Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 231

Chapter 231: Flower (5)

TL/ED – Miso

“You seem to have thought a Prophecy would be something grand. Sorry I couldn’t give you the answer you wanted.”

Cheon-hwa said so with a scornful smile.

“The only reason Void made me was to gain certainty. When I was first created, I did just one thing. I nodded my head.”

“…And what does that mean?”

“-That this world is one enormous Cattle Shed.”

She abruptly shifted her tone and declared coldly.

“Those who follow Void and those who don’t. You, me. All of us are no different from livestock being raised in that shed. That is the truth you wanted, and the only Prophecy sustaining this world.”

“…”

“Having gained his certainty, Void simply carries out what he needs to do. He wants you all to flail and struggle. And you’re faithfully playing your role.”

In other words.

From the very start, there had been no purpose to this war.

If there was one, it was this alone: to keep the war going.

In the process, Fallen and Wizards alike would be driven into corners and multiplied. The multiplied Worlds would be collected. That was what Void had been doing all along.

Because if he destroyed the world outright, all that would remain was a ruined Celestial Realm.

‘So he wants to devour all the Worlds of the Fallen to create the Primordial World…’

The motive made sense.

But there was still one part I couldn’t accept-

“Then why am I still alive?”

That was the reason for my existence.

From what Cheon-hwa had said, I thought I understood why Void had been Submerging people left and right, searching for the Deep Sea. It was one of the largest components needed to reconstitute the Primordial World alongside himself, so of course he would have done anything to get his hands on it.

But I had rejected every attempt. I’d even ended up absorbing Decay’s World in the process.

From Void’s perspective, it must be quite the headache. A brat holding on tight to the gold bar he’d been searching for his whole life.

Shouldn’t he be coming to kill me by any means necessary? As I frowned, mulling it over, Cheon-hwa’s expression turned subtle.

“You probably realize it yourself. You’re quite the oddity.”

“…How so?”

“Originally, what Void sought was the Ocean. His plan was to use his own power within that World to descend further and swallow even the Deep Sea, but…”

She glanced around me and furrowed her brow further.

“You were the Deep Sea from the start. At the same time, you wield that ability freely and have demonstrated skill rivaling the Crimson Circle. From our perspective, you’re not a bad existence to have around.”

“…Me?”

“Yes. Void is nearly invincible, but that doesn’t mean he could face someone like Decay at this point without taking any wounds. If he throws Upper Tier members at you and you die, so be it; if you live, he can stockpile more Worlds without expending his own strength.”

“…”

To Void, I was something closer to a piggy bank.

If he had succeeded in bringing me into the fold as an ally- he would have had me hunt down the other Fallen.

“That’s why you’re still alive. Because you’re useful. That’s the one and only reason.”

Cheon-hwa continued casually, shrugging her shoulders.

“If you want to stop Void, you’ll have to kill every Wizard with your own hands. But if you do that, you’ll also have to kill your master with your own hands. Can you do that?”

“As if. I couldn’t pull it off even if I tried.”

I fell briefly into thought.

There were too many points that lined up with what Agnes had said for this to be mere bluster.

It also explained why Void, who had already won long ago, wasn’t moving: his goal wasn’t victory but the byproducts.

Cheon-hwa stared at me for a moment, then let out a small laugh.

“So you don’t believe me after all.”

“You’re a piece of shit, but I’ve heard things too. It does sound true.”

“What?”

Cheon-hwa frowned as if she’d heard something she shouldn’t have.

“If you believe what I’ve told you, then what is there to deliberate over?”

“Obviously. I’m thinking about how to deal with it.”

“Pathetic. In the end your only conclusion will be to go crawling to Void, offer your cooperation, and beg for your life.”

“Is that the conclusion you reached?”

“…”

I circled around the Flower Garden and shot back at the bewildered Cheon-hwa.

“This World, the more I look at it, the stranger it seems. No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t feel like a World owned by an individual. I can’t even tell what the Burden is here, and it doesn’t seem to dominate you, or be dominated by you. Probably a World you received as payment for cooperating with Void.”

“Do you have any reason to think so?”

“No. Just my gut.”

Cheon-hwa was a villain beyond any hope of redemption.

The mere fact of her involvement  in the Crimson Circle, the very act of issuing orders and coordinating within it, proved that. Even without acting directly, giving those orders was damning enough.

But at the same time, she had a soft spot somewhere in her. The brief time we’d spent together in the Crimson Circle had been enough to show me that this was a two-faced person who could order killings without flinching, yet also grow attached to a child.

Whether she’d inherited that from Sharmia, the original, or not.

“At first I thought this shitty World was another experiment, or a place meant to rob the Fallen even of rest after death, but now I get it. It was just an Ark.”

“An Ark…?”

“A place that would remain after Void destroys the world. A refuge to keep life going.”

-Whoosh!

Once again, flames bloomed on my fingertips.

Watching this, Cheon-hwa slowly clenched her teeth and muttered.

“It’s a pointless act.”

“Then why not just accept it?”

“…”

Instead of answering, Cheon-hwa let her fingers drop limply.

At the same moment, vines shot up at tremendous speed and swallowed Cheon-hwa’s right arm.

Tangled in the writhing vines, even in a situation that should have sent her into panic, she calmly tried to negotiate.

“You’re right. This world is a very small refuge. Not everyone, but all those sacrificed by us are buried in the Flower Garden. They lose the memories of their past lives and live again as flowers.”

“That isn’t living. That’s desecrating corpses with your guilt.”

“Perhaps so. This cannot be called life.”

Cheon-hwa admitted it with surprising composure.

“But if we don’t do even this much, what would be left?”

“What?”

“In the end, not even a trace will remain.”

The vines continued to grow, wrapping around her completely.

Even as her arms, torso, and eventually her face were swallowed up, Cheon-hwa kept trying to persuade.

“Even the death of a single human leaves behind a gravestone; how could the death of a world leave nothing at all? This is the reason I was born into this world. So I have decided.”

“You won’t need to, so start thinking up a new reason.”

I drew in a breath and clenched my fist.

In the end, it was just the same thing all over again.

“I’ll stop it.”

“…”

The fact I’d gleaned from this conversation with Cheon-hwa wasn’t despair, or some rumination on having already lost.

On the contrary, it was news good enough to make me laugh.

“…How naive.”

The fact that Void was certain of his victory meant-

in the end, that he had grown careless.

***

The moment Cheon-hwa decided to eliminate me, the vines began to tighten around her.

Watching blankly, I frowned and threw fire onto the ground.

“Wait, why the hell am I waiting for her?”

I wasn’t a kind enough person to wait out her transformation time.

The flames began to scorch the ground immediately- then stopped.

“?”

Wondering what was going on, I looked down and saw the flowers sinking into the ground one by one.

It was as though they were being drawn underground: I could feel a strong will determined to keep them from burning no matter what.

So she had countermeasures prepared. As I carefully sharpened Current Sense in the world that had instantly transformed into barren earth- the vines abruptly contracted.

The density was such that any human inside would have been reduced to blood in a single instant.

Amid a sight that could only be called suicide, I cautiously took a step back.

Cheon-hwa was also Upper Tier of the Crimson Circle. Even if not on Decay’s level, she wasn’t an opponent to be taken lightly.

-Crunch.

“…What the hell.”

Clearly, it hadn’t been unfounded caution.

The vines that had crushed Cheon-hwa began replicating, swelling in an instant to the size of a house.

And they hadn’t just grown larger. Unmistakably, they had become a plant giant with regions that could only be eyes, a nose, and a mouth.

[Uh, ah…]

Though from the strange cry it let out, it didn’t seem to actually be Cheon-hwa herself.

Watching the rather peculiar spectacle, I eventually tilted my head.

“This can’t be all, right?”

If what she’d shown was the whole of it, this was a foolish move.

Within the Deep Sea, size was nothing more than a disadvantage.

[Ah…?]

-Crack!

In an instant, the giant’s arm was compressed to something smaller than my fist.

Water Pressure showed no mercy even to plants. Its legs, head, and torso followed, compressed in turn, and the thing slumped pitifully to the ground.

Plant sap flowed out, soaking the earth. After watching the scene for a moment, I frowned.

“…Damn it.”

Vines began sprouting one after another from the sap-soaked ground.

The plant giants had multiplied to four. As they let out their strange cries again and turned their gaze toward me, I crushed two of them this time.

The same thing happened. Looking at the plant giants now increased to six, I scratched my head.

“So what exactly is the plan here?”

Cheon-hwa had to know that increasing their numbers was pointless.

One last struggle? Wondering if maybe something would change if I left these ones alive, I tried leaving them alone.

And then-

[Uh…]

One giant opened its mouth and sneezed.

It hadn’t even been aimed at me. So they have manners- I was thinking, when I noticed all the other giants starting to sneeze in unison, and my face twisted.

“Damn it.”

Black seeds mixed into the sneezes scattered across countless places.

I hurriedly tried to block them using Current, but I was too late.

The seeds made vines. The vines made giants, and the giants kept sneezing.

Within the range my Current Sense could cover, the plant giants multiplied exponentially. Only when they’d reached hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands- numbers beyond counting, did I finally realize what Cheon-hwa was aiming for, and sighed.

“Well, that’s definitely the right approach…”

A battle of numbers.

If the opponent was absolutely unbeatable, make the opponents they had to fight endless and wear them down.

If I were in her place, I’d probably use the same method to deal with a World like the Deep Sea.

If there was one problem with this strategy, it was this:

“Your timing’s a little late.”

With those words, I pulled at the thread contained within my ring.