Chapter 169: An Answer to Fading Hope
The Obsidian Abyss.
As one of the 9th Circle Gates in the world, it enveloped a massive territory, its towering presence forcing humanity to declare the entire region a strictly forbidden zone. Over the two centuries, the most powerful squads and individuals ventured into its depths, facing catastrophic losses that wiped out entire generations of elite hunters. The rare survivors of those brutal expeditions managed to map out only the first five layers. Beyond that threshold, nobody knew what existed or how many layers the abyss actually had.
However, they did manage to discover that each layer operated on its own terrifying rules, inhabited by entities that defied their understanding.
In one of these deepest, uncharted layers, the atmosphere was greatly different. There were no rampaging monsters or chaotic environments here, only a vast expanse of pitch-black vacancy, a silent void completely devoid of light or sound.
This absolute stillness reigned unchallenged until a subtle tremor fractured the quietude. The space seemed to contract as a faint but powerful presence stirred within the center of the dark.
’...’
Slowly, two glowing purple eyes parted the darkness, casting a violet hue across the immediate emptiness.
A low voice resonated through the space, echoing from everywhere and nowhere at once.
"The time has come..."
Then, the eyes closed, plunging the depths back into total darkness, and the void became perfectly still once more.
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Meanwhile, the situation in Kalmira city had rapidly deteriorated as monsters continued to pour in waves, their numbers multiplying faster than the defensive lines could cut them down. With their strongest fighter critically injured, the remaining hunter squads lost all momentum. Forced entirely onto the defensive, they were being ruthlessly pushed back.
Down on the ground, the reality of the battlefield was even more severe.
Every passing minute brought heavier tolls. Exhausted vanguard teams fought desperately to hold the line as defensive barriers fractured under the relentless onslaught. Medics scrambled through the dust, dragging away severely injured hunters who could no longer sustain the combat. Even the veteran squads were reaching their absolute limits; their mana reserves were running dangerously low, and their supplies of potions had completely run out, leaving them with no way to replenish their strength.
From the command center at the bureau headquarters, President Craig was frantically trying to coordinate the defense while actively defending the building itself.
"Where the hell are those reinforcements?!" Craig roared into his communicator, his voice echoing over the static-filled channel.
"They should arrive soon, sir! They’re en route!" a hurried, panicked voice crackled back from the other end.
Craig grunted, his fist connecting solidly with an incoming flying beast. The impact shattered the creature instantly into a shower of frozen particles. He wiped the frost from his knuckles, a deep frown carving into his forehead. They didn’t have much time left.
’There’s that anomaly involving those two, too. Urgh, just-!’
Before he could finish the thought, a sudden shift in the atmosphere brought his movements to an abrupt halt.
An overwhelming pressure descended from the sky, instantly enveloping the entire city. The air grew impossibly cold, heavy enough to make the remaining monsters screech in primal terror.
Instead of being alarmed, Craig slowly lowered his fist, his irritation instantly vanishing. A wide grin spread across his face as he recognized the specific, terrifying signature of the mana.
"Took you long enough," Craig muttered to himself, turning his gaze toward the sky. "You damn old man."
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The cold air crackled overhead, drawing every eye upward as the clouds themselves seemed to solidify.
High above the battlefield, a group of exhausted hunters was cornered, locked in a desperate struggle against two colossal dragons. Just as the beasts lunged forward to finish them, a white-haired old man appeared out of nowhere, standing suspended in mid-air right between the hunters and the monsters.
The hunters gaped in disbelief, but the dragons did not hesitate, opening their maws and unleashing a synchronized torrent of fire directly at the intruder.
The inferno surged forward, yet before the flames could even touch him, they froze solid, turning into a massive, jagged sculpture of ice that instantly shattered into harmless snowflakes.
In the next blink, the old man vanished.
He reappeared right above the first dragon. Driving his weight downward, he slammed his spear straight through the center of its skull. A web of thick frost erupted from the point of impact, instantly encasing the entire beast in a thick layer of ice and extinguishing its inner life force.
As the massive creature began its lifeless, heavy plunge toward the earth, the remaining hunters watched in sheer shock.
The second dragon was scared out of its wits. Sensing the terrifying gap in power, it abandoned the fight and beat its wings frantically to escape. But before it could even fly a few meters, a blur cut through the sky. The old man materialized directly ahead of its flight path, his weapon already extended, forcing the beast to collide headfirst into the exact same frozen fate as its brethren.
With a casual swipe of his hand, the old man intercepted the falling dragon carcasses, storing them away before they could crash into the city below. He then turned his gaze toward the trembling, exhausted hunters. With another flick of his wrist, a dozen high-grade potions materialized directly into their hands. By the time the stunned hunters looked up to offer their gratitude, the space where he had been standing was already empty.
’Hmm...’
High above the city line, the old man reappeared, squinting as he analyzed the chaos gripping the streets below.
Deciding to end it all at once, he raised his spear, its crystalline tip catching what little light remained in the sky. As he drove the butt of the weapon downward into empty air, a resonant crack echoed across the heavens. A visible wave of frost erupted from the point of impact, surging outward like a tidal wave that raced across the horizon until the boundary of his domain completely locked down the city.
The temperature plummeted in an instant, catching the invading forces completely off guard. A flash of white frost raced up their limbs, encasing them completely. Roars were cut short as every creature froze mid-motion, turning the chaotic battlefield into a silent graveyard of glittering ice sculptures.
The entire onslaught was brought to an absolute standstill.
With the threat neutralized, the old man focused on a specific point on the ground.
’...Interesting.’
