Chương 35: Blades and the Abyss

The return to the inn took place under a suffocating atmosphere of mourning and mutual suspicion. As soon as they crossed the door of the room, Liora walked straight toward the mirror, analyzing the strands of hair completely chopped and singed by Haruka's magical wind blades. Without showing any vanity, she maintained the same cold posture as always. Mireya approached in silence, adjusting her glasses with her index finger.

Without saying a word, the alchemist mixed a series of concentrated reagents in a small glass vial and extended it to her companion. Liora downed the liquid all at once. The cellular magical reaction was instantaneous. Before the wide eyes of Selene and Akari, Liora's black strands began to stretch and gain volume at an accelerated pace, aligning perfectly.

The magical growth ceased abruptly as soon as the hair reached the exact height of her neck, molding a sharp, straight bob in the classic style of Japanese bangs. Liora merely ran her fingers through the new ends, completely indifferent. Outside the room, in the inn's living area, the girls gathered to discuss how they would manage the minerals obtained and contain the damage from the mission's failure.

Akari was crying softly, her cat ears drooping out of pure worry over Kuro's disappearance, but she clung to the promise she had received before the departure.

"I know my Master will return. He promised," Akari dictated, wiping a tear before looking at Selene for a safe haven.

"What are you going to do now, Mistress?" Selene felt her chest flutter at the title of respect and the youngest one's devotion. Assuming a posture of leadership to protect Akari in Kuro's absence, she nodded firmly. Liora and Mireya observed the scene with completely apathetic faces, sketching no reaction to the terms of submission used by the Neko. At that exact same moment, Aurelia and Lyra stepped out of the adjacent room, carrying the twenty-five gold coins they had demanded from the reward.

Aurelia looked around and questioned with deep mistrust:"Why is there only one room and one bed here?" Mireya fixed her analytical eyes directly on the healer, noticing the new purple marks that now stained her hair.

"You are not the same Aurelia, are you?" the alchemist fired off in a dry tone. Aurelia averted her gaze immediately, adopting a defensive posture.

"I don't know what you are talking about... but the exact same thing happened with Kuro too. It felt like he knew me from somewhere when we met for the first time."

"Understood," Mireya limited her response, guarding the information before dictating the lodging logistics.

"Regarding the room, it's just that there was no other available the day we came here. And now, in the current situation, we do not intend to spend gold coins in vain." Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. Selene took a step forward, driven by the desperation that tightened her heart.

"I want to go there. To the abyss to search for him."

"It's impossible," Mireya cut her off without hesitation.

"If we go there, we die. Besides, we don't know of any other entrance to that place other than falling straight into the rift. So it's impossible." Hearing the alchemist's crushing logic, Selene lowered her head and dropped her shoulders, giving up on the idea for now while keeping her unyielding faith that he would find a way to return. Kilometers away, in the depths of the rocky abyss, the lower ecosystem exuded a dense energy. The dragon woman walked beside Kuro, maintaining her compact form the size of Akari.

She explained in a casual manner that she possessed the biological properties to alternate freely into the stature of an adult human woman, but dictated that she preferred to continue and lock herself in that smaller body out of pure physical and tactical convenience within the tunnels. She walked to a corner of the rock and gathered a piece of dark meat from a monster she herself had hunted, extending it toward the youth.

"Is this fungus on the wall edible?" I asked, pointing to the glowing mushrooms that were dripping a strange liquid.

"I don't know," the dragon woman answered simply.

"Have you never eaten it?"

"I eat monsters. Eat." I analyzed the piece with clear disdain and boredom.

"It's monster meat."

"Yes."

"If I do this, I'll turn into a protagonist of another isekai." The dragon woman merely tilted her head in silence, failing to comprehend my remark.

"Forget it. You wouldn't understand," I concluded, firmly refusing the food. However, hours later, with my stomach clamoring for energy and no Sylvera fruits remaining in my pouch, the biological necessity for survival broke my pride. I looked at the creature and extended my hand.

"You know what? Hand me another piece." While I chewed the bitter meat, I retrieved the last vial from my alchemical inventory and extended it to her.

"If you want, I'll give you a mana potion." The dragon woman accepted the vial, revealing that she agreed to walk and climb up to the surface with me solely because she was dying of boredom after spending centuries isolated in that hole, making it clear that she would not be part of any harem. During the preparations for the march, I decided to test the facts about her life.

"How old are you?" I asked.

"State yours first," she countered with irony.

"Sixteen." The dragon woman let out a short corner smile.

"I have I don't know how many years... I stopped counting when I hit one hundred and thirty-seven." Before starting the climb itself, I decided to use all my combined mastery as an Alchemist and an Assassin to create my definitive vanguard tool. My idea was to utilize the molecular forge of my class and the rare ores I had extracted from the beasts of the abyss to initiate the exact fusion process, molding a perfect Black Steel sword.

For the blade, I professionally applied sixty percent Black Mithril, ensuring an extremely light structure perfect for conducting my external mana. In the core of the sword, I injected thirty percent Black Adamantite, granting an absurd durability so that my weapon would never break in combat. The external coating carried ten percent Black Starstone to maximize my magical affinity.

I molded the guard utilizing the Black Dragon Bone collected in the lair, secured the hilt with Wood from the Abyssal Shadow Tree, and embedded a Black Mana Crystal into the pommel to store reserve energy. The result was a completely black sword that seemed to absorb all the light around us. Due to the lightweight alloy, I could wield it with precision using only one of my hands.

My weapon consumed the bare minimum of energy, amplified any spell cast through its structure, and allowed me to coat the blade's edge with pure mana to drastically increase my cutting power as an assassin. Kuro wielded the new black blade and tested its weight in the air. Looking sideways at the pink-haired dragon woman, I asked the crucial question to dictate our advance:"Do you know how to get out of here?"

"I don't know," Reina answered with total disinterest.

"I've never tried."

"What do you mean you've never tried?" I questioned, surprised by her centuries-long apathy.

"Why would I try if I have peace down here?" Reina countered, walking with calm steps.

"Let's begin trying to find a way out and escape this abyss, then," I dictated, adjusting my wolf fur coat and wielding the black sword. Kuro and Reina officially initiated their steps upward toward the top of the chessboard.