Just seven times.
If he could cast Blink just seven more times, the exit would be close enough to reach.
Seven more times meant he could escape this dreadful Abyss and recover.
First, he planned to go outside, recover his Health and Magic Power, and formulate a plan before re-entering a day later.
[Skill: Blink has been activated]
Once.
[Skill: Blink has been activated]
Twice.
[Skill: Blink has been activated]
Three times.
And just before he could activate the fourth Blink…
“Heuu, hee…”
A bizarre sound echoed from the depths of the Abyss.
A grotesque voice resonated gloomily throughout the entire floor, carried by the Abyssal energy.
However, Hio didn’t pay it much attention.
He didn’t know if others had noticed, but he had been hearing these faint sounds for some time.
But now that it was audible this clearly, he was certain.
Just as he had seen and heard at the Watcher’s Eye and the Floor of Breakthrough, some entity from the Abyss had crossed over into this place.
Now that he had obtained valuable information, he tried to hurry toward the exit.
He certainly intended to do so.
“Why are you heuu, hee…”
“How dare you wag that filthy tongue so recklessly?”
As it turned out, that bizarre voice wasn’t directed at him.
If the voices hadn’t been different, and if it hadn’t been for the strange phenomenon of them conversing with each other, he wouldn’t have hesitated.
“Child. Stop for a moment.”
If the second voice hadn’t felt so incredibly familiar, he would have used Blink and left the floor without a second thought.
The voice was even speaking to Hio kindly.
Although there was no proof it was addressed to him, Hio was certain.
The second thing that voice said was definitely directed at him.
“I, I ask heuu again. How are you he, he, heuu here — “
“Noisy.”
Immediately after that conversation, the hair on his arms stood on end.
It was because a massive amount of Magic Power was swirling.
Even though the source of the Magic Power was quite far from Hio, the aftereffects were this powerful.
‘Just what was happening?’
The flow of Magic Power was so vast that he couldn’t even take it all in with his eyes.
‘Just how powerful was the being who possessed such immense Magic Power?’
After the Magic Power erupted, there was a loud clattering and crashing for a while.
“That is what happens when a member of a filthy race speaks without knowing its place.”
There was no reply.
Circumstantially, it seemed the owner of the voice had defeated the owner of the grotesque voice that had been giggling.
Now, a decision had to be made quickly.
‘Should he leave the floor as planned, or should he wait for the owner of that voice?’
The answer was already decided.
“I shall be there shortly.”
A familiar voice he had heard once before.
A tone that turned gentle only for Hio.
Someone who handled an amount of Magic Power that was chillingly vast.
“Kreutzvalt.”
The great figure who had been called the Father of Dark Magic and the Father of Necromancy since long before Furnel’s time.
As expected, his guess was correct.
“That is the correct answer.”
With those words, a man suddenly appeared, piercing through the Abyss.
Naturally, it was a face he had never seen before.
When he had received help in the Labyrinth he entered with Daphne, he had only seen a faint silhouette and heard a voice.
— “It—it’s real! It’s really Kreutzvalt! The Great Necromancer! The Father of Necromancy! Papa!”
‘Shut up.’
— “You say that because you don’t know! For us Necromancers, the first thing we see upon entry is his portrait, and the first thing we learn is his theory…”
Pushing Furnel’s excited voice to a corner of his mind, Hio carefully examined the suddenly appearing Kreutzvalt.
To the eye, he appeared to be a middle-aged man only a few years older than Hio.
However, if he truly was Kreutzvalt, he was a monster among monsters who had existed for more than 1,000 years.
He shouldn’t be judged by his outward appearance.
“We finally meet, Hio Pavlenko.”
“…Do you know me?”
Kreutzvalt — or rather, the man presumed to be him — burst into a hearty laugh at Hio’s wary gaze.
“Of course. I know where you came from, how you have lived, and even what pain you carry.”
‘That’s… a bit embarrassing.’
Despite hearing those words, the wariness in Hio’s eyes did not easily vanish.
It was only natural.
‘Wouldn’t it be stranger to blindly trust someone who appeared out of nowhere?’
The man possessed immense Magic Power.
Circumstantially, he had personally handled the entity from the Abyss.
Furnel was making a huge fuss, vouching that he was indeed Kreutzvalt, but Hio still felt somewhat reluctant to trust him unconditionally.
— “Stop lying! Aren’t you also internally certain that it’s Kreutzvalt? If not, you would have left the floor already!”
True.
Honestly, Furnel was right.
He felt the vast Magic Power, the voice was familiar, and Furnel was vouching for him.
However, the timing was strange.
‘Why appear now?’
‘If he could show himself like this, why couldn’t he have done so sooner?’
Hio wondered about that, and as if reading his thoughts, Kreutzvalt nodded and spoke.
“You must be curious why I appeared when the situation isn’t particularly dangerous.”
To be honest, that was correct.
When he was suddenly dragged into the Abyss in the Labyrinth last time, that was a clear crisis.
Celestial had only just evolved, and it was his first time experiencing the true Abyss.
If Kreutzvalt hadn’t come to rescue him sooner, it was a real crisis where he might have been swallowed by the Abyss.
‘But things weren’t that bad now, were they?’
The exit was right in front of him, and he was confident that he could clear this floor after a day of rest.
‘Why would Kreutzvalt show up at such a time out of the blue?’
‘If he could reveal himself so easily, why had he remained hidden until now?’
That was his question, and the source of his wariness.
“If I must put it into words, child, the moment you step through that door to the outside is the real crisis.”
“What?”
“Seeing your reaction, you really didn’t know. The name of this floor is the Floor of Regret. There is no such thing as a time limit. The moment everyone who entered dies or exits, it is considered a failure.”
“…The Floor of Regret? There was no such floor type.”
“Are you truly that certain?”
The laughter faded as Kreutzvalt’s eyes looked straight into Hio’s.
Kreutzvalt’s black eyes, deeper than pitch-black, were asking him a question.
‘Do you truly know everything? Do you know more about the truth of this world than I do?’
When asked that, Hio naturally found himself at a loss for words.
In reality, this world had become so different from the Ventair game that various variables popped up every time he turned his head.
Even the division of the world into the middle and latter stages was nothing more than something Rankers had determined based on the floors.
Since they hadn’t seen the end of the Abyss even in the game, what they called the latter stage might actually be the middle stage, or perhaps not even that.
Therefore, Hio couldn’t answer, and Kreutzvalt laughed heartily again as he straightened his posture.
“Of course, whether you believe me or not is your freedom.”
“…And paying the price for doubt is also my freedom?”
“You are a clever child.”
Turning his head to look back, Hio could see the exit.
It wasn’t that far.
Turning his head forward again, he saw Kreutzvalt.
The man was looking at Hio with a pleasant smile, as if he would respect whatever decision Hio made.
No, perhaps he already knew what decision would be made.
It felt unpleasant to move according to his expectations… but well, what could he do?
He couldn’t gamble with the lives of tens or hundreds of thousands of people.
However, there were many things he had to clarify.
“Fine. Let’s say you’re right, Kreutzvalt.”
“It is not a matter of ‘let’s say,’ child.
It is the truth.”
— “How dare you speak to our father like that! Hmph! This is why kids these days…”
The two old men rushed to scold him just because he said one thing.
“…Yes, yes. Anyway, if that’s true, did you come here personally to clear the floor?”
Since he decided to acknowledge him as Kreutzvalt, Hio included expressions of respect in his speech.
It wasn’t because he didn’t want to hear Furnel’s voice nagging about his manners… regardless, the man was a far-distant senior as a Necromancer, so he deserved respect.
At Hio’s question, Kreutzvalt shook his head.
“This floor has already become so twisted that it is impossible to clear.
The floor must be closed forcibly.”
“Closing the floor… forcibly? Is that possible?”
“What is there that I cannot do? However, if I do that, the floor must be closed in its current state.”
“If the floor is closed in its current state…”
In other words, it meant the floor would be forcibly closed while Hio had not escaped.
This, too, was hard to believe.
How could the floor itself be closed forcibly, and if that were possible, why hadn’t it been done until now?
And since Kreutzvalt would remain on the floor even if Hio went out, it wouldn’t be a failure anyway.
If he just closed the floor on his own…
— “Ahem! How sacrilegious!”
As if he had read Hio’s thoughts, Kreutzvalt gave him the answer.
“I am active in a blind spot of perception, so you are the only one the floor recognizes as being here, Hio Pavlenko.”
In other words, if Hio left, the floor would recognize it as if no one were left, leading to failure.
That meant the Abyssal energy and the Strange Entities filling this floor would be unleashed.
‘Come to think of it, I don’t see any Strange Entities.’
The creatures that had been persistent in their attacks were nowhere to be seen.
No, he couldn’t even feel them anymore.
It seemed Kreutzvalt had personally handled them as well.
His ability was certainly powerful to a grotesque degree.
“Then, let’s assume you can close the floor forcibly for now.”
“I can close it, not assume I can.”
“What about me?
No, what about me?
Are you telling me to die with the floor?”
— “The way you speak to such a great person is sacrilegious, impolite, and rude…”
Kreutzvalt laughed heartily again, as if he found Hio’s question bold.
“How could that be, Hio Pavlenko?
You shall come with me.”
“With you…?”
Nodding his head, Kreutzvalt pointed somewhere far behind him.
“To the End of the World.”
She pulled out thin threads of Magic Power and created Circle Inscriptions as if drawing a picture.
It was even more difficult because she couldn’t see.
Sensing and imagining with her sixth sense, she completed the perfect Circle Inscriptions and engraved them around her heart.
Thus, it was finally finished.
“Finally!”
The first ring.
Four heavy inscriptions formed the axis, and a ring of Magic Power rotated slowly around it.
Airlights had taken her first step as a Magician.
“Hehehe.”
This was a deeply meaningful event for Airlights.
It meant she had created a way to become stronger other than through skills.
Now that she had almost given up on Reputation Points, she had no choice but to develop her skills on her own like the residents here, and magic had been added as a means to do so.
Of course, that wasn’t the only reason Airlights was so happy.
“Now I can go with him.”
She had become a First Circle Magician.
She had to engrave a few more inscriptions to cast magic, but since she had created the circle, she would finally be able to go to Tetradia with Hio.
She would be the only person moving with Hio, and she would be the one who understood him the most and could provide the most help.
She was this happy because of that, and it was for this goal that she had worked hard for several months.
“I wonder when Hio will come…”
When he returned this time, she would be able to tell him proudly that she had become a proper Magician and that they should move together now.
Since Hio had watched her efforts from his side, he would praise and acknowledge her.
He would say she worked hard and that he was happy they could be together.
Savoring every word he would say kindly, she would be overcome with a deep sense of happiness.
“Hehe… I hope he comes quickly.”
With that thought, she looked at the firmly closed entrance to the fourth basement floor.
It was a space only Hio could open, the fourth basement floor of the Mage’s House where the portal was located.
Until now, Hio had used that place alone.
But things would be different now.
Before long, when Hio returned through that portal, they could go together from then on.
Since it would be her first time using it, she thought it might be nice to pretend to be a little nervous or scared and sneakily hold his hand.
“Hehehehe.”
At the thought of it, her mouth drifted open in a grin.
Thinking of the person she loved… loving someone was such a happy thing.
It was a daily life that was joyful just to imagine.
“This is no time for this. I need to at least be able to cast Fire before Hio arrives. Yes.”
Airlights lightly patted both her cheeks to snap out of it and focused on engraving a new inscription.
Her expression was more passionate and bright than anyone could have ever imagined.
It was the face of a woman in love, possessive of a warm heart wanting to be of help, and the passionate expression of someone with a clear goal.
In contrast, it was midwinter outside.
Airlights only realized that fact when she opened the front door after hearing a sudden knock.
When she opened the door, a cold wind swirled through the warm house.
A messenger covered in snow knelt with a sorrowful expression.
It was only when he wailed, lamented, and poured out unbelievable words that she finally understood.
Because the surroundings were so warm, she had thought it was spring.
While she was unaware, winter had arrived in the world, and a freezing wind was blowing relentlessly.
—”Hio Pavlenko.”
‘Was it because there was too much happiness?’
‘As she had once thought, was love a feeling that wasn’t permitted for her after all?’
—”He remained alone to block the Abyss…”
The coldest winter, just before spring arrived.
On the day when the heavy snow piled up enough to break her heart, the tragic news arrived.
—”He is dead.”
It was the day the smile disappeared from Airlights’s face.
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