in there?”
“No? I don’t know. My only job was to protect young master.”
“…I see.”
Luke nodded and shot a slight glance at Mikhail beside him.
“Mikhail might really not know. But if he’s in cahoots with the duke and helped gather these crystals, the situation changes.”
“I’ll have to be careful.”
While Luke was subtly suspicious of him, One-Armed Jack announced:
“…We’re here.”
Before them stood a massive building that looked like it had been stacked with giant boulders.
“Thanks for the guide. I’ll take it from here. And Mikhail? You wait outside.”
“…Huh? Young master, if I get caught, I won’t be able to take responsibility!”
“Take responsibility sometimes. And if things get dangerous, I’ll shout—then jump in.”
“Yes… okay, understood.”
Mikhail raised both hands behind his head and started goofing off.
Luke nodded.
“Perfect. Whatever I do inside, Mikhail won’t know.”
Any noise that escaped could be silenced with Witch’s Magic.
Luke walked ahead, leaving the two of them behind, and knocked on the door of the stone tower-like building.
***
“Welcome. Please come in.”
The man in the robe cautiously led Luke inside.
The interior was surprisingly clean.
It smelled faintly of a cathedral, yet looked ordinary from the outside.
Luke knew what that meant.
These were the followers of the Bubbling Abyss—the evil god with the worst reputation.
The room they had been led to was the inner office.
An old man with almost completely bald white hair sat behind the desk.
“Good conversation awaits you.”
The guide left.
Only Luke and the old man remained.
Luke didn’t hesitate.
He sat at the desk and got straight to the point.
“You’re him, right?”
He took the wooden box from his chest and placed it on the desk.
“Take it. His Grace asked me to deliver it.”
“…I have received the item.”
At that moment, the old man reached for the wooden box Luke was holding.
Grip!
Luke caught the old man’s wrist and squeezed hard, as if ready to snap it.
“Kyaaah! W-what the—?!”
The old man was startled.
Luke’s voice rang clearly in his ear.
“Listen carefully. I already know that you and your kind are followers of the Bubbling Abyss.”
Luke’s eyes narrowed.
“So how about we have a little talk, using that fact as a basis?”
A faint smile spread across his lips as he stared straight into the old man’s eyes.