novelraw Chapter 179-3: The Ancient Demon at the Bottom of the Abyss (3)
Chapter 179-3: The Ancient Demon at the Bottom of the Abyss (3)
Reviewing the earlier text, he suddenly noticed a crucial clue he had overlooked.
[The Book of Characters used to awaken the abyssal demon has been used up. I have to go back to the President to requisition more.]
In the text shown by the document item, the quantity word Maguire used for acquiring the Book of Characters was ‘more.’
That meant Maguire hadn’t brought just one Book of Characters with him, he’d probably carried several.
And now, Lin Xun had only found a single copy on the corpse. The fate of the remaining books was self-evident.
“…So it wasn’t that the grand boss just had an extremely long entrance time. It was that awakening the Ancient Abyssal Demon required multiple Books of Characters.”
Lin Xun was momentarily at a loss.
Both Maguire and the Multivision President were already dead and gone, where was he supposed to find more Books of Characters?
If Rona were still around, he might have been able to obtain some clues from her, but unfortunately…
[You stood at the edge of the cliff, staring motionlessly into the darkness below. You even thought that rather than waiting here, you might as well jump down and see what would happen.][Do you wish to jump into the abyss?]
Lin Xun had no resurrection items. If he jumped into the abyss, he’d die a hundred percent of the time…
“Maybe there’s a pool or something at the bottom.”
“No, playing this game so long, I almost forgot my elementary school physics… At this depth, even if the entire bottom was water, you’d still die.”
The hellish game was clearly trying to trick him out of some soul strength.
He frowned, feeling vaguely that he had forgotten something important.
Suddenly, Lin Xun slapped his thigh hard. “Damn it, I got so caught up outsmarting this damned game that I forgot I have the Valkyrie!”
Without hesitation, he issued the command for the Valkyrie to mount up.
[The Battle Angel – Valkyrie wrapped her arms around your waist. With a single powerful beat of her refined copper wings, she lifted you into the air!]
Facing the hellish game’s prompt, ‘Do you wish to jump into the abyss?’
Lin Xun decisively clicked ‘Yes.’
[The Battle Angel – Valkyrie folded her refined copper wings and dove straight down into the abyss with you.]
[The frigid wind howled past, forcing your eyes nearly shut.]
[You and your doll plunged headfirst into the eternal darkness…]
The Valkyrie’s diving speed was incredibly fast.
To keep her from losing sight and smashing herself to death against the abyss floor, Lin Xun periodically used the Knowledge Radiance skill to light the way.
The fastest recorded free fall speed for a human already exceeded the speed of sound, set wearing a pressure suit and full gear.
The Valkyrie’s dive was certainly far beyond even that.
And even so, it took him a full two or three minutes to approach the bottom of the abyss.
Accounting for the time needed to accelerate, he estimated roughly that the depth of this subterranean abyss was at least fifty or sixty thousand meters!
[The Battle Angel – Valkyrie slowly spread her refined copper wings, her posture shifting from a dive into a glide.]
[Bathed in the brilliant light of Knowledge Radiance, you could faintly make out the ground far below.]
[…]
[The Battle Angel – Valkyrie set you gently down upon the ground.]
[The bottom of the abyss was covered in reeking sludge, the pitch-black muck swallowing your ankles and reaching halfway up your calves.]
[You held your nose and looked around. The abyss floor stretched away in boundless darkness with no end in sight.]
[Suddenly! Not far from you, a huge soft-bodied creature resembling a giant anaconda burst out of the sludge and lunged its gaping jaws toward the unsuspecting Valkyrie!]
[Your compound eyes sprang open, a flash of runic light slicing across the dark. The creature’s head erupted in an explosion.]
[You have defeated the Subterranean Mire Worm. Your experience increased slightly.]
[You have obtained Foul Dungstone (Junk).]
[Only then did the Battle Angel – Valkyrie finally realize what had happened. She quickly moved close, never straying from your side.]
[The darkness of the abyss floor severely restricted her combat abilities.]
Lin Xun hadn’t seen a Foul Dungstone in a long time.
Now that it reappeared, he actually felt a little nostalgic.
He shook his head vigorously, flinging this horrifying thought from his mind.
[You suddenly noticed, in the endless darkness, a faint glimmer of light. The glow seemed incredibly far away.]
[Do you wish to proceed toward the light?]
Was that even a question? He unhesitatingly chose ‘Yes.’
Lin Xun guessed that the glow in the darkness was either treasure or a boss.
[You began trudging forward with the Battle Angel – Valkyrie. Moving through the sticky sludge was extremely difficult, slowing you to a crawl.]
He didn’t mount the Valkyrie.
Having her carry him meant losing a powerful source of damage.
If the glow turned out to be the grand boss, sneaking up to it and unleashing a few surprise attacks first would certainly improve his odds of winning.
[You kept moving at a slow pace, pressing on…]
[…]
[You gradually drew nearer to that light. Against the endless black, the warm, hazy glow stood out clearly, filling you with a strange urge to reach out and touch it to soothe your spirit.]
[You, too, were drawn by that glow, unconsciously moving closer.]
[Suddenly, you saw a massive soft-bodied creature slither from the muck up ahead, inching toward the light…]
[You instantly snapped awake, stopping in place to observe.]
[The Subterranean Mire Worm writhed across the sludge, instinctively crawling toward the glow.]
[Just as it was about to touch the warm light…]
[A grotesque giant face silently emerged into the illuminated area, jaws opening wide to swallow the Subterranean Mire Worm whole before swiftly vanishing back into the darkness.]
[In that fleeting instant, you saw that the warm glow was attached by something like a fleshy tendril to the top of the massive creature’s head.]
[It was using the light to fish silently in the darkness.]
[You have discovered the Ancient Abyssal Demon – Blackthorn Demon!]
[What will you do next?]
[1. “As long as I run fast enough…” While the terrifying Blackthorn Demon has yet to notice you, grab the Valkyrie and escape this place.]
[2. “Bet you can’t hit me…” Command the Valkyrie to lift you into the air and attack the Blackthorn Demon from above with spells.]
[3. “Eat this liver shot…” Begin chanting an incantation and use the Falling Starlight skill to strike the Blackthorn Demon with a powerful opening blow.]