After the Lord of the Abyss Awakens - Chapter 48.2

And he hadn’t changed at all, still the father they remembered. Was there anything more important than this?

“…”

Samikina lowered his head, his eyelashes casting shadows, hiding the faint glimmer of tears.

Vassago looked at Samikina without speaking, then simply turned and left, as if everything was settled.

Buer and Inpos exchanged a glance. They, who had just been acting somewhat childish and willful, suddenly had a deeper look in their eyes.

How could they forget that Samikina was the one among all the siblings who most needed to see Father, to reunite with him?

Not telling Samikina might have been a bit selfish.

Fourth brother had painstakingly educated them for so long, and had been immersed in undeserved regret for so many years. How could they keep this from fourth brother?

Inpos recalled that years ago, because Agares couldn’t teach well, he had learned most of his magic from Samikina.

His ability was [Learning], allowing him to learn at an extraordinary speed, which Samikina had praised heavily.

Although it was over 8000 years ago, he only vaguely remembered it now.

Inpos blinked, his cat paws gripping the cage, and suddenly spoke up. “Fourth brother, go see Father.”

Samikina was stunned, his eyes rippling with emotion.

Buer seemed to have read the atmosphere too. She stepped forward, patting Samikina’s shoulder, “Go on. We finally found him after all this time, didn’t we? After missing Father for years, are you now afraid to see him when he’s right in front of you?”

Samikina seemed to have been seen through. In this externally frozen space-time, he hurriedly tried to compose himself.

Buer walked straight over and unlocked Inpos’s cage.

As soon as Inpos was freed, he immediately transformed into human form. With his magic power circulating, his whole being became more confident.

Samikina turned to look at them, seemingly wanting to say something but hesitating.

Buer realized and said, “Thinking about what form to meet Father in?”

Samikina nodded slightly, his expression complex.

Buer smiled, “Just go as you are. Father will be happy to see you no matter what form you take.”

Inpos added, “That’s right. Father loves us unconditionally. You don’t need to worry about your appearance.”

Samikina remained silent for a moment, then said softly, “It’s been so long… I wonder if Father will recognize me.”

Buer and Inpos exchanged a glance, feeling a mix of emotions. They rarely saw this vulnerable side of their usually stern fourth brother.

“Of course he will,” Buer said confidently. “You’re his child. He could never forget you.”

Inpos nodded in agreement, “And even if he doesn’t recognize you immediately, it won’t change how he feels about you. Just go to him, fourth brother.”

Samikina took a deep breath, seeming to gather his courage. “You’re right. I…I should go see him.”

He looked at his two younger siblings, his eyes softening slightly. “Thank you. And… I’m sorry for being so harsh earlier.”

Buer and Inpos were surprised by the apology but quickly smiled.

“It’s fine, fourth brother. We understand,” Inpos said.

“Go on now,” Buer urged gently. “Father is waiting.”

Samikina nodded, a rare smile flickering across his face. Then, with a wave of his hand, he dissolved the space-time bubble he had created.

As the world around them resumed its normal flow, Samikina vanished, presumably heading towards where their father was.

Buer and Inpos watched him go, feeling a mix of relief and anticipation.

“Well,” Buer said after a moment, “that went better than expected.”

Inpos nodded, “Indeed. I hope their reunion goes well.”

They shared a meaningful look, both thinking about their own eventual reunions with their father. But for now, they were content to let Samikina have this moment.

After all, their family was finally coming back together, piece by piece.

****

The senior student sighed and recalled. “There are currently twenty-four Abyss Lords alive. The first is the demon god Baal, the second is the hidden sage Agares, the third is Vassago, the fourth is Samikina, the fifth is Marbas, the sixth is Valefor, the seventh is Amon…”

The intern timidly raised his hand. “Excuse me, senior, I already know the ranking of the Abyss Lords. It’s written in this booklet.”

The senior student impatiently made an “ah” sound and snorted. “Then what do you want to ask?”

“So it’s their power ranking…”

The intern’s voice grew quieter and his posture lowered, his eyes behind his glasses filled with timidity.

“Their ranking is their power ranking!”

The senior student said impatiently in a raised voice. “Except for Beelzebub, the power ranking of the Abyss Lords is basically the ranking that you and I know.”

The intern shook his head and said, “Not their internal ranking, I’m asking about their strength compared to the gods…”

The senior student was puzzled and really wanted to punch him, but barely held back his anger and said, “You mean the power hierarchy of the Abyss Lords on the entire continent.”

“Yes, yes!”

The intern was not good at speaking and almost bit his own tongue.

What an idiot.

The senior student frowned, thought for a moment, his eyes slightly complex, and said, “More than 6,000 years ago, the God of Ranking once ranked all the human, divine, and demon races on the continent together, but halfway through, some gods were dissatisfied with their low ranking and angrily chased after the God of Ranking.”

“Ah, there was such a thing?”

The intern was dumbfounded.

The senior student continued: “It is said that the God of Ranking was beaten very badly. After that day, the God of Ranking didn’t dare to offend those world-class bigwigs, so he didn’t rank anymore.”

“I-I see, so what was the result of the ranking?”

“You country bumpkin, you really don’t know anything.”

The senior student was also exasperated and continued, “The ranking at that time only went down to the 31st place.”

The intern suddenly realized and said, “I remember the God of Ranking ranked from 100th place backwards, which means… at that time, he only ranked from 100th to 31st place, ranking a total of 70 positions?”

The senior student nodded, “Yes, he ranked 70 positions, and also angered 70 beings.”

The intern was incredulous and asked curiously. “Do you know the specific list that was ranked? Who were those bottom 70?”

The senior student’s expression was complex. He thought this information couldn’t be made public. The reason he knew was because his family had a long history. At that time, his ancestors had recorded the ranking of the bottom 70, and that information had been passed down to this day. He had coincidentally seen it not long ago.

He couldn’t make it public. Even though time had passed, carelessly talking about it everywhere could still be life-threatening. But chatting about it privately shouldn’t be a big deal, right?

The senior student glanced at the country bumpkin, his desire to show off swelling, and said, “Of course I know. After all, my family has such a long history.”

The “country bumpkin” had stars in his eyes, full of expectation.

The senior student recalled from memory. “Among the bottom 70 ranked at that time, there were forty divine races, ten Abyss Lords, three angel races, three elven races, one gnome race, one sea race, one celestial race, one unknown race, and finally ten humans.”

The intern was shocked, “Only ten Abyss Lords made it into the top 100 ranking?”

“Idiot!”

The senior student’s fist clenched as he shouted. “All twenty-four Abyss Lords definitely made it into the top 100! Ten were in the bottom 70, the fourteen who weren’t there must have been in the top 30!”

The intern looked confused, “Huh? Why do you say that?”

The senior student rolled his eyes and said. “Because it just so happens that the 31st in the ranking was the Abyss Lord Lelagin.”

The intern magician’s eyes widened, “Lelagin ranks 14th among the Abyss Lords, which means… all the Abyss Lords before Lelagin were in the continent’s top 30? Wait, doesn’t that mean there were only thirteen left in front?”

The senior student was almost enraged, “Because Beelzebub is an exception, and his power is definitely in the continent’s top 30.”

The intern looked like he was about to faint and continued. “Wait, in the continent’s top 30 rankings, Abyss Lords occupied 14 positions, isn’t that almost half?”

The senior student gave him a sharp glare, “Obviously, can’t you do math?”

The intern was incredulous, muttering. “Why are they so powerful…”

The senior student scoffed, thinking to himself who knows, everything about the Abyss Lords is shrouded in mystery. They don’t seem to be born as extremely powerful mythical beings, but rather climbed up level by level.

In a sense, they are actually different from ordinary abyss creatures.

The senior student suddenly frowned, standing in the middle of the hallway leading to the library, and said thoughtfully, “Come to think of it, there were also many different opinions about the continent’s top ten at that time.”

“Top ten?”

The intern’s eyes widened, as if he could no longer imagine it.

For anyone who had just stepped onto the path of the extraordinary, the “continent’s top ten” was an unreachable supreme peak. Forget about one lifetime, even in thousands of lifetimes, one might not be able to touch it.

The senior student seemed to be getting addicted to talking and continued, “Do you know? People at that time discussed that at least three Abyss Lords were in the continent’s top ten.”

The intern shuddered, “R-really?”

The senior student glanced at him and said, “The continent’s top ten are at least first-tier existences.”

“…Among the Abyss Lords, three have taken that step? How did they become so powerful?”

The intern asked this question for the second time, this time his eyes were a bit unfocused, as if he had been heavily shocked.

“Actually, regarding this, there are many reasons. Some say… it’s because they devoured the God of the Abyss.”

The senior student frowned and slowly said, “The God of the Abyss is known to be one of the ultimate existences. They were able to kill the God of the Abyss, so there must be beings among them who have crossed that step in power.”

The intern nodded, seeming very enlightened, “I see…”

“All in all, if we were to rank the top three on the continent now, I estimate one or two Abyss Lords could be among them.”

The senior student continued walking, with the library entrance just a few dozen meters ahead.

The intern quickly caught up, “One or two… you mean the demon god Baal or Agares?”

“Not necessarily.”

The senior student pondered a bit and said, “The God of Ranking’s divine power can only cover the continent. He can’t rank beings outside the continent unless they’ve been marked, but I guess he wouldn’t dare to mark the demon god Baal. So even if there was a new ranking now, it probably wouldn’t be too accurate.”

The intern listened and felt deeply impressed.

“So the Abyss Lords are really that powerful.”

The senior student gave him another contemptuous look, “How else could they rule for an entire era? Being able to rule the continent right after the gods, you can imagine it’s not simple.”

“Then why did they leave?”

“Who knows. Although they have many contractors in the human world, they rarely communicate with humans. Even the Alliance doesn’t know what they’re thinking.”

“So mysterious.”

The intern was stunned for a moment, as if he had just realized something, “So, does that mean Marbas in our Imperial City now… a single demon could easily overwhelm our entire Oedipus Empire?”

The senior student rolled his eyes at him, “What else? Marbas is a being we can’t deal with even with the strength of our entire nation. Forget about passing through the Imperial City, even if he went to the palace and captured the king, we couldn’t do anything about it.”

The intern felt scared, “This… doesn’t the Alliance do anything about it?”

The senior student rolled his eyes again, “Can they do anything about it, may I ask? At the very least, it would require the strongest few people to join forces to subdue him, and even then they might not be able to defeat him. The strength of us humans lies in cooperation, division of labor, and wisdom! In terms of individual strength, it’s hard for us to beat those physically abnormal abyss species, but humans don’t fight alone. Unity is the strength of humans.”

“Is… is that so…”

“Humans are still developing, understand?”

The senior student snorted and continued to emphasize. “Moreover, Marbas poses almost no risk to humans. Why would humans provoke him for no reason?”

“But what if he suddenly goes berserk…”

“He hasn’t gone berserk against humans for over 8,000 years. Are you trying to jinx it?”

“No, no, haha, never mind.”

The two young men chatted as they walked into the library.

The senior student had only walked a few steps when he noticed a rather eye-catching presence sitting at the study table.

It was a young man with a gentle demeanor, with two cats sleeping on either side of him, and another on the table in front of him.

Bringing pets to study? What a strange person.

Just as the senior student thought this, he suddenly got a glance from one of the cats, instantly making his hair stand on end. He hurriedly walked away.

The intern slowed his pace slightly, turning his head to curiously gaze in the direction of the study table.

Meanwhile.

Marbas, unable to bear it any longer, directly shouted in the telepathic channel of his brethren.

“Inpos, you brat, stop hiding. If you know what’s good for you, come out immediately, and bring your imposter!”

The gray cat trembled, its eyes showing displeasure.

It was about to take action when Samikina suddenly gave it a glance.

The meaning conveyed by the look was clear.

—I’ll go.

The gray cat blinked.

Then, the Maine Coon cat silently jumped off the table and disappeared from sight.

A few seconds later, Samikina’s avatar appeared beside Marbas.

Marbas was startled, having not noticed Samikina at all. He tilted his head and questioned. “Inpos found an imposter. Are you here to speak for Inpos?”

Samikina stared at Marbas from the corner of his eye, suddenly saying coldly, “What imposter?”