Pioneer of the Abyss - Book 2 - Chapter 45

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Don't mind this. It's so that free readers can't see half the chapter when the chapter eventually becomes patron only.

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Table of Contents

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Click the following link for the 1352 word chapter 45:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1JVn_FN7k_dS1DeM0lqbGsDNHa2JUUu7Cb6DAEMZaUog/edit?usp=sharing

Or you can read the unformatted version below:

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Aqua

I spend a while resting in the safe area before finally heading out to take on the boss of the dungeon. The level four hundred and thirty mass of tentacles and mouths.

For a boss in a dungeon, it’s rather big. Not quite as big as the dead maw, but that was a boss of a Special Dungeon. So that thing is, well, special.

Different from other bosses.

Stronger.

On another note, this thing doesn’t seem to have any nose or eyes. So it might not be able to see or smell.

I know some creatures can smell without noses, though. And some can see in a way without eyes.

Making it uncertain if they can actually see or smell.

But it’s possible it isn’t able to.

I hope it isn’t able to.

Anyway, I start things off rather small. And by that, I mean I flood the entire cavern the thing is in with my plague along with numerous enormous abyssal servants that I have just kinda fall down onto it.

Of course, the boss doesn’t just sit quietly and let it happen. Its tentacles rush forwards and slam into the abyssal servants that I’m having fall on top of it. Like the dead maw, for instance.

But it isn’t strong enough to stop all of the massive abyssal servants falls.

Or, to be specific, it’s not strong enough to stop the dead maw’s fall. Because the dead maw is just massive.

It may not be anywhere near as high a level as this boss, but it is bigger and weighs a lot more.

Even with the dead maw falling on top of the mass of mouths and tentacles, though, it doesn’t do much damage. Mostly just serves as a distraction and to block the thing from noticing me.

Although I’m still not sure how it’s even sensing the falling abyssal servants to attack in the first place.

Maybe it can sense water pressure or something?

Regardless, I rush around the thing while increasing the water pressure all throughout the area. And on top of that I go ahead and fill the area with ink as well. In the hopes that it’ll blind whatever method the monster is using to detect things.

Then I turn my weapon into its harpoon form and send it flying straight for one of the monster’s mouths with as much force as I can muster.

The harpoon pierces straight into the monster’s mouth before proceeding deeper inside. Following which I rush forwards myself and enter the hole it made to grab the harpoon.

And right as I sense the monster’s tentacles beginning to rush over towards me, I activate Abyssal Reversal and Converging Maelstrom. Making it significantly harder for the boss to get its tentacles anywhere near me.

Then I turn my left hand into a claw and begin digging it into the boss’ interior. Spreading venom into the monster from directly inside of its body while also transforming my harpoon back into a trident so that I can slice the thing up instead of having to stab.

Unfortunately for me, the monster’s body is just too big. So even slicing it apart from the inside isn’t doing all that much.

Which leaves me summoning a bunch of abyssal servants inside of its body to help slice it up.

A process that ends up taking over half a day thanks to the thing’s size and me not having any idea whatsoever where its core or heart might be.

An entire twelve hours slicing up tentacles and mouths – yes, there are even mouths inside of the thing for some reason – while covered in its blood. All the way until the thing finally dies. Letting me beat a hasty retreat out of its body.

And what I find after leaving its body is… rather gross.

The entire thing’s body is deflated and warped. Clearly because of the havoc I caused inside of it.

So it looks even more disgusting now than it did before.

Still. Despite its grotesque appearance, I try to get its blueprint.

And I surprisingly succeed on my third attempt.

How exactly I feel about getting such a disgusting blueprint, I’m not entirely sure. But it’s fine.

Maybe I can defeat an enemy by grossing them out.

Anyway, after that I go ahead and search the monster for around half an hour before eventually finding an item. One that my scanner determines gives a boost to natural regeneration.

Which would explain why the boss was regenerating at a visible speed even as I sliced it apart.

It’s just that its regeneration speed was still slower than my attacks.

Anyway, the item itself is in the form of a pin. Something you pin onto another outfit.

Although in the case of the monster it was just pinned straight through its flesh.

Something about it is kind of making me want to wash the thing before using it myself, but it’s a good find, nonetheless. So I stash it into my storage ring and make my way out of the dungeon.

Then I go ahead and begin heading home. Only to be interrupted by a notification from the System.

A shocking one at that, to say the least.

System Notification

Congratulations! You have been given a Special Custom Sponsorship!

In order to check this Special Custom Sponsorship, please open your Sponsorship System menu at any time!

This Sponsorship has no requirements attached to it!

Another?

Interesting.

I go ahead and check the Sponsorship Message, only to find every muscle in my body freezing solid the moment I read who it’s from.

It’s a shared Sponsorship between two different people.

People whose names I remember clearly from both my own research and from my grandparents stories.

Seravina Orcayne Azuranth and Orvyn Azuranth.

My parents.

As for the message?

I feel my mind going completely blank as I read it. Feeling uncertain how I should even react to this.

We are extremely proud of how far you’ve come, and hope we can meet with you soon.

Love, your Mother and Father, who have escaped the Abyss.

After several minutes of silently staring at the message, with the livestream chat just going haywire at the news, I finally begin to move again. And when I do, I feel… weird.

I feel a strange fluttering in my stomach at the thought of meeting them. The ones who are responsible for my very existence.

When I’ve never had any sort of parent figure before.

At most, maybe the tutor or the old lady. But even them I wouldn’t really consider parental figures.

Benefactors would fit better.

What’s more is that I recognize what I’m feeling right now from books I’ve read.

It’s nerves.

I’m nervous at the idea of meeting them.

Why am I nervous? And when did they even get out of the Abyss?

I quietly continue my swim back home, but with my mind filled with nothing but chaos now.

Parents…

The idea of having actual parents is far stranger than having actual grandparents. Especially since those parents have no responsibility for what happened to me.

They were trapped against their will all these years, after all.

My anxiety at the thought of meeting them grows more and more as I swim. So much that I completely forget about the thing they gave me in the sponsorship until I read the chat and notice them pointing it out in a spam of thousands of messages.

Thanks to that, I briefly pause in my swimming to check what item they gave me. Only for my eyes to widen in shock at the sight of another Special Core.

Meaning I can challenge another Special Dungeon to get another hidden stat.

Holy shit…

Talk about a first impression.

I almost chuckle at it.

Too bad it’s only making me feel even more anxious at the thought of meeting them.

And to make matters worse, both of my grandparents send messages asking when would be a good time to meet them.

Making the butterflies in my stomach grow even more restless.