Chapter 82: The Abyssal Chasm
London... the sky’s thick with clouds, just like it should be at the heart of the "Aether" zone.
When we entered Brixton, that scene hit me straight in the face. A massive vertical hole, like someone carved out the entire town. This must be the "Abyssal Chasm"...
I’d heard stories, but seeing it in person? Way bigger than I imagined. And the ground around the hole’s bulging up like waves. Buildings reduced to rubble—no need to guess what happened to the people.
Where once skyscrapers stood, now there’s nothing. Just emptiness.
Giant hole. Ruined buildings. Swollen earth. And that familiar, mountain-like rise in the ground—again. It’s like the whole of Britain’s worst nightmare was packed into this one place.
“How the hell are we supposed to find the Leader here?”
I asked Leo, and for a second, there was a weird silence. Then he answered.
“I’ve got a plan. Just wait a bit. I’ll get it ready.”
He turned and walked toward Alexander. Alexander had set down his big bag and was pulling things out of it.
We moved closer and saw three silver suitcases.
“Use these.”
“What the hell are these?”
Wang asked, eyes narrowed with interest.
“Small-scale nuclear bombs.”
“Wait—what!?”
Wang and Liu both looked stunned. You actually carry these around!?
“You’re gonna drop one into the Abyssal Chasm and detonate it?”
“Exactly. If the Leader’s down there, even if we can’t destroy them, they’ve gotta react.”
No way. What if it blows up by accident!? I might survive—but what about the others? They won’t walk away from that. Not even close...
The Sanctum Knights knew, but me, the King, and Sister Liu—none of us were told a thing! I guess it’s okay to be mad... but Liu’s just stunned, and the King’s got this “good job” look on his face.
Maybe I’m the only one here with any sense...
“What if the Leader still doesn’t show up?”
“Then we head north and enter Ireland. Most of the survivors from England fled there, so we’ll go in too—check on the refugees, rescue who we can. Back to the original plan.”
Anna and Elias are messing with the device inside the suitcase. Turns out they’re setting a timed nuclear charge—drop in a few different ones with varying timers since they can’t tell how deep the hole is, just to see how they react.
Until everything’s ready, me, the King, Sister Liu, and Carlo are told to wait a bit farther away.
“Carlo, you tamed the Leader from Greenland, right? Did you try the one in Angola too?”
“Angola’s Leader? Failed there. This Kyrke staff has a high chance of taming enemies, but the stronger they are, the lower the success rate.”
“So the mana core—was it nearby? A Leader should’ve left one, right?”
“Mana core? What are you talking about? Leaders don’t drop mana cores.”
“Really? Huh…”
I always figured you’d get a mana core after defeating a Leader... but not this time?
“Look, ‘taming’ is just part of a summoning spell—basically you absorb the monster’s mana core after killing it, then use your own magic to reconstruct its body. So, no… there shouldn’t be a mana core left *after* you’ve tamed it… right?”
I was seriously shaken by Carlo’s story. I’ve been taking in skills through magic cores *after* taming them! If Carlo’s telling the truth, that shouldn’t even be possible…
“Anyway, I was just throwing out a theory. Nobody can prove whether it’s true or not… Hey, Gojo, have you ever seen a Leader’s mana core?”
“Huh? Yeah, I have… thought everyone had one, though.”
“True, rare monsters drop mana cores when you’re hunting, but… maybe even Leaders do?”
So many unknowns… Honestly, I’ve never even talked about this with anyone before. Why would there be a difference after defeating a Leader?
While I was lost in thought, the preparations seemed to be done.
“Let’s go.”
The first suitcase drops. Then the second, then the third. We backed up far enough to stay safe and watched from a distance.
Everyone was tense. I’d heard the first explosion would happen in five minutes… then, after a while, the ground trembled. Must’ve been the first blast.
A monstrous gale and blinding light shot upward from the hole, piercing straight through the clouds! A chaotic mix of sounds—was it the explosion? Or a monster’s scream?—echoed all around.
Then the earth shook twice more, but each time less than the first. Probably exploding deeper underground… The area grew quiet. Minutes passed. Nothing happened.
“Did it fail…?”
Just as Wang said it, something reached our ears. A cry? A scream? Or maybe just the wind? But yeah… something was definitely coming.
“Is it rising from the Abyssal Pit…?”
The air went still, thick with tension.
“Not from that direction.”
When I said that, Leo looked confused and glanced at me. I pointed up at the sky, and everyone turned to look. Thick clouds were gradually turning red.
Leo mutters, glaring at the sky like it’s something he really hates.
...already out from the abyss's hole...
Even the Knights of the Sanctum couldn’t hide their shock. Thick clouds, dyed blood-red, drifted slowly downward toward the ground.
The air temperature spiked, thick with suffocating "mana" I could practically taste.
A single dragon emerges from the clouds, its scales blazing red like fire... Everyone gasps at its sheer size.
Wingspan’s gotta be over two hundred meters. The dragons I’ve seen before look like lizards compared to this. Definitely S-rank… not gonna be easy at all.
I鉴定ed that Dragon—
Flame Dragon King Shiva
Dragon Species Lv. 4482
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That’s… the Dragon’s “Leader”!!