Chapter 10: 8 – Chaos and Abyss [3]

***

Glenn watched as the Skill book melted into his hands.

'Huh, this is more normal than I thought. I feel the same—'

"Oh, hello there."

Startled by the sudden voice, Glenn flinched. Immediately looking toward the source of the voice - the air right in front of him - Glenn saw a young burly man with red hair and black eyes floating in the air and waving at him with a smile. Right beside him was a young woman with black hair and red eyes who was also similarly floating. However, she didn't wave at him. Instead, she merely stared at Glenn coldly with her arms crossed.

Glenn was so baffled by this situation that his mind went blank. After a while, he recovered from his surprise. And when he did, he immediately pointed toward the man and the woman and screamed, "WHO ARE YOU?!"

"Bahahahah! So loud! I like it! Younglings like you should be passionate like that!" The man laughed. "I'm Kevin, the soul residing in the Skill book you've just picked up! And this is my twin sister, Katherine."

Before Glenn could react, both Kevin and Katherine suddenly reached their ghostly hands into Glenn's chest. Moving his hands as if inspecting his insides, Kevin laughed again. "Haha! This kid's constitution is perfect!"

Katherine, meanwhile, was less than amused. "His body's not fit for swordsmanship at all." 

"Come on Kate, it'll be fun teaching him together!"

"What fun is it watching him use your brutish martial art? If he can't use my elegant sword style, I'm not interested." Then, she flew directly into Glenn's body.

Glenn widened his eyes in surprise at this. Quickly standing up, he took his coat and shirt off and tried to pull Katherine out. “Get out of me! Damn ghost!”

But of course, he couldn’t reach inside his body and thus, couldn’t reach Katherine… that was, assuming that she was hiding inside his body in the first place.

As Glenn was about to panic further, Kevin floated toward him and patted him on his shoulder. "Ah, don't worry. She's not actually inside your body."

"Th-Then where did she go?"

"Well, let's just say that a body can house more than one soul."

But seeing that Glenn was still confused, Kevin continued, "She's staying inside whatever the manifestation of your soul space is. Speaking of which—" he then dove his head inside Glenn's chest. "—Ah, how boring, yours is an old bedroom. Just the kind of soul space Kate likes."

Suddenly, Katherine kicked Kevin's head out of Glenn's body and stepped out herself again. "You're right. At least there's one good thing about this kid. A quiet place is indeed the perfect place for a sword saint like me."

"Come on! You're always so dull! Where are the rivers of blood and burning forests? I - the fist king - can't stay in a place so boring!"

"Then lucky you. As you saw earlier, this kid has the perfect body for whatever your martial art is. Just stay out here and don't disturb me."

"Hey!" Glenn finally spoke up, "Don't I have a say in any of this?"

"No," uttered Katherine as she floated inside Glenn's soul again. "Your fate is sealed as soon as you decided to learn the Skill book. Now you have to deal with my annoying little brother. Enjoy."

Hearing this, Kevin laughed. "Hah, what does she know? I'm—"

But he was interrupted by Glenn, whose fist was wrapped in a layer of fire and was flying toward Kevin, exploding into bright red flames as soon as it reached him. However, the attack merely passed through Kevin as if he was thin air.

""What are you doing?!""

Shouted both Kevin and Ander, who immediately tackled Glenn to the ground. Pinning Glenn down, Ander sighed. "As expected, you've gone insane. I should've stopped you—"

"No! I haven't gone insane! Can't you see that guy?!" Glenn shouted.

"What guy?"

"The guy who's half-naked! He keeps calling himself the fist king! Damn ghosts!"

Still pinning the thrashing Glenn to the ground, Ander sighed once more. "Haaah... It's even worse than I thought. He's too far gone."

"No I'm not! I-I mean I'm not even insane in the first place! Didn't you hear them blabber about their names? Katherine and Kevin, sword saint and fist king, whatever! Damn ghosts keep going in and out of my body!"

Hearing this, Ander's face hardened. With a cold and rough voice, he spoke, "You... How did you get those names?"

Unaware of Ander's mood, Glenn answered while still gnashing his teeth in anger. "Didn't I tell you? The damn ghosts told me!"

"Is that so? What does this 'Kevin' look like then?" Ander asked as he finally released Glenn.

Stretching his arms to remove the stiffness and pain, Glenn briefly glanced at the still-smiling Kevin before answering, "Red hair, black eyes, with a burly and muscular build. Oh, and he's half-naked for some reason. I can see his... sweaty muscles." Glenn's complexion paled as his face scrunched up in disgust.

Nodding thoughtfully, Ander asked again. "And Katherine?"

"Uhh... I forgot. She isn't here right now—"

"Ah, you can see her at any time, you know?" Kevin suddenly interjected.

Though still skeptical and a little bit annoyed that his sentence was cut off, Glenn still asked, "How?"

"Just focus your senses inside your own body. Then, move the Chaos with the intent to see the space in your soul."

"What the fuck is a Chaos?"

"Ah." Kevin scratched the back of his head. "I forgot that I haven't trained your Eyes yet. Hm... let's see, just... focused Mana into your eyes. Although there are some still more steps until you can see the Chaos, I will help you skip those steps and jump directly to visualizing Chaos until you learn how to do it yourself."

'It can't hurt to try,' thought Glenn as he did exactly what Kevin said. Soon, he saw countless black and red particles floating around the space he was in. Although he was surprised, he still observed the particle carefully. He found that the particles were densest around the campfire, where the cold air met with the heat of the fire.

Seeing Glenn staring intensely at the dense Chaos particles, Kevin laughed. "Ah, don't worry about the places where Chaos particles gather the highest for now. Even I had to spend 2 years learning about entropy or whatever Kate called it before I could even begin to understand it. Just grab a handful of Chaos and do what I told you earlier."

Glenn reluctantly reached out and grabbed the particles. To his surprise, they were tangible. It was almost as if he was holding a viscous liquid in his hand. Then, he focused his sense inside his own body. Before long, Glenn found himself inside an old-looking bedroom. But it wasn't just any bedroom. It was... the bedroom of the apartment that he and Ava were now staying in.

But that wasn't important, as Glenn soon noticed Katherine playing with teddy bears on the bed with a genuine smile on her face. Remembering the reason he came here in the first place, Glenn scrutinized Katherine's appearance.

It seemed that Katherine had noticed his gaze, as she suddenly snapped her head toward him with a reddened face. Hiding the bears behind her back, she stuttered, "H-How much did you see?"

"Like... everything."

Her face went even redder at this. "G-Get out!"

"But according to Kevin, this is my soul s—"

"I DON'T CARE! GET OUT!"

Covering his ears to prevent himself from going deaf from her loud shout, Glenn hurriedly asked, "How?"

"J-Just concentrate on the thoughts of getting out. Now begone!"

Glenn did as Katherine told him to and was now back in the infinite wasteland of white sand. However, he saw Ander waving his hand before his face as soon as he got back. Frowning, Glenn grabbed Ander's hand to stop it. "What are you doing?"

"Checking if you're still okay," Ander said with a nonchalant tone, "Why did you blank out earlier?"

"I tested something Kevin told me. Anyway, now I can tell you what Katherine looks like. She has black hair that reaches her waist and blood-red eyes. And when I saw her just now, she was playing with her toy be—"

But Glenn suddenly felt a chill run down his spine as he was about to say his next words. As such, he hurriedly changed his sentence. "I-I mean she was playing with herself— no! I- uh I mean— nevermind."

Ander nodded. "I see. The fact that you know what their appearances are already said enough. Now, you said that only Kevin is here, correct? Where is he?"

You are reading story Conqueror of the Abyss at novel35.com

Glenn pointed to where Kevin was.

Ander turned toward that direction and kneeled on the ground. "O great fist king, do you mind telling this foolish servant the name of your first son?"

"Little David. He was a good boy, always nagging me to teach him how to fight," Kevin answered without giving it any thought.

Seeing that Ander was still expecting an answer, Glenn spoke, "He says that his first son's name is David."

Ander's face paled at this. "I-I see... so you were telling the truth after all."

"Wh-What? Did you really think that I was insane all this time?"

"Not exactly, but I was close to killing you right then and there for knowing my family's secret."

"What secret?" Glenn tilted his head, masking the cold sweat running down his forehead when Ander told him such scary words so nonchalantly. 

"The titles and names of the founders of the Stelwall family. However, only one who has access to the book of ancestry can know the names of every patriarch, including the fist king's first son, and I'm certain that the book is still resting safely in my family's treasury. That can only mean that you somehow broke through the security that even 7th-tier mages can't, or..."

His face hardened. "...That you were telling the truth and the souls of the founders are with you. It means that... I gave away what is basically the founders' power to a complete stranger..."

'I know that I'm supposed to ask him what's up and all but I can't focus with the ghost doing that.' Glenn frowned as he watched Kevin inspecting Ander's body.

"Hm, this guy's constitution is good. As expected of my descendant!" Kevin laughed.

"Ghosty, can't you do anything about him? He looks like he's going to lose it," asked Glenn as he watched Ander's face darkening in self-loathe.

"Don't call me ghosty! It's an unfitting name for the fist king! But I think Kate would like it though."

"Alright fine. Fist king, what should I do?"

"Just Kevin is fine. But to answer your question, ask him if he remembers the 'grandmasters' rule'."

"Alright. Ander," said Glenn as he shook Ander's shoulders to grab his attention. "Remember the grandmasters' rule?"

"G-Grandmasters' rule?" Ander muttered over and over again under his breath. Before long, his eyes regained their clarity and he heaved a big sigh of relief. "Of course! How could I forget that you can make Skill books of your skills once you reach grandmaster rank?" He then looked at Glenn with hopeful eyes. "Glenn Claidart, will you be my son-in-law?"

"What the fuck do you mean?" Glenn inadvertently let out a curse at such a sudden and absurd request.

Ander continued, not minding his earlier words. "I meant what I said. Marry my 4th brother's daughter that I adopted - Erika - and I will ensure you that you will live extravagantly for the rest of your life. All you need to do is to reach grandmaster rank, produce an heir, and pass the Skill down to him."

Although the offer sounded tempting, living a well-off life wasn't what Glenn wanted, much as his attitude toward much said otherwise. No, he wanted to conquer the Abyss and have his wish come true. However... having the Stelwall family's backing would definitely help him with his goal. 

'But... what happens after that?'

What would happen after his wish of reviving Lilith was granted? Would he still be allowed to stay with her? No, more importantly, what would the alliance and the whole world do to him and Lilith if people witnessed him using the wish so selfishly? 

As such, Glenn came to a decision. Discreetly conquering the Abyss like he had planned before was the best course of action here.

"I'm sorry, but I'll have to refuse."

Ander frowned. "I—"

"BUT!" Glenn quickly interrupted him. "I will still give you what you want. I promise that once I reach grandmaster rank, I will pass the Skill down to your family."

"Do you expect me to trust a verbal promise?"

"I don't. That's why I suggest we sign a Mana contract."

"Good idea." Ander chuckled. "But how are you going to get your hands on one? Surely, you don't expect me to waste millions buying it on the off-chance that you can survive until you become a grandmaster?"

"That's exactly what I expect you to do. What'd you like, buy and sign a Mana contract with me or don't and regret it later when I become a grandmaster and possibly betray my promise? Besides, even if you force me into your family, I won't train at all out of spite. And don't even think about threatening me with torture or death. I can say that I've experienced worse hell than you had."

Ander stared straight into Glenn's unwavering eyes. Upon seeing that he was telling the truth and that he wasn't going to change his mind no matter what, he sighed. "Fine. I'll pay for the Mana contract. Shall we discuss the details now or later?"

"Later. I've rested enough, let's go find the Artifact holder and kill him. Setting the terms can wait until we get out of here."

...

Glenn and Ander walked through the sandy wastelands, looking for clues about the Artifact holder. However, Ander suddenly turned around and looked at Glenn with an amused face. 

"What are you looking at me for?"

But Ander didn't answer and continued staring with that punchable face of his.

'Wait, his gaze, it isn't on me. He's looking... behind me?'

And his suspicions were confirmed by a shadow slowly creeping up on the ground; a shadow that he barely managed to spot because of the sunglasses he was wearing. Widening his eyes in surprise, Glenn immediately dodged to the side. Soon after, he could hear a whooshing sound, followed by some sort of sickle splitting through the air right where he stood mere moments ago. The sickle dug into the ground and was pulled out soon after, stirring sand up. Thanks to his sunglasses though, Glenn wasn't blinded.

As the sand particles slowly fell down, Glenn could make out the appearance of the thing that had just almost killed him. 

It was a giant but skinny humanoid with extra-long limbs. Its skin, which was mostly covered by a dark hooded cloak, was a shade of dull gray, though Glenn wasn't sure if the dim light made it look that way. The inside of its hood was completely dark, and the only thing Glenn could see in such a hood was the creature's deep red eyes. It moved with crouched legs like a frog's, and its hand wielded a slick black scythe.

Glenn gulped a mouthful of saliva in nervousness. "This is—"

"Death's will." Ander interrupted him. "Its name is Death's will. A mid-boss, if you will. Its power is equivalent to a 3rd-tier awakened. Well, I wish you good luck taking it down."

Glenn frowned. Something about Ander's behavior was strange.

'That guy... why is he talking as if I'm going to deal with this monster alone. Wait, now that I think about it, why has he been treating me like normal ever since we left our camp?'

Ander's personality had now regressed to before Glenn picked up the Skill book—no, maybe even before that—mainly, not caring about whether Glenn died or lived. He wasn't pampering Glenn like he would a noble scion, or you know, someone who was fucking holding his family's original martial art!

'Well, it's a bit of a stretch to expect the heir of Stelwall family to look after me like that but still...'

Still keeping an eye on Death's will, Glenn said, "Ander, I can't handle this."

"Well, you're out of luck then."

"Then protect me." Glenn frowned. "The Skill book will be teleported to a random location in the world if I die, you know? And it'll be hundreds of years before anyone can find it again."

"That's exactly why I'm doing this," Ander smirked. "I can't protect you forever, and no one but you can protect yourself on the path to becoming a grandmaster. So if you die here... well, it'll be unfortunate, but that's it. I haven't wasted any resources on you, so it's fine. But..." He sighed. "...It'll be unfair for you to fight the mid-boss alone. As such, I will help you... in the form of giving pointers."

"Tch." Glenn clicked his tongue in annoyance.

When he rejected Ander's offer to marry Erika or whoever, he actually had a plan in mind. The plan was that Ander would be forced to provide help and resources to him so that he could grow to be a grandmaster. Then, Glenn would be more than willing to give the Skill book to him since it didn't matter much to him anyway. But who could've thought that Ander would be willing to let go of the supposed Skill that the founders of his family created?

'Dammit, even so, can't he wait until we get out of here before basically throwing me into danger?'

But whatever the case was, Ander seemed serious with his words, so Glenn could only rely on himself now. Clenching his fist, bringing his right fist close to his chin, and his left pointing toward Death's will, Glenn shouted,

"Come! I'll kill you dead!"

You can find story with these keywords: Conqueror of the Abyss, Read Conqueror of the Abyss, Conqueror of the Abyss novel, Conqueror of the Abyss book, Conqueror of the Abyss story, Conqueror of the Abyss full, Conqueror of the Abyss Latest Chapter