BXBX NOVEL Chapter 103: Abyss Realm
A black river was flowing in moderate rage just ten meters away from him.
When the sense of touch kicked in, he felt cold at the left side facing the river and warm at the right side.
Erix turned to the right, only to get washed over with shock and unspeakable gladness as tears left his eyes.
"Rin…"
'I am not dead...'
Rin was sleeping on his arm, her head leaning on his chest.
Her eyes slowly opened as well, but the moment she saw Erix, tears fell, and she hugged Erix without saying anything.
Erix wore a villager's tunic and pants, while Rin wore a white frock dress.
Both of them just remained hugged for ten minutes in silence, soaking themselves in each other's presence and confirming that it was real.
They were, in fact, alive.
*Grrr….*
But their peaceful union was soon interrupted by a deep growling sound.
Both of them quickly stood up, alerted. They looked in the direction of the sound they heard as it was coming from the dark woods twenty meters away from them.
They quickly checked their status first because they could feel their body was simply too weak compared to before.
[ Emergency Quest ]
_Objective:
—> Survive in the forest, escape, reach the nearest settlement with the Hunter Association branch, and get Hunter's ID.
_Reward:
—> 1x Tier-1 weapon box, 1x Blueprint box.
"Rin, check your inventory."
"Got nothing."
*Growl!!*
Erix stepped forward and stood in a boxing stance before saying, "We have to work together and kill whatever it is anyhow. Fortunately, I have Metal Affinity and Punch concept,"
"Same; I also have Blade Concept," Rin smiled as she stood beside Erix and stood in a front sword-holding stance.
A strange pressure formed around them as they were willing to use their concept powers.
"I'll stay front since I have higher agility and strength due to my Hybrid Zombie race."
"Got it, darling."
*Growl~*
They soon saw a pair of red-ish brown eyes finally lighting up in the darkness as the creature emerged from the forest.
But why did it sound strangely cute?"
Rin and Erix narrowed their eyes, trying to inspect the creature right after the moonlight illuminated it and saw its status.
[Baby Geonite Griffin]
_Level: 1
_Vitality: 100%
_Stats:
—> Strength: 33
—> Agility: 21
—> Health: 35
—> Stamina: 15
Rin and Erix were stunned to see the inspection result. Then, they finally saw the creature clearly as it approached them with curiosity.
"I think that's harmless?" Rin tilted her head in confusion. The creature only growled but didn't have any hostility towards them.
Erix also broke his stance like Rin and stood normally with a thoughtful expression. "Let's not take the initiative to attack since it's not seeking to harm us."
"Yeah."
They just stood there as the baby Griffin slowly approached, both with curiosity and wariness in its eyes.
Even though it was a baby griffin, it was still 1 meter tall and 1.5 meters long. It had strange early scales on its body, with a cute eagle-head bearing two eyes and a dark brown beak with shining light brown sparks as if mana whirled in them.
Its feathers were a mix of light brown and dark brown as well, making it look cute yet majestic.
But suddenly, they saw a shadow pounce on the baby Griffin from behind as it bit onto its back and started clawing its wings.
It was a dark wolf!
The baby Griffin was clearly shocked as it cried out in panic and couched down while flapping its wings, but the wolf was using its claws to attack its wings, injuring the baby Griffin and making it bleed.
"But it's stronger," Erix muttered, slightly dumbfounded. Baby Griffin was stronger than the wolf stat-wise even though the wolf was at level 6, but Baby Griffin just tried to escape without attacking and looked scared despite being stronger.
"Let's help it," Rin said as she dashed forward, "we might be able to tame it if we help it."
"Good idea," Erix nodded.
Although the baby Griffin's beastly instincts should have kicked in to attack the wolf, instead, it was only trying to escape the threat that it already determined was dangerous to it.
Erix passed by Rin with his speed and used 50 mana to produce metal around his fist before punching the wolf's head by exerting his full power.
*Smash!*
Rin quickly followed up after the wolf fell on the ground and waved her hand in a slashing motion, causing an invisible blade to form that soon flickered with lightning as Rin spent 50 mana to empower it with lightning.
*Crachhh!*
The wolf was cleanly cut into two, but it was actually already dead with Erix's attack as both of them reached level 2.
"I think we underestimated our concept's offense," Erix wryly smiled.
"You got high stats in Strength even at level 1, so your punch was powerful enough to kill the wolf," Rin smiled and then turned to baby Griffin.
However, that critter actually ran back into the forest, making Erix and Rin speechless.
"Forget it," Erix shook his head, turned to Rin with a loving smile, and wrapped his arm around her neck.
"Rin, is it bad that I feel glad you also died after I died?"
Rin rolled her eyes and hugged him tightly as her sweet voice rang in his ears, "You would've done the same, and we are together again, so that's all that matters."
"You are not getting away from my side this time," Erix said, his voice trembling. "Never."
"Yep." Rin smiled and kissed him.
…
Erix and Rin moved north of the forest instead of south where the baby Griffin went because they saw a bucket flowing in the river that was flowing from north to south, which meant that there was a high chance the forest would end if they continued moving in the north and encounter people in a village or a town.
They encountered a few forest monsters on the way, but they defeated them and reached level 9 before finally getting out of the forest.
Since they followed the river's path, they also found a town!
When they arrived at the gate, the two guards there quickly smiled and welcomed them, seeing their plain clothes.
"New hunters! Welcome to the Abyss. Make a left turn after you reach the town square, and you'll see Hunter's Guild."
Although surprised, Erix and Rin thanked the guards before entering the town full of surprise and versatility.
They saw humans, elves, vampires, dwarves, and such races.
The town had stalls and shops helmed by people, and groups consisting of three to five people were everywhere.
Suddenly, a young human man rushed past them with an excited expression.
The young man stopped at the central square that was filled with most people and shouted.
"A new fresh water and vegetable dungeon is going to open! Yall, it's time to get rich and eat something goddamn good!"
"Really?!"
"Let's fucking go!!"
"Where is it, man? Quickly tell us the location!"
"Follow me! We have to farm all five floors first to get first hunt rewards before others from Star-fish Town take it!"
Rin and Erix were surprised.
"Water and vegetables?"
"Hmmm, it looks like this Abyss Realm is way worse than we imagined," Erix rubbed his chin. "The water in that black river is also not drinkable, so maybe the source of water and other things are dungeons?"
"Let's go to Hunter's Guild quickly. We'll get more information there," Rin said before she sighed. "I wonder if Mom and Dad know that we are alive."
"I hope the voice answers them about it," Erix sighed.
…
While Erix and Rin had started their new life, their deaths had indeed affected many people.
After their deaths, Isabella got a notification of herself becoming the guild's leader.
Shocked, she asked why and how in her head in the hope of getting answers from the usual voice.
[Rin and Erix have died and descended into Abyss Realm after losing their powers and starting again from level 1. Unless they meet certain requirements, they wouldn't be able to return.]
"W-What? Phew…"
Isabella was shocked when she heard the word "died" but sighed a huge relief, knowing they were alive at the end.
"What is the requirement to return from Abyss?"
[ Reaching level 201 and joining a Cosmic Faction. ]
'Level 201? That's….' Isabella frowned. 'This is going to take a long time.'
But suddenly, she remembered something and felt dread welling up in her.
Taking out a 1-hour leave card, she turned to Serina, "I'll be back in a bit. Just stay here since it's a safe area."
Before Serina could respond, Isabella disappeared from a safe cave they had found on a big mountain at the periphery of the Aceiron region.
'If Erix died and lost his skills and stats, then what about Sangle?'
Isabella anxiously flew towards the guild because if Sangle lost loyalty, then it would become a ruthless beast and hurt her son because Aaron had spent most of his time with the eagle!
Arriving at the guild base, she quickly entered inside and shouted, "Aaron! Where are you?!"
She looked around fanatically and soon heard Sangle's usual sharp whistle.
Looking up, she saw Aaron on the eagle and quickly flew up as mana surged inside her.
Fortunately, Sangle was still sane and loyal as Aaron was safely sitting atop the big eagle. Isabella could see from Sangle's eyes that it hadn't turned into a mindless, aggressive beast like those in the wild.
"Mom! Come here; look what I caught with Sangle! It's a very beautiful flower!"
Isabella smiled and internally sighed a huge relief before she nodded.
"Thank you for always taking care of him, Sangle," Isabella smiled and patted Sangle's head, who nodded in return, its eyes showing a smile and joy.
Afterward, Isabella joined Aaron as she sat beside him on Sangle and entertained his little adventurers.