Abyssal Descent
Altare’s eyes shook violently.
Raven stroked the man’s head, then grabbed his arm and pulled him forward, taking a single step. Their positions reversed, and the monster that had been aiming for Altare’s back collapsed with a dagger buried in its throat.
While Altare’s cool blue gaze followed the monster’s corpse, Raven calmly walked past him.
By the time Altare turned to look for him, only a faint, comforting touch and a whispered request to handle things outside remained—like an afterimage.
Hwan, who had witnessed the entire scene, clicked his tongue inwardly.
That’s supposed to be the attitude of someone who wants to kill him?
Anyone could see he was wavering.
If he truly hated his master enough to kill him, he would have pulled away or counterattacked the moment Raven reached out. At the very least, he would have swung his sword the instant that hand touched him.
Where had the vivid killing intent and merciless hatred he’d shown before finding his master gone?
He said he wanted answers, but maybe the real question was about his own feelings toward his master.
How pathetic.
Meeting his master in person had clearly shaken him—his hatred, once tightly bound under the excuse of observation, was loosening. The fact that he himself hadn’t realized it yet was even more amusing. He seemed to be instinctively searching for reasons to hate, but whether that would work out as he hoped remained to be seen.
Having seen enough, Hwan linked the prepared talismans to the axes of the array he had set up.
The axes hidden throughout the city resonated with the talismans. Sensing it, Raven stopped mid-step and turned toward him with surprised eyes. Hwan smiled faintly.
Master’s skill is intriguing, but it’s only proper to show my own abilities first.
Watch closely, Master. This is how your disciple applies shamanic arts.
After selecting several axes nearest to the open gate, Hwan threw the linked talismans. Though they were only paper, they flew with startling speed and stuck to suitable spots nearby.
Still facing Raven’s gaze, Hwan spoke.
“With this, no mana-bearing being will be able to leave this area.”
Shamanic arts had originally been humanity’s weapon and shield against demonic magic in the mythic era.
Magic drew power from mana, and the monsters of today had evolved far beyond simple mana constructs. Through reproduction, their mana had condensed until they carried mana stones within their bodies. Unless Hwan dispelled the array or it failed, the monsters would never escape its range.
“……Not bad.”
Though the distance between him and his fourth disciple had grown, Raven read the words from Hwan’s lips and chuckled.
“So you pre-installed the array’s axes throughout the city, then activate only the section where a gate appears.”
It was a shame that a shaman had to be present to trigger it, but the concept itself was excellent.
That’s the kind of talent expected of an association president.
Most shamans specialized in a single field and never considered combining multiple disciplines.
Some focused on talismans, others on arrays. There were those who handled lingering regrets of the dead, diviners who read past and future, and necromancers who specialized in housing spirits within bodies.
And Hwan, his disciple, possessed considerable talent in every single one of those fields.
How remarkable.
Now he understood why Death had said what he did back then.
“Small villages still can’t be helped, but major cities including the capital can more or less endure gate incidents now.”
Without shamans, smaller villages couldn’t activate arrays at all. Even if one happened to be present and trapped the monsters, there would be no one capable of clearing them and closing the gate. That much was inevitable.
With this in place, at least additional casualties from the monsters could be minimized. Raven steadied his softened heart and leaped into the gate without hesitation.
A single crow shot after him like an arrow.
“There he goes again, charging in alone.”
Something black and bird-like seemed to have followed, but it was probably just his imagination.
Eckhart Lofty, who had witnessed a similar scene at the city gates, muttered indifferently before turning to his flustered subordinates who were asking if they should follow.
“He’ll be out soon anyway. Just clean up the monsters here so we don’t get in his way. If you don’t want to become stepping stones for the captain, stay away from the gate!”
The only Awakener present looked completely out of it, so someone had to keep their head on straight.
Eckhart glanced at Altare, who still seemed dazed. The man was only half-heartedly cutting down monsters while his eyes remained fixed on the gate Raven had entered.
Those fierce eyes, reminiscent of the sky yet holding the chill of glaciers, were rather unsettling. Perhaps it was because Eckhart couldn’t tell what he was thinking. He shuddered and looked away.
He probably won’t get hurt, so it’s fine.
The situation wasn’t so dire that they needed to rely on someone else, and neither he nor his men lacked skill.
Just as he was about to focus on clearing monsters again—
“What’s this?”
A unfamiliar voice cut in.
“What’s all the commotion?”
Even in a casual tone, confidence rang clear. Intense orange eyes.
Though she hadn’t spoken loudly, every gaze instantly turned toward her. Someone among the Lofty mercenaries muttered, “That’s……” as if recognizing her.
Rowina, Raven’s third disciple and president of the Fighter Association, crushed a monster’s head with her bare fist. She glanced at the gate, then at the gathered people, and frowned.
Her eyes swept over familiar faces before settling on the other association presidents, a mocking glint appearing.
“Hwan’s here, and Altare too.”
“……”
“Then who went into the gate? Don’t tell me you left the gate team behind while the people who could’ve ended this faster went in instead. That would be trash behavior.”
Hwan thought that if she was going to judge people as trash over something so trivial, she was hardly in a position to talk.
Altare, snapping back to his senses at her arrival, glared at Rowina’s flowing black hair.
“The gate team never showed up.”
“They didn’t? Then who the hell went in…… Ah.”
“……”
“It was Master, wasn’t it?”
Master went in there alone.
Her lips curled upward as if they might split. Sensing she was about to cause trouble, Hwan immediately called out to her, but Rowina ignored him completely and hurled herself into the gate without looking back.
The moment Raven entered the gate, he felt a frigid wind and the sensation of falling with nothing to support him.
No—this wasn’t merely floating. He was plummeting.
The gate had been suspended in midair.
The first things to greet him were an empty sky with no foothold, his body falling helplessly, and winged monsters charging with jaws wide open to devour him.
The difficulty was absurdly high. Raven observed the monster’s sharp teeth with a blank expression, then suddenly burst into laughter.
“How fun.”
Yes. This was reality. The feeling of waking up from a dream.
“It’s been a while since I’ve done this.”
Guardian Spirit ??? asks if you are all right.
“Of course I’m fine.”
The moment he set foot in the Abyss, phantom pain struck as if it had been waiting.
His entire body screamed as though being boiled alive, and his eyes burned as if they were melting. Yet instead of furrowing his brow, Raven smiled without even blinking.
In a space where no sane mind could remain, something at the very bottom—dry, twisted, and long-suppressed—began to surge upward through his green eyes in the form of madness.
“Aerial combat. Perfect.”
His voice carried an artificial cheerfulness.
“Let’s give it a try……!”
Using one foot to step on the lower jaw of the monster with its mouth agape, he raised the other foot high and kicked its snout away while drawing his dagger.
The difference in size and weight sent his own body flying backward instead of the monster, but since his goal had only been to create distance, he didn’t care.
Maybe I should’ve brought a sword.
No. If he got used to a sword, he would feel awkward returning to daggers later. Daggers were light, inconspicuous, and didn’t draw attention—making them the most convenient to carry.
A sword would be easier, but not enough to justify the inconvenience. Raven pushed the pointless thought aside and glared at the monster charging at him from the opposite direction.
Then he sensed a presence approaching from behind and rolled his eyes to check—
Whoosh!
Something black streaked past his face.
Thud!
A heavy impact rang out, and the presence behind him was sent flying. After quickly dispatching the monster in front, Raven finally turned around.
His gaze landed on a monster flapping its wings to regain balance in the air, then slid over to a single crow. The crow’s glossy black eyes met his now-calm green ones, as if the earlier surge of madness had never happened.
“……You.”
“Caw.”
In the middle of this dangerous Abyss, a crow was shamelessly flapping its wings.
So it had followed him all the way here. Raven let out a voice filled with disbelief.
“Persistent……”
“……”
Of course it was persistent.
Dan hated Raven. Or perhaps “hate” wasn’t strong enough—Dan loathed him.
He had become a disciple solely to kill him, so what more needed to be said? Which also meant that until Dan killed him, Raven had to stay alive.
That was why he had followed him through the gate. When a monster had lunged at Raven from behind, Dan had slammed his sculpted soul into it with all his strength, knocking it away before it could swallow his master.
“I have no right to judge the value of a life standing before a gate.”
……That was the entirety of his reason.
He had heard what Raven said to Altare, but he would erase it from memory. Raven had to be a bad person. He needed to be.
Raven threw his dagger to stop the monster he had knocked away earlier from regaining its balance and targeting the crow.
Thud!
“Kieeeek!”
Blinded, the monster roared in fury and immediately changed direction toward him. Raven stomped down on the embedded dagger with his full weight, driving it deep into the monster’s brain, then used it as a foothold to leap toward the crow.
The crow, entranced by his light, almost flying movements, was easily caught in his grasp.
Still hanging from the dagger embedded in another monster, Raven looked down at the struggling crow in his arms. A belated scolding escaped him.
“Who sends their sculpted soul alone into a place like this? It’s dangerous.”
“Caw.”
“I have a lot to say, but…… let’s talk later.”
Now wasn’t the time.
With one hand still gripping the dagger, he stuffed the crow into his clothes while pulling his legs up to his chest, kicking away another attack.
A heavy impact traveled through his body, and he felt the crow squirming uncomfortably inside his shirt.
“Don’t come out until this is over.”
After shaking his body a few times, he used the momentum to yank the dagger free and nimbly climbed onto the monster’s back.
The gate’s core……
Was it still in place?
He looked up and confirmed the gate, now much farther away. The distance was considerable, but at least the core wasn’t attached to the gate itself.
Instead, one of the monsters nearby let out a grotesque sound as its body swelled and twisted into something even more monstrous.
It already swallowed it……