A succession of sounds resembling the motor noise of a helicopter propeller.
I glanced below for a moment and screamed, “It’s coming!”
The source of the motor sound was the flapping wings of a giant cockroach.
This creature believed it could fly.
Even though it crawled on the ground, it was the most repulsive and loathsome cockroach in existence, daring to soar through the sky, making it the most repulsive and loathsome being in all my lifetimes.
Five hundred years ago, the Empire nearly fell because of this creature. Most likely, many succumbed to its repulsiveness and fled, causing even greater damage.
“It’s coming!”
The ear-piercing noise was like hundreds of bees buzzing.
The vigorous flapping of its wings caused the massive body to rise.
A cockroach is the size of a cargo ship.
Its crimson chitinous exoskeleton was grotesque, and the roach’s black eyes were chilling, while its numerous hairy and pointed legs were truly horrifying.
Whoosh!
Finally, it took off.
I observed its movements closely, knowing that to survive, I couldn’t afford to miss any details of this nauseating spectacle.
Soaring unpredictably with its insect-like flight, it smashed through the common ceiling.
This place was the Abyss, a deep pit beneath the sea. If it collapsed, there would be no way for it to survive. At least not for me.
I found the trembling of the ground unsettling. The ceiling collapsed effortlessly under Daimonion’s devastating blows. The debris of the fallen ceiling engulfed us like an avalanche.
Crack!
There was no escape from the rock shower raining down from above.
In the face of impending doom, my decision was to get closer to my siblings.
Melissa and Ranista were still in the midst of an undecided rock-paper-scissors game.
I urgently reached out and grabbed Melissa’s tail.
“Eek!”
Melissa screamed as she turned to me, and the rock-paper-scissors game ended with Ranista’s victory.
Ranista laughed.
In the face of imminent danger, facing the giant cockroach and the demonic Daimonion,
“Look, my disciple.”
Ranista called me out of the blue.
“There is nothing one cannot endure.”
In an instant, a red dragon rose behind him.
I almost fainted due to the overwhelming amount of information flooding in like a tidal wave.
Ranista swung his sword.
The collapsing ceiling, rocks, countless pebbles, sand, and even the demonic Daimonion.
He slashed and slashed again,
Just witnessing the slashing made my brain feel numb.
For him, time was meaningless. It wasn’t about how many seconds or how many times he swung his sword.
Just swinging the sword, he cut through everything.
Even the demonic Daimonion crumbled helplessly and died.
As he said, there was nothing one couldn’t endure.
In an instant, Ranista had cut through everything he wanted to cut. And because of that insane guy randomly slashing around, the ceiling collapsed, and the foundation began to crumble.
It’s collapsing.
Desperately, I held onto Melissa’s tail.
“Let me go!”
But Melissa didn’t hesitate, and she kicked me away.
I’m falling.
Each found a way to survive and soared into the air, but I couldn’t.
Getting farther away.
“Save me!”
I shouted with all my might.
But those bastards pretended not to see.
Damn them.
From the beginning, it wasn’t a battle between demons and my siblings.
It was a pitiful human caught in the fight between demons.
I was falling endlessly, deeper than the Abyss, and I fell.
Thunk!
I couldn’t avoid the falling rocks.
As my consciousness faded, in the dimming vision, I could see the backs of my siblings getting farther away.
* * *
When I opened my eyes, it was pitch black.
Fortunately, darkness was not a constraint for me.
I inhaled deeply.
Breathing wasn’t much of a problem.
There was air.
My lungs were unharmed. It was fortunate that I wasn’t covered by the debris of rocks.
The place I fell into was a soft floor.
My body had suffered abrasions, but I could move.
Perhaps it was due to the training in Ranista’s mad sparring.
If I weren’t the youngest son of Duke Rainberg, aged 14, I might have died without knowing what to do in this situation.
Even if I had lived on the southern island, I would likely have died.
I tore my sleeve and used knee pads to wrap around my feet. It might be uncomfortable compared to shoes, but it would prevent the leather on the soles from tearing on sharp rocks.
“The air is plentiful.”
It’s a serious situation. But I wasn’t flustered. I calmly assessed the situation.
Even though I was in a protected position, I had experienced extreme situations as a spy for the Earth Defense Headquarters, even if it meant being in a protected position.
***
Going as it appears,
That was my way.
My ability, Heavenly Sky Eye, was difficult to control. The reason people called the Eyes of God and revered it was because even something like an unbelievable non-logical miracle appeared before my eyes.
For example, the way.
If I lose my way, I can always find the entrance or exit.
Whether as a spy or a guide for hunters, and even the reason they included someone weak like me in the final operation.
I walked towards what I thought was the best path.
Collapsed from the top, there was a path even further underground.
I wondered if the creation myth of the Azhibita Church might actually be true. ‘In the beginning, there was a path,’ isn’t the underground world I see in front of me evidence of that?
I crossed the ruins and walked through maze-like paths.
It was as intricate as an ant’s nest, but I walked in the direction it appeared.
I walked, walked, and walked again.
Luckily, I had the stamina.
Without being swallowed by fear, I could still keep walking.
“39, 40….”
I counted the time as I walked.
* * *
“Three thousand… twenty seconds.”
Finally, something appeared at the end of the road.
I wanted an exit, but what my eyes showed me was.
“Damn.”
Black smoke.
Swirling black smoke, unpleasant and creepy.
I’ve seen something like that before.
Not in this life, but in a past life.
In the middle of a battlefield. Over the graves of people buried in a city that had perished.
“Evil spirit.”
When I turned around in a hurry, the black smoke was in front of me.
* * *
“Ugh.”
I can’t vomit even if I try.
“Urk!”
Instead, a burp comes out.
As if digestion had occurred.
“Ugh!”
Even if I forcibly insert my finger to induce vomiting, only saliva comes up.
I induce vomit enough for tears to flow, but nothing changed.
“What are you doing?”
When I came to my senses, my second sister was suddenly there.
I held back from saying what I wanted to say, instead, I asked.
“Why did you abandon me?”
My second sister readily admitted her mistake.
“Sorry. Is this perhaps… No. Let’s go.”
My second sister easily escaped from this place.
Just like when we came, a hole appeared leading to my room with just a wave of her hand.
* * *
“Iced Americano.”
I sat on a soft sofa and drank water.
I already felt like I had drunk enough, but I didn’t stop drinking.
I still remember.
“Did I eat an evil spirit?”
The sensation of black smoke flowed through my throat when I swallowed.
The faint bitterness of the iced Americano that I could vaguely feel.
The evil spirit tasted like iced Americano.
Unbelievable.
* * *
Even after swallowing the black smoke, nothing special happened. Fortunately, my siblings did not appear in the Quilz Castle after returning from the Abyss.
I acted as usual.
After morning training, I drank Aronia Shake and tasted the special dish ordered from the chef in my room alone after taking a nap in bed.
Although it was a vagabond-like life compared to the luxurious life a member of the Rainberg Family should have, no one complained.
My father remained silent after saying that I should become the next head of the family.
Perhaps the four-year escape since I was ten contributed to lowering expectations in me becoming the head. Also, there was no interest because my other three siblings were too outstanding.
I became an ugly duckling, but it didn’t matter.
Of course, I had no intention of becoming a swan.
But that night, I realized that the aftermath of what I experienced in the Abyss was not over.
From that day on, my eyes were too itchy. I slept with an eye mask on. There was no moonlight coming in through the window.
I closed my eyes tightly in the rushing fatigue, but the itching, like ants crawling, became more intense. Unable to endure, I took off the eye mask, and, with my eyes wide open, I saw the black smoke floating by my head.
“Ugh!”
I screamed in terror.
Horror movies had always been nauseating.
It was because I knew that damn ghosts actually existed.
The reason my eyes were itchy was that the black smoke was fluttering around my eyes like Sadako’s long hair bangs.
I jumped up from bed as if having a seizure and ran away from the black smoke. As soon as I opened the door, I encountered the guards who had rushed in after hearing the scream.
“Master Cantavia?”
Hiding behind the surprised guards, I pointed at the black smoke.
“T-t-that! Do something about that!”
They urgently searched my room, but they didn’t even look in the direction of the black smoke.
Of course they couldn’t see it.
I sighed as I realized that they couldn’t see the black smoke while watching the guards who were increasingly puzzled.
“Sorry. Some things came out. I hate bugs. Just go and do your things.”
It was a day that made my already bad reputation worse.
I realized that it was not a matter for the guards to deal with.
I couldn’t easily enter my room, and when the black smoke slipped out and stood next to me, I realized the damn reality.
A ghost attached itself to me, damn it.
