Falling into the Abyss

Chapter 18: Atonement: Red Earth (XVI)

Tanisiel picked up a military-use dagger that had probably been dropped by a soldier from off the ground, pinning it to his waist and saying, Wed better get out of here as soon as possible.

Knowing that the base was no longer safe, Ethan hesitantly took a step toward the door that had previously been sealed shut. It was obvious that the doors had been opened with brute force, forming a gap between the two doors.

A terrible scream came from the end of the corridor, and Ethan saw a man run out of the darkness, his face completely distorted by fear. It was Otto.

Behind him, waves of darkness were surging forth. Ethan shone his flashlight on the black liquid, only to find that it wasnt a liquid at all, but thousands of creeping monsters. Their faces were wriggly and puffy, and they were scrambling and crawling over their brethren, which was why they had appeared a tidal wave was rushing forth.

The monsters swallowed up the frightened Beta, who had just spoken to them. They could hear the poor mans shrill screams and see him struggling under the countless monsters.

Hurry! Run! Otto yelled at the top of his lungs. Tanisiel rushed to the gate and tried to pry the crack in the door open wider. Ethan also used all of his strength to pull on the other door. In the face of death, he was able to let out a burst of power, and the gap between the pairs fingers widened. Otto rushed straight out, with Ethan right behind him. When Tanisiel squeezed out, he closed the gap a bit, but that couldnt stop the extremely soft and flexible monsters.

It was evident that the main door, located on the first floor, had been blown open by the soldiers. A cold, sour smell was carried to them by the wind. The outside world was dark, other than a blue light from an unknown source that illuminated their surroundings. The chunks of meat hanging in the sky were slowly swimming around. Countless limbs, about the size of a mans waist, stretched down from the middle of the sky towards the ground, as though someone had tugged the thin, silky threads downwards. The tentacles roamed and wriggled all over the ground, gathering up any plants and animals they came across. The cylindrical alien creatures whined as they were pulled into the sky. However, some strange threads connected their bodies to the rest of Red Earth. When they had been pulled up halfway, they were suddenly released and fell to the ground, hurriedly fleeing.

So that was why this was the only planet with life in the Galactic Region of Death. All of the plants and animals were connected to the planet, so the monsters in the sky couldnt pull them up.

Humans were as small and fragile as mayflies, but they were suddenly exposed to the God of Disorder who covered both the sky and the sun. Some sort of deep sound wave was vibrating in the air, stirring up the deepest fears in their heart. Ethan saw some nonhumans desperately running in the wild, attempting to rush to the two spaceships in the distance. They tried to dodge the tentacles, but they were rolled up and dragged towards a small spot in the sky one after another. Only the sound of their screams reverberated in the air until they were stuffed into the lumps of meat in the sky.

Ethan was shocked by the scene. Tentacles were waving about all around him, and even the roof of their base had been entangled by them. They would be caught at any moment! At present, their only protection was the black sap on their bodies, but it was apparent from those who had been caught that it wasnt infallible.

Otto sucked in a breath of air and swore, How the hell will we survive!

After Tanisiel turned his attention towards the main building, Ethan noticed that the three wireless transmitters were emitting a strange blue hue and were the source of the dim light. Strangely, there were almost no tentacles around the three transmitters, and the tentacles that fell from the sky leaned away one after another as if trying to avoid them.

Ten more minutes. Tanisiel pointed to the three transmitters and said, Lets go over there!

The road was not too long, but the black tentacles had covered the entirety of the building, and there wasnt much space left on the ground. The closer they got to the building, the clearer they could see the appearance of the tentacles. Their skin was covered with unknown mucus, appearing impenetrable yet flexible, and had small barbs and pink, circular-shaped suction cups growing out of it. The suction cups were like small mouths, squirming around and spitting out more mucus. This mucus covered both the buildings and the surface of Red Earth, and they could hear the sound of sizzling and burning wherever it touched. Darkness continued to spread from the patches of mucus.

Mommy, this boy toy has some real skill.

Ethan took a deep breath before holding it. He thought to himself to go all out and rushed off. However, it was obvious that his movements were less flexible than those of Tanisiel, and he hesitated with every step he took. However, the tentacles would wriggle around according to the changes in the airflow and could touch Ethans feet at any time, causing the upcoming road to be full of danger. When Ethan was two steps away, the tentacles suddenly swelled up and blocked his way, like countless pythons dancing in front of him that wanted to drown him in their midsts.

There were only two words in Ethans mind at that moment, Its over.

Just as he closed his eyes and waited for the unknown to come, he suddenly heard a low grunt. When he opened his eyes, he saw Tanisiel leap in the air, and a blue light similar to that of the God of Order emitted from the military dagger in his hand as he slashed a tentacle.

The tentacle shrunk back as though it had felt pain, and the rest of the tentacles retreated alongside it. Tanisiel grabbed Ethan by his collar and pulled him out of the tentacles encirclement. Ethan was terrified, but he saw Tanisiel panting slightly, with a firm and calm look. At this time, he looked like a soldier.

Was he truly a priest?

Otto was similarly in trouble. When he made his last jump, he had miscalculated and stepped on a tentacle. The tentacles immediately curled up and wrapped around his waist, like a python circling its prey. He screamed with fright and clawed at the air. Seeing this, Ethan tried to grab his hand, but the tentacles were so strong that Otto was still dragged back, even as Ethan clenched his teeth and tried to pull him out. He dug his heels in, leaving two long tracks on the ground.

Otto was like a drowning man, grasping onto the last straw that could save him. He had always acted fearlessly, as though he was unafraid of everything, but now, he was crying like a child, Help me! Help me! Help me!

Ethan has used all of his strength, but not only was he unable to pull Otto out, but his entire body was also dragged along due to the tentacles strength. Just as he was about to be lifted off the ground, someone strongly embraced his waist and yanked him back down. However, this caused him to loosen his grip, and he let go of Ottos hand.

He only heard the red-haired man, who had always acted like a hoodlum, emit a long wail before he was instantly dragged upwards by the tentacles into the air, and countless black lumps of meat wrapped around and swallowed him.

Ottos screams were still reverberating in his ears. Ethan sat on the ground with his eyes and mouth wide open but unable to say anything. Tanisiel suddenly grabbed the clothes covering his shoulder and hauled him up. His gray eyes glared at him angrily, and he reprimanded, Next time someone is caught, dont do such a stupid thing! Do you really think you can snatch him away from Shub-Niggu!

Ethan still felt upset and pursed his lips as he said, Thank you He knew that Tanisiel was right, but he had jumped up to grab Ottos arm almost instinctively. When he had been threatened by Tanisiel, the other man had given him a helping hand. Other than Samuel, he was probably the person he talked to the most in the Forbidden City.

After all, he has just become a nonhuman. There were still many things he couldnt get used to.

There were actually two Eve soldiers standing under the first transmitter. Obviously, they had felt the power of the God of Orders egg, so they took the lead in hiding here. The other two people were Samuel and the chief security officer.

At the sight of Tanisiel, the two soldiers immediately showed an expression of joy, as if they had seen their savior. Ethan was surprised to see that the two soldiers were so dependent on a priest. Was it because they needed spiritual support in this terrible predicament?

When Samuel saw Ethan and Tanisiel, he looked disappointed at first. Ethan guessed that Samuel probably felt that if both of them died, no one would know he was secretly an Omega. Although he understood and didnt blame him, Ethan felt horrible, as though he had eaten a fly.

The next moment, however, Samuels disappointment turned into relief. He strode over and pulled Ethan away to his side, asking, Where have you been?

Ethan did not know where to start. He just glanced at Tanisiel and replied in a low voice, Otto is dead.

Samuel frowned and was momentarily speechless. He clenched his fists and punched the solid metal body of the transmitter.

The faint blue light surrounded them, creating a small island of safety in the darkness. Beyond their island, countless dancing tentacles filled the sky and earth, searching hungrily for any possible source of food. The two Eve soldiers, whose beautiful light brown hair were now in a mess, spoke nervously to Tanisiel in the Eves language. Tanisiel had put away his cold expression, softening the look in his empty eyes as he gently rested his hand on the female Alpha soldiers shoulder, and returned a few words in the Eves language.

Had he always acted this way? Switching between different expressions?

Sometimes he appeared compassionate, sometimes gentle, sometimes cold, and sometimeseven evil.

Which was the real Tanisiel?

Ethan heard the priest mention the name Shub-Niggu, and the two Eve soldiers began to sink further into despair. One of them even crouched down and buried his head in his arms. Tanisiel urged him, Dont be afraid of the goddess of fertility. Even though its difficult to calculate what the God of Disorder intends to do, she is the other half of our faith. Since you are not afraid of the God of Order, then why should you be afraid of the God of Disorder?

Yes, why do people naturally yearn for order while being so afraid of the unknown and chaos? Perhapschaos was better?

Maybe you would go to a better place after death?

The chief security officer suddenly looked at Ethan and interrupted his thoughts as they drifted in an unknown direction, Hey, you, do you know what this is all about?

Ethan glanced at Samuel, who gave him a slight nod, indicating that he could tell the chief security officer. Ethan then briefly described Tanisiels theory on the God of Disorder and his plan to expel Shub-Niggurath with the God of Orders egg. The more the chief security officer listened, the tighter his brows knit together. Finally, he muttered, What the hell are all these things

Ethan asked Samuel, What about the others? Are they all dead?

I know that Chen Zeng and Cavin escaped with their men, but I dont know where they went, Samuel said in a flat tone.

But at this time, Tanisiels entire body stiffened, and the other two Eves expressions also morphed.

Ethan suddenly felt that the Eves were like weather forecasters. Every time they showed such an expression, something terrible was bound to happen.

Following the Eves line of sight, they saw that in the sky not far away from them, the black lumps began to wriggle around violently, twisting, contracting, and retracting. Andthe sky slowly opened, just like they saw in the video.

It was like a giant mouth, slowly opening.

However, as it continued to open wider, Ethan realized that it wasnt a mouth.

The black lump of meat gradually turned into a circle. In the innermost part was a dense, protruding red object that constantly twisted in all directions, reflecting a disturbing, crystal-like luster. Somehow, Ethan thought it was similar to a flys compound eye, if every eye in a flys eye could move.

This, though, made him realize that it could really be an eye.

An eye of pure evil and chaos.

T/N: Yuzus back !

About extra chapters: In case anyone is interested in extra chapters, Ive set up a manual kofi goal for that. Once kofi goals of $12 are reached, Ill be posting extra chapters for ABYSS. The fund will be used to supply some coffee money my editor, proofreader and I. However, before sending me some kofi money, do indicate that it is for ABYSS. Since Kofi doesnt allow me to set up 2 different kofi goals, I can only make-do with a manual goal on my kofi page. Right now the amount is at $6.

About posting schedule: I wont be able to post the next 1-2 weeks, but my lovely team has decided to edit these chapters that Ive missed posting. These chapters will be posted after Im back. Ill be making an announcement on the discord channel tonight or tomorrow to explain this. Surprise, surprise: perhaps my team and I will be increasing the no. of releases for ABYSS per week after Im back.

Some final remarks: Id like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and happy holidays in advance, in case I wouldnt be back before Christmas. Thank you guys so much for reading and supporting ABYSS. Love you guys.