Wizard of the Deep Sea

"Th-The Abyssal Sea…!”

"What in the world is this?”

It was an utterly grotesque sight.

Black, sticky fluid overflowed from every opening in the human body, polluting the Abyssal Sea, and from its lips spilled words filled with even greater hatred.

"Y-you dare…! To still exist!”

"You’re apparently talking to me, but who are you exactly?”

"I’ll make you suffer twice as long as I did…”

It clearly wasn’t in any state for conversation.

The liquid extending from its hands quickly took shape into something vaguely resembling humans, baring sharp fangs that looked like something I absolutely should not let bite me.

It was a rather familiar ability. I used it all the time myself.

'Authority of creation.'

—That made it even more certain.

That thing wasn’t human. It was an Outer God.

But then why had it been captured by mere humans? Had an Outer God been pretending to be human? As I thought about it, I decided I needed more information, so I breathed life into the surrounding seawater.

"Why don’t you calm down first?”

"Shut up...?"

The liquid pouring endlessly from its seven openings continuously created servants—

but it had chosen the wrong battlefield.

"...I-Impossible…”

Even if it used all its strength to create hundreds of servants, with a single flick of my finger, the seawater produced tens of thousands of deep-sea creatures.

"...Y-you can’t create that many living beings! They have to be fake!”

Apparently convinced they were fakes, it ordered its servants to attack.

As expected of creatures made by an Outer God, they were far beyond the level of ordinary Knights. Their speed had already reached the level of the Knights of Heavenly Retribution, and they possessed enough strength to casually resist water pressure.

Which meant…

-Crunch!

"...Kgh, agh..."

Their quality was still far inferior to my deep-sea creatures.

Each one of my deep-sea creatures easily surpassed a Knight of Heavenly Retribution. Not even a few minutes later, after losing every servant it had made, the thing stared at me blankly in disbelief.

"So, who are you? Depending on your answer, I might let you live.”

"...Someday."

Instead of answering, it flared at me with eyes overflowing with hatred.

"I’ll find you.”

-Swiiish...

The human who had become an Outer God melted away like ice cream, leaving only its outline behind.

The moment I confirmed it had completely vanished, I withdrew the deep-sea creatures. Maybe because I’d used the authority of creation so recklessly all at once, my head started hurting.

Leaning against the wall while staggering slightly, I turned to the only one who might understand this situation.

"Who the hell was that bastard? Why was an Outer God pretending to be human and getting locked up like that?”

"Contamination.”

Nightchaser, who knew far more about Outer Gods than I did, climbed out of my pocket with a sigh as soon as things settled down.

"That guy was a Fallen. He became an Outer God after entering the Abyssal Sea.”

"...The same way I did?”

"Not at all. An Outer God merely took root inside the guy’s body.”

Nightchaser looked down at the ground with a displeased expression.

"What you people call Fallen are just fragments of a world. If a forest is a world, then a Fallen is merely a branch. If a mine is a world, then it’s nothing more than a lump of ore.”

"I know that much already. So what about it?”

"We never really cared what you did with those things. If a forest loses a single branch and someone tosses it into the sea, would it care? But by sheer coincidence that forest happened to be inside the Abyssal Sea.”

"...What?"

She shrugged before replying.

"They’re all sleeping deep beneath your Abyssal Sea. The Outer God called Contamination is sleeping there too. But suddenly, a part of its own branch, one it didn’t even realize had broken off, appeared near the upper layers of the Abyssal Sea. Or course, it’d come out and look through that connection. And then… the source of the problem happened to be standing right in front of it.”

"No, wait a second…”

So, if I submerged a Fallen into the Abyssal Sea, that meant Outer Gods could manifest through them?

But that made no sense. It wasn’t like I’d been sitting around doing nothing all this time.

"How many Fallen do you think I’ve fought before now? Not once did an Outer God manifest.”

"Before you became a god?”

"..."

"What you did as a human and what you’re doing now are fundamentally different. Back then, you only imitated the Abyssal Sea, forcing others to experience the same suffering you felt. But now that you’re a god, you’re summoning the actual world itself. That’s why they noticed it. And also why they’ll come out.”

"Hah."

I let out a hollow laugh and looked at the sea filled with disgusting corruption.

"So then how am I supposed to consume Fallen?”

"You probably can’t.”

Though Nightchaser titled her head, her answer was firm.

"If you really want to consume Fallen, you’d have to keep fighting Outer Gods every single time. So you think that’s possible?”

"Hmmm…”

I remembered the thing called Contamination I’d just fought.

It hadn’t fully manifested yet since it had only just appeared, but precisely because of that I knew that it could spell utter disaster once it completely emerged.

And if I couldn’t consume worlds, then I wouldn’t even be able to flood the world in the first place.

Even at this very moment, Great Void was swallowing Fallen whole and expanding his world, while I couldn’t. All because my Abyssal Sea had some very troublesome residents living beneath it.

It was incredibly irritating. And dangerous on top of that.

"What in the world am I supposed to do abo—...”

As I scratched my head, trying to think of a solution—

I suddenly felt my world expanding.

"...?"

The corruption in front of me slowly turned transparent as it was absorbed into the Abyssal Sea.

And my world expanded by exactly that amount. Not just a little either. I could feel it had grown significantly.

Feeling that slowly rising sense of omnipotence, I tilted my head and asked,

"What is this? I feel like my domain just grew quite a bit.”

"You took what it used while it was active. Even if it was only for a moment, an Outer God had inhabited that Fallen. Of course, that’d happen.”

"...It only manifested that much, and I got this much back?”

"If you actually defeated a real Outer God, you’d get hundreds of times more. But it’s dangerous. You already learned about that fighting Mimicry, didn’t you?”

That was true.

The reason my world had grown this much was because, when I awakened as an Outer God, I’d swallowed the enormous Outer God Mimicry whole.

Even if the other Outer Gods weren’t on Mimicry’s level, it was obvious I’d still gain an absurd amount from them.

"Don’t get any weird ideas.”

As I started thinking, Nightchaser scowled disapprovingly as though she knew exactly what was on my mind.

"There are differences in strength among Outer Gods. But provoking them and stepping into their domain is incredibly dangerous. Even Great God, when fighting Outer Gods, spent at least 3 days fighting no matter how weak the opponent was.”

"But it won every time.”

"That’s not the point. Why spend three days struggling to completely absorb a single Outer God when it’s much safer and faster to grow by swallowing ownerless worlds while their owners are trapped beneath the Abyssal Sea?”

"What if the Outer Gods beneath the Abyssal Sea have gotten much weaker?”

"They have. You’d probably win if you fought them. But—it wouldn’t be a one-on-one.”

Nightchaser firmly shook her head.

"To the Outer Gods down there, you’d be their worst enemy imaginable. Some of them might even think controlling you is their way out. And if you go down there and pick a fight yourself, every single Outer God will join in on the fight. No matter how strong you are, you won’t easily win against all of them.”

"Hmm..."

That made sense.

No matter how weakened they were, Outer Gods were still Outer Gods. Picking a fight with them just for power was like wrestling tigers because you wanted meat. The losses might outweigh the gains.

"Then what if I make it a one-on-one?”

"...What?"

But…

If there was no other option, then the only thing left became the answer.

If swallowing Fallen and expanding my world during the fight against Great Void wasn’t possible, then I’d have to swallow Outer Gods instead.

Honestly, this might be even better. Rather than consuming fragments like Fallen, I’d be absorbing the actual source itself, an Outer God.

The risks were greater, but so were the rewards.

"If I can create one-on-one situations with the Outer Gods somehow, could I keep winning?”

"..."

After some hesitation, Nightchaser spoke with obvious reluctance.

"...I tried all sorts of things to escape the Abyssal Sea—”

"Why are you changing the subject all of a sudden?”

"Listen until the end. The conclusion I reached is that the Abyssal Sea is an unbelievably unfair place. It restricts breathing, restricts sight, and even restricts movement. I’ve never seen another world do something like that…It’s utterly disgusting and horrifying.”

Despite standing within the Abyssal Sea itself, Nightchaser shivered and glared around at the surrounding waters with visible revulsion.

"If it’s a fight against Outer Gods, Great Void is probably the only one who can fight you on equal footing inside the Abyssal Sea. That much, I’m sure of.”

"That’s enough for me.”

There wasn’t a single Outer God capable of defeating me alone within the Abyssal Sea.

That was the most important part. I immediately returned from the prison and headed upstairs, finding Carose leaning against the wall.

She jumped slightly at seeing me suddenly emerge from a nearby puddle, then gave a light bow.

"Have you finished your business?”

"Yes. Though…all the prisoners died. Will that be a problem?”

"That is actually quite the relief. Some of my comrades died because of those bastards. If you’d like, I can take you to where the other Fallen are being kept.”

Fortunately, the deaths of the Fallen didn’t seem to matter much to Carose.

"How many are left?”

"Not in underground prisons like this, but we’ve got around 200 locked away. Maybe fewer now. Some might have perished.”

"That’s enough. Though before that, I need to stop somewhere first.”

"?”

Leaving the confused Carose behind, I stepped into another puddle.

The puddle connected directly to the imperial capital.

—Or rather, the former capital.

"Gah. Why in the world did you come back to this place?"

The false city where Elisia existed as a witch.

Nightchaser immediately recoiled in horror and backed away, but I ignored her and knocked on the door.

"Elisia. I need a favor.”

I paused for a moment, choosing my words carefully before speaking.

"...Erm, could you lend me one of my clones?”

A trap designed to lure the Outer Gods into an isolated place.

That was what I intended to set.

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