Chapter 25: 25

I was currently sitting in the not-so extravagant house of the village chief. It was a bit larger than the other huts, but apart from that, it was elementary on the inside.

Some weapons were placed neatly on one side, on the other were buckets of water and in the middle was a bed. In addition, there were four wooden chairs, which were just simple blocks of wood being used as a chair, and some meat was hanging on one side of the room.

After we entered the hut, the village chief started talking about Grivantula. According to his description, it was most likely a spider-type monster, at least three times bigger than an average ogre.

It was a monster that had lived in the cave, which was just inside the waterfall from which the stream existed. Not only was it extremely powerful, it always seemed to be angry. Every year, it would attack all the nearby villages and eat up everyone that came in its way.

"Then, isn't there anything that anyone could do? I heard something about generals on my way here."

I asked Kai. Currently, Kai, Kylos and I were the only ones inside the hut. Kai immediately shook his head and replied.

"These monsters aren't natural. The Chasm Empire sets them. The Generals are the candidates for the successor to the throne, and they wouldn't want the fear of Empire to fall amongst the populace."

This came as a surprise to me. So there was a whole Empire inside the Abyss? Then wouldn't that mean they would become a threat to the people above once they find a way to infiltrate the land? Just thinking about that made me question so many things.

[Congratulations! You have learnt about a hidden piece way earlier than others.]

[Reward: +10 Wisdom]

"....."

I unlocked a whole new stat, and it was a special stat at that! The wisdom stat was a magic-specific stat that was directly related to people's intelligence. Although the intelligence stat sounded like it was related to intelligence, it was just a stat that increased mana and magic power the more points you put in them.

Wisdom was a totally different stat. All special stats had a special condition to acquire them, and that condition may change from person to person. For me, learning about something new and of much importance made me unlock it.

The stat increases one's mana regeneration. But it also had the effect of increasing someone's ability to comprehend situations and spells. Basically, it made people think faster and made them more intelligent. It seemed like a load of bullcrap, but that's how advanced the technology of [Mayhem] was.

There was already news of how the chefs in-game who manually cooked had become proficient in cooking in real life too. And how people who practised martial arts or swordplay had learnt to do them in real life.

Where was I? Ah yes.

"The Chasm Empire. Don't they want to treat people nicely to gain their trust? What kind of Empire runs without the populace's trust?"

I asked Kai, who smiled bitterly.

"You are clearly unaware of the ways of the Abyss. What do you mean what kind of Empire runs without people's trust? It's obviously the kind that rules on people's fear."

I lightly nodded my head upon hearing that. After seeing the beautiful scenery of the Abyss ever since I came, I had become too complacent and forgotten what the word 'Abyss' was synonymous with.

"Say, these Generals, are they the children of the current emperor by any chance?"

I asked. Since the rulers of Abyss themselves planted the Grivantula, it would be dangerous even if I somehow managed to kill it. I needed more information in order to make a thorough plan.

"No, no. There are many emperor's children amongst them, but it also has many other candidates."

Kai shook his head as he started explaining. Apparently, nepotism didn't exist in Abyss, and only the strong ruled.

Every ten years, there would be a contest for the throne, in which even the current emperor had to fight. And whoever wins the fight becomes the ruler of Abyss. So it was a situation where the strong rules over everyone that's weaker than them.

'Man, these demons have already overcome nepotism. Humans still be strugglin'."

It was truly a situation which would seem nicer if it was in human society, making people with no background eligible for big things in the society, but it was really a bad situation for me.

Here in the Abyss, that just meant that all the bosses were strong because of the continuous competition between them.

"How strong is the emperor?"

Right now, the best thing is to try and understand the power levels of the big shots and try to come up with a strategy accordingly.

"The emperor? He's already crossed his third cycle of power. He is enough to kill everyone in the Abyss. That's why he is the emperor. The generals have also completed their first cycle of power, and some have already crossed the second cycle."

"....."

They're fucking strong!

The cycles of power in NPC language were the breakthrough that one experiences after every hundred levels. This meant that all the Generals competing for the throne were already more than a hundred levels, while some had even crossed the two hundred mark. This was scary, considering that even the top players had yet to cross that mark.

And the Emperor was someone who the players couldn't even think about defeating.

What is this place? Is it really supposed to be so overpowered?

I thought, unaware that, according to the developers, Abyss wasn't even halfway done with its evolution yet.

'Now I understand why the fuck was the quest ranked so high. Chances are, its rank would keep increasing with every chain.'

"How strong is the Grivantula? It hasn't crossed his first cycle yet… right? Right?"

I tried to confirm with hopeful eyes. After all, if the Grivantula was just a pet of the generals to keep the nearby villages in check, it wouldn't really have to be that overpowered, right?

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".....well.."

Kai looked hesitant after looking at my expectant eyes. Kylos said what Kai was hesitant to say.

"The Grivantula is actually almost halfway through his second cycle."

"....."

Okay, so this wasn't the cliche 'save the village chief's daughter from the bandits' quest. The monster was around level 150. I felt like I was going to have seizures just thinking about it.

"Well… why even fight the guy? Sorry to say this… but if he had already taken your daughter, doesn't that mean she's dead… by now?"

I asked, somewhat hesitating throughout my sentence. Kai's eyes went numb as soon as he heard that, and he started sobbing.

"No, she's still alive. According to the village tradition, to keep the Grivantula's hunger in check, all the nearby villages send a person every year. A total of five people from five different villages are fed to the monster to keep his hunger in check and for the village to live peacefully for the year."

"....."

"Every year, we draw the name of the person who is going to be fed to the Grivantula. This includes the village chief and his family members' names too. This time…. My daughter…. Jezebeth… she– kuhk, cough cough!"

The village chief, Kai, choked halfway through his sentence as he couldn't bear the thought of losing his daughter.

"Why don't you guys run away?"

I asked and instantly regretted asking the question as I saw Kai's grief deepen. It was a stupid question in the first place. Although, I got lucky/unlucky enough to fall into Abyss through a secret entrance, there is no way that there is a known way to enter or exit the Abyss, making it impossible to run.

And there was nowhere where people could run to, and the Chasm Empire was sole ruler of the Abyss. They would be found sooner or later lose way more people than they lose every year to the Grivantula.

Well…

"Don't worry, I will protect your daughter with everything I have. I promise you!"

I said, trying to falsely console the village chief, even when I knew all too well that currently, I was nowhere enough to fix his problem. But sometimes, even when people know something isn't possible, they like to receive false hope as consolation, which soothes their hearts.

[Affinity with Rewan village chief Kai increased by +50]

"...."

Such was the power of false hope. An NPC's affinity could reach at most a hundred, and just one sentence from me was enough to make this guy trust me with a month's worth of affinity farming. It was not easy to increase affinity with an NPC, and it was tougher with the higher-level NPCs.

"Kughh… p-please. Save my daughter… please."

Kai said as he grabbed both my hands tightly with his burly hands. Right now, I couldn't care less about whether he was an NPC or a player, ogre or a human. We had different bodies, different skin colours, and different upbringings, but right at this moment, I could feel the love that he had for his daughter, the love only a parent could show to their child.

Right now, all I saw was a father, not an ogre or a human, but just a loving father.

Suddenly, memories I had been trying to forget resurfaced in my mind. The days of torture, the days where emotions were nothing but a concept, the days where I had a father, but just in name.

"Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!"

I held my head at the excruciating pain that hit me. Just then, red-coloured translucent screens started popping in front of me, telling me to log out.

[The player's real body is going through a traumatic recollection, and the player is advised to log out to seek emergency treatment.]

[The player's mental condition is extremely unstable, the system suggests that you should log out.]

[Commencing emergency logout.]

I couldn't care less about the red alerts and notifications flickering in front of my eyes.

My head was aching.

It hurt so much.

Like someone was hammering nails from every corner of my brain.

Not again!

Somebody… please…. S-save me….

...

//DreamNote//

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