The eighth night.
Another new creature appeared.
Well, since he saw all sorts of new entities every night, it wasn’t anything surprising, but the reason he noted this one was because it was an entity that manipulated the Abyss.
Just like the cockroach entity from the fifth and sixth nights, this creature manifested the Abyss as an ability.
It looked like a three to four-meter-tall snail without its shell, or perhaps a large earthworm, but what was certain was that its movements were noticeably sluggish.
Upon closer inspection, small explosions were constantly occurring on the soft-looking skin of its large body.
It looked strong at a glance, and other entities were keeping their distance from it, but Hio didn’t think it would be a major problem.
No matter how strong it was, it was too slow.
He figured it wouldn’t be a match for a Magician.
However, he had to discard that thought the moment he locked eyes with the creature, whose eyes were excessively small compared to its body.
He felt a strong sign that it was about to use the technique of Inversion he had learned from the cockroach entity.
Since it was a technique that directly manipulated the Abyss, he had no choice but to heighten his vigilance to the maximum and prepare.
And sure enough.
Boom—!
A massive explosion capable of blowing away the entire area erupted right before his eyes.
It wasn’t that the slug entity had caused an explosion from a distance.
It had moved its sluggish body to arrive right under Hio’s nose and then triggered the explosion himself.
And it had done so at a speed that could be mistaken for spatial movement.
If he hadn’t learned Inversion and seen the faint afterimages, he would have been horrified, thinking the creature had teleported.
But it wasn’t teleportation.
To be precise, it was closer to Shukuchi.
It was a technique of pulling the Abyss under one’s feet to move as if running on a moving walkway.
Of course, the speed and ability were incomparable to that, combined with a massive body and immense strength.
With that incredible speed added to the mix, this slug was among the strongest entities he had ever met.
“……Not bad.”
To Hio, it was merely a slightly violent master—a great teaching tool that showed him another way to utilize Inversion.
Boom—!
He only managed to survive the eighth night after enduring hours within the massive explosions delivered at teleport-like speeds.
The tenth night.
He was able to complete Shukuchi, one of the techniques of Inversion.
The abilities of Strange Entities were intuitive and simple, making them relatively easy to learn.
Of course, it was easy for Hio because of his experience seeing and manipulating Magic Power directly, as well as his ability to naturally perform Kreutzvalt-style magic modifications.
Regardless, the important fact was that he had learned Shukuchi.
The difference between this and space-type magic like Blink was, first of all, that it wasn’t magic.
Therefore, there was no need to draw upon the Power of the Crest, meaning he could move while using his remaining Crests to cast other spells.
For example, what would happen if he used Shukuchi while casting the ultra-low-temperature frost beam, [Ray of Frost], especially one infused with the Abyss?
Every path he crossed would be frozen solid or pierced by the beam.
However, it wasn’t easy to adapt to the high speed, and the destructive energy of the Abyss had a strong tendency to resist control, so using it alongside magic would require considerable effort.
Furthermore, he didn’t even know if he could use it once he left for the continent.
Nevertheless, the encouraging fact was that Hio was becoming accustomed to the energy called the Abyss.
He was beginning to open his eyes to how to manage and utilize that energy.
The thirteenth night.
He met various Strange Entities, and the diversity and proficiency of his Inversion rose sharply.
He became accustomed to directly controlling and managing the rampaging energy of the Abyss.
He still couldn’t control a large amount of the Abyss, but he could handle small amounts more smoothly and naturally.
Yet, despite that, every day was a struggle.
He feared the coming of night, and every moment before standing in front of the Watcher, his heart hesitated.
‘Should I rest today?’
‘Would it be okay to rest for just one day?’
‘In my current state of lacking rest, would I die from a momentary lapse in concentration if I forced myself out?’
‘Would it all end in such a futile way?’
Even though such thoughts occurred to him, he was always the same.
He still chose his own hell and faced the night, barely surviving to greet the dawn while gasping for breath.
How much longer could he endure?
When would this hell end?
He had no way of knowing.
The sixteenth night.
Several days had passed since the speed of his physical and magical recovery failed to keep up with the rate of consumption.
Even though the situation had improved slightly by learning the techniques of Inversion and manipulating the Abyss, the overall framework remained the same.
The Strange Entities might not be infinite, but from Hio’s perspective, they might as well be, and he still couldn’t defeat the true monsters hidden among them.
For example, the Colossal Abnormality he had met on the first and fourteenth nights.
It was a giant entity that rose to the very edge of the sky.
No matter what he tried, no matter how he struggled, he couldn’t damage its body, nor could he block the fists it swung.
All he could do was use Shukuchi or Blink to flee far away.
Even when he fled like that, he was always within range, and he would be sent flying by the erupting shockwaves.
Furthermore, after surviving as a wreck, he had to move locations during the following day with almost no rest.
Staying for another night on the ground that had been leveled by a Colossal Abnormality was no different from choosing to die.
The twenty-first night.
His mind was hazy.
There were no longer any types of entities he hadn’t encountered.
Combat was familiar, struggling was a daily routine, and magic moved as part of his body.
It was to survive.
Or perhaps, it was only possible because he had survived.
The previous night, he had finally defeated the slug entity—that terrible catastrophe that moved by folding the Abyss at high speeds and triggered explosions every second.
He blocked it with Inversion, moved with Shukuchi just as it did, defended with similar explosions, and finally cut halfway through its neck by practically thrusting Theodore into it.
In the process, Theodore was shattered into pieces, his Magic Power was almost depleted, and his head throbbed as if it were splitting from forcing the Abyss into submission, but he had finally done it.
He controlled the path of the creature trying to fold the Abyss, crushed it momentarily with the 6th Circle’s [Gravity], and in the moment he countered the erupting explosion with his own [Explosion], he used [Flare] to sever the creature’s dangling neck.
Even though he had finally killed one of those monsters he used to spend all his time running from, he didn’t particularly feel happy.
He was just dazed.
The twenty-seventh day.
Two Colossal Abnormalities had appeared simultaneously the night before.
Not that any night was easy, but he could truly say he had visited the threshold of death yesterday.
Perhaps that was why.
Even though it was day, he couldn’t fall asleep easily.
He was just staring blankly into the void.
Suddenly, he felt a tiny presence behind him.
A rustling sound.
Without a second thought, Hio’s staff swung toward it.
Magic Power surged violently, and the Abyss became a wave, churning wildly.
Boom—!
After an [Explosion] poured out, a pillar of fire incinerated the surrounding area.
Simultaneously, the energy of the Abyss hardened, sealing off the region.
That had all happened almost at the same time the rustling sound was heard.
However, it was currently day.
There was no way a Strange Entity could be here.
It was just the sound of dust or something similar brushing by in the wind.
After confirming this, Hio slowly turned his head back to gaze straight ahead.
He sat blankly, like someone who had lost their mind.
He didn’t feel embarrassed by his overreaction, nor did he think about how he should rest.
He just stared blankly into the Abyss.
He couldn’t fall asleep even though it was day; he just sat there.
“……”
It was silent.
Theodore, standing by his side, conveyed no will and merely looked down at Hio.
It had already been a week—a week of spending the day in silence without saying a single word.
Since the sun rose, Hio hadn’t spoken a thing.
The Hio who always moved toward the future with a confident expression and actions…
After experiencing an endless hell, his mind and emotions had been worn down until he lost his speech.
It had already been a week.
Even so, there was nothing Theodore could do.
What could he possibly do?
All Theodore could do was watch over him like this.
He watched, hoping that this terrible silence and stillness would end as soon as possible.
And so, the twenty-seventh day passed.
Night was falling.
The twenty-seventh hell was approaching.
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