## Chapter 223 – 223. The Abyss (3)
In the beginning, there was Adam, the first human.
He lived a peaceful and happy life in the Garden of Eden with Eve, the first woman, who was born from his rib.
Until the ‘Serpent’ appeared.
That day was no different from any other.
As Eve happily ran around the garden under the warm sunlight, a bizarre-looking serpent appeared before her.
The serpent approached Eve and said:
-Did he really say that you should not eat from any tree in the garden?
Eve shook her head.
The serpent deliberately twisted God’s words to make Eve suspicious, and falsely told her that if she ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, she could become like God.
Eventually, Eve succumbed to the serpent’s temptation and tasted the fruit, and later Adam also ate the fruit at Eve’s urging.
Upon learning this, God was furious and banished them from the Garden of Eden.
Due to the original sin committed by the two, humans suffered pain, labor, death, and separation from God.
***
「The Incarnation of the ‘First Tempter’ manifests.」
「A penalty mission occurs.」
「Intruder of the Abyss
You are an intruder who has set foot in the prison.
Survive against the Incarnation of the First Tempter.
Failure results in death.」
A screen appeared before my eyes, but I didn’t have time to look at it for long.
Instincts screamed a warning.
That if I looked away even for a moment, I would die.
Reflexively, I heightened my senses to the maximum and stared at the ‘something’ beyond the darkness.
I sent out light magic, but I couldn’t see anything because of the darkness surrounding the area.
It wasn’t certain, but it was probably some kind of ability.
I didn’t know exactly what the hell it was, but I knew that ‘First Tempter’ was a term referring to it.
If my guess was correct, it was definitely a Constellation that always appeared in works set in tower-climbing settings.
Divine or quasi-divine transcendent beings.
When I first met Lucifer, the message window referred to her with the modifier ‘Fallen Star.’
In mythology, Lucifer was a fallen angel banished from heaven. So, Fallen Star, a pretty plausible name.
The important thing here was that I could figure out the enemy’s identity through the modifier.
But I didn’t have the luxury to think leisurely.
“?!”
Flash!
Something flew out of the darkness and collided with the barrier.
It was so fast that there was no time to dodge.
Sizzle-
A purple blob of goo stuck to the barrier, making an uneasy sound as it dripped to the floor.
Anyone could tell that it was poison. A highly toxic acid type.
As expected of a Constellation’s poison, the barrier was significantly damaged. The damage to the front spread to the entire barrier, as if it had corrosive properties.
Cold sweat ran down my back without me realizing it.
If I hadn’t put up the barrier, I might have been poisoned directly.
‘I don’t think even Rosario’s poison immunity would work against that…’
Of course, Rosario was directly consecrated by a saint, so there was no doubt about its performance.
But I couldn’t rely on something uncertain in a combat situation, and above all, I didn’t want to be hit by that blob of goo with my bare body.
I’d rather roll around in a mud pit.
Besides, even for me, spamming barriers would quickly drain my mana. In this place where natural mana was scarce, it was best to avoid it.
-Saaa…
The thing made a threatening noise, as if it didn’t like its attack being blocked. It sounded like air escaping.
It was definitely a sound I’d heard somewhere before.
‘Snake…?’
I was sure of it.
Above all, the fishy smell unique to reptiles that had been tickling my nose since earlier, and the sound of something crawling on the floor.
In that moment when I thought I knew at least a little about what it was, a light flickered beyond the darkness.
Thwack, flash, pat!!
A blob of goo flew across the darkness. It looked like more than ten shots at a glance.
I immediately stepped on the Unshackled Steps and dodged. If my reaction had been even 0.3 seconds slower, I would have been grazed.
I decided to save the Thought Acceleration as much as possible in preparation for any unforeseen circumstances. I couldn’t spam a skill that consumed mental power instead of stamina or mana.
The attack didn’t stop there.
The next attack came before my feet could even touch the ground.
Sizzle!
The floor, which hadn’t even been scratched by my attacks, was melting from the blob of goo. I couldn’t help but think that I was glad I didn’t test Rosario’s performance by taking it head-on.
I kept moving my body and dodging the attacks.
No matter how fast and threatening the attacks were, if the direction of the attack was fixed, dodging was a piece of cake.
That was why guns weren’t effective weapons against superhumans.
Because ultimately, it was humans who decided the direction of the gun.
As time went on, dodging became easier and easier.
‘Fights dirty as hell.’
But apart from being easy to dodge, I didn’t like the way it was just spamming from a distance.
That was strictly my role as a mage.
Whoosh.
Magic circles appeared in the air, as if to brightly illuminate the surroundings, creating spears of flame.
[Fire Spear]
Not just one or two, but a total of twenty spears of flame took shape and appeared.
Fire Spear was a 1st Circle spell, but thanks to the modified magic circle, its power was comparable to a 2nd Circle spell.
It was that much less stable, but I didn’t care.
This should be enough for harassment.
-Saaa!!
The thing let out a threatening cry and began to rush towards me. It didn’t seem to want to sit still and take the magic.
Whoosh-
But the twenty spears of flame were already flying through the air towards it.
Bang, boom, boom!!
Flames scattered everywhere with the sound of explosions, but the thing’s presence didn’t diminish in the slightest.
Rather, as if it had only made it angrier, it was running towards me through the scattering dust. Since I had already expected this, I immediately cast the next spell while moving my body.
[Chain Lightning]
A bolt of lightning that shot out from the magic circle flew towards the thing and discharged on it.
Pazzzzzz-
-Saaa!!
A piercing scream echoed.
The thing’s movements stopped, probably because it had taken quite a bit of damage.
That wasn’t all. The thick black fog that surrounded it had also been slightly peeled away.
What was revealed through the fog was black scales that seemed to be able to deflect any magic, a body that was easily over 20 meters long, and vertically torn red pupils.
Only then was I sure of what it was.
“…The Serpent of Eden.”
The serpent of sin that appeared in Genesis and tempted the first woman, Eve, to eat the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, and the enemy of mankind who was cursed to crawl on the ground for the rest of his life because of that sin.
「The ‘First Tempter’ is enraged.」
「“How dare a mere human utter my true name!”」
At that moment, the fog that had been surrounding it cleared, and a serpent appeared, opening its maw wide to swallow its prey.
Rosario began to emit light as if reacting to the threatening figure.
[Divinity is temporarily imbued.]
My body was overflowing with power.
Even the backlash from spamming auxiliary magic to break the chains had disappeared.
It was an output that couldn’t be compared to when the divinity of the World Tree was imbued in my mana.
「The ‘First Tempter’ is horrified.」
「“That divinity…! Could it be?!”」
Ignoring the thing’s voice echoing in my head, I took out Gillennium from my inventory.
A pure white energy flickered as if enveloping the sword.
[Facing a great evil, the energy of exorcism fiercely rises.]
“I heard snake meat tastes like a mix of fish and chicken…”
I had seen it on a documentary once.
The snake meat that was grilled in the desert looked pretty delicious.
“But you look too tough, so you’re only good for leather.”
「The ‘First Tempter’ is furious.」
「“I’ll kill you!!”」
The thing’s eyes glowed, and it rushed towards me. It was incredibly fast for something without legs.
Bang!
I stepped back and dodged.
The floor that the thing collided with was dented.
Even though it had missed me, it didn’t care and immediately moved again.
Bang, bang, boom!!
There was no time for my feet to touch the ground.
At this rate, it was obvious that I would be caught up with soon. Of course, that didn’t mean I was just dodging without any countermeasures.
[Lightning Spear]
[Mega Flare]
[Fire Burst]
[Lightning Strike]
Bang, boom!
Pazzzzz-
Kuuung-
Kwaroooong!!
I cast magic whenever I had the chance and fired it at the thing. But it only paused for a moment and didn’t do any significant damage.
My brow furrowed at the thing’s scales, which didn’t even have a scratch on them.
It wasn’t like I thought it would be a direct hit, but seeing it so unscathed made me feel bad.
‘Is this the best I can do with magic below the 3rd Circle?’
I wanted to buy time with Thought Acceleration and cast a 5th Circle spell in the meantime, but I needed to refrain from using magic above the 4th Circle in case the ceiling collapsed.
Well, it seemed fine since it was still standing even though that giant thing was rampaging around.
‘It’s not like I don’t have any other options yet, so there’s no need to be impatient.’
I took a big step back.
The place I landed was next to Lucifer.
“Don’t just stand there and watch, why don’t you help me out?”
Even if she was bound by chains, a Constellation was still a Constellation.
I might be able to get help in some way.
But that expectation was shattered in an instant.
「Penalty mission in progress.」
「Intervention of the Constellation is restricted.」
I clicked my tongue at the screen that appeared before my eyes.
Lucifer was saying something, but I couldn’t hear it. Did that mean that even talking was considered intervention?
“Isn’t that also a Constellation?”
I pointed to the snake head that was glaring at me as if it wanted to kill me.
「It is part of the penalty.」
The message window replied to my complaint, telling me to stop talking nonsense and just fight.
Who was sending this? Judging by the fact that the reply came back right away, they were definitely watching me.
“I have more questions to ask.”
I hit the chains with my fist.
Woong-
Unlike before, an unknown, opaque barrier appeared and prevented my fist from touching the chains.
I knew it.
Just as Lucifer couldn’t intervene in this situation, I couldn’t intervene with her either.
The corners of my mouth lifted at the sight.
“That means I don’t have to worry about this side.”
The fact that I couldn’t affect that side no matter what I did meant that the chains and Lucifer would be safe even if I fought so hard that the ceiling collapsed.
In other words, it meant that I could rampage without worrying about the aftermath.
I gathered my internal energy and ran towards the thing.
Vast Vajra energy circulated along my blood vessels. It goes without saying, but using my energy in this way would damage my blood vessels and cause internal injuries.
It was a reckless act that I wouldn’t have dared to do normally.
But right now, I was being assisted by divinity.
In other words, minor injuries would be healed on their own.
Golden sword energy, not blue sword energy, bloomed on the blade of Gillennium.
-Saaa!!
The thing once again opened its maw and tried to swallow me. Its momentum was almost comparable to a train. Just colliding with it would shatter an ordinary person’s body into pieces.
Soon, the thing and I collided.
But the result was almost anticlimactic.
「The ‘First Tempter’ is flustered.」
The ‘me’ that collided with the thing disappeared in a puff of smoke.
The flustered thing hurriedly looked around, and then its eyes met mine.
I was still next to Lucifer.
3rd Circle common magic, ‘Hallucination.’
“How can you not even distinguish what’s right in front of you? Are you really a reptile?”
Snakes don’t have good eyesight.
But they can sense infrared rays, so it’s not a big problem for hunting.
So, I injected Vajra energy into the illusion’s body to simulate its body temperature. Thanks to that, I was able to save the mental power I would have used for Thought Acceleration and successfully complete the casting.
The magic circuits throughout my body heated up.
I gave a bitter smile in the pain that felt like I had been burned.
“I wonder if this won’t work either?”
The thing raised its head and looked at the ceiling.
It was horrified by the two magic circles that had been created there, and hurriedly tried to dodge.
But it was already too late.
[Thunder Crash]
Lightning containing the will of destruction.
[Hellfire]
And ultra-high temperature heat that would melt everything covered the thing.
