The giant orb of Abyss energy pulsated erratically. Suspended above Ophelia's body, its potent energy kept struggling to break free of its restraints to wreak havoc once more. Yet, somehow it held firm under mine and Sensei's control.
I had no idea what was happening.
I also didn't know why such devastating power was suddenly bending to my will and command, and at that point I wasn't interested in the reason either because I couldn't stop looking up at the bright red orb that floated dangerously above us.
Eventually, tiny strings of malevolent energy started drifting down towards Ophelia, like suspended liquid in the air.
I was intrigued by the patterns the numerous red strings created as they slowly wove together into a single point like a deadly needle. It then plunged into Ophelia's body and pierced through her desaturating liquid core, causing her static body to jolt awake with its power.
Ophelia, who had been motionless, started trembling as though a stream of electricity was injected into her, and the huge red orb started to shrink in size.
"Will she be alright?" I muttered, my voice trembling.
But Sensei didn't answer, and I could tell he was fully focused on the task..
It was frightening to see so much dense energy enter her small frame and I was scared it might be hurting her somehow, but since I had no answer, I gritted my teeth and just watched her.
She had to be okay, or I would never be able to forgive myself.
Eventually, Ophelia's body stopped trembling and her feathery body became limp again – but something else was happening around her.
All the blood that had spilled around her slowly turned a shade darker and then, right before my eyes, the blood began to flow back into her body under the influence of an unknown force.
It was terrifying, yet strangely mesmerising to watch.
When I peeked at her liquid core with [Mind's Eye], I saw the cyan blue of her core melding together with the malevolent Abyss energy to form an odd chimera of a core that was a cross between solid and liquid.
Her original cyan core flowed freely like liquid, but the overwhelming majority of it was red, with a solid state. And where the two merged, a pulsating purple had appeared, like a horrible bruise.
Her new core was unlike anything I'd ever seen, I didn't think two types of cores could coexist.
When Sensei eventually replied, he sounded exhausted.
«I did everything I could. And now, it's up to her will and whether her body could assimilate to the new energy. She will be asleep for a while but she should be fine.»
"How did you do it?" I couldn't resist asking, Ophelia's new core was far too strange.
«As a system, I have my own methods.» Sensei replied.
His response immediately made me frown.
That was hardly an answer!
«However, I will be offline for a week to recover.» Sensei added. «Tuning a core is not an easy task, even for a system. And you barely had enough mana for me to work with.»
My mana?
Wait…
I looked up my stats and was appalled.
----------------------------
Apostle: Aurelia [LV39 Ael Etheno]
Specie: Ailith Cerastes
Notoriety: 27600
----------------------------
HP: 580/1300 Defence: 1435
MP: 10/1240 Intellect: 1035
SP: 270/1130[0] Magic: 1140
Attack: 1680 Agility: 1705
----------------------------
What the heck?!
He used all of my mana and stamina reserves, and it still wasn't enough for him?
I hadn't seen my MP this low ever!
I wanted to ask him how he prevented the elf ring from exploding when it was so close to breaking, but after hearing his half assed response I knew he wouldn't answer me so easily.
And I was too exhausted to argue, so I didn't bother.
"One week, huh?" I scoffed. "I'll be fine."
«Don't destroy the Labyrinth in my absence.» Sensei added, his voice fading.
And I frowned – like that could actually happen!
With my head completely silent, I focused on Ophelia who was currently healing with the aid of her hybrid core.
Parts of her core were still cyan, but I was more concerned with the majority of it that was red, and that ominous pulsating purple scar.
Until I could determine how this fusion would affect her, I would have to keep a close watch on her. But I was extremely frustrated that Ophelia had to bear the consequences of my mistake.
As for her stats, I was sure the Abyss would affect her in some way. I just hoped it didn't affect her negatively, so I quickly appraised her.
--------------
Name: Ophelia [LV22 Small Cerastes]
Specie: Ailith Vipera
HP: 213/935 Defence: 836
MP: 1155/1155 Intellect: 880
SP: 30/775 Magic: 1023
Attack: 913 Agility: 1507
--------------
It was definitely a surprise. And it was one good thing after the day I had.
Although her level did not change, Ophelia's stats had improved tremendously. Her stats are higher than mine when I was at that level.
In a way it served to show just how unpredictable the Abyss was.
However, while her body had healed, Ophelia was still asleep.
I was very anxious to see her open her eyes, but I didn't complain because I'm just happy she was still alive, and that was all that mattered.
Typhon's face suddenly sprung into my mind, and I wondered how I should break the news to him.
But first I threw the dangerous elf ring back into the [Dimensional Box] and whipped out my dark smoke to form a bed of clouds and lift Ophelia's sleeping body and brought her to one of the rooms to keep her safe.
I then managed to push the remnant energy away from the underground and the pathway to Nymph's forest, since that's where my nestlings fled to.
Most of the damage wrought by the Abyss was focused on the entrance of my cave as well as the forest surrounding us.
Out in the corridor, there was a clear indication of where the Abyss had touched and where it hadn't, and it was easy to follow the trail of blackened earth into the main hall.
My cave was empty, and I was glad, because everything now looked like a scene from hell.
The stone ground was covered in a hardened layer of lifeless black rock that was shiny like glass. The structures I made were all hardened like their surface had been baked with heat, including the fighting [Pit] that had a texture as smooth as cut marble.
However there were reddish cracks blighting their surface which gave me the impression of magma.
All the plant life around was dead, and there were even a few unlucky wolves that had been caught in the blast, with their gutted corpses spilling out on the ground from various wounds.
Fortunately, there were not many, and I quickly got rid of their corpses before heading outside – I had to see what sort of damage the Abyss had done to the forest and how far it had spread.
Much like my cave, the forest was changed. The trees were shrivelled up and withered, the soil turned black and sharp – mere shards of glass that could no longer support life.
I realized the Abyss energy had spilled far beyond the opening of my cave where it devoured without care.
The only exception, however, were the Abyssal monsters that remained outside. They were unaffected, and even radiated more power, somehow enriched by the energy spill.
Everywhere I looked, the Abyss had made its presence known, transforming the landscape as it expanded outwards, up to a certain point where it stopped, and lush greenery began.
It was truly terrifying, and I was glad Sylrin, and the Alpha were hunting far away and weren't caught up in the surge, or they too would have been reduced to nothing.
As for the other creatures nearby, they weren't so lucky.
Half of the bottom feeders outside were dead as there was no movement from the ones that should have been roaming the tunnels beneath me. There were even monster carcasses littering the forest, having fallen down from the withered trees.
I even came across an Ape creature in their midst, its body completely shredded after being struck by the blast.
To see the extent of destruction the Abyss could cause in the short time it was able to manifest, made me realise just how devastating [Abyss Magic] was to life.
I could never bring myself to use it again.
I wondered exactly how many pit members I lost so I opened my stats window, but attention was immediately pulled by something else.
My notoriety had increased again from [18900 ] to [27600] in this short span – it was already high before, but seeing it increase again filled me with dread.
What would happen when it got too high? What exactly was the limit?
I didn't know what it did, or why the stat was there, but I got the sense it had something to do with the damage my magic did to my surroundings, amongst other things - maybe killing other monsters had something to do with it too.
I wasn't exactly keeping track of my activities, so it was difficult to say, but this increase was quite concerning. It felt like the labyrinth was keeping an eye on me for all my mischief.
I made up my mind to ask Sensei about it when he returned, and took off into the air, flying towards the Nymph's forest – I had to find my nestlings before Shiranui did something to them.
Once inside the pink forest, I was glad to see I managed to stop the Abyss from causing too much damage, as aside from two or three trees, nothing else was touched.
I tracked down Typhon via [Captain's Mark] on the Atlas and was pleased to see he was safely beyond the range of Abyss's destruction.
I could only hope all of the nestlings managed to get away with him.
However, I soon spotted a group of serpents from the air and flew down towards them, only to see the Nymph was present as well, along with several of her Veladrys.
Typhon was also pacing around nervously, with the nestlings behind him looking at him in concern. But as soon as he saw me landing, he rushed over immediately.
[Are you hurt?] He asked anxiously and looked behind me. [Where is Ophelia? Is she alright?]
I felt relieved immediately.
I honestly expected him to lash out at me after what he witnessed in the cave, but he was much more level headed than I thought.
Still, I could tell he was extremely worried underneath it all, so I told him the good news first.
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