Chapter 92 Abyss (1)

「3rd Hell: Arrived at the abyss.」

「All types of pain increased by 20 times.」

Dry, cracked land, with red lava flowing through the gaps. Yoon-seok looked up at the sky. Darkness without the sun, moon, or stars. On the other hand, the flowing lava shone brightly in contrast to the dark skies.

「You are not a demon challenger. The King of the Abyss curses you.」

「Speed is reduced by 50%, and all stats are reduced by 2.」

「Curse is offset by Light of Purification.」

The curse disappeared without invoking Heart of Liberty. Well, the moment he stopped the Light of Purification, he would still be cursed..he wasn’t going to turn it off anyway, so nothing would change.

“..”

Yoon-seok looked around. The cracks in the ground, filled with bodies crawling up while being burned by the lava. Not just one, but there seemed to be at least a few hundred. But..

‘I see.’

Chikkkkkkkk!

As soon as the Light of Purification touched them, the bodies melted down and disappeared into ashes.

‘So this place also gives essence too.’

While the essences were smaller than in the Great Labyrinth, the quantity was way ahead, and he didn’t even need to swing his sword.historical

‘Is it a good thing, though?’

Without wasting time to pick them up one by one, Yoon-seok controlled his energy to fill his bag. In the meantime, the portal closed. How would he go back to where he came from?

The answer was kindly given by the system.

「Destroy the King of the Abyss.」

There was no word about the return portal opening, but given the circumstances, if that goal were achieved, it would work out somehow. Then, where should he go to meet the King of the Abyss? Yoon-seok checked the map frequently and set off in a direction.

“Human? Why are humans here?”

“..Chikkkkk! Capture him, and you’ll get a treasure!”

He encountered a trio of an Orc, Lizardman, and Demon. By all means, they were challengers, probably from the exploration trials.

‘It seems like the map is completely different.’

It seemed like it was divided by opposing teams. Seeing how their eyes were already filled with greed, they wouldn’t believe it even if he revealed that he was also a challenger. No, it was more likely they would try to kill him. All the demons Yoon-seok had met were like that.

“Die!”

The orc swung at Yoon-seok with his huge ax; it was a random attack relying solely on power. But their teamwork was pretty good. As soon as Yoon-seok stepped aside, the Lizardman was upon him from the side with his sword.

Whoosh!

Clang, clang, clang!

He didn’t have to wield his sword to block it. He made a Bloodseeker Sword and threw it in his direction, and the Lizardman fell back due to the impact.

「By Heart of Liberty, constraint skills loses their effectiveness.」

The demon behind them had used some kind of skill, but it was ineffective. When the skill didn’t work, the demon hurried to join the ranks.

‘What, so all three of them are warriors?’

It was different from parties of humans, beast-people, and elves. They were systematically divided between occupations, while these three were of the same close-range type. To be honest, he didn’t know why they were teaming up like this.

‘Still, it must be hard to move alone in such an open space.’

Yoon-seok focused on defense. He was confident that he could finish the battle in a blink of an eye, but before that, he wanted to check what kind of cards they had.

“The Advent of the Ghost!”

“Berserk!”

“Thunderbolt Energy!”

When Yoon-seok was pushed back, they took out all the skills they had one by one. If any of the skills caught his eye, he planned to take them to the duel.

‘I don’t need to see any more.’

Slashhhhh!

Yoon-seok, losing interest, cut their heads off. He killed them in one swift motion so that they wouldn’t feel any pain.

‘Well, I’m sure there’s next time.’

Yoon-seok collected their essence and put them in the bag.

‘Let’s move quickly.’

Yoon-seok set two goals after coming to the exploration trial: opening the secret spaces and obtaining equipment-related items while filling up the one-ton subspace bag with essence. He thought he’d get to fill up the bag in fifteen days naturally, but since he was focused on exploring, he had to catch up.

While he was running around to fill his bag with essence, suddenly Yoon-seok stopped in his tracks.

‘Avatar.’

Come to think of it; this place wasn’t a cave system like the Great Labyrinth. The place stretched to no end. Although the abyss was dark, the flowing lava on the ground was bright, making it easier to search from above.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

Yoon-seok flapped his wings and soared upward through the darkness. Soon, however, he discovered the darkness here wasn’t merely due to the absence of light. 10m, 20m, 30m..

As he ascended, the density of the darkness increased. He had no choice but to say so as the range of Light of Purification narrowed, and when he looked down, he couldn’t see anything. His visibility was only around ten meters. Considering the light of lava burning on the ground, it was absurd. Even the pressure seemed to increase.

‘I guess I’ll have to run on two feet after all.’

And when he was going back down to the ground with that thought, something appeared swimming in the dark.

‘..There are monsters in a place like this?’

It was a shark-like creature with only bones and skin. Should he call it a megalodon? He didn’t know how they were floating in the air without wings, but they were huge. He remained guarded, but as if it couldn’t come to places with light, it only circled him.

‘Let’s catch it first.’

Yoon-seok lightly coated his sword with energy and fired it at him. But..

‘What, why is it so hard?’

It wasn’t an all-out blow, but it was a little surprising that he’d only managed to make a scratch. There was no way they get some enhancement in the dark, right? With that sudden thought, he quickly drew close to the light.

Slash!

He sliced it in half neatly as if he was using a sashimi knife to cut fresh fish. It turned into powder and dissipated away as soon as the body broke in two. Then, the essence fell out. Yoon-seok’s eyes widened after using Bloodseeker Energy to catch it. He was surprised that it was a monster made to be hunted, but..

‘Why is it so big?’

It was almost the size of a fist. Considering how the essences of the monsters in the Great Labyrinth were normally the size of a fingernail, it was huge.

‘I don’t think it makes much of a difference...’

Maybe it was location-specific. Yoon-seok packed the essences away with a smile. It was a stroke of luck, but he was glad he came to the right place.

‘Maybe the darkness itself is also some kind of secret space.’

Of course, he thought it was too obvious to be a secret space. However, most challengers couldn’t fly up as he did. Even if they could, a lantern wouldn’t even be able to light up a one-meter radius.

‘I think it’s safe with the light. Let’s keep going up.’

Yoon-seok slowly flapped his wings up. He lost his sense of distance in the darkness, and he felt like he was just flapping in place. But, as the light radius gradually decreased, he could see that he was going in the right direction. When the range of light spreading decreased to a radius of about three meters..

“Go back to where you belong. You’re a sinner.”

The voice of a man came from above, echoing in the dark. At the same time, a giant sword flew into the darkness. As if his purpose was to send him back, the sword aimed after his wings instead of his neck.

Cl-clang!

His first impression of the sword was that it was heavy.

“He may be much stronger than any other duel challenger...’

But that was all. Far from being pushed back, he could overpower him easily. Yoon-seok flew toward the unidentified existence that glinted white in the dark.

“..?”

As the distance narrowed and the darkness cleared, he could see the opponent with his eyes. It was a little different from what he’d expected. Pure white armor with gold edges, a headpiece covering his entire face except for the eyes, and white wings jutting from his back.

It would be a lie if he weren’t reminded of an angel at first glance. Even a sacred atmosphere was radiating from his whole body.

‘What is this? Isn’t this too out of sync with the concept?’

A place named Hell, a creature that felt too out of place to encounter in the deep dark was filled with bizarre creatures.

‘It doesn’t matter.’

He was just a little startled by the unexpected appearance. Yoon-seok wielded his sword to corner his opponent.

“How can a sinner have this power..! Did the King send you?”

Yoon-seok didn’t answer. He just swung his sword in the meantime.

Boom! Boom! Booooom!

As their swords collided, the opponent felt the overwhelming difference in power and fled upward, and Yoon-seok continued to chase after him. As the radius of light decreased, he could feel the pressure increase exponentially. It was okay. So far.

“Stop it! Stop it! Do you want to disappear eternally?”

He wasn’t sure if he would disappear, but he wondered how big an essence would be if he slew this opponent. Honestly, he thought it was boss-level at this point, but he didn’t know if there would be a special reward.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Yoon-seok continued to chase after him and exchange blows, and the moment he tried to throw a punch into the gap that was revealed in the dark..

「Achievement ‘Pioneer of Heaven’ has been completed.」

The darkness disappeared. The Light of Purification spread widely as it always did, and all pressure was lifted. A space filled with white light that nearly blinded him appeared. He’d never expected a place like this to be present in the pitch darkness.

Yoon-seok protected his whole body with Bloodseeker Energy. He expected the opponent to attack him with that opportunity. But..

“H-how?! How can you step into heaven without perishing!”

The opponent was standing face to face with him with a shocked expression.

“..Heaven?”

What, was it like hell down there and heaven up here? Yoon-seok remained on guard while examining his surroundings. As if floating on a cloud, a white fortress was magnificently built over the space.

“You..were not a sinner in the abyss.”

His opponent lowered his sword.

“I am Setiel, the guardian of heaven. What is your name? Why were you trapped in the abyss when you weren’t a sinner?”

An atmosphere that felt like they needed to have a conversation. Yoon-seok also gave up the idea of fighting. He had no choice but to.

Setiel, the guardian of heaven. Approximately hundreds estimated to have similar powers as him, no, thousands, were flapping toward them.

‘Shall I just run away?’

He thought maybe it wouldn’t be too late for now, but..

“If there’s been a mistake on our part, we’ll give you a reward.”

He was deeply troubled by Setiel’s polite voice. To be exact, the word reward made him hesitant.

..What should he do?