Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 234

Chapter 234: Depth (1)

TL/ED – Miso

“Where am I…”

When I closed my eyes and opened them again, I was outside the forest.

It wasn’t that Cheon-hwa had moved me. Rather, it felt closer to that world being erased.

As if my guess were correct, Cheon-hwa, who had been gazing at the vines writhing on her wrist with a detached expression, opened her mouth in a solemn tone.

“When I said there was no way, I didn’t say it lightly.”

“I know. In fact, that’s the part I want to hear more about.”

What I wanted to hear from Cheon-hwa wasn’t some magical method to suddenly take down Void. If such a thing existed, she would have used it long ago.

The thing is, what I currently knew about Void was that he’d already wrapped everything up a long time ago and completely sealed off every corner where we might so much as struggle…

But just looking at that sentence, I couldn’t quite grasp it.

-Just how hopeless a situation we were in.

“I get things up to this point, but what’s going to happen from here that’s got you making such a fuss?”

“…”

I packed all of that meaning into my words as I stared her straight in the eye.

Cheon-hwa thought for a moment, then answered in a single sentence.

“You will die, and the world will perish.”

“…What?”

“Let me break it down. What Void is currently squeezing out of the Fallen exists purely to fill his twisted desires. The problem is, no one except him knows when that farming will end. However. There is one way to guess it.”

“And what’s that?”

“When he moves to collect the World he needs most.”

Cheon-hwa stared at me intently and continued.

“Whatever Void may be thinking, the one thing that doesn’t change is this: to complete the Primordial Worlds he desires, the Sea is absolutely necessary. Or more precisely, you are.”

“…So what you’re saying is, he absolutely needs me to achieve his goal, and by the time he comes to collect me, he’ll have gathered everything else?”

“That’s highly likely.”

“That part I don’t quite get.”

When I frowned, Cheon-hwa answered calmly.

“What is it you don’t understand?”

“Why isn’t he trying to get me first?”

It had always been that way. Void had only ever tried to accept me as a companion; he’d never thought to capture and absorb me.

It was strange. If I was an essential piece for fulfilling his dream, wouldn’t he think to secure me first?

As though she’d expected that question, Cheon-hwa answered immediately.

“It’s simple. Void can’t endure the Deep Sea.”

“Hmm…”

“I can tell what you’re thinking. It doesn’t make sense to you?”

“Yeah.”

The Burden of the Deep Sea was truly horrific beyond measure.

No one, myself included, not even Dersia, could last long in the Deep Sea.

But would a monster like Void, who already held thousands upon thousands of Worlds inside his body, really be defeated by something like the Deep Sea’s breathing conditions or Water Pressure?

From my perspective, having actually fought him, I couldn’t picture that scene. If anything, he’d probably thrive just fine.

“Certainly, if it were only simple Burden, operating in the Deep Sea might not be that much of a problem.”

“There’s something more?”

“You should know. Or have you not encountered them yet?”

Listening to Cheon-hwa’s question, her head tilted, I frowned for a few seconds.

Until octopus tentacles stretching out from an endless Depth came to mind.

“…The Outer Gods.”

“And the Deep Sea’s case is especially severe.”

Cheon-hwa shook her head and looked down at me as if she pitied me.

“Void is incomparably vast compared to you.”

“Well, I’m still young…”

“I’m talking about rank of existence. If Void were to swallow the Deep Sea, every being at its depths would immediately sense him, and then accept that he’s the only means by which they could be freed.”

“…Ah!”

At those words, I clapped my palms and my eyes lit up.

“Then couldn’t we try Using Barbarians to Fight Barbarians, with the Outer Gods sleeping in my Deep Sea and Void? It seems pretty promising.”

“That’s exactly why you’re last.”

Cheon-hwa shook her head and explained why it was impossible.

“Even if Void somehow finds himself in a position to kill you, he will absolutely not kill you inside his own World. If he happened to swallow you in the process, everything would fall apart. It’s far better for him to burst you open and wait for another Ocean to cultivate.”

“So, the idea is he’ll devour me last, the final one remaining, and push things through before the Outer Gods can do anything?”

“Precisely.”

Things wouldn’t proceed unless Void captured and swallowed me, and there was no way he would.

In the end, it meant using the Outer Gods was out of the question. As I clicked my tongue, feeling my easy shortcut had just slipped away, Cheon-hwa continued.

“In other words, the moment you come under attack, you have to consider it all over. Until then, Void will keep gathering and harvesting the Fallen.”

“Against a Void who’s finished harvesting the Worlds, there’s no chance of winning… is there?”

“There isn’t one even now. Even if you somehow went after him, do you really think an Anglerfish living beneath the sea could dare hunt a bird flying freely through the open sky?”

So picking a fight with Void from our end was impossible too.

I was finally starting to get a rough sense of what Cheon-hwa had meant by there being no way. His side, in a completely unrestricted state, was racking up achievements to fulfill that dream of his, while our side was doing nothing more than obstructing him and pushing back the end as far as possible.

“Mmm… this is tough.”

It certainly wasn’t the kind of problem that would yield an answer in a day or two.

But I couldn’t just keep mulling it over, not when I had no idea when the harvest would end and Void would come looking for me.

As I slumped down on a rock and let out low groans for a while, Cheon-hwa sighed and looked at me pityingly.

“Did you really have me commit betrayal, without any plan whatsoever, just to hear this sort of talk?”

“Yeah. It’s too late to regret it now.”

“And giving up still isn’t an option you’ll consider?”

“Hey, think about it for a second.”

I sighed and reminded Cheon-hwa once more exactly who she was dealing with.

“If I were someone who gave up just because something was impossible, I’d have killed myself the moment I fell into the Deep Sea.”

“…”

I’d only said it as a joke, but.

Cheon-hwa looked taken aback, her eyes widening as she stared at me for a moment.

Only a moment, truly; she soon let out a wry laugh as if to say how hopeless, shook her head, and sat down beside me.

“Well… if you’re going to choose the impossible path, then various options do open up.”

“The impossible path?”

“Yes. For instance, you taking down Void yourself, absorbing him, and extinguishing all his ambitions.”

“That’s definitely impossible. You said it yourself: an anchovy hunting an eagle.”

“I didn’t go quite that far. But it’s a fitting comparison.”

Cheon-hwa nodded, then abruptly brought up something strange.

“Even so, if you were to become a being similar to Void, you might just be able to stand on the same battlefield.”

“…”

When I listened closely to her tone, which sounded like she had something specific in mind, Cheon-hwa continued as if she’d been waiting for it.

“In the end, Void became the ruler of this world by reaching the Celestial Realm. If you could pull off something similar…”

“Sorry to cut you off mid-sentence, but that’s impossible.”

So that was where she was going with it.

I sighed and raised a finger to produce a small flame.

It really was a tiny flame. And at the same time, it was also the largest flame I could produce at present.

“My magical talent is bad enough that even Master acknowledges it. Me reaching the Celestial Realm isn’t happening, even if you gave me a hundred million years.”

“Who said anything about reaching the Celestial Realm through magic? There isn’t a soul alive who doesn’t know that’s out of the question for you.”

Cheon-hwa shook her head and continued.

“What you should aim for isn’t the sky but the bottom.”

“…?”

“Become an Outer God of the Deep Sea.”

She said it in the tone of someone suggesting a casual stroll around the neighborhood.

“Does that happen just because you want it to? I don’t even know how one becomes one.”

“It’s not hard. You just have to descend to a lower place.”

“Descending to a deeper Depth is something I’m already doing. It happens just from me breathing.”

“Faster.”

“That’s…”

I frowned and chewed over her words.

Descend to a deeper Depth faster.

In other words, she was telling me to die faster.

“What changes from that? Do I suddenly become a god once I touch the bottom?”

“No. The shackles binding your arms and legs will become your crown. The very process of reaching that bottom will be what turns you into an Outer God.”

“What’s that supposed to mean.”

An Outer God simply meant a being located at the bottom of the Deep Sea, and the bottom of the Deep Sea simply meant the place where the beings known as Outer Gods were located.

From my perspective, knowing it was nothing more than a word game that didn’t really change anything, it was hard for me to accept what Cheon-hwa was saying.

But she was unwavering.

“Void has already become the equivalent of a god in this world. If you can’t even become a god of some other outside world, then from the very start, a war doesn’t even exist; it would just be a one-sided cry. Whatever goal you set, becoming an Outer God is something you absolutely must aim for.”

“…Let me ask one thing.”

Could she be trying to lure me into a trap?

The thought did cross my mind, but her tone and expression were so earnest that I asked my question seriously as well.

“If I become one of those Outer God things, doesn’t that mean I can’t come back out into this world anymore?”

“It would. If, during that process, you forget even once that you are human.”

“…?”

“You don’t need to understand it now. Let’s just say it depends on your effort.”

I glared at Cheon-hwa, who had folded her arms as if she’d said all she needed to say, and sank into thought for a long while.

But it was a deliberation whose conclusion was already decided.

Standing on the same battlefield.

Without even that being established, nothing at all would unfold.

“So…”

In the end, I sighed and brought up a different question.

“How do I descend faster? I don’t know any method like that.”

“It’s fine.”

As if she’d been waiting for just those words, Cheon-hwa pulled a small Silver Dagger from inside her robes.

“Because I do.”