The Dark Rebirth of Pandora: Revenge of the Abyss

Chapter 472: First Battle in the Enemy Abyss... Common!!

Walking through the forest, I manage to leave the parasite area behind. Furthermore, as I walk, I find numerous bodies on the ground, most of them killed by something with sharp claws.

Each corpse has cuts in areas that would be fatal, but not instantly lethal, given that they had time to move all the way into this forest.

In other words, whatever is killing them is intentionally letting them flee to die far away. Perhaps it’s hunting for sport? Whatever the case, the thing doing this is killing everything I’m supposed to kill.

I’m hungry, but I won’t eat the scraps left by others. I am an apex predator who will hunt her own food, and I won’t rely on the mere leftovers from some other creature’s hunt, despite my current hunger.

’The scarcity of living beings per square meter is just absurd...’ Whether on the ground, underground, or in the air, the number of "animals"/"monsters" is ridiculously low. If this were on a planet, no matter how barren, there would still be some life.

But here in the Abyss, it’s like a completely empty place with the occasional living being. I could understand if the space in the Abyss were limited and dominated by creatures of extreme power.

However, despite having powerful creatures, the Abyss has infinite space. So, the low number of living beings doesn’t make much sense to me.

’I think I’m being hunted...’ Ever since I left the parasite area, I’ve felt uncomfortable, but the puzzling thing is, I’m not sure.

’If it really is a predator, its ability to conceal itself and hide its killing intent is absurd...’ I stop in the forest, looking around. My tail whips the ground with slight force.

The sound waves spread out, vibrating the environment to a level where my hearing can detect the vibration of molecules at a distance. Then, at one specific point, the vibration hits differently.

’Found it...’ I don’t look in that direction, but I’m shocked by how close it is. It’s not very large, probably about 3 meters tall, but it’s only 20 meters away from me—close enough to be near my Mana detection range, yet it still managed to hide without making a single sound.

’Again, it doesn’t seem that strong...’ I guess it’s not possible to easily measure the strength of an Abyssal being just by sensing it. After all, the parasite seemed weak, but it easily destroyed my body’s defenses.

’Perhaps using Mana as a benchmark to measure strength is useless here in the Abyss... probably because the monsters here use pure Mana, which is harder to detect and disperses less into the environment...’ Suddenly, the hidden thing starts coming towards me, not even trying to hide anymore.

"...?" I turn to face this confident being, and what I see completely surprises me. It’s a girl. Without a doubt, it’s a girl in every sense of the word, despite her size.

She’s about 3 meters tall, with large black horns on her head. Her arms are covered in scales that grow thicker from her upper arms down to her palms, which are monstrous hands with giant claws.

Her legs follow the same pattern, covered in black scales down to her thighs, descending to her feet, which have extremely sharp claws and a structure clearly designed for running fast and climbing steep places.

On her stomach is a black tattoo in the shape of a circle with chains spreading out in an X pattern, the circle positioned in the middle of the X as if the chains are holding it in place.

Her breasts are large, I’d even say massive because of her size, and I see very large fangs in her mouth, made for tearing off flesh and whole chunks with a single bite.

Her eyes are fierce, with a deep black tone that stands out blatantly. Her skin has a soft reddish hue, and she has long black hair.

All in all, I must say she’s hot. Despite her monstrous, scaly appearance, she’s a very beautiful girl, though a bit large for my size.

Besides the fact that she’s completely naked, I guess it must be normal to find beings without clothes, since it probably isn’t a necessity in the Abyss.

"A cutie like you is a surprise to see here in the Abyss..." I try to speak, but she interrupts me.

"What are you talking about? You’re the rare one. Normally, the girls here in the Abyss have way more fangs, claws, and extra limbs," she says, looking at my body with some confusion.

’Wait... is it normal to have girls in the Abyss?’ I thought the Abyss was mostly composed of monsters, but then I remember what the System said—that cities exist here.

And that the monsters are intelligent. To have cities means they can speak, and if they can speak and have the intelligence to build cities, it means they are monsters who evolved similarly to Shogo.

’Oh... so monsters like her are common... Is that serious? She’s a common monster to find in the Abyss... with that kind of strength...’ I lick my lips, finding the thought amusing. It seems the average power level of the monsters is far more insane than I initially thought.

"So, you’re the one who’s been hunting the monsters around here for sport?" I ask, looking at her enormous claws, undoubtedly the same ones that cut up those monsters.

"You’re clever, but also foolish. You just had to wander into my territory? Don’t you value your life, you little brat?" She growls with a mocking smile.

"And how was I supposed to know this is your territory?" I ask, my tail whipping the ground aggressively.

"You weren’t. After all, if you knew, you wouldn’t have come here to become my meal," she makes her intention clear.

"Hmmm. It seems we won’t be having a conversation after all? What a pity. I like talking to beautiful, strong girls..." She lunges at me in a charge. I’m surprised by the speed she can unleash right from the start.

Her claws are raised to crush me. I lift my hands, catching her two claws, and the sound of bones breaking is immediately noticeable.

’W-What strength... She didn’t even seem that strong.’ I push back while she squeezes her hands, crushing mine. She tries to bite, but I knee her in the chin and kick out, pushing her back as I twist my hands, tearing them free and leaping backward.

Quickly, my hands regenerate as she looks at me with some interest now.

"You’re a bit stronger than you first seemed... excellent." She charges at me again, raising a hand. Before I can decide how to avoid the damage, her right hand spins like a drill, her claws connecting. I jump back as the strike hits the ground, creating a hole from the rotation.

’Full of tricks.’ Without wasting a moment, she uses her size to spin around and strike my ribs with the claws on her feet. The cut tears through my Mana armor like paper and hits my lung and heart.

’Urgh...’ There have been few times I’ve encountered someone who fights as wildly as I do, not caring if they take damage or not. It seems the Abyss is full of creatures like me.

’Yes... here, I’m not special... I’m just another predator who needs to fight with everything I have to survive.’ Thanks to Pandora Yandere, my manipulation of my true form and my body is now much more precise.

So I decide to make my body more suitable for fighting someone with strong claws like hers. I turn my internal organs into that black liquid, so damage can easily be recovered without me losing attacking power.

Immediately, the bleeding from the cut stops, and only a black liquid trickles out as the wound closes. The monster jumps back and starts leaping from tree to tree in a movement very similar to what I do to gain speed.

I stand still, waiting for the charge. When she lunges, I turn backward, placing my arms in an X-shape in front of me. When the blow hits, it pushes me back, but it’s stopped by the black "scales" that temporarily coat my arms.

Solidifying my viscous body is easy now, so if I know where the attack will land, I can make that area hundreds of times harder.

"..." She is surprised that this blow was stopped, and considering the earlier blows I barely withstood, it makes sense.

She starts throwing punches while I dodge and try to counter-attack, but before I can hit, she turns into black smoke, and I receive a blow to my back that goes straight through her and comes out my front.

’Impaled?’ My organs dissolve into liquid as I surge forward, pulling myself off the impalement. I look at my stomach, seeing that if her arm were any longer, the impalement would have cut me in two.

’Yes... just because I can’t use magic properly doesn’t mean others can’t...’ She dissolves into that black mist again and vanishes around me, blending with the Abyss’s natural darkness.

’...’ I remain on high alert, irritated that she’s toying with me, since she could have aimed for my head instead of my back in the stomach area.

"..." She appears again, but this time I use her arm as a bar, grabbing it and moving in an upward spin, then kicking downward, slamming her head into the ground. She moves her hands and legs to get out, but I start stomping again and again while my tail attacks her back with force, creating wounds.

’Her body is so hard.’ She grabs my leg, twisting her arm in an unnatural way, and throws me against a tree as she gets up.

"..." I look at her while noticing she looks back at me seriously. She is the first enemy who underestimates me but quickly changes to take me more seriously.

’So fast. How many enemies adjust to me like this?... If this is a mere common inhabitant of the Abyss, I’m somewhat disturbed to imagine the top of this place’s food chain...’ I guess this fight isn’t going to end so easily.

"When I kill you, you’ll have the honor of telling them in hell that you were my first meal in the Abyss," I say with an immense, arrogant smile.

"!!!"

"Hahahaha! When I’m done with you, I’ll skin you alive and hang your carcass as a warning to the next foolish invaders," she says with a smile as diabolical as my own.