BXBX NOVEL Chapter 199
Chapter 199: Abyss (2)
Awakening strengthens the body.
The scope of their physical enhancements extended beyond their bodies to include their five senses, such as sight and hearing.
For instance, they gained extraordinary eyesight, surpassing even that of the famed Mongolian archers.
This applied to all guild members present.
They were accustomed to the lives of superhumans.
But…
They couldn’t see through the faint fog. Even with their superhuman eyesight, their vision was limited to a radius of about 100 meters.
[You have entered the Outer Sea of the Abyssal Sea.]
A message appeared.
As they breathed, the pitch-black fog was sucked in. Their heads tingled a little.
It seemed that the guild members were also experiencing the same thing.
“It’s a very annoying sensation. It’s like ants crawling all over my head…”
Seo Yerim said with a frown. As she said, it was a very unpleasant sensation.
A holy sword was summoned above Siwoo’s hand.
Along with a white light, hundreds of sword strikes were scattered in all directions.
They could see the fog being torn and cut into pieces.
‘Does it really work?’
If the fog of the abyss was something evil, wouldn’t the holy sword’s attack work?
Like Lu Bu cutting down soldiers, Siwoo continued to grind away at the fog, but only for a moment.
“Phew.”
Siwoo sat down on the floor, seemingly exhausted. He had used up a lot of mana in a short period of time.
As a result, the surrounding fog dispersed, but only for a moment.
The Outer Sea was vast.
They could see the fog from outside, untouched by the sword strikes, filling the empty space like slime.
“Damn, it doesn’t work at all… I don’t think Yerim’s arrows will work either…”
They realized that it was nearly impossible to break through by physical means. All eyes turned to Han Siah.
Her occupation was a priest.
Priests were one of the classes specialized in mental defense.
Fwoosh!
With a flash of light, Han Siah summoned her holy relic, Iverg. A majestic light emanated from the white cross.
[Mental Fresh (A) is activated!]
[The effect of support skills is greatly increased due to the holy relic!]
[Mental strength is increased by 50% for 5 hours!]
[Mental defense is increased by 40%…]
Mental protection skills were activated on the party members.
“How is it? Is it any better?”
“Oh! Awesome!”
“Sister, it’s much better than before.”
The horrible sensation of ants crawling over their brains had become much fainter.
If it felt like hundreds of ants were moving before, now it felt like only a few dozen.
Kim Minwoo also nodded in satisfaction.
Mental Fresh.
It was one of the representative mental protection skills of a priest. However, it was clearly different from the effects he knew.
The buff of an ordinary priest would be about 20%.
Han Siah’s skill showed an effect close to 2.5 times that.
‘As expected. Priests are gods.’
It’s probably a result of her talent combined with the holy relic. Although her level is low, she seemed like she would be a great help on this expedition.
The full-fledged witch, Leluya.
She also received Han Siah’s buff. The witch, who had been looking at her with interest, said,
—This should be helpful to some extent, even up to the Inner Sea.
—But it’s not enough.
—It won’t work from the Deep Sea onwards.
“The Deep Sea? Is that where the Lord lives?”
—The Abyssal Sea is divided into five zones: the Outer Sea, the Inner Sea, the Deep Sea, the Extreme Sea, and the Oblivion Sea.
—Once every 100 years, the Lord, who resides in the Oblivion Sea, comes up to the Inner Sea to breathe.
—In other words, you have to enter at least the Inner Sea. That’s where you have to start looking for the Lord.
Leluya continued with a detailed explanation.
Each of the five seas had its own characteristics.
The Outer Sea.
The basic foggy area.
Apart from the fact that inhaling the fog causes a slight mental attack, there is no major threat in this area.
For Awakened with decent mental strength, it’s said to be just a tingling sensation in the head.
The Inner Sea.
The fog becomes denser, and the space poses a physical threat.
Breathing itself becomes difficult, and past traumas and fears manifest intermittently.
The Extreme Sea.
The fog begins to distort space and time. One loses their sense of distance and becomes confused about the flow of time.
This is where the “fragmentation” of the mind and body occurs.
Finally, the Oblivion Sea…
—It’s a state of complete emptiness.
—The risk of losing one’s ego is extremely high.
—For ordinary humans like you, the Deep Sea will be the maximum range of activity. That too, on the premise that you are thoroughly prepared.
Even the Grand Witch said it was difficult to operate beyond the Extreme Sea.
‘No wonder it’s so hard to get Abyssal Lord materials.’
The Lord was a monster that lived even deeper, in the Oblivion Sea.
Soon after, Leluya took something out of her inventory.
It was a potion.
[Raven’s Oblivion]
[Rank: Rare+]
[One of the special potions created by the Raven School of the Eastern Witches’ Association.]
[Effects]
[1. Forgets ‘fear’ upon consumption.]
[2. Duration is 2 hours.]
—Take it when you enter the Inner Sea.
—It will help you overcome your trauma.
—That is also a form of fear.
Kim Minwoo stared at the potion.
‘Forget fear.’
It was a very unique potion.
He also had a similar potion.
Not that he would forget it bluntly.
“Take it, witch.”
He handed her three potions.
—…Huh?
—Tickle Potion that would make even a demon cry?
—A hundred-day starved ogre would shake its head…?
The Three Legendary Potions.
They were potions he made to catch a raid boss named Iphrax in the Super Rookie Selection in the past.
They were very effective.
Park Siwoo and Seo Yerim’s faces turned white as a sheet when they saw the potions I took out.
They both remembered tasting those potions. In fact, the effects were even stronger than before.
‘Because the skeletons have been changed to intermediate level.’
He was not just a cute apprentice alchemist anymore. He had become a full-fledged intermediate alchemist. Naturally, the results he produced were also more advanced.
The duration has been increased from 2 hours to 3 hours, and even the sneezing potion, which was considered the most humane, now has a warning that it is not recommended to drink.
—…What a crude method.
—You’re going to overcome mental attacks with this?
“It works, I tell you. If you’re curious, try drinking it.”
—…
Leluya was a witch.
A race specialized in researching and exploring things. Kim Minwoo’s potions were crude, but they definitely had value.
It was because of their rank.
Stench, tickle, sneeze.
The effects were certainly crude, but the ranks were different. The mental defense potion that the Raven School had endlessly researched was Rare+, but a potion that just smelled bad was Unique+.
The Tickle Potion, which would make even a demon cry, was also Rare+, the same as the Raven’s Oblivion.
‘What is this?’
‘How did he make it?’
‘What did he put in it to make it this rank…?’
In the end, Leluya couldn’t hold back her curiosity and opened the lid of the stench potion.
She wanted to analyze the Unique rank potion first…
“Ugh!”
Three heads retched at the same time.
* * *
The witch’s curiosity seemed to be beyond imagination. He could understand her opening the lid, but she actually drank all of them to test them out. She had three heads.
She drank one of each of the Three Legendary Potions, a total of nine, which was almost madness.
It’s like he can understand why the Eastern Witches’ Association is such a powerful group.
Leluya, who drank the potions like that, was now unconscious.
Literally.
‘Even though she has three heads, she only has one body.’
In other words, she took nine times the damage.
It was an attack that even a witch who had experienced all sorts of battles couldn’t withstand, and she collapsed with foam in her mouth.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t even get help from Han Siah.
Tickling, stench, or sneezing.
There were no priest skills that could cover such things.
Well, there were skills that could make the mind clear, like Clear Mind or Distinct Omen…
But to be precise, Leluya refused.
It would be unbearable if her mind became clearer while she was already in pain.
Click.
Crackle.
A campfire flickered.
Seo Yerim carried the unconscious Leluya on her back and continued walking, finding a suitable clearing to rest. Three large tents were pitched.
One was for Kim Minwoo and Park Siwoo.
Another was for Han Siah and Seo Yerim. The last tent was for Leluya. They hadn’t originally intended to separate her, but the stench left them no choice.
They laid her down and came back outside.
—Squeak.
A rat-like creature appeared. It was a monster they often encountered in the Outer Sea.
One of the summoned mages threw a fireball.
The monster burned and disappeared.
Very weak.
However, there were quite a few of them.
This was also one of the threats of the Outer Sea.
“Keep a close watch.”
Clatter!
The skeletons scattered around nodded vigorously. The warrior skeletons, who had reached the intermediate level, and the mages with their various attributes were all reliable alarm clocks. Seo Yerim, who had just laid Leluya down, shook her body.
Perhaps due to the terrible stench, her expression was quite dark.
“…Ugh, the smell. Why did she drink three bottles of that horrible thing…”
“You’ve worked hard.”
“Sigh. No, it’s nothing. But, do we really have to drink that when we get to the Inner Sea?”
“Siah’s mana isn’t unlimited. We definitely need the help of potions. And the Raven’s Oblivion or whatever it’s called, it’s hard to say if it’s even effective.”
Forget fear?
It seemed good on the surface, but it was different when you looked closely.
Fear is one of the human survival instincts. What would happen if it completely disappeared? You wouldn’t be able to retreat when you should.
‘That would be a big problem.’
Leluya wasn’t unaware of that. It’s just that the mental attacks become severe from the Inner Sea onwards, so she offered the potion as the lesser of two evils.
But, there was an alternative.
The Three Legendary Potions.
A little stench, some tickling, and a few sneezes. It’s true that these things could hinder battle, but wouldn’t they be better than blindly rushing in?
Even Leluya, who had tested them on herself, acknowledged their effectiveness.
—Ugh… Let’s use… this…
She said this with fighting spirit right before she passed out.
Park Siwoo, who had used a lot of his power as soon as they entered, and Han Siah, who had been protecting their minds with buffs, also went into their tents to sleep.
There was a reason why they could sleep soundly without keeping watch, even with a small group.
Necromancer.
A profession that summons and controls the dead.
Keeping watch?
‘The skeletons can do that.’
It was just the Outer Sea, the weakest of them all. If there was a problem, there would be a commotion, and they could wake up then.
They even had a talking genius skeleton.
“Cedric, I’m counting on you.”
—Yes, my master. Sleep well.
Undead, who don’t sleep or get tired, are truly invincible guards.
He also gave him Merhen, who could talk, so he wouldn’t get bored.
He’ll probably guard us well.
He handed Seo Yerim a perfume as she dusted herself off.
“Spray it on before you sleep. It’ll help a little.”
“You’ve prepared everything. Thank you.”
She bowed her head and went into the tent, spraying the perfume.
Kim Minwoo did the same.
Snore…
He laid down next to Park Siwoo, who was snoring, and closed his eyes.
‘We’ll arrive at the Inner Sea tomorrow.’
The map Leluya gave him.
It was a map of the Outer Sea, the Inner Sea, and the Deep Sea. According to the map, they had passed two-thirds of the Outer Sea.
As a party of Awakened with strong bodies, they could move without sleep if they wanted to, but…
‘There’s no need for that.’
After the Outer Sea is the Inner Sea.
It would only get harder to rest comfortably. They had to manage their stamina from now on.
He was slowly falling asleep…
—Master. Master! Wake up! We’re under attack!
Kim Minwoo’s eyes shot open.
He hurriedly went out of the tent.
In the distance, through the swirling fog, he could see thousands, tens of thousands of rats completely covering the group of skeletons.