Volume 4, Chapter 84 – Beneath the Abyss

Although a couple embracing while descending into an abyss was very romantic, to say it out loud was simply too shameful. Fia answered, pretending not to be expectant.

“I can go down by myself. You just have to stay at a distance above me, Claire.”

“Are you sure you don’t want me to? I’ve been feeling your eyes on me, intentionally or not, recently. If it were anyone else, I’d have to call them lewd, you know?”

No, no, that’s because I was observing to see if you had gotten smaller from using your mana. With this internal answer, Fia coughed, feigning composure.

“Ahem, you must have been mistaken, Claire. We should hurry to the Abyss. It would be bad if my Father found out.”

“Yes, yes.”

Seeing her awkwardness in forcibly changing the subject, Claire smiled and brushed her silver hair behind her, following Fia to the edge of the cliff where the rock was exposed.

Just like the abyss she had seen at the border of the Milcandis Holy Kingdom and the Bart Duchy, a desolate and silent breeze drifted out of it. The exceptionally dry air was tinged with a faint musty smell, as if countless corpses were buried beneath the deep, dark chasm. An ordinary person would feel dizzy just by looking down.

“I’m going down first.”

Golden wings sprouted from Fia’s back as she stood at the edge of the cliff, ready to jump down at any moment.

Claire tilted her head slightly.

“Aren’t you afraid, Fia? I thought you would need some time to prepare mentally. After all, few have come back from the Abyss.”

“This kind of thing isn’t enough to make me feel fear. On the contrary, Claire, if you feel uncomfortable, you can wait for me on the shore.”

Claire covered her mouth and laughed.

“I’ve already come this far with you. How could I find an excuse to shrink back?” I’m more afraid of you encountering danger than of the Abyss itself. With this internal answer, Claire continued, “I’m ready too. We can start at any time.”

“Mhm.”

Nodding lightly, Fia took a deep breath. As the dry, cold air filled her lungs, she leaped down into the Abyss.

The wind roared in her ears, and the scenery before her flew upwards rapidly.

The rock walls were as if they had been split vertically by something, straight up and down, incredibly smooth. There was no sign of soil or moss. Although Fia couldn’t touch them with her hands, she could see with her eyes that the walls were very hard, not like a naturally formed stone. If they had been, they would have long since weathered over time, accumulating dust similar to soil.

It was probably a product of the great battle between the Elf Saint and the Darkborn ten thousand years ago. Just like the [Orbital Beacon Bombardment] she had used in the desert, which had turned the soft sand into hard crystal.

By the way, after Claire had taken off the Siren’s Mirror these past two days, the effect of the fear curse was still weakening. In the past, a maid with weak strength who had never seen her before would have collapsed on the ground in fear. But now, their performance was the same as that of a well-trained Imperial Guard, with only a slight sway of their bodies and a look of fear in their eyes. Coupled with the fact that she and Claire had increased their efforts in eliminating the Black-Flamed Monsters these past two days, it showed that it was indeed the Holy Tree that was weakening the curse on her.

As for the principle, it was probably as Yelido had said. Because the Holy Tree was planted by the Elf God himself, it possessed Divinity. And Divinity was something blessed by the world, which counteracted the effect of the world’s curse on Claire.

That being said, there were still many things Fia didn’t understand. If the Holy Tree possessed Divinity, why was Mizuki, who was in contact with it every day, still affected by the curse? The Siren’s Mirror was also a divine artifact. Why couldn’t it suppress Claire’s curse? Or was it that those Black-Flamed Monsters were the source of Divinity, and Claire was in contact with them every day, thus being tainted by it? But those monsters were the culprits that had caused the Holy Tree to wither. How could such a thing be a divine object? It was baffling.

In the end, to this day, she still hadn’t figured out the true identity of those monsters. Not only had Yelido never seen them, but even the scholars of the Elf Towers didn’t know what they were. Although some magic-casters had proposed to study them, because they had no magic cores or physical bodies, it was difficult to even capture them out of the Holy Tree for research.

The only clear progress so far was the ancient elf language she had copied down. Although it was difficult to decipher, the scholars of the Elf Towers were still exploring it little by little. At present, they had already figured out that some of the chants were often used in sealing magic. And from the scale, it belonged to an extremely large magic barrier that no one could use anymore. And a so-called extremely large magic barrier was a dangerous existence that even Absolute Evil would have to avoid. In the entire history of the elf race, only the Elf Saint had successfully constructed one.

In addition, there was one more thing worth mentioning. The Black-Flamed Monsters in the Holy Tree had been getting stronger and stronger recently. In the past, they were just First and Second Rank monsters. Now, monsters of up to the Fifth Rank had appeared. It was hard to imagine that a single tree could hide so many things.

“Mmm…?”

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As the air she breathed became more and more turbid, Fia gradually came back to her senses from her thoughts. Unconsciously, she had already descended nearly five hundred meters. The light here had weakened a lot, and a thin layer of cloud had covered the top. Looking up, only the golden glow of the Holy Tree could reach here, somewhat like the scene of sunlight shining into the water after diving.

「Have you found anything?」

Claire’s voice came into her mind. She was hovering fifty meters above her.

「No. I just feel the air has become turbid.」

「After all, it’s a canyon with no air circulation. It’s normal for it to be turbid. By the way, have you ever learned [Breath-Holding], Fia?」

「No… but my constitution is special. It’s fine even if I don’t breathe.」

[Breath-Holding] was a spell that slowed the flow of mana in the body, thereby allowing one to remain conscious even with very little oxygen. It was usually used in conjunction with the [Water-Repelling Barrier] for diving. Because her body was naturally endowed with an ability superior to it, Fia had not spent time learning it.

「It’s fine even if you don’t breathe? Are you really an elf, little Fia?」

Claire’s voice in the [Message] was filled with disbelief.

Fia puffed out her chest proudly.

「It’s the real deal.」

By the way, if she and Claire were to have a child, would it be an elf or a human, or a demon? It wouldn’t have both an elf’s mana surge and a demon’s horns, would it? The only way to know the answer is to actually have one, right?

That was still too early for her. She wasn’t mentally prepared to be a father or a mother yet. Mmm.

While thinking about all sorts of miscellaneous things, Fia slowed down and continued to descend. As the light from above grew dimmer, she used a controlled-power [Illuminate]. She had originally thought that it would allow her to see the situation below, but the abyss was filled with a thick fog, resulting in extremely low visibility.

Soon, she had descended to a depth of about two thousand meters.

A strong sense of suffocation enveloped her lungs, and the faint musty smell had also turned into the stench of something rotting, reminiscent of a beast’s lair. At first, Fia thought it might be because she was approaching the desolate land, but when she notified Claire and went to the side closer to the Holy Tree to descend again, the foul smell still hadn’t dissipated. Coupled with the extremely low visibility, it gave her a sense of confinement, like diving into the deep sea.

However, descending on the side closer to the Holy Tree was not without its benefits. As the tree’s golden, transparent roots extended down along the cliff face, Fia could follow them all the way down. As long as she wanted, she could teleport in at any time.

She continued to descend.

A seemingly endless darkness.

The universe still had the light of stars to guide it, but here, besides the thick, rotting stench that seemed to stick to the skin, there was only pitch blackness. An ordinary person who came here would only feel a deep sense of powerlessness.

After an unknown period of descent, Fia gradually felt an inexplicable chill spread from the soles of her feet to her whole body. This was not a drop in temperature, but a feeling from her sixth sense, particularly eerie, like walking through a graveyard in the middle of the night.

She had probably already descended five thousand meters deep. Although she knew that the World Tree Continent was a world that protruded from the primordial continent, this was a bit too deep. What was even more surprising was that the roots of the Holy Tree were still extending downwards here. She really didn’t know where the end of the roots was.

「Fia?!」

Claire’s cry of alarm came through the [Message]. Fia quickly stopped and asked.

「I’m here. What’s wrong?」

「I can’t see you anymore.」

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「Maybe it’s illusion magic? I’ve been feeling a chill since just now.」

「As long as there’s nothing else wrong. I thought you had fallen.」

「If that really happened, I would use [Telekinesis] to fix myself to the wall and wait for you to rescue me.」

「To be able to joke in a place like this, you’re not at all like an underage child, Fia. In this sunless place, if I were alone, I would have surely gone back by now.」

「Ahaha…」

Fia didn’t know why she didn’t feel fear. She could only laugh foolishly and brush it off.

And then, she suddenly felt the sound of flapping wings from below her. She subconsciously looked down, but there was nothing.

[See Through].

A layer of faint blue light covered her eyes, and what was reflected in her vision was something that was letting out a screech—a group of stone monsters with the heads of goats and the wings of bats, and the bodies of humans. If she had to describe them, she would think of the gargoyles on old cathedrals.

All Fifth and Sixth-Rank monsters? There are too many of them.

As far as the eye could see, there were hundreds of gargoyles, with the Sixth-Rank ones making up half of them. Even Silvar couldn’t produce so many Sixth-Rank practitioners. These gargoyles were slowly circling in the abyss, like patrolling soldiers. Fia also found that some of them had clearly discovered her and had looked up in her direction, but with just a glance, their goat-like faces had swept back, as if they didn’t care about her at all.

Gargoyles were not monsters that had evolved through natural selection, but were artificially created life forms, like golems. Who had placed them here?

While thinking in her heart, Fia did not forget the action in her hand. More than fifty Sixth-Rank monsters. An ordinary person would have surely turned and run. But she was Dofilia.

[Thunder Spear].

Crackling electric arcs quickly spread in her hand. Fia descended while being vigilant. If the gargoyles were to attack her, she would not hesitate to shoot them down one by one.

「Claire, there are monsters here. Let’s slow down a bit.」

「Are they tough?」

「Not tough to deal with, but they didn’t come over even though they found me. There might be some special trigger condition. Let’s observe their movements first.」

「Be careful.」

「Mhm.」

After their brief exchange, Fia descended slowly while observing the circling gargoyles. Each of them was ten meters tall, and their bodies were a scarlet gold color. Their movement routes and actions were very rigid, like mechanical creations, only acting according to a predetermined path.

Considering that the Elf Saint had fought a great battle with the Darkborn here in the past, and the roots of the Holy Tree extended to this depth, could it be that the Saint had arranged for the gargoyles to be here to guard the tree? But they had not attacked to stop the “intruders” after seeing her and Claire, which was puzzling.

And so, without any trouble, Fia and Claire easily passed the gargoyle swarm and successfully descended to the abyss below them. It was worth mentioning that in order to test these gargoyles, Fia had even flown up beside them and had even stood in their path. As a result, the gargoyles had either acted as if they hadn’t seen her, or had changed their trajectory midway and continued to fly, without any attacking action, which was incredibly strange.

「It’s understandable that they didn’t attack Fia. She is the royalty of the elf race. But why was I able to pass through safely as well?」

「Because you are the princess’s fiancée?」

「Although it’s a fact… for little Fia to say it in such a serious tone… we’re not even engaged yet.」

「It’s only a matter of time. It’s just that you haven’t mentioned it, and my Father hasn’t thought of it.」

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Although Claire usually had a very composed look, if she really encountered something embarrassing, she would immediately become shy. Her defense was surprisingly low.

Thinking this, Fia continued to descend along the root of the Holy Tree. Before long, she finally felt the power of the Abyss.

Using mana became difficult, and the mana in her body was also being rapidly consumed, as if she were constantly using a maximized [Firestorm]. At the same time, the thick fog that had enveloped her vision gradually dissipated, replaced by an emerald-green barrier that was as radiant as a branch of the World Tree. Even the aura it emitted was exactly the same as the one she had seen in Aurora City, as if the two were the same thing.

「There’s no more mana or elements here. An ordinary person would fall down due to mana exhaustion. My mana won’t last long. Do you have any mana recovery potions on you, Fia?」

「The mana recovery potions I have won’t work on someone of your level,」 Fia answered in her mind, her eyes fixed on the emerald-green barrier below. 「Do you know what this is, Claire?」

「’What this is’ is what?」

「You can’t see it? I had already noticed this barrier when I was at your distance just now.」

Because the thick fog had thinned, Fia just had to look up to see Claire above her. She pointed down in her direction, but Claire just frowned and shook her head.

「No… I don’t see any barriers. It’s still pitch black below.」

How could that be? There was clearly a barrier below.

Although she didn’t know exactly how strong Claire was, her strength was at least at the Eighth Rank and might even exceed it. It was unlikely that she couldn’t see something because she was not strong enough. Besides, she had used a spell to break illusions before. She shouldn’t be deceived by an illusion.

「Do you have anything worthless on you? Try throwing one down.」

「Mhm.」

Following Fia’s instruction, Claire took out a worthless coin from her storage item and threw it down into the abyss. Fia, in turn, carefully watched its descent. To her surprise, the coin, as if it had not encountered the emerald-green barrier she saw, fell straight through it and disappeared, without even an echo for a long time.

「It fell.」

「Mmm…」

Fia frowned. Could it be that she was under an illusion spell?

She subconsciously wanted to fly down and touch the barrier, but before she could, she and Claire both heard the sound of flapping wings from above. The gargoyles they had passed just now were slowly flying towards them.

Had she triggered a trap that activated the gargoyles?

Perhaps it wasn’t that she was under an illusion spell, but that Claire was. Otherwise, these gargoyles wouldn’t have flown over because a coin had passed through the barrier. The only difference between the current her and the her from before was that she had thrown something down.

「They’re coming towards us. You go and check that barrier you mentioned, Fia. I’ll deal with them.」

「I’ll leave them to you.」

「Mhm. But I can’t recover mana here, and the consumption of magic is also much greater than usual. With so many gargoyles, I’ll have to use a mana-saving fighting style. It will take some time.」

「I’ll finish as soon as possible too.」

After saying this, Fia flew straight for the barrier that was making the entire abyss flow with an emerald-green light—it was probably more appropriate to call it a barrier. She first tried to hold a coin with [Telekinesis] and extend it into the barrier. When the distance exceeded twenty meters, she suddenly felt her [Telekinesis] being cut off, and the coin fell below. Then she used a pre-prepared rope to tie an iron sword and lower it. Similarly, when the distance exceeded twenty meters, she felt a heaviness in her hand. She tried to pull the sword up, but it was as if it were separated on the other side of a wall. Even if she were to break the rope, she could not pull it up.

This was a one-way barrier. It only allowed things from above to go down, but not things from below to come up.

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Fia quickly came to this conclusion.

But what if she, who was immune to most magic barriers, were to go down?

Without a doubt, this emerald-green barrier was not a natural formation, but one that had been deliberately set up by someone. According to past experience, she was not only immune to barriers that prohibited flight, but even high-level barriers like the [Citadel of Silence] had no effect on her. Therefore, this barrier might also not be able to stop her. Although Claire could not see it, which meant that its level was already higher than her illusion-breaking magic, and its rank was surely higher than the [Citadel of Silence], but don’t forget, her mana was also much greater than Claire’s.

Should I try?

Frowning, Fia thought seriously. According to the description in the legends, the World Tree Continent was a place that protruded from the primordial continent. And the reason the gods had moved from there to what was considered the ‘Land of Exile’ was because the primordial continent had been covered by the chaos formed by the mixture of the resentment of the dead gods and the blood of the Darkborn, becoming barren, a place that even the gods could not contend with.

Fia had long been curious as to why, after tens of thousands of years, the chaos, which had a certain intelligence and which even the gods could not defeat, had not climbed up the Abyss to the World Tree Continent. Now, this one-way, extremely high-rank emerald-green barrier gave her a direction.

Perhaps after she went down, she could come up through the roots of the Holy Tree, for example, by first teleporting into the tree, and then to the ground. If that didn’t work, she could just blast the barrier open with magic, or even dig a tunnel in the cliff face. Of course, that was on the premise that it was feasible.

Fia looked up. At this moment, Claire was already engaged with the gargoyles. Even against hundreds of them, she had the complete upper hand. Her red single-handed sword just had to lightly pierce a gargoyle, and it would be as if its mana had been stripped away. The red glow in its eyes would quickly dim, and its speed would become incomparably sluggish.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

As long as she did it properly, she could come back safely.

When she had been lowering the iron sword on the rope, Fia had already tried to see if she could pull it up if it hadn’t reached a distance of twenty meters, but at nineteen meters. The result was that it was feasible. That is to say, as long as she did not break through that final layer, she could freely move about within the barrier.

Therefore, as long as she first stuck her hair out to test if she could pull it back, she would know if she was exempt from this barrier. If she could pull it back, it meant the barrier had no effect on her. If she couldn’t, then she would just cut off that lock of hair. Of course, hair might not be very convincing. It would be best to try with a finger as well. Since she had nanomachines to repair it, she just had to endure that momentary pain.

Thinking this, Fia first tried once to see if she could smoothly enter and exit the upper part of the barrier. After getting a feasible conclusion, she then, with peace of mind, came to the lower layer of the barrier as she had thought.

As far as the eye could see, there was only emerald green. Although her mana was being rapidly consumed, Fia felt that the barrier was very comfortable. An immense life force was pouring into her body from every pore, as if she were sinking into a soft sofa after a long day of work, unwilling to get up. She really didn’t know who had set up this barrier.

According to her plan, Fia first tested it with her hair.

In the past, Fia had always been annoyed by the princess’s hip-length black hair. Even if she were to cut off a part of it, it would quickly grow back to its original state under the effect of the nanomachines, making her at a loss for what to say. But now, her long hair has become a convenient tool. She carefully brought her long black hair around to her front, and with both hands, placed it in the lower layer of the emerald-green barrier, and then gently pulled it up.

There was not the slightest sense of resistance.

—Success.

Then, she even more carefully extended her finger out of the barrier. Because she had thought of the possibility of a severed finger, her heart couldn’t help but beat a little faster. The result was that her finger, like her hair, was successfully retracted from outside the barrier.

She was indeed not restricted by the one-way passage of the barrier.

What a convenient body.

Claire was still entangled with the gargoyles. She couldn’t waste time. After confirming, Fia no longer hesitated. In one go, she completely drilled out of the barrier with [Flight].

And then, her pupils suddenly constricted.

The air was still filled with a rotting smell, but her vision had suddenly opened up.

The abyss before her was gone, replaced by a vast and boundless land that stretched as far as the eye could see. Under the bright light, she could even see the distant, faintly glowing, curved horizon. It was just that this underground world was not as full of life as the World Tree Continent. What covered it was only a churning black ocean. Even from a great distance, Fia could recognize what these black things were.

Chaos.