Chapter 142 - Connection 2 (1/2)
Chapter 142 - Connection (2)
The party had misjudged the situation.Even if the Shadows of Sinners were putting up a stiff resistance, they assumed Roa would be able to easily quell the Abyss.It wasn’t like that at all.
“She didn’t even leave a seed behind.She killed them all.”
“I guess we really didn’t need to come in here, Artpe.”
It was inadequate to say that Roa had easily quelled the Abyss.She had cleared the Abyss with such ferocity that no monsters would form in the future!
[Koo-ohhhhhhhhhhh-ahhhhhhhhhhhh!]
[Nyaa nyaa nyaa-ahhhhhhhhhh!]
“The overpowering energy and shrieks that could be felt from the entrance…..”
“I think the Shadows are trying merge into a single being.”
It might be a case where a great number of Shadows were trying to merge into one.At a glance, it was apparent that the Shadows of Sinners didn’t have a set form.They were closer in nature to being Mana rather than having physical substance.This was why he wondered if the Shadows were capable of merging.Artpe felt uneasy, and this was the only hypothesis that he could come up with.
“It is easily over level 300.It might be too much for me if I face it alone.”
“At the very least, it is much stronger than the Ancient Kraken..”
The Dwarves had once referred to it as a big bastard.Artpe turned to look at Elrick.As if he knew what Artpe was asking about, Elrick nodded his head.The others couldn’t see it, but Artpe could see the little guy nod his head inside the armor.It was quite cute.
“It is as you’ve surmised.Under a special condition, the Shadows of Sinners can combine.It allows them to grow their size and magical energy.The Dwarves call it the big bastard.It usually appears when our side gains a little bit of an upperhand.This is why we never pushed for an outright victory.We always maintain a narrow margin of victory.”
“When we first appeared, we killed them all before they could combine.”
“You guys did something really tremendous and unexpected.”
Elrick had been confident in his own skills, yet he never was able to beat the Shadows with such overwhelming force.When Artpe smirked at him, Elrick became a bit angry.He tightened his grip on his axe.
“You’ll regret strengthening my armor, Artpe.In the near future, I will become the strongest in this party.”
“Are you for real?It’ll be very hard.Hang in there.”
If Elrick really did become the strongest within their party, it wouldn’t matter if there were two Demon Kings.Five Demon Kings could show up, and it wouldn’t be a problem.Artpe was thinking about such nonsense as he guided his party deeper into the pit.
“There isn’t even a small fry left.It is immaculate.It is as if holy power was used to purify this place…..”
“Purification changes Demonic energy into regular Mana or blessed Mana.On the other hand, Roa’s Gluttony is….It is as it sounds.She eats everything.Her Gluttony isn’t some convenient ability.”
“Where did you acquire such a monster?She doesn’t sound well-suited to be a familiar of a hero.”
“It just happened.”
If he thought about it, he acquired Roa from the hero development Dungeon, and the item had been provided by his sunbae.Of course, at the time, it hadn’t been clear that something would be born from within the item.There was no way sunbae-nim could have predicted that he would have been able to hatch the item.
“The energy is getting stronger.Artpe, let’s hurry up.”
“All right.”
If one wanted to be technical about it, the Abyss had a similar structure to the Ancient Temple.The Dungeon was structured in a way that it was making a big magic circle.Its aim was to make it difficult for anything inside to escape the Dungeon.This strengthened his hypothesis that there was some legacy of the previous hero left behind inside the Abyss.
[Mee-yahhhhhhhhhhht!]
[Goo-go-ohhhhhhhh, go-go-go-oh-ahhhhhhhhh!]
Aside from those similarity, the situation was different in many respects compared to what they faced in the Ancient temple.Since this Dungeon was underground, it might have caused the seal’s power to loosen.On the other hand, the seal wouldn’t have held up even if the initial power level of the seal had been maintained.The Shadows of Sinners were multiplying so fast that the components making up the seal couldn’t withstand it.Parts of the seal were broken, and Shadows started leaking out of the abyss.
“The spell placed over the Abyss is weakening, and the number of Shadows of Sinners keeps increasing....On top of that, the rate had accelerated at some point in time.”
The Shadows of Sinners possessed and reacted to Demonic energy.By knowing their special property, it wasn’t difficult to pinpoint when the acceleration had occurred.It was when the Demon King’s army started to work in earnest within the human realm.Their Demonic energy started to mix into the Mana of the human realm.
‘The Winter Queen probably knew about all of this.There is the Demonic energy, the Dwarves, the previous hero and the warrior of the hero’s party from our previous lives… A lot of teeth of a saw blade became stuck in this one place.’
Artpe let out a bitter laughter as he moved his feet.He had a good idea where the battle was occurring.He could sense an absurdly dense Demonic energy gathered in one location, and an enormous amount of magical energy that was trying to suppress it.Then there was Roa.He could sense her Mana, and she was going crazy trying to eat everything.
“Let’s travel the remaining distance in one go!”
“Yes!”
“Yes!”
“W...what the hell?Why are they all hugging you!”
Artpe repeatedly told his party members that only a part of their body had to be in contact.However, his party members were terrible at listening to him.When one looked at the sight, it looked as if they had left behind any tension above ground.Elrick was seriously thinking about whether he had to hug Artpe or not.Artpe just grabbed Elrick’s armor, then he used Blink.
[Nyaa-ahhhhhh, nyaa-nyaa-ahhhhht!]
In a blink of an eye, they were at the heart of the Abyss.When they heard Roa’s loud roar, they turned around to look for her.Artpe’s eyes widened.
“Roa became an enormous cat!?”
[Nyaa-ahhhhhhhhhhh!]
Her roar was as cute as ever, but her black and sleek body had grown several dozen times larger.She was filling up the large space!
If she was in her black fog form, her size wouldn’t have surprised him.However, she was in her true form!An enormous monster was attacking her from the other side, and Roa was engaged in a hand to paw combat.It seemed this was truly her form now.
[Nyaa nyaa-ahhhhhhhhhhhhht!]
“Roa is biiiiiiiig!”
“It seems she went over level 300 in this Dungeon…..”