556 Depressing Start to the Journey (1/2)

”Such a disgusting swamp. I feel like I'm beginning to grow mold. Couldn't we have found a better place to open our portal?”

I pretended not to hear my silly cat's complaints. However, I wasn't feeling any better than she was, as my shoes were filled with murky water and I was drenched all over.

Ever since we entered this dimension, stinky rainwater had yet to stop falling. Not only was it disgusting that this rain fell upon us, it also made us want to throw up.

Just earlier, we were still walking in a warm and humid forest. Then, before we realized it, we entered a death-filled swamp. Traveling through any death swamp in the Chaos Abyss was something that would truly test one's experience and vigilance.

”There's all these damned black frog demons and snake monsters here. Could they please give it a rest? Can I ever have a break?”

I suddenly caught a tongue that shot out at me from underwater. I tugged on it and then sliced a croaking black frog demon in half. I then casually kicked its corpse back into the swamp. It had been impossible to even take two steps in peace on the way here so far.

In any other slightly more ”cultured” dimensional level, once you proved your strength with slaughter and blood, all demons with Intelligence of at least 3 points would stop idiotically committing suicide against us.

But, for these magical creatures that only acted on pure instinct, they considered it a great fortune to be able to find some prey in this chaotic and humid rainforest. Their hunger and demonic combat instincts would make them attack anything they saw that moved.

In these trees and swamps, danger wasn't about the low power level of these predators. Rather, these predators were all expert survivalists. They had camouflage, or would hide underwater or under mud. They also knew countless tricks and how to set small traps. The trees and swamps here were filled with all sorts of strange creatures.

Most of these swamp residents were cold-blooded creatures. Their desire for slaughter and blood wasn't as strong as pure demons', but they would never miss an opportunity to attack any prey that they found.

Snake demons, crocodile men, demonic lizardmen, bull demons, frog demons, demonic dragonflies, toxic mist bats, and other such relatively weak magical creatures here all had one thing in common. They always stayed in groups and were incredibly sly. Although their actual intelligence level would be considered idiotic in the mortal plane, they had incredibly sly and vicious instincts as expert survivalists and predators in this dimension.

Tongues would keep suddenly lashing out at me from the mud or water. Snake demons constantly disguised themselves as tree bark. The seemingly flat grass would suddenly sink under my feet to reveal a deep pit. As I traveled, these swamp residents ”warmly welcomed” us in their own way.

Every tree, every patch of water, and every muddy area was hiding dangerous predators.

The stinky rainstorm obscured my vision and hearing. The magical forest and swamp's stench further impeded my sense of smell. The magic power of the Chaos Abyss would make instincts unreliable. In such an area, experience would be even more important than power level.

It was possible for even a SemiGod Holy Knight to be lured into dying here in an endless swamp, facing a group of frogs with only instincts and no actual intelligence. It was possible for a great archmage to be suddenly devoured by an unexpected snake demon that pounced from underground. And, even the most veteran thief might suddenly step into a lizardman's special swamp trap and then be dragged into the deep water toward his doom.

Hunting by laying traps and remaining hidden. This was how the magical creatures in the swamp layers between the 74th and 78th levels of the Chaos Abyss lived.

”Our luck is so terrible. I would have preferred being teleported to a bloody battlefield. At the very least, we would be able to talk things out with demons that can actually communicate.”

The enemies here were at some of the weakest power levels possible in the Chaos Abyss. It would have been lucky for novice adventurers to be teleported here as they could gradually get themselves accustomed to the danger level here. But for us, we had just been enjoying ourselves in the excellent weather of the mortal plane, yet now we were forced to trek through a muddy swamp in a stinky rainstorm. This was the absolute worst place possible for us.

I had waited at Starwood City for more than two months. Yet, in the end, not a single damned one of my companions came to join me. Although I knew that they were probably busy with their own things, I got bored of sword training and ended up heading down to the Chaos Abyss with only Harloys by my side, earlier than I had originally planned to set out.

”I'll be waiting at the Dragontail Bar in the Ash Inferno of the 100th level in the Chaos Abyss. I'll only wait another two months at most.”

I left this message behind as I took my cat first and left.

”I bet that you left because you heard that Elisa was almost here. You were being too much of a playboy with so many women and didn't know how to face your official girlfriend. Isn't that why you ran off earlier than planned?”

”Silly cat, I've heard that roast cat meat is quite healthy and good for keeping out the cold…”

I looked at Harloys in satisfaction while casually killing an idiotic frog demon which had its mouth wide open, waiting for me to step on it. These creatures that only survived on instinct were truly dumb indeed. Did this frog demon, which was more than three meters tall, really think that I wouldn't notice it?

While traveling down here in the Chaos Abyss by myself seemed rather reckless, it actually wouldn't be much different from being with my companions.