Chapter 218
Chapter 218
Translation: godtl
The Blood-Red Abyss (1)
The dimension of Azshita.
Unlike the countless secrets held within its deep, dark ocean depths, the surface of this dimension—composed mostly of water—was typically as blue and serene as the open sky.
But not today.
Swoooosh—
From areas notorious for their violent waves to zones where even the faintest ripple was absent—
Like wind sweeping across ripened rice fields, the waters of Azshita began to churn, waves both large and small swelling and gathering toward a single point.
And at the epicenter of this phenomenon—
Whoooosh—!
As if an entire section of the sea had been hollowed out, a colossal whirlpool raged with terrifying force.
Most who witnessed this would assume it was caused by a massive rupture in the oceanic crust or the aftermath of an underwater volcanic eruption—after all, that was the usual explanation for whirlpools.
But reality was far different.
"Ugh— Aaahk!"
"Kyaaaaah!"
"Sa— Save me!"
Like a sudden heart attack striking without warning, the whirlpool had appeared out of nowhere.
Those caught in this inexplicable disaster—regardless of race or combat prowess—could do nothing but scream helplessly.
Of course—
"No more! My Holy Power—!"
"T-The barrier's cracking!"
"Water-attribute magic isn't working! My Trait too—!"
"Endairon! Do something!"
Given that this was a Diamond-rank Promotion Match, the elite participants were holding their ground in their own ways—but that was all.
They were merely enduring, unable to escape the grip of this sudden calamity.
Above all—
"Fine, the whirlpool is one thing—but what the hell is that light?!"
A blinding white sphere, illuminating Azshita's depths as if it were midday—
Crackle—
Wasn't it sparking violently at the very center of the whirlpool?
"That thing's about to explode any second—!"
"We'll all die if it does!"
"I've never heard of a map feature like this in Azshita!"
"Screw teamwork or whatever—find an escape route NOW!!"
In an instant, the Players who had been resisting the massive current banded together.
Pooling all their strength against the whirlpool—
"Endairon! Over here!"
"Raaaah!!"
"O waters—part before me!"
—they focused their power on a single point and unleashed it.
Their efforts weren't entirely in vain.
Sluuuurp—
"I-It's open!"
"The whirlpool's split!"
"Move, now!"
A fissure formed in the mountainous, raging whirlpool, and the Players, faces alight with hope, surged toward it.
And so—
"Hah! No matter how fierce Azshita's currents are, they're nothing before my SS-rank Trait—Ruler of the Waters!"
The fish-headed Player who had contributed the most to creating the gap finally broke free from the whirlpool.
Of course, he had only escaped the most dangerous part—
Whoooosh—!
The surrounding waters were still turbulent.
But—
'Good! At this current, swimming won't be a problem!'
For the fish-headed Player with an SS-rank water-related Trait, this was trivial.
True to his appearance—likely a race that thrived underwater—he swam through the violent currents with fluid ease.
Then—
"Wait."
He paused mid-swim.
'There's no need to rush out in a panic, right?'
Blinking slowly, he turned his head to look back—
"Don't push! Stop pushing, damn it!"
"Move aside before I crack your skull open!"
"I was here first!"
The narrow gap in the whirlpool was packed with players scrambling to escape.
The fish-headed player took one look at the chaos and—
'This is actually an opportunity!'
His eyes gleamed as he spread his webbed hands, blades of water forming at his fingertips.
'In a Survival-type Promotion Match, kill count is the top priority. If I mindlessly unleash attacks here...'
He could wipe out a massive number of upper-tier players—ones he'd normally struggle to take down one-on-one.
And the sheer number of kills he'd rack up in the process? That went without saying.
"Keh-hah!"
The fish-headed player burst into maniacal laughter.
Whoosh.
A deep blue energy surged from his webbed hands.
As if responding to his will—
Swoooosh—
The violently churning seawater around him rapidly gathered, soon taking shape into countless projectiles.
But that wasn't all.
"Water—tighten the gaps!"
SS-rank Trait: Ruler of Water.
True to its name—
Crrrrk.
The once-wide gaps in the whirlpool began to narrow.
Naturally—
"W-what the hell?!"
"The gap's closing!"
"You've gotta be kidding me! Get out, NOW!"
The desperate players grew even more frantic.
And above them—
Shiiiiing—
A rain of seawater projectiles came crashing down.
"Heh-heh! I'll feast well on these kills!"
Just as the fish-headed player grinned in anticipation of the slaughter—
Zaaap.
"Huh?"
A thick bolt of lightning grazed past him.
And as if that were the signal—
CRACKLE-BOOOOOM—!!
A blinding white explosion erupted from the center of the whirlpool.
No—
Could this even be called an explosion?
Fwoooosh.
Everything touched by that white light turned to ash, scattering into nothingness.
Was his vision gone?
Or had the world itself turned white as it vanished?
In this blank, annihilated world—
'Am... I even alive?'
The fish-headed player could only blink dazedly.
Then—
"So it's you."
A voice—cold enough to freeze the marrow in his bones.
Yet so utterly depraved it sent shivers crawling down his spine.
Only after seeing the owner of that overwhelming voice did the fish-headed player realize—
"In the middle of my hunt, you dared to raise your spoon."
That he was still alive.
That his eyes hadn't been seared blind, nor his body reduced to ashes by that devastating light—
All of it was solely because that platinum being had allowed it.
And once that truth sank in—
'No way... That whirlpool wasn't a natural phenomenon?!'
A shockwave of disbelief tore through his mind.
'He... created a whirlpool of that magnitude on his own?!'
Before being a water-affiliated species—
Before even possessing the SS-rank Trait: Ruler of Water—
He knew better than anyone.
That the catastrophic whirlpool from earlier was a force he wouldn't even dare dream of wielding.
Hell—
'Not just me! Even the Rankers of my race couldn't create a whirlpool of that scale!'
A power even the Rankers of his own kind wouldn't dare attempt.
Of course—
'Well, maybe if it were the Rankers of the top-tier races like the Naga or Jotun...'
If it were the Rankers of the absolute apex races, the story might be different.
But that colossal whirlpool wasn't even the end of it, was it?
If he considered the orb that had created this white void—
It was nothing short of absurd.
'And there's no way a being like that is just Platinum to begin with!'
This shouldn't even be possible in a Diamond Promotion Match.
Whether he understood the fish-headed player's thoughts or not.
"Tsk. I was originally planning to gather more..."
The Platinum existence clicked his tongue, lightly tapping his smooth chin.
As if seeing something.
His gaze swept through the empty air.
"Well, with 468 additional kills. Even if they wanted to catch up now, it'd be impossible."
He uttered such an outrageous statement that it could make one forget the shock of this situation.
"W-what are you—"
Before the fish-headed player could even finish speaking.
Pssst.
The fish-headed player turned to ashes and scattered.
The white world gradually faded.
The first thing that reached their ears was—
Crackle-boom!
A violent thunderclap.
As if regretting the disappearance of the Lightning Qi's domain.
Sizzle.
The pale lightning flickered its tongue across the darkening ocean depths.
Whooosh.
Even the violently swirling currents.
As if missing the colossal whirlpool from moments ago.
Continued circling the area, savoring the lingering aftermath.
Of course, this applied only to the Lightning Qi and the sea.
=......
=......
=......
The other races who witnessed the spectacle were far from savoring anything.
They couldn't utter a single word.
And then.
-Whoa. The chat's dead silent, huh?
-Alien bros went completely mute?
Questions arose in Earth's chat, but that was all.
-That's... same for us, isn't it?
-Yeah. Chat speed dropped to like a quarter, lol.
-Can't blame them. Over half are new viewers. Even I, who's seen a lot, am kinda overwhelmed.
-True lol. I'm an OG viewer since this guy's early streams. This one hit different.
-Fr, I'm practically a day-one viewer too. Not easy to process.
-Si-mun-ham. The real deal.
This battle was a spectacle even veteran viewers found hard to digest.
So Earth's chat wasn't much different.
Meanwhile, before Si-mun—the cause of all this—appeared:
[You've defeated over 300 players in a single strike.]
[Achievement 'One-Shot to the Constellations' unlocked.]
[5,000 Achievement Points acquired.]
The highest kill-count related achievement appeared.
Then.
[Constellations Zeus and Poseidon clap hands together, looking extremely pleased.]
[Constellation Ra glares at the two Constellations with evident displeasure.]
[Constellations Zeus and Poseidon sponsor an additional 5,000 Achievement Points.]
Along with the two satisfied Constellations' reactions.
An extra 5,000 Achievement Points were granted.
'With this, a total of 10,000 points... quite the profit.'
The cost of transmuting Astrapē and Trident beyond their limits.
And fusing them with Ars Magna—5,000 points.
The Achievement Points earned from this totaled 10,000.
A more than profitable venture.
Moreover.
[The Philosopher's Stone minimizes Rebound.]
[300 Achievement Points are refunded proportional to the Philosopher's Stone's grade and level.]
Even the Philosopher's Stone's rebate.
Of course.
'Seems they're refunding based on the standard exchange rate of 500 points. Well, we did force beyond the limit.'
Instead of the 1,000 points used for each weapon.
They refunded 150 points each based on the standard 500.
'Still, not a small amount when you think about it.'
300 points could transmute one standard Constellation's weapon, like Hermes's.
Nodding with satisfaction, Si-mun thought.
'By the way, Ra seems really displeased.'
He noted Ra's reaction again—the Constellation who'd consistently expressed dissatisfaction.
Ra always showed displeasure whenever Constellation-related weapons were used.
'Well. I can roughly guess why though.'
He had a rough idea of what the dissatisfaction was about.
'I should try using it sometime when the opportunity arises.'
With a quiet chuckle, Si-mun turned his body back toward the darkening depths of the abyss.
The abyss of Azshita.
Originally, it should have been filled with pitch-black darkness where even the seabed was invisible.
Yet now, a sinister crimson energy seeped up from the ocean floor like blood, casting an eerie glow across the surroundings.
And then.
—This is the place.
The robed Naga leading the way finally halted.
Though a hauntingly ethereal voice had already announced their arrival.
"Hey. This isn't normal, right?"
The towering woman following behind couldn't bring herself to focus on their destination.
And for good reason.
"You saw it too just now! The entire ocean lit up!"
A white flash.
It hadn't lasted long.
But neither had it been brief—enough to illuminate even the deepest trenches of Azshita.
"Well, thanks to that, we found our way here easily enough... but that power was absurd. It was practically Authority-level!"
Despite her imposing stature, the woman gave a slight shrug.
But the robed Naga merely gazed at her in silence.
"Honestly. Why are all you higher-ups the same? Your kin might all be dead, and you don't even care?"
Clearly displeased, she snorted and swiped at the empty air.
Then.
"Wh—what the hell?!"
Her eyes widened to the point of nearly tearing.
The reason was simple.
On the Arena Board she had pulled up:
1st Place — Kim Si-mun, 500 Kills.
2nd Place —??, 39 Kills.
3rd Place —???, 14 Kills.
4th Place —...
A score unlike anything she, a promising Giant Race contender, had ever seen.
'Then that white light earlier... was that human's doing?!'
Her enormous eyes trembled violently.
Given the nature of this event,
a player's name and details only appeared upon direct encounter.
And since joining the Nagas,
she had met only one other player besides Shirane.
'Then... is Shirane... dead?'
A top-tier Diamond-rank Magic Class.
In an aquatic environment, no less, with the Naga racial advantage?
Even weakened by the penalty,
her competitors in this Promotion Match could be counted on one hand.
Then.
Splash.
Something brushed against her senses, still reeling from shock.
"Who's there?!"
The giant woman immediately bristled, whirling around—but only got that far.
"You're..."
Her wariness vanished in an instant.
The ally she had presumed dead.
"Shi—Shirane?!"
Shirane had returned alive.
Though with four arms, a serpentine lower body now sporting two gaping holes.
Given the severity of her bleeding,
her pallid complexion suggested she had lost a significant amount of blood.
And yet.
"Ghk—cough!"
Even as she vomited what little blood remained,
her eyes burned with vitality.
Yes.
Like those rare creatures who find hope in the jaws of death.
"Danger... barely..."
Shirane forced out words that barely qualified as speech.
"Please..."
Her hand, limp and swaying with the current, reached toward the robed Naga.
But.
Naturally, even Shirane—who had believed they would save her—
and the giant woman could only stare in shock.
—I do not understand, Shirane. Why do you still live?
The words were the polar opposite of the voice's mesmerizing tone.
But the two women's horror was only beginning.
"Now I get why the map's named that. It's because of this place."
An astonishingly decadent voice.
Kim Si-mun, who had appeared without warning, swept his gaze across the surroundings.
"Long time no see, Ashaz."
He waved cheerfully at the robed Naga.
And then.
—Ah. I see. So it was you who deliberately spared her? How clever. Now, I may offer proper greetings.
The robed Naga.
—How delightful to meet you again, my King.
Ashaz bowed her head in deference.
"Wh—what is this?!"
"......"
The Giant Race woman and Shirane gaped, their jaws slack.