Nine days had passed since the fairy's trial.
A few people from the higher floors began to search for the other Gift user of the most recent batch of newcomers. Not all of them were from the guilds. Some were solo challengers that somehow caught wind of the latest news in the abyssal tower. However, the trail that they barely uncovered disappeared due to the tsunami that flooded everything away in the southern area of the first floor.
"So this time, he's most definitely dead?" Red Dawn's guild master frowned.
George helplessly shrugged his shoulders while spreading his hands. "I think so. What can we do? Nature's wrath, especially in the abyssal tower, is way more merciless and unpredictable than anywhere else in this world."
"Did you tell about this to Miss Mikaela yet?"
The man in red armor answered. "No. But I'm about to. If you will permit it, that is."
The guild master thought for a moment before he decided, "Sure. Go ahead. But only do so after you do some more searching. Maybe that person survived. But of course, if he died, it's nothing disadvantageous to us. One guide to Mavria is enough, don't you think so?"
From the beginning, the guild master's concern was that somebody would obtain the second Gift user and compete with them to reach the Middle Lands. There were also various other reasons, like Mikaela leaving to join that person, or Mikaela's life being threatened, or the other powerful factions doing several stupid things. None of these were what the guild master wished to see, so he preferred for the other Gift user to simply die.
George did not speak any more words, but he also felt the same. "I could not agree more, Guild Master. I know what to do."
The other man nodded. Looking outside the window of the guild headquarter located in the only safe zone on the tenth floor, a smile showed on his face.
'It's good if he died. I won't have to send an assassin or two to do the job for me.'
The wind gently blew inside through the open window. A knock rang from the door. "Master, the members of the upcoming raid have gathered in the reception room."
Hearing that, the guild leader rose from his seat. "Okay. I'm coming."
Then after giving the red-armored knight, he walked out.
In the room several doors away from the guild master's office, Mikaela opened her eyes. Her Gift which took the form of a rhombus-shaped emerald-studded brooch was glowing faintly, albeit the shine faded after a while. With her arms still crossed above her chest and her back leaning on the wall, she glanced in the direction of the door.
The woman watched as the powerful Fallen Blessed who invited her to join Red Dawn appear. Although there was no expression on her face, her ash blue eyes were a little more focused than usual. When the others in the room who were of various races greeted the guild master, Mikaela merely kept her silence, keeping her thoughts to herself.
...
'... One of these days, I might just die here without anybody knowing or recognizing my corpse.'
A whole day since Alex lost consciousness after escaping from a tsunami. His whole body was shaking from the cold. His face was deathly pale, his lips were nearly devoid of color. He barely found the strength to sit against a huge rock.
A bitter smile showed on his face as he shrugged the negative thoughts away.
"I'm so hungry." He weakly looked up and sighed.
His body was in no shape to move, much less fight. But without eating, no strength would return to him. It was such a dilemma that could only be solved by forcing his body to stand up and walk. Good thing that his Gift, due to being of water attribute, healed him a bit. At least, although he looked like a mess outwardly, his inner injuries left by the tsunami's unforgiving waters were no longer as severe as yesterday.
Alexei gave the pendant on his chest a glance, noticing its clearly lacking luster. Then after another sigh, he grabbed onto the top part of the boulder behind him and stood up with much difficulty using it as his support. A moment later, he summoned a sword with a dull blade. With the sword serving as his cane, his shaky legs began to move.
'Hah. I'm like an old man right now.'
How long had he walked already? Ten minutes? Alexei looked back only to see the spot where he woke up being twenty meters away. Two meters per minute... It was so depressing.
But what was more depressing was the fact that there was no living being in sight. His senses too were not warning him of any foreign presence. Was everything washed away by the black tides? But it had already been a day...
A moment later, as he looked below at the river that formed overnight, the left corner of his lips spasmed.
What a great river... No trace of life meant that it killed and dissolved everything that it had carried. Not only that, it cut him off the other side of the waters where he usually hunted.
Not gonna lie, for a moment, Alexei felt so desperate that he nearly called the fairies to just transfer him to the second floor. The thought that 'maybe the fairy will drop me off in a safe zone or anywhere with food and drinkable water' lingered in his mind for a while. However, the cold wind that brushed against his face immediately sobered him up.
Alexei walked a few more steps while scanning his surroundings. A couple more minutes passed. He walked down the mountainous path on the other side after confirming that searching near the river would be futile. Sometimes he would take a rest and summon some water through his Gift. Sometimes when his hands could not support him for a while, he would just simply roll and pray that he would not end up crashing into anything deadly.
Two hours later, he finally saw a snake coming down from a dried branch of a dead tree. The grey abyssal snake hissed dangerously at him as it slithered slowly towards him. But at the same time, the famished and weakened Alexei also stared dangerously at it.
'Finally.' His red eyes brightened for a moment as excitement seized him.
The three-meter-long abyssal snake paused before it reared its head and revealed its long fangs. It hissed once again, then swiftly flew towards Alexei.
Yet before it could bite him, countless knives fell from above and pinned it to the ground. Dark corrupted blood immediately dyed the area where it fell. It thrashed around for some time and coiled its body before it spasmed and then stopped moving.
Alexei's hands reached for the lifeless creature. His eyes closed briefly as he put away the knives in his inventory. When he chewed on the raw and bloody meat, there was only a numb expression on his face. The food from the Dark Palace was no better than this so his mouth had actually long been trained to not taste, but simply chew and swallow.
'When I first begin to eat raw monster meat, I remember wondering how on earth I ended up in this world and why it has to be me.'
'I felt that the world is so malicious because, in order to live, I had to put aside everything and only think about survival.'
'Now it's all natural.'
His thoughts became more active after feeling something landing inside his stomach. After he finished eating, Alexei did not immediately move from his spot. Instead, he took a long rest, lying on his back on the dirt while looking up in the eternally dark skies of the Tower.
'Alexei Orlov.' The youth recalled the name of his playable counterpart.
'With the mentality of an actual sixteen or seventeen-year-old boy, he actually endured all of these and survived until he reached the last floor and escaped from Abyss. For somebody who grew up in a normal family, with no combat skills or anything, it's practically an impossible feat. Yet he did it. How?'
He thought the guy was totally unlike him who possessed lore and game knowledge as his weapon yet still struggled to survive.
'What a guy.'
Alexei could not just help but remember the details he read in the game's official forum. While people made fun of the outdated hyper-carry, many did not hide their admiration when they read Alexei Orlov's backstory. Sadly, the game officials did not publish any more lore materials about him. There was also nothing more about the 'real' abyss so, he, who transmigrated in his body, had no choice but fumble along the way.
Time passed. Alexei was not lucky enough to find a cave that he could turn into a temporary dwelling place. He dared not sleep again in the open, fully knowing that the only reason he luckily did not get devoured by some wild beasts was that the monsters in the area did not want to get near the corrosive river.
After trying to squeeze some more water from his Gift, he realized that the pendant hanging from his neck kept turning dimmer and dimmer. Left with no choice, he pursed his lips and decided not to use his water abilities until the gem in it regained its brilliance. The problem was that he had no idea when that would be. When would the series of misfortunes end?
The youth did not bother dwelling on the question for long. Nothing would change anyways.
Using the various weapons harvested from the remains of hounds yesterday, he slew a few low-level mobs that crossed his path. All the monster drops automatically ended up in his inventory without being inspected.
As Alexei was not feeling safe in his new environment, he postponed the appraisal and focused on creating a path in the southwest part of the mountain.
Another hour passed just like that.
The world presented before him was as gloomy and perilous as ever.
Just when the fake stars in the fake sky above were about to rise to signal the coming of the 'night', Alexei ran into something he never expected to see in the Abyssal Tower.
Metallic parts that contrasted sharply against the natural backdrop around it.
Something that towered amongst the rocks under the cliff even as it laid immobile against a giant tree.
Alexei recognized what it was at first glance.
An automaton that could only belong to the Dark Palace...