Chapter 316: 316: Challenge in the Abyss
Along the way, Winry smashed various flesh creations with her hammer, creating a lot of noise.
However, no matter the noise, nothing in the Abyss changed.
Han Dong and the Clown felt something was off almost simultaneously, and they stopped in their tracks.
Han Dong whispered, “We have been descending into the Abyss for over an hour, and only a small amount of these flesh creations have tried to hinder us.
Winry’s hammer attacks are loud.
The Strange Tales within the Abyss must know of our arrival, but they seem to treat us carelessly.”
The moment Han Dong and the Clown realized this.
The original flesh staircase suddenly withdrew into the wall.
At the same time, the walls secreted a large amount of slippery liquid with strong corrosion,
and numerous electric saws protruded from the walls, offering no chance for the team to cling to them.
The fall from this unknown distance to the bottom of the Abyss might cause them to be smashed to pieces.
Just as everyone prepared to use their means, trying to forcefully cling to the gaps in the wall.
Hee hee hee…
The Clown spat out five Smiling Balloons from his mouth and tied one to the wrist of each member, completely slowing their fall.
They descended a distance of about 700 meters and landed steadily at the very bottom of the Abyss.
“It’s… vast down here!”
The scent, the pressure, and the unknown made the five of them stand in a circle, observing the changes around them.
As mentioned before, the Abyss was cone-shaped, the base being the size of nearly two football fields…
The atmosphere suddenly shifted.
There was a lot of movement in the flesh of the walls at the bottom of the Abyss…then, thousands of flesh seats grew out from the inside of the walls.
The audience was bound to these chairs, forced to watch the upcoming gladiator contest.
The bottom of the Abyss turned out to be a massive arena.
“An arena…I didn’t expect to meet the Strange Tales in this way.
It seems that the one who mistakenly walked into the public toilet, the weak are made into spectators here.
As for the strong, they are forced to wear the title of a gladiator.
The strong who fall in the arena should also be made into flesh subordinates by the ‘Abyss Butcher’ who rules here, becoming an important player in the arena.”
Alongside this, the long-missed System alert sounded.
“You have arrived at the Abyss Arena. You must abide by the ‘Abyss Butcher’s’ rules, otherwise, it will be difficult to survive.
As long as you complete the challenge according to the rules, the Auxiliary System will end the Strange Tales and take you out of the Abyss.”
Two challenge modes are available:
[Team Challenge]:
Form a team with all members and face five challenges from the Abyss Arena as a team.
The last challenge will be led by the ‘Abyss Butcher’ and his strongest four subordinates.
Victory in all challenges ends this Strange Tale.
[Single-Player Challenge]:
Play in Single-Player Mode and face an elite from the Abyss in each round.
If one gets severely injured, defeated or exhausted, the next teammate will continue the fight.
Each member only has one opportunity to participate.
At the 20th challenge, the ‘Abyss Butcher’ will appear. Defeat him to complete this Strange Tale.
[Special Mode: Hell Challenge (Only for Single-Player Challenge)]:
Upon completion of the Single-Player Challenge, the one who defeated the ‘Abyss Butcher’ will have some rest time. Then, they can choose to either leave the Abyss or start the Hell Challenge.
Once started,
You will face a mysterious ‘Guest from Hell’.
If you complete the challenge, you will receive an additional reward: Hell’s Treasure Chest.
Note: As the Abyss is very close to Hell, supplemented by the feast created by the Butcher, it has attracted the attention of a visitor from Hell… He occasionally acts as a guest, watching the duels happening at the very bottom of the Abyss.
He does not belong to “Strange Tales,” he’s just a guest from the current world.
After the System’s introduction ended.
Han Dong’s primary focus was not on how to choose the challenge mode, but he was interested in the special guest mentioned in the system.
“A guest from Hell? Not part of the current Strange Tales?”
Upon hearing the hint about Hell, the first thing Han Dong thought of was [Togu].
“We choose the single-player challenge…”
Han Dong wanted to seize any special opportunity. Opportunities beyond the original Strange Tales are rare… if he can use them wisely, it will greatly enhance his abilities.
Besides, in a ‘single-player’ challenge rule, Han Dong can cheat.
For Han Dong, a single-player challenge meant three-players.
His intuition told him that if he could get the so-called Hell’s treasure chest, he might greatly increase Togu’s strength… or gain a special item that could reach the deep layer of Fate Space.
“Nicholas, do you want to engage in the ultimate [Hell Challenge]?” Abe read Han Dong’s thoughts.
“Hmm… You guys complete the single-player challenges ahead, and when we reach the 20th round, I’ll take over and confront the ‘Abyss Butcher’ at full strength.
If I am in a terrible state after resolving this S Level Strange Tale, I will immediately give up the [Hell Challenge].
But if I’m still in good shape…I want to seize every opportunity to improve, and try to compete with this mysterious guest.
Once we get the Hell’s treasure chest, our team’s overall capabilities might be comprehensively enhanced.
I will lead everyone to complete this five-star difficulty Fate Space with the whole team surviving.”
“Alright!” Abe affirmed Han Dong’s decision.
Only the clown whispered in a low voice: “Wow… such a touching speech! You are really a good captain… I hope you won’t end up looting all the equipment in the treasure box by yourself in the end!”
Han Dong immediately shot a slightly malicious glance at the chattering clown, preparing to make him the first to fight.
Who knew, Winry unexpectedly took the initiative.
“Deputy leader, let me go first… I’m afraid of the ghost Strange Tales on the amusement street, but I’m not scared at all to face this fleshy thing!
I want to prove myself to see how far I can endure.
I also want to make some contributions to the team.”
Hearing that this naive girl, Winry, wants to be the first one up, the clown whistled cheerfully on the side.
Staring at Winry’s determined eyes, Han Dong nodded.
“Alright…but once I feel you can’t hold on, I’ll make you retreat immediately.”
“Hm.”
So just like this.
Mode selected: Single-player Challenge.
A heavy voice echoed in the Abyss:
“Please invite the challenger to enter the arena, and all other personnel should not interfere during the duel, otherwise, they will be disqualified.”
With a blacksmith hammer embedded with skeleton fire stones in her hand, Winry with her fiery red ponytail, walked alone to the center of the Coliseum.
At the same time, a heavy pressure came from above her head.
The highly concentrated Winry quickly retreated to avoid.
A giant meatball with a width of 10 meters fell abruptly, smashing a huge pit on the ground.
From its obese body grew eight steel legs, and on its head piled up with ten layers of flab, all the facial features were completely squeezed together.
“The first match will be fought by my subordinate [Meat Heap – Tokugawa Shigekuni].”
Just as its huge and obese yet not at all dull body, adjusted its posture, and hurled itself entirely towards Winry.
Once it lands, Winry will definitely be flattened.
At the critical moment, a power field was released, covering the entire Coliseum area…
“Winry, have you grown so fast?”