Wizard of the Abyss - Chapter 253

Chapter 253: Depth (20)

TL/ED – Miso

Of course, my plan had a problem that was separate from the question of logic.

‘If I submerge the world, what’s the difference between me and an Outer God?’

Setting aside whether it was even possible, in order to take Heaven into my grasp, there existed a real chance that everyone in the world would end up as drowned corpses.

Naturally, to create Heaven, I had to keep the Deep Sea afloat. But even if Void fell into my grasp, he would thrash about with everything he had, and if I lost even the slightest bit of control during that struggle?

A great flood, the kind only mentioned in myths, would unfold.

I wasn’t even sure how realistic this plan really was. As things stood, my abilities were far too pitiful compared to the grandeur of the plan.

“Unbelievable…”

While I was lost in such stray thoughts, Nightchase stood beside me trembling, staring at me and at the world inside the Deep Sea.

“You… you’re really the Outer God who governs Deep Sea Creatures? For someone supposedly born only a month ago, this is too much, it doesn’t make any sense.”

“Maybe I’m just a little precocious.”

“…That’s not what I mean. The Outer God who governs candle flames and the Outer God who governs bonfires can’t be the same. Growth is supposed to be proportional to that Outer God’s domain…”

As she spoke, Nightchase’s expression while looking at the Deep Sea was a mix of confusion and a touch of suspicion.

“This… it’s too absurd to call it the growth of an Outer God who governs the element of Deep Sea Creatures. Is that really all there is to it?”

I scratched my head and clicked my tongue.

Had I shown her too much? It wasn’t really that I had meant to show her. It was more that she had come over and seen it on her own.

Since this kind of conversation felt awkward right now, I changed the subject.

“Of course. More importantly, didn’t you say you were going to bring someone along? Why did you come alone?”

“Ah, right.”

Only then did Nightchase frown, as if she had just remembered.

“I wanted to surprise you a little, but the vibe was off. The moment he saw me, he had a fit and even tried to attack. Maybe he’s gone mad after all that time.”

“Why would he be shocked at the sight of me?”

“Because he’s your father.”

“?”

I tilted my head at the sudden parental insult, but after confirming from Nightchase’s expression that she wasn’t actually trying to mock me, I frowned.

“What are you talking about?”

“That Outer God created Deep Sea Creatures. If you’re the Outer God of Deep Sea Creatures, then he’s basically your father. Am I wrong?”

“…”

She wasn’t wrong.

In fact, given that I was claiming to be the Outer God of Deep Sea Creatures, it shouldn’t have been surprising at all.

But somehow, something in my chest sank coldly.

I set down the Sea Water I had been kneading and turned my head.

“You. What did you tell him?”

“What? I didn’t say anything. I just went and told him you existed.”

“How did you describe my existence to him?”

Nightchase looked at me strangely, taken aback by my sudden change in atmosphere, and pulled a small Flying Fish from the air.

“I just showed him this, that’s all. If he’s an Outer God, he would have figured out that much.”

“Hm.”

My chest grew even colder.

“That Outer God… what does he look like? Does he happen to have octopus tentacles?”

“How would I know?”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t. And nobody else knows either. He was the first Outer God to fall, so almost no Outer Gods have ever seen his true form.”

“So why don’t you know? You said you saw him. If you saw him, you’d know.”

“Because that one governs ‘Mimicry.'”

Nightchase answered with her arms crossed, looking annoyed.

“That guy can imitate anything he’s eaten. Humans, animals, even Outer Gods. And it’s not just simple imitation either. He literally becomes the exact same being.”

“…”

“That’s a completely different level of ability from mine, where I just copy outward appearances to lure prey. Every living thing that knows what he looks like inside is already inside Mimicry’s stomach. So asking what he looks like is an impossible request.”

Mimicry.

Imitation.

And the octopus.

Something started to click into place. I swallowed dryly and opened my mouth.

“That guy can imitate Outer Gods too?”

“If he can find them and consume them, sure? He keeps going on about using that ability to escape the Deep Sea or something, but honestly compared to my plan it’s nothing. He’s spent all this time scouring every corner of the Deep Sea and still hasn’t found anything.”

“Is there any way for him to find this place?”

“Why have you been like this all of a sudden?”

Nightchase looked at me with a face full of deepening suspicion and circled around me.

“All he cares about is getting out of here. He doesn’t give a damn about whatever we do. I just thought he might be useful if I made use of you, so I tried talking to him once, and that’s all there was to it. It failed.”

“Nightchase.”

I stepped up in front of her, raised a finger, and conveyed my will clearly so that she could understand easily.

“Right now, both you and I are in an extremely dangerous situation, so answer me straight. Is there any way for him to find this place?”

“…No.”

Nightchase answered with a slightly more serious expression.

“No matter what kind of Outer God he is, he can’t reach my hidden domain that rules the water’s surface. Not unless he planted a spy. And I haven’t seen any sign of one.”

“…”

“I don’t know what you’re worried about, but there’s no need. This place is my sanctuary…”

“It really is impressive.”

I glared at the Flying Fish flapping next to Nightchase.

That thing. From earlier…

…had not been listening to my commands.

Pop!

“Eh, huh?”

When I crushed the Flying Fish with Water Pressure, what should have dissolved back into Sea Water did not.

Small tentacles, like horsehair worms, sprouted out from inside its body.

They tried to leave the water and head somewhere, but were soon crushed flat under the Water Pressure.

Nightchase stared blankly at the sight. She didn’t seem to grasp the situation yet, so I explained it for her in a single word.

“Caught.”

“…Hm, maybe?”

Nightchase tilted her head with a sour, uncomfortable expression.

“But why? What was he trying to do by finding me…”

I was already certain about Mimicry’s true identity.

Throughout that long stretch of time after I had fallen into the Deep Sea, not a single day had passed where that giant octopus tentacle hadn’t come for me.

I had been able to hide thanks to Nightchase’s domain, but in the end my time had run out.

“…Get ready.”

It wasn’t long after.

The water’s surface began to ripple.

Even a freshly minted Outer God like me could tell the shaking was bizarre.

It wasn’t terrain that shook, but the world itself.

I could sense with all five senses that something from another world was trying to cross over into this one.

“…!”

Nightchase, too, sensed the trembling, and her face went stark white.

“This Crazy Son of a Bitch…! What does he think he’s doing! Is he trying to bring this place down? Does he have any idea how long it’ll take to recreate a world inside that Water Pressure!”

“What’s he trying to do?”

“To find me, he’s recklessly tearing down every other Outer God’s world.”

“Oh…”

That… he was actually doing pretty well there.

Tormenting other Outer Gods was something that worked out fairly well for me by extension, so as I stood there caught off guard, Nightchase glared up into the empty air with a face full of fury.

“The worlds we built are held together as walls separating each one. If he does that, we’ll have to do that whole thing all over again!”

“What thing?”

“Endlessly dying and coming back, dying and coming back, putting up a wall once every few hours. It took us at least a hundred years just to build our individual worlds, and we can’t do that again…!”

So that’s how this world had been constructed.

Either way, if I left that thing alone, my own death seemed pretty much guaranteed. Once I died, I couldn’t be revived.

‘…No, wait. I could just run, couldn’t I?’

There was no good reason I had to fight that thing.

From the start, my plan had always been to flee if things looked bad. The situation was ambiguous, sure, but if I had to pick, wasn’t running the safer option right now?

Slowly forming an Air Bubble in my palm, I looked over at Nightchase one last time.

“This is a plan I barely managed to put together. It can’t fall apart like this…!”

She, of course, had a fake face and a fake expression.

But she looked rather desperate. Desperate enough that even fake sweat was beading on her brow.

Curiosity got the better of me, and I asked.

“Nightchase, I get that this is no ordinary situation, but let me ask you one thing.”

“It really is no ordinary situation, but what?”

“What is this plan of yours?”

“…Ha, you want to hear about it now?”

Nightchase gave me a flabbergasted expression, but she explained her plan to me anyway.

Gods did not converse. They simply transmitted will and thought directly.

Thanks to that, I was able to grasp the entirety of Nightchase’s escape plan in an instant.

“Hm…”

For about ten seconds, I went over the plan she was so confidently presenting.

The conclusion came quickly.

‘…Cruel beyond words.’

It wasn’t that the plan itself was cruel.

The thing that was vicious and horrifically cruel was the Deep Sea.

I could tell right away: this plan could never succeed.

It wasn’t that anything was wrong with it. It was simply that even the Outer Gods didn’t know.

Just how deep a place this Deep Sea really was.

Because they had never lived in the Deep Sea, they couldn’t even begin to grasp it.

“Aaargh…!”

Crack, crack!

Watching Nightchase frantically trying to plug the cracks forming in the empty air, I slowly came to a decision.

There wasn’t enough time to deliberate.

“Let him in.”

“What? Are you insane?”

“Think about it properly. What happens if we don’t let him in here?”

I calmly explained to the bewildered Nightchase.

“Then he’ll really and truly tear apart every other world. And then your hundred years of Purgatory start over. Your plan, too, would get pushed way back. Is that really what you want?”

“Then what am I supposed to do, just let him in? You can clearly see he wants to chew the both of us to death!”

“Then the two of us will hold him off.”

“…What?”

Nightchase narrowed her brow and pushed back.

“Do you know what that is? It’s the Outer God of Mimicry.”

“I just heard. Anything else?”

“Void was the one who shoved him into the Deep Sea first. It was because he was the most dangerous, and after seeing that even the Outer God of Mimicry couldn’t escape the Deep Sea, Void realized just how secure a prison the Deep Sea was, which is why every Outer God after that was thrown into the Deep Sea. Just because you’ve expanded your worlds, you’re suddenly feeling cocky? You think he’s an opponent the two of us could handle?”

“Looks like it.”

“…”

Come to think of it, it really was a long, twisted bond.

Ever since my Surface Layer days, Mimicry had thrashed about trying to find me by any means necessary. He had broken through the Middle Layer in any way he could, sending Deep Sea Creatures my way to try and capture me.

Now I finally understood why. It was because he was that kind of Outer God.

In any case, it seemed the time had come to put an end to that unwanted bond.

“Just make me an opening. I’ll handle the rest somehow.”

Now was the right time.

Now, when an absurd situation had arisen in which I was forming a united front with another Outer God.

Nightchase, who had been staring blankly at me, asked with a face full of suspicion.

“Just what kind of Outer God are you?”

I shrugged, hid the Air Bubble, and answered.

“I’ll tell you when it’s over.”

Of course, this went without saying.

If it ended, or if it looked like I was about to die, I planned to bolt right then and there.