Chapter 353: Clearing the Deep Wall Stratum

It was only natural that the process of clearing the Deep Wall Stratum was not as easy as the forum post title suggested.

While it was just a descent overall speaking, Edward encountered something unexpected as he attempted to fly through the entire tunnel on his Blackfire Dragon.

First and foremost, the Nine-headed Birds and other monsters living in this stratum would attack him—although it was not too fierce and manageable for Edward, guarding against the attack still drains his strength.

But there was a bigger problem after dealing with the creatures’ attack.

Edward had tried to descend past the entire Deep Wall Stratum tunnel since his Blackfire Dragon wasn’t a real creature. Rapidly descending on it was equal to having a near-physical shield of flames beneath him, blocking the brunt of the damage of anything it crashed into halfway through the descent, even dealing critical hits on monsters like the Nine-headed Birds with physical collision and fire damage!

And yet, in the rapid descent quicker than free falling, Edward noticed that something wasn’t right.

He clearly wasn’t being attacked, but his HP bar was dropping quickly!

Upon a closer look, he noticed that there was a status called (Abyssal Curse, Grade 3] on his status bar.

After several tests, Edward ascertained the cause of the curse even though he didn’t know where it came from.

In a nutshell, the curse would come into effect when his descent exceeded a certain speed limit, and the curse could be categorized into several different grades.

Grade 1 causes fainting and nausea, but wouldn’t inflict any actual negative effects aside from that.

By Grade 2, the person would lose their sense of balance, their bodies being struck with a status similar to being ‘stunned’, although mage-grade Players like Edward who has stronger spirit stats was immune to a certain extent.

Grade 3 was the level at which Edward first sensed the Abyssal Curse itself. This grade was where physical damage started to be inflicted, presenting itself in the form of sweating blood—but thanks to the Players’ physicality, the blood sweat would directly vanish as it leaves the body and wouldn’t cause major blood loss.

Nonetheless, Edward attempted accelerating afterward, and discovered that there were two more grades of Abyssal Curse beyond grade three.

At Grade 4, the person would feel as if a fire was burning inside their body (doubtful since Edward feel that it could be a status exclusive to the class of Skyfire Heralds), with the person’s HP decreasing at a rate far quicker than at Grade 3, just as the spirit stats would decrease as well.

Grade 5 was the strongest level of the Abyssal Curse that Edward—or indeed the Blackfire Dragon-could make out through acceleration. Now, the Player’s spirit stat would drop wildly, their physical stats becoming erratic, increasing from to time instead of dropping straightaway.

Furthermore, the Grade 5 Abyssal Curse would inflict an additional unusual status called Melt. It was coupled with a percentage, although Edward’s HP was completely drained before he could reach 100% on two occasions, which was why he wouldn’t know what it actually does.

Still, Edward had a hunch that it meant instant death as the person melts into a puddle of blood.

***

“So, in a nutshell, the Abyssal Curse prevents us from quickly crossing this tunnel to reach the Third Stratum,” Edward concluded after his experiments.

He was now resting with the other frontlines in one of the caves over the walls, having a hardtack and some cola.

The others were fine, but Edward, who died twice to test the depths of the Abyssal Curse looked exhausted.

“Well, you did pass through the Deep Wall to reach the Dark Sky, right?” Mufasa asked interestedly. “What’s it like down there?”

“Complete darkness, although the air has some buoyancy, and it feels like you’re in a pitch-black ocean with only a faint ray of light,” Edward said, feeling a little troubled when he remembered what he saw. “It’s not easy to describe, so we should get down there first.”

“Is there nothing resembling a Boss in the second stratum?” Joe asked, a little unhappy. “Clearing the second stratum feels so easy… too easy, actually, to the point that it’s disappointing…”

“This tunnel itself is probably the toughest trial of the second stratum. We find it simple is only because we as Players never die, and Edward has already checked out the rules!” Doug Ag couldn’t help preaching to Joe. “Think about it—what would have happened if we aren’t Players and didn’t know a thing about this tunnel?”“Aren’t we going to just climb down like before?” Joe scratched his head, unsure what that meant.

“Human patience is limited. There wouldn’t be problems at first, but after hours of climbing but when you look downwards to find that the bottom of tunnel still out of sight, you would start feeling anxious. And when that happens, you would try to descend quicker over worries about resources and whatnot, such as using a rope.”

On the other hand, Mufasa did understand Doug Ag’s reasoning and explaining things for Joe and the other confused Players. “And once the Grade 2 Abyssal Curse kicks in and you’re left stunned and out of control…”

“You would fall off the rope!” Joe only understood what they meant then. “That’s right. The speed of your drop would also trigger the curses of subsequent grades which kills you even quicker.” Edward added with a nod. “With such difficulty, do you really think clearing the Deep Wall Stratum is that easy?”

“Urgh, so sinister! Anyone other than us exploring this place would be dead with such a thing!” Joe swore, frowning. “The people who designed such a thing must be nothing good!”

“But that’s not entirely the case.” Edward shook his head. “Although this is definitely a trap that kills you on your first encounter, the high elves that built this ruin had left a hint.”

“The Grade 1 curse?” Gou Dan palmed his fist in understanding.

“That’s right. The Grade 1 Curse doesn’t inflict actual damage, and all it does is leave the target nauseated. That’s the biggest hint that forces any explorers to do nothing other than to climb downward.” Edward nodded again, wolfing down his rations in several quick bites. “The curses are invoked only if you ignore that and continued a quickened descent, but that’s not important to us. Clerics, prepare your HP recovery skills, everyone else, prepare your colas. We’re going straight down, just be careful about your HP levels!”