Deep in the abyss

" Runn!"

A figure of a young man shouting and then a horde of monsters poured out from everywhere. They ran and fought but there was no end and there was no way. In the panic, the man slipped and was torn to pieces. The girl didn't give up, she fought and fought desperately but an arrow suddenly pierced her back. She looked in the direction where the arrow was shot from and her eyes were wide open. The face that she saw was more horrible than any monster she couldn't believe that was the face of a person she loved.

Ilirielth woke up. She panicking checked her body, she couldn't sleep at all three days ago but now suddenly she could sleep soundly. But that was not a good sign, not in her current situation. Ilirielth didn't know where she was at the moment but there was one thing she was sure of. This area belonged to Mordox. The curse energy here was so strong that there was no mistake. Nowhere else could make her nose tingle like this.

2 months, she had been here 2 months in a place that was a live horror show with terrible beings wandering everywhere. No sun and no sky, the only source of light was mana crystals, this place seemed to be underground. Ilirielth let out a silent cry watching her right arm which had very fine skin turning red. Human, Elves, Beastman, and normal creature bodies could not withstand the cursed energy of Mordox for long. It would either kill them or turn them into monsters. In the case of Illirielth, she would rather die than turn into one.

She was positive because the process should take months to years depending on the place and the person. With her level she expected herself to withstand the curse for at least a few years. But apparently, she was wrong. The situation was much more critical than she thought. This intensity of the curse meant that she was currently in an area located very deep inside Mordox.

" No! No! No! It can't be. How can I get a teleport to this place!"

Despair began to consume her and Ilirielth took a glance at her bloody sword with still had some monster's organ stuck to it. She wanted to puke, Although she ate monsters and drank their blood in the past 2 months but thinking about her blood being mixed with them in her last moment made her sick. There was no water around here she couldn't wash off the blood. Illirelth laid her back on a rock looking out of her self-made 'house'. The place was so dark but she could still see clearly what was moving around her. Her current level was 187. Not as good as the hero group but for someone this young she could be called a genius. She looked at the information about the monsters from far away in her system's window. For all of them, the least level was 201. She was lucky to kill 2 in the last 2 months and had been eating their corpse since then. Saying she killed them was not the right word. She just snuck up after their fight and went for the last hit. Her level went up to 5 because of that.

Everything has its expiration and the corpses she had been eating began to rot. Now she had to look for a new source of food and drink. But first thing first she needed to get rid of her dark thought.

" No I couldn't end in a place like this, I had to come back! That's right there's still hope. This might just be some hidden area closed to the barrier. Maybe, maybe there would be some adventures…"

Ilirielth cheered herself up. She picked up her sword and decided to leave her nest. She was about to abandon what her big brother told her.

' When you get stuck in a dangerous unknown area filled with monsters. Do not rush to find paths, slowly scout the surroundings to collect necessary resources and a safe place to stay for a long period, after all of that you began the dungeon crawling process.'

She always thought that advice was silly because she never get trapped in a place filled with monsters that were stronger than her. Had it not been for the advice she would have been a corpse at the moment. But she was about to break the rule that saved her life.

Ilirielth carefully walked in the dark. She was on her barefoot to not make any sound. It was just pure luck that the monsters here were only a little bit more sensitive to sound and smell than a normal human moreover although Ilirielth's class was not an assassin or scout, she still could move very swift and stealthy due to her elven bloodline and could see clearly in the darkness.

So Ilirielth's plan was going to the direction where the monsters had lower levels. Currently, there were two paths she could choose, one had a mutated wendigo-looking monster called 'Brain eater' Their level was an average of 220. The other path had a dull-looking mutated goat called ' Mutated species 203' she didn't know what that mean but its level was only 201 and these guys didn't seem to be aggressive at all she didn't even need to hide while walking near those so, of course, she chooses this path.

And Ilirielth soon regretted her decision.

Mutated species 105: Level 250

A 3 head giant blue skin monster looking straight at her while eating the goats. It looked like a 3 headed cyborg and there was no one but 4 of them surrounding her. Each of them carried weapons made of mana crystals. The goat-like monsters were leisurely eating some strange plant on the ground even one of them was eaten by the three-headed cyborg. That was when Ilirielth realized she just walked into a fcking farm.

Ilirielth held her sword tightly. She wouldn't go down without a fight. For a warrior that had been trained thoroughly, trembling was not in her dictionary. Even if she looked like an ant in front of her enemies and her sword was like a stick to them. Actually, the size didn't that matter because she fought giants before, the only issue was the 'size' difference of their levels was like heaven and earth. Seeing Ilirielth's stance the giants roared. This gonna be the last epic battle Ilirielth thought.

( What's this thing, don't tell me it's a human? ) Mordox language

( Don't be silly there's no human down here.)

( Should we eat it?)

( No that would be a waste. Besides, it looks too skinny, I don't want to eat things that end with less than one bite. Why don't we offer this to the great one.)

( Damm it brother. That's such a great idea. Maybe this thing will suit the great one's taste! )

( Yes, know it off, be careful not to kill it!)

While Ilirielth expected an epic fight. A giant released a net upon her. Ilirielth tried to cut it off but to no avail. With a flick of a finger, she was knocked out cold.

After sometimes Ilirielth woke up, her head was still spinning from the last impact. It took her some time to be aware of her surrounding. It's a wide-open area with bones of creatures, and freshly corpses scattered everywhere. Some of them were alive. And just looking at their lever made her heart want to stop beating. She was tied up and her sword was gone. Those giants stole her clothes too she was now wrapped in a big cloak made of an unknown material with something written on it. Although she lazed off during her Mordox language class at school, she still recognized those words. It said "Offering".

" No…"

The ground trembled, intensely she didn't know what creature those giants treated as a god but it couldn't be any good. A giant shadow approached her. It had a figure that made her worse nightmare became a sweet dream. A giant bird with a disgusting long neck, it had a human face four eyes, and sharp claws. The smell of it was like a thousand rotten smells mixed together.

" Ahh.. ahh"

Ilirielth pissed herself. Her dictionary still had the Ilirielth keyword, she intended to end her life by biting off her tongue but even that would take some time. Right now there was nothing that could stop her from the worst way of dying: being eaten alive.

Ilirielth froze like a statue when the giant bird monster approached her, with its tongue extended to her face, and on it was a little alien-like monster.

Meanwhile outside a group of giants was having a small goat party.

(" Hey today my brothers found the best present for our great one" ) Mordox language

(" No mine was the best. It was a death ostrich. It took four of us to capture one")

(" What the fck Gruto? I thought today was our turn!")

(" Yeah fcking idiots! What the fck have you done! You gonna ruined our offering!")

(" We need to stop that fcking stupid bird before it eats our offering!")

(" S…sorry I kinda forgot, I think yours was already eaten.")

(" Fcking piece of …!")

And thus a big fight broke out between 8 giants.

Back to Ilirielth when the giant bird monster's tongue was about to touch her face it stopped, turned around, and let out a jarring shriek. Behind the horror bird, there was something. The bird spread its wings and lunged at something, but there's less than a second came with a big thud. Ilirielth looked terrified at the giant corpse of the nightmare fuel monster that just made her pissed a moment ago. What is in the goddess gracious could have done that?

The sound of footsteps approached her then came a small figure. Although saying it was small but that was only for the monsters she saw at this place. That thing was still taller than her by 3 heads, it had the shape of a human, and the right arm and left leg were instead replaced with strange tentacles. Its face was blue twisted with spikes and tentacles.

She felt nothing of it. No pressure, no killing intent, no mana, she couldn't see it level. If it hadn't for the death bird's corpse right beside it and if hadn't for those giants taking her sword she might have attacked this thing.

Years later when thinking back she felt graceful for those ugly giants. Had it not been for them she would have been killed in the most brutal way.