Chapter 48: Arrival

The meaning of life?Perhaps it lies in experiencing the myriad hues of the world...Or is it merely the undulations driven by the instinct of survival?

These questions, complex and grand, found no place in Panini's mind. He lacked the philosopher's intellect and therefore did not possess their answers. Thus, this passage was but a fleeting contemplation, leaving no trace in his worldview.

He awoke from slumber, stirred by a sharp pain. Opening his eyes, he saw a Paladin pressing down on his right hand, the obvious source of his agony. He lacked the strength and courage to withdraw his hand—it might worsen the injury to his fractured bones. Enduring the pain, he found solace in the warmth and faint breaths emanating from his arm: the Mage's spell had not claimed the Paladin's life.

Exhaling deeply, Panini propped himself up on one elbow, realizing he was in a dimly lit basement. The room would have been shrouded in darkness, were it not for the glow emitted by the large portal not far from him. Inhaling, he felt a distinct discomfort.

The air carried a faint scent of decay, akin to entering a decrepit wooden structure. Each breath seemed to agitate his nerves, reminiscent of a novice's first puff of smoke, albeit with a more distressing sensation.

The air hung heavy in the space around, furrowing Panini's brow. As he lifted his head, the portal suddenly blazed with light, momentarily blinding him. When his vision returned, he sensed the irksome air had intensified, and the surroundings grew clamorous. He beheld numerous grotesque creatures, salivating and glaring at him as if they hadn't eaten in days.

"Master, master! Who are these two humans? Did you bring them back as food reserves? Can we devour them now?" The imp, just stepping out of the portal, grinned as he scrutinized Panini and the Paladin, gesticulating eagerly.

Panini fell silent for a moment. As a summoner of curses, the languages of other realms were mandatory subjects, and although he had little proficiency, he had learned some of the languages of the infernal and abyssal realms. Understanding the imp's words posed no challenge.

With an impassive expression, he glanced at the rat perched atop the imp's head. "Tell your little brother not to indulge in such insubstantial jests."

The rat blinked its azure eyes, the imp oblivious to Panini's words, still lusting after the soft flesh of humans. Then, a command from its master echoed in its mind. Its eyes widened, and soon it was dancing about enthusiastically. "Really? Master! Shall we pretend to threaten to eat him? Ah!"

With a resounding thud, the imp crashed headfirst to the ground, subjected to a devastating mental assault. Panini couldn't help but chuckle as he watched the visibly irked rat. Suddenly, the vigilance he had felt when he sensed the familiar slipping of control over the imp vanished, and he felt a sense of relief. Glancing around at the menacing creatures, he inquired, "Where are we?"

The rat's eyes flickered, and the imp, rising from the ground, shouted, "Master says this is the Abyss."

"The Abyss? So you've come here to expand," Panini remarked in surprise, finally understanding the source of the eerie atmosphere. He then turned a bit displeased towards the rat. "You could have spoken to me directly. Why feign ignorance?"

"Because the master deemed it unnecessary," the cunning imp replied before feigning another fall to the ground with an "ouch," indicating it wasn't the rat's idea.

"Very well, let it be," Panini sighed, shaking his head in resignation. After this incident, he realized he had no right to assert himself in front of the rat. After all, it had saved his life. He changed the subject, "What about those robed mages?"

The rat wagged its tail, and the imp produced a small pouch. Panini recognized it with surprise as a magic bag—though of modest grade, still a precious item. Unaware that it was taken from an unfortunate spellcaster, he watched as Adi turned the bag upside down, emptying its contents.

A plethora of notebooks, containing the spell research notes of the spellcaster, were accompanied by a peculiar item that emitted a distinct scent amidst the scholarly aroma—a human head, to be precise, ensorcelled and adorned with horns and demonic growths upon its forehead. Its teeth had sharpened, yet its visage retained a semblance of humanity, save for the scales adorning its profile. It was evident that this head had been severed during the final stages of its transformation into a demon.

In truth, the ragged, torn flesh around the neck indicated more of a tearing or gnawing than a clean cut, suggesting it had been torn and bitten off rather than neatly sliced. Panini surveyed the vicious creatures surrounding him and knew that this head was likely their handiwork.

Even more significant was the fact that Panini had encountered this head before—it belonged to the enigmatic mentor, Envoy of Circles, who had attempted to silence him permanently. After a moment of contemplation, Panini messaged the rat, "Can I have this?"

In the context of the events he was involved in, this demonized head held crucial importance as evidence. Panini believed it necessary to possess this evidence.

The rat nodded, reluctantly collecting the head and books into the bag. The cunning imp, receiving the message, grimaced, seemingly objecting to the rat's request. It began to protest vehemently, "No, Racklas will never accept—"

Another mental assault from Belen, and the imp immediately recoiled, reluctantly handing the magic bag over to Panini with an expression of great reluctance. Panini was astonished; he hadn't expected the rat to simply hand it over to him like that.

Belen had no use for this item; in its view, it was wasted in the hands of a slave. It believed that it would be more beneficial to transfer it to Panini. Its thoughts on the matter were rather straightforward.

However, the heart of the great former baron Molakras was filled with sorrow. Since the succubus had fallen, this treasure had come into his possession, cherished deeply. Yet now, it seemed beyond his grasp.

It was all because of this human. If it weren't for that cursed master encountering this fellow, how could I have lost the treasure?!

Molakras gritted his teeth, adding another name to his list of hated individuals. He walked away, muttering under his breath, "Oh, great abyss, curse my wretched master to hasten his demise, so I may devour this cursed mortal and reclaim the treasure."

Panini chuckled at Molakras's spoken curse, finding it amusing that the rat showed no reaction. Nevertheless, he harbored no intention of rejecting the offer. Surveying the surroundings and noticing the continued unconsciousness of the holy warrior, he inquired of the rat, "Do you have any means to awaken her?"

"The master says it can try a mental assault," the imp, who had been deprived of its possession by Panini, maliciously squealed.

"Never mind," Panini quickly shook his head. That was something perilous, learned from an unknown source. He couldn't risk experimenting on the holy warrior; although her breathing was weak, it remained steady. Convinced she wasn't in mortal danger, he shifted his focus to other matters. "Can you transport us back to Feren?"

He disliked this place immensely after inhaling the foul air of decay from the abyss for who knows how long.

"Coordinates."

Unexpectedly, a voice of indistinct gender echoed into Panini's soul. He glanced in astonishment at the rat, only to see its tail tip pointing toward the teleportation gate.

Panini paused for a moment, then pondered deeply.

Apart from summoning and a few runes, the most renowned spells in the school of enchantment were undoubtedly those of teleportation. Almost all teleportation magic belonged to this school, so Panini was no stranger to how teleportation gates operated.

"I need a highly correlated coordinate associated with the prime material plane. Where could I find such a thing?" Cold sweat broke out on Panini's forehead.

The difficulty of plane-to-plane teleportation could not be understated.

It wasn't hard for him to figure out that the reason the rat could teleport to the prime material plane was because Panini and it had a soul link while they were both in the prime material plane. Hence, locating the coordinates was easy. But now, both were in the abyss...

Panini's heart sank slowly. Was he to be a permanent resident of the abyss?

That was certainly not an option. The Red Robe Mage Society was perilous enough, but this was the source of multiverse chaos and evil, far more challenging than even Sael!

Facing the innocent gaze of the small rodent, Panini felt even more overwhelmed with frustration, with no outlet to vent it. After all, it was because of the rat's efforts to save him that he ended up here; otherwise, he would have long since perished.

In his agitation, Panini's gaze shifted to the holy warrior beside him, speculating that she might have something on her person that was connected to the prime material plane. However, being in the abyss, the holy warrior's armor and treasures had all been corroded—besides, even if there were anything usable, Panini wouldn't be able to use it.

In his anxiety, he withdrew his arm from under the holy warrior's body, and immediate pain shot through his mind. He hoped this would help him calm down. At the same time, he heard the sound of metal hitting the ground. He turned his head and saw that as he pulled his arm out, the female holy warrior turned over, and a money pouch around her waist flipped over, dropping several coins.

"Eureka!"

Panini's eyes lit up as he suddenly remembered that he had something on him that was deeply connected to the prime material plane, if one could consider "thoughts and blessings" as a form of connection.

Amidst the curious gaze of the rat and the demon, he walked to the center of the magic circle in front of the teleportation gate and began to meditate on the necklace hanging from his chest

—The pendant of this necklace was a copper coin.

"——This is an heirloom left to me by my mother, a copper coin blessed by a lady, wearing it will bestow upon you good fortune," Panini recalled the words of the southern maiden, his gaze momentarily distant. Then, he closed his eyes and began to activate the magic circle, attempting to sense the "coordinates" of the distant time and space on the other side of the copper coin.

The teleportation gate emitted waves of strong light as Panini's mental tendrils used for locating suddenly reached their limit. He furrowed his brow, opening his eyes to find the copper coin floating as if alive. A beam of light shot out from the center of the coin, piercing into the brilliance of the teleportation gate.

However, the light never transformed into a stable spatial rift; instead, it grew stronger and stronger, leaving Panini puzzled. Was this a success or a failure?

"Squeak!" The light grew brighter, and Belen, perched on the demon's back, seemed to sense something. His entire silver coat bristled, his emerald eyes fixed firmly on the glowing teleportation gate, emitting sharp cries!

The cunning demon and a group of abyssal monsters appeared frightened. The abyssal creatures had already fled the basement, while Adi had retreated to the corner of the room farthest from the teleportation gate, curled up into a ball with its head buried in the wall, trembling uncontrollably.

Amid Panini's confusion, two slender fingers adorned with rings emerged from the light, and simultaneously, a bright female voice echoed in Panini's ears, "Oh my... it's been so long since I visited the Abyss. The nostalgic yet unpleasant scent."

The hand emerged entirely, its fair skin shimmering with a faint glow, its shape elegant and flawless. What caught attention even more were the five fingers adorned with magnificent gemstone rings. A gilded bracelet dangled from one of the rings, threading through a hole beneath it to join a bracelet embedded with five large diamonds. These immense diamonds sparkled with a pure radiance that Panini had never witnessed even in the most extravagant jewelry exhibitions of his past life.

Yet, this bracelet was merely one of the many adorning the wrist, the pinnacle of opulence that defied earthly description. However, such opulence exuded no hint of vulgar ostentation from this hand. Rather, it emitted a divine aura that harmonized seamlessly with its luxurious adornments, evoking no sense of discord.

The divine aura surged magnificently and irresistibly, causing Panini to hold his breath as the female figure behind the arm gradually revealed herself. A surge of reverence welled up from the depths of his soul, urging him to bow in worship.

However, amidst his awe, he felt overwhelmed and bewildered. He never imagined that his trial and error attempt would yield such a result.

"I have heard your call, my faithful. Speak your request," the woman, resplendent with pearls and radiance but obscured in her features, emerged fully from the portal and addressed Panini thus, her gaze level yet tinged with an air of natural superiority.