Chapter 91: Voice of the Abyss

The moment the boss monster guarding the orb of this floor—the Watcher—emitted its eerie voice, something felt off.

It was a subtle sense of discomfort.

Abyss Monsters are creatures from another realm.

Since the sound didn’t belong to this world, it was only natural to feel uneasy.

I had heard the sounds of many Abyss Monsters before.

Most of them screeched or howled like other typical monsters.

That was the sound of the Abyss Monsters from the lower floors, and this was the first time I’d ever heard the voice of a mid-tier boss monster like the Watcher.

It wasn’t just a simple cry.

It was something utterly unfamiliar—like an unintelligible language.

I thought, “So mid-tier boss monsters can speak the otherworldly language too,” and dismissed it.

But as that strange sound repeated several times—

I began to notice subtle changes in its tone.

「Mental attack detected.」

「Hidden Trait – ‘Cannot Live Without Style!’ activated.」

The discomfort quickly grew larger, overwhelming me like a massive wave.

Even though Daphne had instantly dealt with the Watcher using the Glacial Wave, the unease didn’t vanish.

Instead, it only grew stronger.

“Mmm?”

Though the Watcher was surely dead, its voice persisted.

That eerie sound gradually became something familiar.

With mounting tension, I raised my staff.

“Activating skill ‘Staff of the Dark Sovereign’ — ‘Insight of Darkness.’”

What appeared in my blackened eyes was—

“Daphne. Stop.”

The Abyssal Eye floated high above.

“Come beside me.”

The moment I realized it, this place was already the Abyss.

‘How could I be so sure it was the Abyss?’

If you asked, I’d have no clear answer.

There simply is no other way to describe it.

Against a backdrop of darkness, this space was made of darkness itself—utterly bizarre.

It felt as if it could swallow me whole at any moment, or plunge me into infinite depths.

A vague fear crept through my firmly built mental defenses.

Resistance was futile.

Any living being would inevitably feel fear here.

「Hidden Trait – ‘Cannot Live Without Style!’ is active.」

This wasn’t a phenomenon happening by chance.

It was a natural effect born from the Abyss itself, from this space.

[Hidden Trait: Violence is Not Allowed! (Endurance: 940/1000)]

Yet I had to endure it.

The unfathomable, nameless dread—the vague terror that felt like I could lose myself at any moment—I had to bear it and keep my mind steady.

“Stay sharp, Daphne.”

All I could do was say that to her.

There was nothing else to do but hope she could hold on to her sanity in this strange space.

Perhaps those words helped a little.

A blue glow gathered in Daphne’s right hand as she summoned the legendary weapon from Fioria’s tales: Rafflesia.

Still, her trembling didn’t stop.

She summoned the weapon that was like an extension of herself, but the Abyss’s terror far surpassed that.

“000, 00OO, Hio Pavlenko.”

That strange tone echoed once more.

Though it was unfamiliar, the last part of the phrase was clear and distinct, sending chills down my spine.

But I mustn’t show fear.

If I revealed it, the terror would only grow.

What I needed to do now was to fight.

A desperate struggle to avoid sinking further into the Abyss.

“Mmmmmm, Jijoncheonma, Hio Pavlenko.”

The language echoed again from the Abyss.

This time, I could understand more than half of it.

“Lee Hyunseung, Jijoncheonma, Hio Pavlenko.”

It was only on the third call that the words fully became this world’s, resonating clearly in Daphne and Hio’s ears.

The Abyssal Eye looked down on Hio, calling to him.

Hio calmly raised his staff.

Though he tried to hide it, his hand unknowingly tightened its grip.

「Skill – ‘Azure Flame’ activated.」

Blue flames erupted, devouring everything they touched.

The flames, imbued with emotion and will, reflected their master’s own fear.

Yet they didn’t show it.

Because that was not the will their master intended to express.

“Burn it. Azure Flame.”

The space was vast yet oppressively narrow—a peculiarity of the Abyss.

Hio aimed to erase that sense of alienation, to burn away the fear born from the spatial ignorance.

The Azure Flame surged dramatically, pushing away the thick darkness and illuminating the abyss beneath his feet.

Wherever the blue fire touched, space itself recoiled.

Though areas untouched by the flames remained the Abyss, still shrouded in darkness, that alone offered a slight breath of relief.

[Hidden Trait: Violence is Not Allowed! (Endurance: 942 / 1000)]

The massive eye floating in the Abyss watched Hio’s actions without moving.

Probably because it understood this was a mere futile struggle.

It knew Hio couldn’t escape this place by any means.

Then that strange voice came again from the Abyssal Eye.

“You hid well until now, but I have found you.”

At that moment, the space began to move.

The Abyss stirred.

The overwhelming pressure of the vast darkness pressed down from above, the sides, and below.

The fear was unimaginable—if not for the Azure Flame glowing blue in the depths, I would surely have lost myself by now.

This was the kind of terror that drove Daphne, cornered at the edge of the cliff, to lose control.

Her spirit, pushed to the brink by endless fear, rebelled and ordered one thing:

Destroy it.

Her body responded, lifting Rafflesia.

She aimed it at the strange eye that stared down from the high sky.

“Die!”

Her body trembled, but it didn’t matter.

The target was immense, yet Daphne’s skills and Rafflesia had never once missed.

「Skill – ‘Glacial Breath’ activated.」

「Skill – ‘Weight of the Heavens’ activated.」

「‘Rafflesia’ skill ‘Freezing Point’ activated.」

The deadly combination, never failing, was quickly assembled.

The bowstring was drawn taut.

A thousand-layered arrow shot through the darkness, immense cold within it.

The arrow flew faster than ever before and pierced through the Abyssal Eye.

No—correction.

It didn’t pierce it. It simply passed through.

Like a meteor shower through a mirage.

The cold arrow passed beyond the massive eye and disappeared deep into the Abyss.

Watching it drift away and finally swallowed by the Abyss left me dazed.

It felt like a premonition of my own imminent fate.

So.

“Die! Die! Please just die……!”

「Skill – ‘Weight of the Heavens’ activated.」

「‘Rafflesia’ skill – ‘Azure Sea’ activated.」

Daphne, nearly losing her mind, unleashed skill after skill wildly.

Of course, none of them landed any blows.

They passed futilely by.

“Riphue’s hope was at its end.”

Despite Daphne’s desperate struggle and fearful screams, the Abyssal Eye didn’t even glance at her.

It only looked down steadily on Hio, manipulating the darkness.

The space it controlled shrank and pressed down on the trembling Azure Flame bit by bit.

Though the Azure Flame swelled desperately like a frightened puppy, it was useless.

This was already the Abyss.

No matter how much you burn, you eventually tire before the infinite Abyss.

Eventually, even the space barely secured by the Azure Flame shrank.

The moment you step inside, the Abyss gnaws away at your mind.

It was so powerful that even a top-tier Raenka like Daphne could fall helplessly.

Watching the darkness close in relentlessly, the mind couldn’t hold.

“Don’t come! Don’t come! Don’t come!”

That was the Abyss.

Even Jenna, resolute as the pinnacle of Awakened and the leader of a giant guild, could collapse so easily here.

「‘Rafflesia’ skill – ‘Azure Sea’ activated.」

「Skill – ‘Glacial Breath’ activated.」

「Skill – ‘Swift’ activated.」

Skill after skill was fired recklessly, rapidly draining Daphne’s mana.

A desperate flail fueled by fear widened the cracks in her mind.

Where once was cold logic, now surged terror and dread.

「‘Rafflesia’ skill – ‘Freezing Point’ activated.」

The legendary weapon Rafflesia’s skills demanded immense mana.

Even with a mana stat boosted to 500, Daphne’s reserves were rapidly draining due to the onslaught of skill use.

But she didn’t notice.

She was too caught up in struggling.

Until finally, she would lose her mind.

For any otherworldly being, just witnessing this space would break their sanity.

The Abyss.

“Don’t come…”

Such pitiful struggles were nearing their end.

With no mana left, her arrows lost their power.

Her mind blurred, and her tense body relaxed.

‘Wouldn’t it be easier just to lose consciousness like this?’

If she let go now, she’d faint and find peace soon enough.

So Daphne’s body collapsed helplessly.

She sank to the floor and gazed up at the sky in despair.

Or was it the floor she sat on? Or the sky she looked up to?

Her head spun chaotically, confusing everything.

Darkness swallowed the surroundings by the second, and the space where Daphne and Hio stood rapidly shrank.

Amidst the growing darkness, the enormous eye floating above remained clearly visible, sharp and distinct—utterly bizarre.

Resisting such absurdity was pointless.

It was better to give up and release the last sliver of sanity.

Just as Daphne made that decision—

“Now I understand.”

Hio, who had been silent since summoning the Azure Flame, finally moved.

[Hidden Trait: Violence is Not Allowed! (Endurance: 999/1000)]

In this Abyssal space that relentlessly shook the mind, Hio’s hidden trait, which had been steadily rising, finally showed its true power.

At the very moment when all hope was lost.

[Hidden Trait: Violence is Not Allowed! (Endurance: 1000 / 1000)]

「Congratulations! You have reached the goal for the hidden trait ‘Violence is Not Allowed!’ A hidden reward for the trait is granted.」

「Patience is Bitter, Fruit is Sweet!: Skill effects become real instead of just visual. Skill grades are recalibrated, and skill names are changed accordingly.」

「The evolved skill obtained as a reward cannot be deleted.」

「Please select one skill from your skills.」

Without hesitation, he chose one.

「You have selected the skill ‘Shield.’」

「Analyzing the effect of the skill ‘Shield’ linked to the trait.」

「Analysis complete.」

「Hidden trait reward ‘Patience is Bitter, Fruit is Sweet!’ applied to the skill ‘Shield.’」

「The grade of the skill ‘Shield’ is upgraded to the highest rank.」

「The skill name ‘Shield’ is changed to ‘Celestial.’」

Taking a step forward, Hio stretched his staff toward the sky.

“Celestial.”

Light poured down.

The Abyss split apart.

The massive Abyssal Eye, which had remained motionless until now, shifted its gigantic pupil.

Not downward.

[Upward, toward the Celestial.]