Chapter 180: The Power of the Abyss
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 180: The Power of the Abyss
It was like a teacher scolding young students.
They were never equals.
The power dynamic between adventurers and the Labyrinth Master was a steep, vertical hierarchy.
It was a sharp rebuke, telling them not to dare stand before him with such a half-hearted attitude, lacking not only the resolve to die but even the courage to kill.
Consul Peterson of the Public Security Headquarters recalled the incident in the underground prison.
The Labyrinth Master, who had come for the White Lion, had melted all of the Consul’s weapons with steel-dissolving magic. In response, the Consul had broken a chair, ripped out its steel frame, and used it as a weapon.
At the time, he had thought he needed to pour all his strength into finishing off the monster that had attacked his headquarters.
But the skill Peterson had chosen was ‘Skull Splitter.’
It was a skill that stunned the enemy, typically used for subdual.
Why, among all the lethal techniques he knew, did the Consul choose that one?
Even back then, he had been wrestling with a question in his subconscious.
‘Is it really okay to kill the Labyrinth Master?’
Even in that moment, as the Labyrinth erupted and that monster personally assaulted the Public Security Headquarters, he had been lost in thought.
Even as the guards of the underground prison were being slaughtered, resulting in actual casualties, and with no telling what harm might befall the entire city.
‘Is it really okay to kill him?’
Before even considering the possibility of success, the Consul lacked the conviction.
So what about now?
The Labyrinth Master wasn't attacking the Public Security Headquarters; he was returning to the Labyrinth. They were retreating.
If he were to chase them down, kill the Labyrinth Master, and the Labyrinth was sealed, what of the immense chaos and despair that would sweep the continent, and the condemnation that would fall upon the Consul?
Could he bear it?
“…”
To be honest, the Consul had no conviction in his blade right now. His opponent was someone he had little chance of defeating even if he resorted to every evil trick in the book, and he didn't even dare attempt to capture him alive. And the adventurers here now lacked the will to fight.
“Caleb…”
So, the Consul returned to his primary mission. His real job wasn't to fight the Labyrinth.
It was to protect Sohen.
“I can’t leave him behind,” the Consul said.
“Not just Caleb, but everyone on the Gourmet Whale. I can't leave a single person behind. That includes Neko’s party, the headquarters troops that entered the stomach, and Caleb. I’m taking them all.”
“Consul.”
But the Labyrinth Master’s expression was cold.
“I did not ask for your opinion.”
The tyrant had simply given an order.
His command for everyone to descend was not a test of their fighting spirit or sense of responsibility.
“If you do not leave now, I will simply kill you all.”
“Why are you so obsessed with this wizard?” Blackdog interjected.
The answer that came back was a surprise to everyone.
*
“Because this wizard has defeated me once before.”
It was a surprise even to me, the person in question.
“Back then, he brought a fox, a tiger, and a spirit with him.”
He was talking about Hyedam, Mugol, and Bipa.
“Thanks to him, my plans were set back significantly.”
What on earth did I do before I was possessed?
“A clone of Wizus. Truly, my eternal rival.”
The Labyrinth Master extended a hand toward us.
“But you’ve made a grave mistake this time. The companions you’ve brought are not prepared to fight me. I will drive them all out, and then we shall finish the fight we never could.”
“I…”
Suddenly, a completely unexpected voice came from behind me.
“I’m ready to fight.”
It was Neko.
“I don’t care if the possessor Blackdog returns or if the Labyrinth is sealed. What’s more important to me is the safety of Sohen’s citizens. You’re too dangerous to just let go.”
I’m incredibly grateful, but honestly, I don’t think Neko’s party joining the fight will be much help.
Though a weapon like the Order Bomb in Neko’s pocket might be useful.
“Did I not say I wasn’t asking for your opinion?”
The Labyrinth Master reached his hand toward us.
“But seeing as you still stand there, I have no choice. The indecisiveness of lowly creatures who have neither the courage to attack nor the courage to retreat.”
A spell was being cast.
“Pathetic.”
The floor began to shake.
The air pressure grew heavy.
“Kugh…”
Even Krom, as strong as he was, collapsed to the ground with a thud.
Crack!
The Consul braced himself by planting his sword into the ground, but he still seemed to be struggling to stay upright.
Yernil, Aimus, Back Attack, and Neko’s party were slammed flat against the floor.
Like a hydraulic press compacting the earth at a construction site, an immense pressure crushed all the adventurers to the ground.
I knew instantly what kind of magic this was.
‘Abyss!’
The Labyrinth Master could create any type of trap that existed in the Labyrinth.
It was a pitfall trap.
The same trap that had dropped us from the 5th floor to the 6th was now forming on the Gourmet Whale’s tongue.
In the game, the Labyrinth Master could dig these to plunge a player’s party members deep into the lower layers.
CRASH!
The tongue of the giant beast we were on split open, and blood began to gush out.
Snap! Crack!
From below came the sound of a jawbone breaking. And then…
“Aaaaaaaah!”
The Gourmet Whale’s clone, standing beside the Labyrinth Master, clutched its jaw and collapsed.
“Master!” it cried out, bowing its head to the Labyrinth Master.
“Please!”
The Gourmet Whale begged, but the Lord of the Abyss was merciless.
“Silence.”
He shot the Gourmet Whale a single glare, and the whale immediately shut its mouth.
CRACK!
The beast’s jawbone snapped and broke away.
A massive amount of blood poured out as tissue was crushed and muscles were torn.
“The floor is tilting!” Blackdog shouted.
The monster’s jaw was breaking off, about to fall completely, taking all the adventurers on it down with it.
“Psychokinesis.”
All except me.
Normally, that spell was for moving small objects like an ossuary.
As skinny as I was, it was absurd to think it could lift an entire person.
My body was suspended in the air as if held in a giant’s grip, completely unable to move.
And just then.
“…Advent of the Ice Age.”
The Frostian Mage, Nimue, cast a Tier 7 spell.
A massive, rapid freeze.
The blood from the nearly drained vampire cloud and the blood pouring like a waterfall from the Gourmet Whale’s jaw began to freeze over.
Crack! CRACKLE!
It was like a colossal glacier forming in an instant.
As if the monster’s jaw was being replaced with ice.
BOOM!
At the same time, as if on cue, Blackdog kicked off the ground and shot into the air, snatching me.
‘Shadow Leap!’
He teleported. Right in front of the gate.
“Get to the surface, now!”
Blackdog shoved me toward the gate, but…
Shhhk!
The stairway gate suddenly slammed shut.
The Labyrinth Master was clenching his fist in its direction.
“No way…”
I was caught by Psychokinesis again, and at that moment, I saw it.
As Blackdog was carrying me, the wand tucked into my belt fell out. The message-sending wand I had received from Isel.
The Labyrinth Master saw it too.
While holding me with Psychokinesis, the demon’s gaze fixed intently on the wand on the floor.
I think I knew what was about to happen.
Meldini had said it.
The Wizard of the Active Volcano was a Ranged Wand Controller.
“No!”
The wand on the ice shot up on its own.
“Nimue!”
When multiple teams were mixed together like this, mages naturally stuck together to cross-check each other. The wand was right next to Nimue.
The levitating wand spun half a turn to face Nimue’s side.
“Finger of Death.”
With the Labyrinth Master’s incantation.
*
Tier 9 Necromancy.
In that spell, the wand becomes the finger of the Grim Reaper.
For the wand to point at a target at close range was to mark them for death.
In game terms, it was a death spell that ‘instantly kills a target with low morale.’
“Huk…”
Nimue couldn’t resist.
Even a Deep Layer adventurer would hesitate in a pointless battle against such a powerful foe.
Her morale must have been abysmal.
The Frostian race was immune to the cold, but…
“Cold…”
The warmth of life began to drain from her body in an instant.
The massive glacier that had replaced the Gourmet Whale’s jaw began to crack.
“Nimue!” Blackdog roared.
Krom kicked off the ground and flew forward.
BAM!
The Orc Berserker’s powerful hand seized the Labyrinth Master’s throat, but…
“Kgh…”
His axe didn't come down.
“Dammit…”
Krom glanced at Blackdog.
Nimue could still be saved. Rococo was already rushing to her side. Rococo could revive her. But if he killed the Labyrinth Master, what would happen to Blackdog?
Blackdog would be exiled, never to be summoned to this world again.
“You… you son of a bitch…”
“It is your fault for not fleeing when you had the chance. Let this be a lesson.”
SWOOOOSH!
In that instant, with a fierce sound of slicing air, the longsword thrown by the Consul flew with incredible force.
It grazed past Krom’s shoulder and…
CRASH!
…severed the Labyrinth Master’s arm.
POW!
The Consul had broken free from the crushing pressure of the Abyss. He leaped forward, landing right in front of the Labyrinth Master and quickly retrieving his longsword.
“Execution of Justice.”
The tip of his blade, imbued with immense divine power, plunged into the Labyrinth Master’s chest.
“You, you bastard! If you kill him…” Krom screamed. Blackdog’s face went white.
“N-no! I can’t go back!”
The shouts of the constables crying out from behind him.
“Consul!”
Rococo’s healing spells, trying to revive the deceased Nimue.
Amidst the pandemonium, the Labyrinth Master smiled with satisfaction.
“Consul.”
Lava flowed from the wound in his chest.
“You will carry the guilt of this impulsive act for the rest of your life.”
The Consul’s sword began to melt in the hot flames gushing from the wound.
“What is this…”
The demon’s severed arm was now regenerating.
“Fissure Eruption.”
*
With an explosion, Krom and the Consul were sent flying, covered in lava, along with Blackdog.
The two of them slid across the icy surface.
With Nimue’s death, the ice had already shattered completely.
CRASH!
Ice shards, bone fragments, the monster’s torn muscle fibers, and a waterfall of blood.
Along with all of it, the adventurers began to fall 30 meters to the ground below.
“Grab on!”
Aimus reached out, grabbing hold of Back Attack with all his might.
POP!
The Monk opened his steel parasol. The parasol caught the wind, slowing their descent.
“Yernil!”
This time, Back Attack reached out for Yernil.
“…”
But Yernil didn’t take his hand.
“Hey! Elf! Grab my hand!”
But Yernil didn’t grab Back Attack.
Instead, she looked toward the receding jaw of the Gourmet Whale, at the empty space where Caleb was suspended by psychokinesis.
‘Caleb.’
To be honest, Yernil had been half out of her mind after encountering a monster on a completely different level from anything she had ever seen.
Then she had been crushed and pinned to the floor by the Abyss spell.
This being, who toyed with the strongest of the Deep Layer as if they were children, was an opponent she didn't even dare think of fighting.
She didn’t know what to do, so she couldn’t move rashly.
But now, she knew for sure.
“Neko!”
Instead of taking Back Attack’s hand, Yernil reached out to Neko.
“Give it to me!”
Neko understood at once.
She took the Consul’s Order Bomb from her pocket and handed it to Yernil. And Yernil…
‘Warden Relocation.’
…leaped toward the Gourmet Whale.
“Yernil!” Aimus shouted.
“Hyung-nim!” Back Attack yelled to Aimus.
“Leave her if you want!”
“Like hell I would!”
“Let’s go!”
Back Attack grabbed Aimus and used Shadow Leap.
*
Thud! Thud!
Sohen’s strongest forces had been knocked into the Abyss, but not our party.
Aimus, Yernil, and Back Attack had returned.
They landed on the slippery, blood-soaked floor of ice. Aimus stood at the front, aiming his iron staff.
“Let Caleb go!” Yernil shouted.
Holding the Order Bomb.
“Or I’ll detonate this and kill you!”
“Your new companions,” the Labyrinth Master said with a grin, “are braver than the last ones.”
My message-sending wand, still floating in the air, moved again.
This time, toward Yernil.
“Finger of Dea—”
I flipped the hourglass.
*
[Your turn. Time remaining: 60 seconds]
[Action Points: ■■■■■■]
I had always harbored a question, a worry.
What if supreme beings like the Labyrinth Master or Wizus could resist the hourglass?
What if I flipped it, and they just said, ‘So you did have the hourglass after all!’ or something like that?
But now, I was certain.
The highest authority in this world is a rulebook that not even the Labyrinth Master or Wizus can defy, and the hourglass is a Rule Breaker.
The first piece of evidence: even the waves of the Ethereal Galaxy had frozen during the hourglass’s turn.
The second piece of evidence: even the Labyrinth Master could not move during my turn.
“…”
His mouth, which had been forming the word ‘Death,’ was frozen open in a wicked shape.
Even the Lord of the Abyss was bound by the turn-based system of the hourglass.
“Hoo…”
Yernil. I was honestly touched that you came to save me.
The same goes for Aimus and Back Attack.
It seems I’ve done a good job putting this party together.
Which is why I can’t lose Yernil at a time like this.
‘Ranged Direction Adjuster.’
[Your turn. Time remaining: 53 seconds]
[Action Points: ■■■■■□]
I seized back control of the wand the Labyrinth Master had taken.
The wand moved.
“Labyrinth Master.”
My wand control is superior to yours. The hourglass is a power higher than your mental strength.