Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 251

Chapter 251: Depth (18)

TL/ED – Miso

Naturally, there was no way that could be Linmel.

Linmel couldn’t speak like that, nor could she wear such a wicked smile. If something like that ever happened, either I had gone mad, or the world had.

Since I was perfectly fine, the world must clearly be the one at fault, I thought as I slowly stepped backward, and the fake Linmel cocked her head and approached.

“What’s this? Are you afraid of me?”

“…”

“There’s no way that could be the case, right?”

Even her voice was identical to Linmel’s, chillingly so.

While she stood there bewildered, I slowly grasped the situation.

‘Is she altering perception?’

Making what wasn’t there visible, bringing into existence a world that couldn’t possibly exist.

In other words, perhaps she was only manipulating what I perceived. She was probably a horrifically grotesque monster in reality, and this place was likely just the dark Deep Sea, only appearing this way to me.

Either way, the fact that provoking her would spell disaster hadn’t changed. I slowly opened my mouth to respond, then-

‘Damn, I almost made a mistake.’

I closed it.

Opening one’s mouth to speak was the human way. I, who had to deceive Outer Gods, could not communicate that way.

Slowly raising Sea Water, I embedded the words I wanted to convey into the surrounding sound of the wind.

“Where is this?”

“I told you. Your grave.”

Fortunately, the Outer God didn’t seem to notice anything strange.

She smiled even more gently and gestured around.

“I am Nightchase (逐夜). I govern water surfaces. And you?”

“…Water surfaces?”

“Oh dear, what was I thinking. There wouldn’t be any ‘me’ outside, would there.”

The Outer God who introduced herself as Nightchase smiled cutely as if she’d made a slip, then explained herself.

“I show illusions. Stagnant water, flowing streams, the surface of water at night. Whatever it may be, when a thirsty soul leans in their face- I show meat to the starving, gold coins to the greedy, lovers to those who’ve suffered separation… at a distance where it seems they could obtain it just by reaching out, just by leaning in their face.”

Of course, the explanation wasn’t cute at all.

What it meant was that if this bitch were out there, every morning hundreds more people would die face-down in their washbasins while washing up.

The whole thing was so absurd that I asked back.

“Why do you do that?”

“Hm? I just told you.”

Nightchase tilted her head as if she didn’t understand me.

“I govern water surfaces, didn’t I say? If they recklessly touch my world, they have to pay the price.”

Her very way of thinking was different.

Nightchase probably had not even an ounce of awareness that she had done anything wrong. To her, living beings were uninvited guests who had approached her on their own.

“Still, I was merciful. I forgave those who offered tributes before drinking… though the Deep Sea seemed to find that distasteful?”

Nightchase shrugged her shoulders and sighed.

“I shouldn’t have reached for the Ocean. I never knew it would be such a terrible thing. When I came to my senses, I was here.”

“That’s really…”

A shame? A sad thing?

She seemed to want comfort, so I was searching for the right words when, as if nothing had happened, she smiled brightly again and took a step forward.

“I went too far back in time. It’s been a while since anything fell into this place, that’s why. So tell me- who are you?”

“…Who am I?”

“Yes. Mhm. I’m curious. How did a newcomer end up in such a place… ah.”

Mid-sentence, Nightchase blinked while staring into empty space.

“Doesn’t seem like a good place to chat. Shall we move?”

“Where to?”

I responded with a moment’s caution. She wasn’t the kind of being I’d readily say “all right” to and just follow along with.

But that thought changed rapidly the moment I saw the change in our surroundings.

-Hisssss…

“?!”

Something fell from the tree right beside us.

It was an apple, melting away. Within three seconds, it shriveled up as if left untouched for three months, mold beginning to bloom across it.

Before long, it became a thick liquid without even retaining the shape of an apple, seeping into the ground, and at the same time, countless other things including fruit began turning brown.

As I watched the scene transform from paradise into hell, bewildered, Nightchase rolled her eyes as if to ask what I had expected.

“You must be mistaken; this isn’t the world I’m showing you. It’s the Artificial Garden made by Corrosion.”

“…Corrosion?”

“That’s right. An Outer God who originally didn’t exist, but Rot crossed the line in its rampage and ended up generating Corrosion naturally. Now the two of them are holed up here together hand in hand.”

So Outer Gods could even be created naturally.

Then again, unless one believed in the concept of a single god, spontaneous generation was probably the closest thing to the truth.

“You’ll melt away too. Would you like that? Or will you come with me?”

“Sure. Anywhere would be better than here.”

Feeling the air grow murky, I had no choice but to nod-

Nightchase smiled, drew closer, and took my hand.

“Good. You answered, and you agreed.”

“…”

Feeling that warm warmth and those tiny little fingers, gooseflesh slowly rose on my skin.

What Nightchase had just said. That I was the one who answered, and the one who agreed.

Those words carried far more meaning than they appeared to. It was simply that those words were all I could interpret.

Even this act of fingers touching was only what I had perceived; in reality, a connection had been formed that couldn’t be compared to mere physical contact.

‘In the end, she’s a different species.’

Like a monkey wearing human clothes and a mask.

She might fool me for the moment, but since she was fundamentally different at her core, it was only a matter of time before she’d be found out.

I was wondering whether I could escape from her when that time came, but the moment I took one step, an entirely different world unfolded.

“Ah, wrong place.”

“….What is this?”

I saw a massive snow-capped mountain.

Except every single inch of that snowy mountain was on fire.

Nightchase smiled at the sight as if lost in memories.

“Those were such fun times. Snow used to be flammable, you know.”

“?”

“Not anymore, of course. Whenever it snowed, beings dying of cold and beings dying of fire would come to me at the same time. All I had to do was show them warm-looking steam and ice-cold thin ice, so it was quite easy.”

“…”

Nightchase passed through countless worlds.

Things that had once been real, taken-for-granted parts of the world.

“What? Mountains don’t collapse when it rains nowadays?”

“Herbivores…? No, you mean there are creatures that survive by eating grass?”

“How strange. Night lasts only two hours?”

What I realized as I wandered through those countless worlds was this:

The First Wizard had been extraordinarily capable.

Absurdly so.

‘He must have worked tremendously hard to maintain balance…’

Even now, people froze to death in winter. But that was the absolute minimum of remaining hazards.

If snow caught fire, as I had just seen?

If a fire broke out anywhere during winter, the entire region would be utterly devastated.

Of course, it was Void who had drowned these things in the sea, but there had probably been countless other hells besides. The fact that the First Wizard had excluded all of them and made the world livable for life was a far greater achievement than I had expected.

As I walked on with such thoughts, in one of the worlds, Nightchase spoke.

“We’ve arrived. This is my world.”

-Whooosh…

-Splash…

Feeling cold water brush against my ankles, I was somewhat surprised by how far more normal the world was than I had expected.

It was a quiet nighttime sea where nothing could be heard except the sound of crashing waves. Quiet enough that even a casual word would seem to echo.

If there was one issue, it was that the waves were moving quite unnaturally. The direction of the wind and the waves didn’t match. As if-

“Though it’s fake.”

“Fake?”

“Yes. Obviously. The worlds you’ve seen so far are all fake. Like playing house. Licking wounds, unable to forget the glory of the past.”

Evaluating her own kind quite scathingly while gazing at the endless horizon, Nightchase chuckled.

“These so-called gods, beings who thought themselves omnipotent, locked up in a prison doing this sort of thing. Isn’t it laughable?”

“…I think it’s understandable, actually.”

“Oh? Why?”

“Better to do something than to just sit holed up doing nothing.”

Whether it was pathetic self-comfort or a grand attempt at escape.

As long as one was satisfied with it, wasn’t that enough?

Honestly, I hoped they’d just keep doing the former. The more they did, the more peaceful it would be up above.

“Hmm.”

After a thoughtful hum, Nightchase spun around and looked at me again.

“Come to think of it, I never asked. Who are you?”

“…I’d rather not say.”

“Oh?”

For now, I didn’t know who I should pretend to be.

So when I tried to brush it off, Nightchase’s smile only deepened.

“Did you know? To get in here, you have to encounter me first.”

“…?”

“There’s definitely a line that separates that hateful sea from our playing house. Where do you think it is?”

When I silently looked up at the sky, trying to find the place where I had fallen, Nightchase doubled over laughing.

“Ahaha! No, you’re standing on it right now.”

“What?”

“It’s this water surface. Anything that falls into the Deep Layer must pass through my water surface. After all, they pass through the surface.”

“…”

Nightchase’s atmosphere shifted abruptly.

More precisely, waves began to crash on the previously calm sea.

“If the Heaven of the old world was Void, the Heaven of the present is me. I know everything that falls from the highest point, and what tricks the other Outer Gods are pulling. That’s why I found you first.”

“Why did you seek me out?”

“No more Outer Gods can fall into this place.”

My Current Sense detected an expansion.

“I know. That Void perished somehow. For over several hundred years, no gods have fallen. And it’ll likely stay that way going forward. In the midst of all that… when something as peculiar as you fell, my interest was piqued.”

“…”

In a tone that had already settled on its conclusion, Nightchase asked:

“I’ll ask one more time, and for the last time.”

[ Who – a r e – y o u ]

Linmel’s voice no longer flowed from Nightchase’s throat.

Whatever answer I gave, the conclusion was probably already set.

Escape- seemed difficult.

I could Proclaim the Deep Sea right here and fight her on equal footing, but doing so would only end up giving her certainty.

Seeing my tightly sealed lips, Nightchase’s smile twisted bizarrely.

“Fine, don’t tell me. I’ll just find out for myself.”

“You put quite a bit of effort into making this.”

“…What?”

Just before Nightchase could do anything.

I scanned the shallow sea around us and asked, almost in passing.

“You called it playing house, called it a joke, but- it was all self-mockery, wasn’t it? Looks like you put the most effort into yours. The other worlds weren’t built with this much care. You’re probably the one who misses the outside the most, too.”

“…Uh…”

Showing a flustered expression for the first time, Nightchase replied as if dumbfounded.

“Is that supposed to be provocation? Sorry for not getting it, but you really don’t know how to insult someone.”

“That’s not what I meant. I’m saying I can help you, if you want.”

Fortunately, this was something I could help with.

I poured Sea Water in and adjusted the direction of the unnaturally churning waves.

It was incredibly familiar work to me. Lately, I had spent every single day inside the Deep Sea, and recently, I had become capable of extremely precise Current manipulation.

The sea transformed naturally in an instant.

“Oh… not bad at all.”

Nightchase nodded in apparent satisfaction at the sight, then soon looked at me curiously.

“So, are you begging for mercy with this? Hmm, my heart wavers a bit… but you know it’s nowhere near enough, right?”

“What’s lacking is your judgment.”

“…What?”

“You see this and still don’t get it? The one who should be begging for mercy is you.”

“…”

Her eyes narrowed in displeasure.

It was a subtle threat, but I continued the conversation without a tremor.

She didn’t know it, but enough information had already been gathered.

Including information Nightchase had directly handed me.

“The others have probably given up. They’ll spend their whole lives content in the fake worlds they made. But you can’t give up. You haven’t. Even now, you’re dying to get out, aren’t you?”

“Why do you think that? Simply because I made my world with precision?”

“Because you were the only Outer God here who reacted to me.”

Since I had passed through her water surface, I understood that she had checked first.

But I had passed through countless worlds along the way.

Whether that had been Nightchase’s way of pressuring me or not, not a single Outer God among them had reacted to us.

It was impossible for the creator of a world not to know when another Outer God was inside it. It simply meant that they didn’t care whether a new Outer God came in or not.

That was actually normal. With countless of their own kind already imprisoned, what thought would arise just because a new prisoner came in for the first time in ages?

“Only you tried to dig up information about me, only you tried to bring me here. You wanted to assess. Whether I was a risk, whether I needed to be eliminated, whether dangerous things could happen in that process- whether your plan could be derailed.”

“…”

Nightchase stared at me blankly with that face.

Neither denying nor confirming.

I drove the wedge in deeper, pressing her:

“You still want to escape from here, don’t you?”

“Hmmmmm…”

“If so, you can’t treat me like this.”

Once again, I raised Sea Water and used the Authority of Creation.

“You asked what kind of Outer God I am. You and your kind ought to know that.”

“What?”

“The Outer God who governs Deep Sea Creatures. That’s me.”

-Splash!

Beside the dumbfounded Nightchase, a single Anglerfish dropped down.

***

I wielded the Deep Sea. Meaning, the moment I used my abilities, I would inevitably be exposed as an Outer God connected to the Deep Sea.

At the same time, I knew far too little. Just a brief conversation, and I would be exposed as something performing Mimicry of an Outer God.

There was only one way to overcome these two unfavorable conditions and impersonate an Outer God.

“So- you’re saying you’re an Outer God who was just created?”

“That’s right.”

Not knowing things was only natural.

Because I had just been born.

“And you came into being because of the Deep Sea Creatures we created at random?”

“Correct.”

The reason I could use Deep Sea abilities was because I was the Outer God who governed Deep Sea Creatures.

Creating Deep Sea Creatures was what I did best.

The decisive clue had come from the way the Outer God called Corrosion had been generated. If another Outer God could be created from what other Outer Gods had done, then it wouldn’t be strange at all for an Outer God of the Biological Transmission Organs they had spread throughout the Deep Sea to come into being.

“…That’s hard to believe. Can an Outer God of Deep Sea Creatures even come into being? Deep Sea Creatures already existed originally.”

Naturally, since this was a hastily fabricated lie, Nightchase’s expression was ambiguous. Half-believing, no, more like three-tenths believing and seven-tenths doubting.

That much was enough. I had already gleaned quite a bit of information from the Middle Layer.

“The Deep Sea Creatures you all spread through the Deep Sea are deformed mutants. You’re saying those existed already?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

From the answer she let slip, I gained another confirmation.

‘So this one was the one who spread Deep Sea Creatures through the Deep Sea.’

To get her hands on Deep Sea abilities.

If she had gone that far, she truly seemed desperate to get out by any means. In that case, I just needed to dig deeper into that angle.

“If you don’t believe me, look at this.”

Using the Authority of Creation, I created several Deep Sea Creatures for her to see.

Reproducing what I had seen so far in as much detail as possible.

When Deep Sea Creatures of such high quality came pouring out that I almost mistook the trial in the Middle Layer as having been preparation for this, Nightchase, who had still been somewhat suspicious, relaxed her expression slightly.

“Ugh, they evolved in this kind of way? Disgusting.”

“…”

“Still, alright, I get it. No wonder you seemed too weak to be called an Outer God. Then again, seeing you create life, you didn’t seem to be human either… haa.”

“Why the sigh?”

“I had thought, just maybe, that you might be the Outer God of the Deep Sea. Well. Of course, no one like that could possibly be this weak.”

A slight chill ran down my spine.

No wonder she had kept testing me. Her deduction had even been partially correct.

“Let me say it again: for you to escape, I am absolutely necessary.”

“…I’m not so sure about that.”

Nightchase rested her chin in a slightly thoughtful manner.

“We’ve already got our own plan in motion over here.”

“Do you think it’ll work?”

“About eighty percent.”

…?

She had an escape method with that high a success rate?

However miserable, she was still an Outer God. She wouldn’t be thinking purely optimistically about something like this.

As I was somewhat taken aback, she gave a small laugh and looked over at me.

“But we need at least a back door for the twenty percent chance of failure. An Outer God who governs Deep Sea Creatures… you sound like about a seventy percent plan yourself.”

“…Thanks for the high marks.”

After a slight nod, I sorted out the situation once more.

An Outer God who appeared normal but was practically convulsing with the desire to get out of the Deep Layer somehow.

I knew her objective, and had even managed to deceive her somehow.

From here on, the stage was mine alone.

“So, exactly what can you do?”

“Nothing.”

“…What?”

“What I just showed you is the full extent of what I can do.”

Of course it was. The Outer God abilities, for me, had been acquired only just recently.

After blinking for a moment at my brazen reply, Nightchase soon furrowed her brow fiercely.

“Hold on, with that little going for you, what gives you the nerve to talk so big-”

“What do you want me to do? I was just born. What do you expect?”

After taking it indifferently, I brought out my Sea Water for her to see.

“This is the only Authority I can wield.”

“…Really pitiful. Far more than I had imagined. No, even an Outer God who governs the smallest possible domain would be stronger than this…”

“You make me grow.”

“What…?”

“You said it yourself. A seventy percent plan.”

My original plan had been to roughly observe and try to mimic her.

But with such a foolish sucker right in front of me, how could I just let it go?

I approached the bewildered Nightchase and held out my hand.

“Try making me into that, then.”

I was going to suck her dry, right down to the marrow.