Chapter 966 Staring Abyss <TOC> Chapter 968 The Fire Lich
Translator: SumTLMan
As Sineva was speaking, Angel too, found his thoughts delving back to the information he had previously come across about the Abyss.
Emberstone Titan—this was the fortress city in the Abyss that the Wizarding World of the Southern Region owned. As per the historical records, this city was constructed on an imposing titan rock. In the withered forest of enormous rocks, it was not only concealed but also significantly safe.
In the past, David too had ventured into the Abyss, securing protection from Hagrid, in pursuit of the Iron Armor Hedgehog bloodline.
According to David, they took up residence in Emberstone Titan.
David’s description of Emberstone Titan was laden with admiration. When asked to portray it in words, he found it challenging to truly convey his sentiments. He merely said it was a grand city, the epitome of wizard architecture!
David’s words sparked curiosity in Angel about Emberstone Titan. However, as he listened to Sineva’s conversation with this woman named Florentina, it seemed as though Emberstone Titan was on the brink of collapse?
Seeing Angel’s furrowed brows and a hint of worry in his expression, Madeline softly spoke, “The Scythe Wielding Blood Demon is a half-blood demon. It can’t even be counted as a normal demon, it won’t be too powerful.”
The underlying message was clear: their group venturing to Emberstone Titan wouldn’t pose significant safety issues.
However, Madeline wasn’t overly optimistic, “Yet, now that Emberstone Titan has been discovered, even if it remains secure this time, it would inevitably face relentless demon attacks in the future. Eventually, Emberstone Titan would probably fall.”
“I recall that there are many strongholds on the surface layer of the Abyss. Moving to another stronghold shouldn’t be a problem, right?” Angel queried, puzzled.
“It could be possible. However, each stronghold in the Abyss is a magnificent project that we wizards have constructed over thousands of years. Abandoning any one of them would be a significant loss,” Madeline shook her head with a hint of melancholy, “Moreover, each stronghold is quite far from the others. As to what could happen while attempting to travel to another stronghold, no one can truly say.”
It seemed that those apprentices were starting to feel remorse.
However, at this point, even if they regretted, they dared not withdraw. Not only because of Sineva’s watchful eyes, but also the gaze of the thousands of “pallbearers” looming over them…
The affair involving Emberstone Titan had momentarily filled the air with sorrow.
The grand city standing for millennia seemed on the verge of being swallowed by darkness. Even though those present hadn’t journeyed beyond the Staring Abyss yet, their hearts were steeped in empathetic desolation.
As a result, the sole wizard of Gravity Forest present, along with several of their apprentices, faced an uncomfortable wall of cold shoulders.
All of this may not have transpired if not for the leak from a Gravity Forest apprentice. However, luck never plays a part in the machinations of destiny.
If today it was an apprentice from Gravity Forest who divulged secrets, then it might as well have been from any other wizard organization on a different day. It just happened that Gravity Forest was at the wrong place at the wrong time.
“Who is Florentina?” After a long silence, Angel inquired in a low voice to Madeline.
“She is our beacon to the Abyss. As for her identity…” Madeline shook her head, “I don’t know either, perhaps only the people of Frost Moon do.”
As the afternoon sun sought refuge behind thick clouds, darkening the sky, Sineva, who had been casting a spell to locate the beacon to another world, finally raised her head.
“I’ve found it.” No sooner than these words escaped her lips, the world shifted in colour.
A massive force, transcending the boundaries of time and space, suddenly descended onto Staring Abyss Cliff.
A fraction of this immense power leaked out, causing the wind to whip into a frenzy. Day and night seemed to switch in an instant, gusty winds swept in from all directions, bringing with them a torrential downpour that made the trees surrounding the cliff rustle loudly.
Lightning flashed and thunder roared, and the heavy rain seemed to whiten everything in sight.
The inland sea churned, generating waves of monstrous size that surged to the height of the mountain’s waist.
From serene tranquillity to apocalyptic conditions in a few short minutes, the rapid transition almost made Angel think he had returned to the Devil’s Sea.
Just then, facing the rain, Sineva held something in her hand and threw it towards the point where the great force was converging.
Boom——
A massive vortex of murky black-grey appeared behind the cliff platform.
As the vortex formed, a relentless wind blew forth. The force of the wind was comparable to a storm, and some apprentices were sent flying due to their lack of caution.
Under these circumstances, where the roar of the wind filled their ears, Sineva’s voice still clearly conveyed to all present, “The passage is now open, prepare to cross the border!”
With her proclamation, there came the deep chanting of the Frost Moon Guards. With the combined effort of more than twenty wizards, an ethereal hemispherical film appeared before the swirling vortex.
The transmigration began!
The captain of the Frost Moon Guards, Maher, was the first to take flight, charging directly into the vortex. As he passed through the translucent membrane, it seemed to automatically envelop him, shielding him from the spatial damage inflicted by the vortex and guiding him to vanish into its depth.
Following Maher’s entry, the second individual ascended, crossing the platform of the cliff, traversing several hundred meters in the high sky, and finally plunging into the vortex.
One by one, more and more people began throwing themselves into the whirlpool.
Some dove headfirst into the vortex without uttering a sound; others had complex emotions reflected in their eyes as they soared into the vortex, some appeared to reminisce, and some seemed filled with regret; there were even some apprentices who were visibly tearful.
After all, this was not a mere expedition.
They were crossing a boundary to venture into an unknown and dangerous world. Even for wizards, self-preservation in the Abyss is challenging. A moment of carelessness might deny them even the chance of returning to their roots.
Their bones would be buried in a foreign land, with hardly any memory to rely upon.
The atmosphere on site slowly became heavy. At this moment, Madeline turned to Angel and said, “We should go too. Don’t worry, this is not a journey with no return.”
After saying this, Madeline gave Angel a smile, rose with the wind, and flew into the vortex.
Angel hesitated for a moment before he too took flight. As he left the ground, his thoughts suddenly became complex. Going to an unknown world, could he really return safely as Madeline said?
Angel looked back at the silent crowd in the sky. Initially, he thought they were ‘sending them off to their death’, but at this moment, he started to comprehend the meaning of Madeline’s ‘farewell’.
Perhaps it was truly a farewell, but maybe, it was indeed a death march.
Angel inhaled deeply, his gaze directed towards the interdimensional passage. “Come, let me see what this infamous Abyss truly looks like!”
The Dark Night Flyover on Angel’s feet flashed with black-gold runes, abruptly accelerating into the vortex.
“Beyond this whirlpool lies the Abyss.”
In that moment, Angel recalled a phrase he once saw on the holographic tablet.
When you stare into the Abyss, the Abyss also gazes back at you.
I venture into the Abyss, but I will not fall in it.
……
Perhaps it was a moment, or maybe an eternity.
When Angel felt a sense of heaviness enveloping his body, and the scent of sulfur permeated his senses, he opened his eyes.
The briny smell of the ocean, the refreshing coolness of the wind and rain, all were absent. What he could perceive was an odd high temperature, and the shimmering ash from the drifting flames in the hot wind.
Is this the Abyss?
As Angel took in the sight before him, he felt as though he had arrived in a true apocalyptic world.
The sky was laden with thick haze, with no trace of sunlight, only endless gloom. Nitrous fumes and drifting mists were ubiquitous.
The ground was scorched black, radiating intense heat.
At that moment, ash blew over from the distance. Angel stretched out his hand, the flaming ash fell into his palm, burned for a moment, and finally turned into a pallid fine powder.
Even the dust in the wind was filled with deadly intent.
Any ordinary mortal that arrived here would be instantly burned to cinders.
“So, this is the Abyss?” Angel muttered.
“This is the Abyss,” Madeleine’s resolute voice came from behind him, “However, the Abyss is vast, it’s not just scorched earth, there are forests and snow-capped mountains.”
“But,” Madeleine raised her head to look at the sky, “There is one constant here. You will never see the blue sky. The smell of sulphur is always in your nostrils.”
Madeline recalled her youthful years spent adventuring in the Abyss, an era marked by a sky devoid of darkness, unmarred by distinct transitions of day and night. It was perpetually shrouded in a nebulous murkiness, offering a modicum of visibility as though beheld through a gauzy veil.
“The absence of the azure sky here is tantamount to a forsaken land bereft of hope,” she remarked.
Madeline shrugged, continuing, “However, it’s possible that I simply haven’t been graced with a blue sky, given my time was spent skirting the shallows of the Abyss, never venturing into its deeper levels. Who’s to say there isn’t a blue sky lurking in those deeper depths?”
As Madeline shared her tales, Angel found himself gradually forming a mental image of the Abyss, corroborated by what his eyes bore witness to.
Hopelessness—this was the initial impression the Abyss branded into his psyche.
Madeline queried, “How are you feeling now?”
Angel concentrated, attuning to the sensations reverberating within his body. He replied, “I sense a certain sluggishness overtaking my bodily functions. The surrounding energies are volatile, resistant to absorption… but otherwise, all seems tolerable.”
Madeline nodded. “This reaction is to be expected. After all, in the eyes of the Abyssal Will, we are intruders. The feeling of stagnation is a byproduct of its rejection. However, as wizards, we’ll adapt swiftly to this environment, and soon enough, this sense of rejection will dissipate. As for the energies around us, they are inherently attuned to the Abyss and more readily absorbed by its denizens. Although we wizards can absorb them, the process is rather time-consuming… Hence, be mindful to conserve your energy in the Abyss. Each bout of meditation will outlast those you were accustomed to in the Wizarding World.”
This predicament slightly disadvantages those hailing from the Elemental and Mysterious Branches. However, for individuals like Madeline, who belong to the Bloodline Branch, the effects are minimal, leaving their capabilities largely intact.
Wizards in touch with their bloodline inherently wield formidable prowess in close-quarters combat. Even stripped of their magic, their physical might alone is overwhelming. Moreover, upon the grafting of a bloodline, the emergence of bloodline talents only further bolsters their strength. Consider the example of the Iron Armor Hedgehog’s bloodline talent—this is akin to a fortress of defense, a magic barrier solidified in the flesh, almost impregnable to assault.
Or, take for instance, Cherie’s Redclaw Harvester bloodline talent—a universal boost to agility and reflexes, allowing her to move with such speed that she becomes akin to an ephemeral ghost.
And yet, these are merely the commonplace bloodlines. One can only begin to fathom the potency of advanced bloodlines.
Angel has indeed assimilated the Projection Bloodline, but currently, the Projection Bloodline is just barely within his command.
As for bloodline talents? He lacks those entirely.
“If there’s nothing else, we should be moving along,” Madeleine gestured towards a nearby crowd.
Angel followed her gaze to a congregation of transcendental beings from their time aboard the Wings of Cold Frost. Nestled in the heart of the crowd were two women—one was Sineva with her frost-touched hair and eyes of flame, the other was the one they had encountered previously on Staring Abyss Cliff—Florentina.