Catato Patch 

Bottomless and eternity. If anyone were to use those two words to describe the Abyss, then, they couldn’t be anymore right.

 

Within the bottomless abyss was a dayless world. A world so cruel even the sun shuns it. At the same time, it was a vast world where darkness and death intermingled without fear.

 

‘That was an excerpt from the [Fan Tian’s] literary genius, Lu Shuren’s book. Because of his astonishingly realistic depiction of the Abyss, he was hailed as a great author...mhm, once I get out of the Abyss, that’s the pen name I’m using, sounds like it could work…’

 

‘I can barely see my fingers in here.’ As I continuously fumbled around in the darkness, only that eerie light in the distance prevented me from getting lost entirely.

 

It had been a while since my teleportation but because I didn’t put much effort into keeping track of the time, I basically had no idea how much time had passed.

 

Furthermore, having walked for god knows how long in their sightless environment, it truly felt maddening…

 

How far had I travelled? Was I walking around in circles? All those were things I had no way of finding out...in fact, even my heart was beginning to fear that I would spend the rest of my days in this darkness.

 

Throughout all that, there was a faint but lingering scent of decomposition wafting about my nose that made this journey that much more frustrating on the senses.

 

‘I messed up so badly...if only I knew that things would end like this earlier, I would’ve left some sort of marker behind. I swear I would die from embarrassment if it turned out that I had been walking around in circles all this while...’

 

Thankfully, I still had Slime-chan by my side. My dragon shoulders could clearly feel soft caress of her chest… ‘Her being here had to be the only bit of good fortune amongst all this misfortune…’

 

‘It’s just...she seems to be getting weaker by the second. Most likely that had to do with the double whammy of my abyssal aura and death aura; if I don’t do something about this soon…’

 

“Dra...gon-chan. Looks like...I’ve become a burden again, haven’t I?”

 

“How...how could you say that? That’s not true at all.” I squeezed out a faint smile and consoled her.

 

“Because...I’m really weak.” Even though I couldn’t make out her expression within this consuming darkness, I could clearly sense the sadness in her voice. “Back during that fight with the blackwing python, I wasn’t any use at all to Dragon-chan. Furthermore, I almost died to that apparition later on...up till now, I’ve been useless…”

 

“No...it’s alright. Rather, it’s good that Slime-chan doesn’t have to do a thing. As long as Slime-chan tries her best in whatever she can, it’s enough. Just leave whatever Slime-chan can’t handle to me; that’s what comrades are for!” As I said that, I couldn’t help but feel a little guilty. Up till now, I not only saw her as a comrade but also as someone so adorable that I couldn’t help but want to push down…

 

“Is...that so? So that’s…” Her voice began to fade and soon I wasn’t able to make it out at all.

 

……

 

A deafening silence…

 

‘I...didn’t say anything wrong there, did I?! Why isn’t she talking all of a sudden!?’

 

‘Women, ah, I mean slime ladies...their hearts are like needles hidden within the depths of the ocean…’

‘

“As a comrade, I’m not even able to help at all…” Slime-chan repeated to herself.

 

‘What are you saying? I can’t hear you at all. What’s going on here?! Isn’t this a [Soul Link], why is there even a volume control?!’

 

“I want to become strong!” As she resolved herself to do so, her eyes shone with a radiant light.