「Skill: Heaven (天上)」
「The power of the one who looks down upon all things from above the sky. Its blessing.」
「Every place your touch reaches is designated as the Celestial Domain.」
「Nothing the user judges to be harmful will dare set foot within the Celestial Domain.」
「Duration changes according to the amount of the stats ‘Mana’ and ‘Divine Power’ possessed.」
「You have acquired the stat ‘Divine Power.’」
「The stat ‘Divine Power’ increases by +10.」
「Skill—‘Heaven (天上)’ is activated.」
* * *
A small light illuminating the infinite abyss.
That faint glimmer swelled in the blink of an eye, piercing through the center of the darkness and enveloping the bodies of Hio and Daphne.
The effect of the skill “Shield” had taken the form of an absolute barrier, a giant hand of light wrapped around the caster.
The skill evolved from that foundation—“Heaven.”
The touch of light that began in the sky and descended was so warm and majestic that it could not even be compared to the previous illusion.
The deep abyss that had been mercilessly shaking her mind vanished as though washed clean.
The dread and terror of unknown origin within Daphne melted away in an instant.
The enormous tension that had wrapped around her entire body loosened all at once.
“…Is this a dream?”
Her consciousness grew distant.
It was not the same sensation as before.
Her body, freed from mana exhaustion and excessive tension, and her mind, which had been pushed to its limits and only just released, were demanding rest.
In the midst of that, Daphne drew her own conclusion.
“It’s a dream……”
Because unless it was a dream, none of it made sense.
This warm touch enveloping her body.
The maddening terror she had felt before it.
The face of the gentle goddess floating high above in the sky.
And the chilling, colossal eye that, as if opposing her, was growing ever more overwhelming in presence.
All of it felt like a distant dream.
And so, within that immense light, within that warm touch, Daphne slowly closed her eyes.
The warmth was like holding her hands before a stove in the dead of winter. The coziness was like being wrapped beneath a blanket.
Just before she lost consciousness, the last thing she faintly saw was—
“Divine magic, is it?”
Step—Hio Pavlenko’s back as he moved forward.
* * *
He had roughly guessed what effect Shield would produce once it evolved.
This was already the fourth time he had received the effect of his hidden trait. Inferring the effect from the visual manifestation was not difficult.
There was, however, one variable.
The new stat, “Divine Power.”
Not a skill that required only simple mana, but a top-tier skill that required even Divine Power.
It went without saying, but just as befitted the ability of a top-tier skill, the amount of mana and Divine Power required was also enormous.
In other words, the duration of “Heaven” would not be very long.
In the abyss filled with nothing but darkness, the mere fact that sacred light shone down was enough for the terror of the abyss to subside.
Moreover, the inside of the golden hand enveloping a wide area centered on Hio was the Celestial Domain.
Even if it was the abyss, it was a sacred domain that could not be entered without Hio’s permission.
—This feels similar to the divine magic used by the Order.
It was Purnel, gazing at the same place together with Hio’s soul.
“Divine magic, huh…… Divine Power did have the ability to drive away the energy of the Abyss.”
Was this not the reason he had regretted the Divine Kingdom’s rapid fall?
The absence of Divine Power.
The loss of the sole means of resistance capable of driving away the cursed energy of the Abyss.
“Maybe the newly acquired Divine Power stat can become a path forward in the future, but……”
The problem was the present.
Somehow, he had prevented Daphne’s mind from collapsing, but this place was still the abyss.
Heaven was clearly a top-tier defensive skill.
It would be supreme when it came to protection, but he did not think that alone would let him escape the abyss.
To begin with, how had they even been dragged here?
Had he not failed to grasp what this space was for?
The more he learned about the truth of the Abyss, the more questions piled up.
—What will you do now?
“What if I go up with Thunder Emperor?”
Heaven. Literally, above the sky.
The thought passed through his mind that if he headed toward the sky where it had begun, perhaps he might be able to leave this space.
—I wonder. I do not think that will allow us to escape this place.
“Probably not.”
He did not think that would let him escape the abyss.
Though he had manifested the power of Heaven, in the end it was a skill for defense. Nowhere did it say anything about leaving a space.
There was far too little information.
“But I have to try something.”
Before the Heaven he had finally completed disappeared due to insufficient Divine Power, he needed to make some attempt.
“From what I can see, if I want to deal damage to that thing, I have to handle intent……”
Had he not confirmed it through Daphne’s desperate skills?
That eye of the abyss treated skills filled with enormous power as though they did not exist.
If asked whether a top-tier skill would be any different, he had no choice but to be skeptical.
The power of intent that Vitalianus and Ataolf had handled.
Or perhaps the kind of power controlled by archmages of the seventh circle or higher.
Of course, he could not use such power right now, so this too was a futile thought.
Then what method remained?
In truth, the answer had already come out.
And he was already waiting for it.
—I hope our guess was correct.
“…Because this is the abyss.”
Hio and Purnel had not simply been standing idle all this time.
Ever since confirming the message presumed to have been left behind by Kreutzwald, the legendary necromancer and black mage, they had put their heads together and formed several hypotheses.
According to Purnel, he was a figure from an era far earlier than even the Abyss War.
Even in Purnel’s time, he had already been no different from a legend—a great archmage. There was a reason he was called the progenitor of black mages.
That very Kreutzwald had left a message.
He said he had seen the future, that he had seen the abyss. That he had walked into it of his own accord and was fighting there.
Not only Kreutzwald, but mages who had reached a similar realm and seen something similar to what he had seen had joined him, and they were engaged in battle with something unknown.
And amid all that, the final line remaining had been, “When will you come?”
Perhaps this was referring to Hio himself.
Perhaps Hio had been present in the future Kreutzwald had seen.
The last mage walking the path of magic in an age when magic had been lost.
It might have been a somewhat exaggerated thought, but perhaps he was waiting for him.
That thought became even more certain because of the voice that had resounded in the abyss.
—The hope of Rifyue ends here as well.
The words spoken by the eye as it looked down precisely at him.
The hope of Rifyue.
Those words made him recall the day when he had rejoiced, saying that he had once obscured the eye of god.
He had expected that since he had obscured the eye of god, there would be no reward either, but contrary to that thought, an excessive reward had been given. That time naturally came to mind.
“If this place truly is the abyss……”
It was vexing, but he was still weak.
There was also much he did not know.
“Help me, just this once.”
So please, just this once, discover him.
Notice the anomaly and come here.
That was why he had spread out Blue Flame, and because that alone had not been enough, he had cast Heaven.
And then—
—So this is where you were.
His prediction was right.
* * *
She had a dream.
A dream in which she had no choice but to run endlessly.
Something was chasing her from behind, but she could not tell what it was. No, perhaps she had not even tried to know.
Had there ever been a time in her life when she had trembled with such fear?
She was not the timid sort.
She thought so herself, and others had said the same to her. That she was fearless and bold. That she was cool-headed and more than capable of leading a group.
…No.
She was far more afraid than she had thought.
Look at her now. Even while she vaguely understood that this was a dream, she was endlessly fleeing because she was afraid to look back.
She did not even know what she feared, and yet she could not bring herself to find out.
Because she knew all too well that the moment she looked back, she would go mad.
And so she continued to flee through the infinite darkness, but in the end, she reached the end.
Ahead was a cliff.
Behind her, the unknown thing was closing in.
Though the precipice drew nearer, she could not stop her running legs. She knew that the drop below the cliff was so terribly deep that she could never survive it, but the darkness behind her was even more frightening.
Be swallowed by that thing, or throw herself down a cliff a thousand fathoms deep. If told to choose, she would pick the latter without hesitation.
In other words, dying would be preferable.
That was how cornered she was.
And so Daphne tried to throw herself off the sheer cliff. Her mind, cornered and forced to flee without end, had become far too exhausted.
But just before that, her vision abruptly brightened.
A golden radiance poured down from the sky, driving away the darkness. The gentle smile of a goddess.
A warm touch enveloping the area.
And the man who strode forth, blocking her as she tried to hurl herself from the cliff, was—
—Divine magic, is it?
The Supreme Heavenly Demon.
“…Hio Pavlenko!”
Her eyes flew open, and at the same time, her upper body shot upright.
It was a familiar sight.
A branch of the Adventurers’ Guild set up near the Garden of Hell. Daphne’s quarters.
“…Was it a dream?”
As expected, it had been a dream.
A nightmare like sleep paralysis, something she had never experienced in her life.
Well, of course it made no sense.
Entering the labyrinth together with the Supreme Heavenly Demon… no, wait. Was that also a dream?
Entering the labyrinth and clearly acting together had been vivid enough to seem real… but from some point on, it felt like a blurred dream.
Had that truly been a dream?
When her thoughts reached that point—
“Guildmaster! You’re awake?”
The door burst open, and one person entered.
No, guild members came pouring in after him.
They were Awakened who belonged to the Adventurers’ Guild, and who also belonged to Daphne’s guild in the outside world.
“Lady Daphne. How are you feeling?”
“…I’m fine.”
Her condition was strangely good. It felt as though her head had become exceptionally clear.
Putting that aside, Daphne opened her mouth first to ask why she was lying here and how things had unfolded, but—
“More importantly, how……”
“What happened, Lady Daphne!”
Before her question could even begin, the guild members’ questions started.
Their faces looked as though curiosity was killing them.
“What happened in there?”
“Why did that shameless bastard come out of the Abyss holding you in his arms, Guildmaster……”
Amid the flood of questions pouring down all at once, one question in particular lodged in her ears.
“More importantly, how on earth were you inside there for more than two weeks?”
“…What? Two weeks?”
Daphne’s head snapped toward the guild member who had asked that question, and the guild member, now questioned in return, nodded in bewilderment.
“Yes…… There was definitely less than a day left until the clear, but for more than two weeks there was no message saying it had been cleared, nor any message saying it had failed, and neither you nor that guy claiming to be the Supreme Heavenly Demon came out, so you have no idea how worried we……”
Was that… even possible?
The focus in Daphne’s eyes blurred.
She was groping through distant memories that felt like a dream.
First of all, she could hardly believe that this had not been a dream, but reality.
The huge eye floating in that bizarre space. From the moment she saw it, what she felt was overwhelming fear.
The skills she had unleashed in desperation while half out of her mind.
And the scene she had seen right before losing consciousness.
The terrifying eye looking down from overhead, and above even that, the light of a goddess that had appeared.
Finally, the back of the Supreme Heavenly Demon as he stepped forward while muttering something.
Had all of that truly been reality?
“That time was two whole weeks……”
What on earth was what?
To be honest, she could not even guess what had happened, or why it had happened.
There was only one person who would know the answer.
“Where did Hio Pavlenko go?”
At Daphne’s grave expression, the gathered guild members also fell quiet, and a slight tension filled the room.
“Hio Pavlenko… the Supreme Heavenly Demon……”
The person who could tell her the answer to all of this—
“He left.”
Had already gone.
“As soon as he came out, he set you down carelessly, Guildmaster, and then left in an incredible hurry without any proper explanation.”
“How could you just let him go? You should have held him here for the time being.”
At Daphne’s words, the guild member spoke as if wronged.
“I tried to, too, but he summoned something like a pegasus and flew away, and he was so fast that we couldn’t even catch him, so……”
Daphne could only rub her dry face with her hands and let out a sigh.
“Haa……”
It seemed she would have to go find the Supreme Heavenly Demon again.