Free Web NovelThe Ice Abyss.
This place was supposed to be the very heart of the storm—yet it was utterly still. Dark blue ice, thick and solid like massive load-bearing pillars, propped open a hollow space beneath the waters.
Vieya paced slowly around a milky-white shell taller than her current body. Her green eyes were clouded with doubt. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ
She had once been the Hero with unmatched experience in slaying demons and monsters, had seen countless aberrations, and if she hadn’t seen them with her own eyes, she had at least heard of seventy percent of all creatures that crawled across this earth.
But the white-mist-breathing giant shell before her—she had only ever heard of it in the eastern reaches. A Shenmo. A deep-sea monster specialized in spreading mind-warping sea fog and weaving illusions so real they deceived the senses.
For sailors venturing out into the Eastern Sea, the Shenmo ranked easily in the top three most feared monsters.
Just imagine it: while navigating the treacherous waves, the entire crew suddenly dragged without warning into a malicious illusion. Who could possibly make it back alive?
They wouldn’t. Not even a distress signal would escape.
The Shenmo was a native product of the Eastern Sea, able to conjure illusions large enough to blanket an entire city. Yet its nature was slothful, its movements sluggish. Without external force, it should never have wandered tens of thousands of miles to the Southern reaches.
At that instant, Vieya realized this calamity was not the work of a lone being.
This was collusion.
There was a group behind this—be it humans or cunning monsters.
And their goal? To simply prevent this ship from reaching the frontlines?
Vieya hesitated, then stepped closer to the Shenmo, pondering how to deal with this root of the illusions.
The creature was slow. Its only weapon was its vast hallucinations, its only defense the shell before her. Once the core was located, it was nothing more than a lamb waiting for slaughter.
【Species: Shenmo. Level: 786 (Soul Injured).】
Vieya pressed her fingers lightly against the milky shell. The pulse of fear rippling inside the creature was immediately laid bare to her.
As expected, unlike mindless beasts of pure destruction, this one possessed a degree of intelligence.
Too bad. Even with your mind, your soul’s been torn apart by me. Can you still weave your illusions now?
Her fingers pressed harder. The shell groaned under the growing strain.
“P-please... please spare me...”
The milky shell trembled, a pleading voice escaping from within. “I never wanted to leave my warm pool and come here... they forced me... I only want to live... I only want to live...”
“They?” Vieya didn’t release her hold. She wasn’t surprised this creature could speak—but her heart tightened.
To drag a near-eighth-rank monster across lands to intercept the Starbell Lily... that took enormous effort.
No one would attempt such a thankless job unless they had something immense to gain.
Perhaps... they didn’t intend to merely delay the ark. Perhaps they meant to bury everyone aboard forever.
Trouble, Vieya thought grimly.
“They are humans. A group of terrifying humans... If you’ll spare me, I can show you their faces through an illusion,” the Shenmo whimpered pitifully. If it had a human form, Vieya was certain it would already be on its knees, kowtowing.
“I’m sorry you were forced by humans like that.” Vieya glanced at the shell’s cracked seam with pity. “But I can’t let you live.”
“No, no! Don’t! Please, I swear I won’t tell anyone what I saw! Uuuhhh...”
The nightmare of the Eastern Sea, reduced to a sniveling child robbed of candy—its sobbing shook the abyss.
“Please... let me live... if my father and mother never see me again, they’ll be heartbroken...”
Father and mother?
Vieya hadn’t expected those words from a monster’s mouth. The thought barely formed when every hair on her body stood on end. It was as if thousands of venomous snakes hidden in the brush had turned their fangs on her. A murderous aura struck from behind.
“I don’t want to die!” the Shenmo shrieked, dragging its body desperately.
But too slow.
Vieya turned—and a massive force tore straight through her abdomen. The agony was so sharp her mind stalled for an instant.
Splatter!
The strike pierced her body and continued on, smashing into the fleeing Shenmo. Its pitiful pace was useless. It could only watch death descend.
Boom!
With a piercing cry, the two-meter-tall creature burst apart in an instant, scattering to fragments.
“Haha, when your tool breaks, you toss it aside and get a new one.”
A girl dropped from above. She wore a sweeping black coat, a crudely painted V-shaped reaper mask covering her face. Pale green hair was tied into a low ponytail across her chest, the coat whipping in the abyssal air. She caught sight of the still-reeling Vieya and blinked in surprise.
“Eh? You’re... still alive?”
“......”
Not a flicker of mourning for the Shenmo.
Vieya raised her head slowly, one hand clutching her gut as it healed at inhuman speed, her eyes locked onto the masked girl. No fury, no killing intent—only the piercing gaze of someone who has suddenly recognized a long-lost figure across the battlefield.
“Ma, ma, staring at me like that—what is it you want? Revenge?” The masked girl touched the rapier at her waist, tone light and mocking, but every movement thrummed with lethal threat.
“Aurora.”
Vieya spoke a name softly. The girl froze, her body taut as a drawn bow.
“Who the hell are you? How do you know my name? No—” She unsheathed her rapier, backing into the shadows. “How do you know me?”
Of course I know you... even with a mask...
Vieya’s lips didn’t move. She couldn’t understand why a teammate from her old Hero Squad was now consorting with monsters.
“No answer?” The masked girl melted into darkness, her voice echoing all around. “Then I’ll slice off your limbs and drag you back so the Soul Reapers can strip your memories... hehehe...”
Her laughter slithered through the dark.
“Aurora. Do your sister know what you’re doing now?” Vieya’s voice cut like ice.
“You... you know my sister...? No, wait—” Silence, then a snarl. “I’ve seen your file, Vieya. Fallen noble’s daughter? Heh... fake, all fake! Who are you really? Tell me!”
“Is that how you ask someone a question? Where’s your courtesy?”
Vieya’s voice was even, unshaken. “Clearly, your sister knows nothing of this filth. And you can’t kill me. So if you don’t want her to learn about your dirty dealings—step out of the shadows and face me!”
“Hah, can’t kill you? You think that earlier strike was all I had? Big words.” Yet even through her scoffing, unease trembled in the girl’s voice.
“Then let’s gamble.” Vieya dropped her hand from her /N_o_v_e_l_i_g_h_t/ abdomen. The wound was gone without a trace. “I’ll stand here and give you five chances to strike. But with each attempt, the chance I tell your sister what you’re doing increases by twenty percent. After five, I’ll tell her no matter what.”
She planted one hand on her hip. “What do you say? This is me being generous—for your sister’s sake. Do you dare take that bet?”
