There was a clear reason why the Abyss came to be called the game’s midpoint from the 50th underground floor onward.
It was because many things changed once that floor had been cleared.
The biggest changes were that the entrances to the Abyss began appearing not only in Hell Garden, but all across the continent.
The difficulty also rose drastically to match, and various forms of Abyss floors, such as labyrinths, began to appear.
If it was confirmed that the floor to be cleared that month was a labyrinth type, then recruitment began first.
This was true not only of labyrinths but of every floor after the midpoint, yet labyrinths, due to their particular nature, required the members to be selected with even greater precision.
Of course, aside from the official raid party, countless other raid parties existed as well, and the assembled parties would set out from different Abyss entrances, cautiously advancing toward the center of the labyrinth.
If they made their way through the darkness and reached the center, they would deal with the monster guarding the floor orb and destroy the orb, ending the clear.
The core that composed the floor—the floor orb.
The moment the orb was broken, that floor would collapse, so the monster guarding it never left its vicinity.
Then why was that thing approaching Daphne and Hio now behaving like this?
- □□□□.
Why had it abandoned the floor orb, left the room, and personally come all the way here?
Putting that reason aside for now.
“You’ve been resting all this time, so you won’t complain if you step up for the finishing blow, right?”
Daphne, who unsummoned Rafflesia and stepped back, even showed a firm resolve not to participate in the battle.
She had more than enough justification as well.
For half a day, Daphne had handled every battle, and Hio had merely followed behind her.
She had also confirmed that it was not because he lacked strength, so a demand of that level was so natural it hardly needed to be said.
“…This is troublesome.”
Of course, whether it was natural or not, from Hio’s standpoint, everything about this was troublesome.
How hard had he worked to gather that Patience? He could not possibly blow it all away now.
And Daphne had certainly said something very cool before they entered.
“You said if I just showed you the way, you’d break through it for me.”
“And did I not break through all the way here? You handle the finish.”
“That’s…”
“It’s coming.”
This was not a situation where they could leisurely chat.
It was being dismissed as a labyrinth monster, but only someone on Daphne or Hio’s level could speak so casually of it.
It was a sufficiently powerful monster.
- □□□□.
The presence of the approaching boss monster could be felt.
Its eyes flashed within the darkness.
However, their number was far from normal.
Those eyes, easily numbering over a hundred at the very least, filled the labyrinth’s space as they slowly drew closer.
“An Abyss Watcher.”
Daphne, having taken one step back, spoke calmly as though watching a fire from across the river.
Preparing for the Abyss Gate by recording and organizing every major boss monster had been the first thing Daphne did after stabilizing the guild.
In other words, she knew nearly every monster inside and out.
Abyss Monster—Watcher.
A monster that appeared only in labyrinth-type floors after the midpoint. Its body resembled a slime’s, but it boasted a size so enormous that comparing it to a slime was almost embarrassing, and hundreds of eyes were embedded in its body.
It had no blind spots whatsoever, and unless all of those countless eyes were burst, it would not die. Its body could even freely change shape. Since one had to burst every eyeball while it occupied the narrow passages of the labyrinth and pushed forward, it was an extremely troublesome monster.
“You know that much, I assume? Supreme Heavenly Demon?”
“Of course I do, Daphne.”
“Then why don’t you deal with it quickly?”
“How about you do it?”
If Daphne took one step back, Hio took two.
“How far are you planning to retreat?”
“For now, farther back than you?”
If Daphne took three steps back, Hio took four.
The blue flame had long since been extinguished. He could not blow away the Patience that had almost reached its target value.
Of course, it was possible Abyss monsters were not judged as intelligent life-forms.
Just look at those hundreds of eyes writhing toward them while covering the labyrinth’s walls, ceiling, and floor entirely.
Could that really be called an intelligent life-form?
But as long as there was even the slightest possibility, this was a gamble.
A gamble with a staggering 935 Patience on the line.
A gamble he had no reason to take.
“Why did you cancel that flame from earlier? With a skill of that level, a Watcher shouldn’t seem difficult at all.”
“I have my circumstances.”
Even as they conversed leisurely, both pairs of legs were moving diligently.
Not forward, but backward.
“What circumstances?”
“You’re trying to dig up far too many secrets on a first meeting.”
Nonviolence was Hio’s clear weakness.
Daphne would become a companion who had to move with him to prevent destruction, but even so, there was no need to reveal his weakness unnecessarily.
- □□□가.
The Watcher’s grotesque body continued to push forward.
In the end, the first to act was Daphne.
“Tsk.”
When she stretched her right hand out to the side, the blue bow, Rafflesia, revealed itself once more.
“We have to finish the clear first, after all.”
The moment it appeared, the bowstring was drawn taut.
Beside it, blue petals spread wide open, even larger than before.
An arrow of cold shot out rapidly with a sharp swish. Given the opponent, it was not the same basic arrow as before.
Arrows numbering at least several dozen flew at tremendous speed and embedded themselves all over the Watcher’s massive body.
They were so fast that, at a glance, it looked as though blue light had merely flashed for an instant.
But the Watcher still had many eyes remaining, and the body pushing forward was still intact.
Of course, Daphne’s bow did not remain still either.
Dozens of ice arrows shot forth.
The arrows lodged in the Watcher’s viscous body and eyes. The eyes instantly froze over and shattered.
Immediately after, Daphne drew the bowstring again.
Dozens of blue arrows were fired.
The arrows embedded themselves in the Watcher’s thick body, and at the same time, arrows were fired again.
This time, before those dozens of arrows even arrived, the next volley had already set off after them; before that one arrived, another was fired, and then another, repeating again and again.
The sharp swishing sound that had cut through the air—
At some point, became a surging wave pouring down.
「‘Rafflesia’ Skill—‘Blue Sea (靑海)’ is activating.」
What could be seen was a cold, blue wave of light.
A galaxy made of ice.
It was Daphne’s power unleashed in earnest.
“Let’s finish the clear.”
After the chilling glacial wave continued for several seconds and came to an end, Daphne unsummoned Rafflesia as though there was no need to even confirm the result.
That confidence was natural.
The boss monster that had approached, sloshing forward while covering the labyrinth’s walls, ceiling, and floor entirely. The Watcher, named for its hundreds of eyes.
It had lost its original grotesque form and lay scattered everywhere as glittering shards of ice.
All of its hundreds of eyes had frozen and shattered, and blue holes had been punched throughout its body.
Under normal circumstances, the Watcher would have freely transformed its liquid-like body, threatened the raid party, and hidden and moved its hundreds of life-like eyes, making it quite difficult to deal with.
But before an endlessly pouring glacial galaxy that densely filled the labyrinth’s limited space, it was nothing more than a trifling life.
“Let’s go break the orb.”
Crunch—Daphne stepped forward, crushing one of the Watcher’s frozen eyes that had fallen away.
“I’m more disappointed than I expected, Supreme Heavenly Demon.”
The Watcher’s corpse was frozen in place, plastered to the ceiling and walls.
Shards of ice fell intermittently.
As Daphne walked through them, she spoke to Hio behind her without looking back.
“No, perhaps my expectations were too high?”
As one of the players who had also immersed herself in Bentair and poured countless hours into it, she had thought highly of the Supreme Heavenly Demon.
That thought could only have grown greater once this world became reality.
He had been the overwhelming number one even then, and now that he had received a special privilege, just how much stronger had he become?
Surely he would show an even more overwhelming performance than before.
That was why she had deliberately spread rumors while searching for him.
That the Adventurers’ Guildmaster was looking for the Supreme Heavenly Demon. She believed that if he heard such a rumor, he would immediately understand and contact her.
Because in a world fated for destruction, joining forces was only natural.
Because although it had been a game, she believed all five rankers shared the same desire as they struggled to the end, hoping the world would not be destroyed.
Perhaps the reason Daphne and the other rankers had searched so desperately for the Supreme Heavenly Demon was because they wanted to rely on him, even if only a little.
The responsibility suddenly placed upon them had been far too heavy.
Perhaps they had wanted to lean on the one who had always stood above them.
Yet even after two years passed, there was no contact, not a single person who had seen him, not even the slightest similar trace.
All there had been were con artists pretending to be the Supreme Heavenly Demon, or lunatics.
Because her disappointment had been so great, she had called him a coward and told the other rankers not to concern themselves with him, but even so, it seemed some expectation for him had remained in a corner of her heart.
When rumors of the Supreme Heavenly Demon spread, her heart had pounded without her realizing it.
She had been swept up in the anticipation that he had finally appeared.
But that anticipation had been shattered to pieces within half a day of entering the labyrinth.
“Perhaps the recent rumors I heard were exaggerated too. Using that skill and outfit full of bravado, I mean.”
The blue flame the Supreme Heavenly Demon had shown was certainly intense, but had he not said with his own mouth that he could not use it?
If so, what made him any different from a mere guide?
Where had that overwhelming figure he had shown in the past gone?
And so, even the last handful of expectation disappeared this time.
Because her expectations had been so great, because they were expectations she had held onto for years, the emptiness she felt when they completely collapsed was beyond words.
“I suppose we won’t be seeing much of each other from now on, Supreme Heavenly Demon. No, Hio Pavlenko.”
If a labyrinth-type floor suddenly appeared again, she might call him as a guide, but for any other problem, she could resolve it herself even without Hio.
She, too, had prepared and grown stronger more earnestly than anyone to prevent destruction. Now that she had confirmed the Supreme Heavenly Demon was no longer overwhelming, she would have to work even harder herself.
A man who had received the privilege of first place, yet had not raised his fame and had only managed to grow that strong.
She had worked incomparably harder than a man who had hidden away, suddenly appeared, and then prattled on about having circumstances.
It would have been better if she had received the privilege of first place instead.
“I won’t say anything about you to the others. Well, not that there’s much to say.”
Of course, Daphne knew.
She knew there was no need to say this much.
She had been the one who had held great expectations, and she was also the one who had been greatly disappointed.
Hio Pavlenko had found the path through the labyrinth as promised, and one way or another, the clear had been completed within the allotted time.
For a coward, had he not mustered quite a bit of courage?
Now she would have to set aside her expectations for the Supreme Heavenly Demon and plan for what came next.
Even thinking that, she simply could not stop her words from coming out crooked.
“I’ll call you again if I need a guide next time.”
It was disappointment toward the man she had waited for, anticipated, and placed hope in for years.
A little sarcasm was an instinctive act to avoid leaving behind even the smallest lingering attachment.
“The clear is over.”
Daphne continued walking, stepping over the frozen remains of the Watcher.
Ice shards crunched and broke beneath her feet.
The cold mist hanging thick in every direction was a glacial path she had created.
If she followed that familiar path, she would soon reach the center of the labyrinth, and once she destroyed the floor orb there, the clear would be over.
This time, too, she had safely protected it.
…And yet, was there some lingering attachment left?
“No, the clear isn’t over.”
Or had his pride been wounded by her sarcasm?
Hio Pavlenko’s voice came from behind her.
“Daphne.”
Even at the sound calling her name, Daphne did not stop walking.
Did he want to make excuses?
Rather than continuing to talk with him unnecessarily, it was more important to definitively finish a clear that was already as good as over.
“Stop.”
But for some reason, the moment she heard that resolute voice, she had no choice but to stop as he said.
It was because irritation had suddenly surged up within her.
Because, unlike herself, her emotions were running high.
Thinking back, it had been like this ever since they entered the labyrinth.
Smiling at a few words of praise from Hio, letting that trivial gesture breed needless suspicion.
Had she not even gone so far as to openly mock him out of deep disappointment?
It was behavior utterly unlike Daphne, but she had no room to reflect on even that.
“Have you become unable to grasp the order of priorities now?”
Whatever excuses he had, whatever circumstances of his own he wanted to prattle on about, shouldn’t they first finish the clear?
Just how much more did that man intend to disappoint her?
With that thought, she stopped and turned back.
Her face was twisted in a frown from the irritation surging through her, and in her mind she was already imagining it.
The Supreme Heavenly Demon, pride wounded, flying into a rage with a distorted face—or making excuses.
“Whatever excuse you have, first we finish the……”
But the scene reflected in Daphne’s eyes as she turned around was completely different from what she had imagined.
“…clear……”
Hio Pavlenko was not angry, nor was he trying to make excuses.
He was not even looking at her.
He merely stared past her, with eyes dyed black without a single trace of white.
“Do not turn around, Daphne.”
And spoke in a voice more solemn than ever.
“Walk slowly this way.”
At that sight, a sudden sense of wrongness arose within her.
Since when had it been? She had thought the clear was already over and let her guard down.
Even though the very fact that the guardian meant to protect the floor’s orb had moved directly toward them was strange enough.
Once a crack formed in the framework of her thoughts, her mind finally became a little clearer.
She did not know since when, or because of what, but the fact that her mind had cleared meant it had been covered by something.
And as the things blanketing her mind began to lift, the sense of wrongness only grew without end.
First, she could not feel the freezing cold of the ice she had created.
It was not the familiar sensation of ice crunching beneath her feet.
The feeling beneath her feet was somehow heavy, somehow terrifying.
The moment she looked down, an endless, dizzying sensation came over her, as if she would plummet forever.
“Do not waver, Daphne. Don’t look away. Look only at me and walk straight this way.”
In the midst of her confusion, Hio’s voice was a clear signpost.
It was the one thing showing her the path within that distant, overwhelming fear.
“It’s all right. Come here.”
Clutching at her limbs, which had at some point begun trembling violently, she barely managed to reach Hio Pavlenko’s side.
Hio’s eyes had returned to normal, but his gaze was still fixed on one place.
Only after reaching Hio’s side did she feel as though she could breathe a little.
Only then did she gain even a handful of courage to look around.
A space where the glacial path she herself must surely have created, the cold air, and even the ice that should have crunched and shattered beneath her feet could not be felt.
“Hold fast to your mind, Daphne.”
Daphne’s gaze, after sweeping over her surroundings, finally turned to the same place as Hio’s.
To an impossibly high sky where, at some point, the walls and ceiling of the labyrinth had vanished. A sky that was nothing but infinite black.
“If you do not wish to go mad.”
Floating there was a gigantic eye.
A grotesque eye, torn long and horizontal, staring straight down at her.
“It is the Abyss.”
This place was already the Abyss.