Pioneer of the Abyss - Book 3 - Chapter 29 (Patreon)

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Table of Contents

Click the following link for the 1342 word chapter 29:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AxdbUpZulWrmPNB3dB_Bx83fZAG-TSjGgTTuiRl8n8I/edit?usp=sharing

Or you can read the unformatted version below:

Aqua

After the first bird, I kill one after another. But none of them are particularly dangerous. Leaving me just standing at the front of my airship with my hands in my hoodie pockets as I summon vast tentacles that either slap or crush the birds flying at me. Then I have Vir collect the ribbons from them and help with the attacks on the ones that make it past the tentacles.

Vir can still use his poison even as an Abyssal Lord, and thanks to that, I found out he can fly around by using the poison as a sort of jet. Firing off poison in different directions to create a propulsion force pushing him in the directions he wants to go.

He can also fire off the poison into the distance and control it to grab the ribbons.

It’s pretty convenient, even if it’s not the same as when he was alive. Simply because he’s a different creature now entirely, and he’s powered by my own mana. So the poison is heavily tinted with my own mana now.

Thanks to that, his poison is a deep blue color with deep green tints to it instead of its original color.

I sit back and watch as he goes around collecting the ribbons one after another. Bringing each one to my ship to gradually increase my score.

So far this game has been far more boring than I was expecting, but it’s only been ten minutes, so that’s not too surprising. I haven’t run into any other Official Pioneers yet.

I continue to quietly harvest ribbons over the next few minutes before I turn my head to look towards the East, where I sense someone approaching.

Here we go. Finally something happens.

I wait a moment before their airship gets into view, letting me see the Official Pioneer sitting on the edge of the ship. And up until the moment he sees me, he looks incredibly laidback with a slightly smug grin. But when he sees me, he tenses up and that smugness vanishes in an instant.

He stares at me. I stare back at him.

Then he immediately turns his ship around and tries to fly away.

I raise a brow before looking at the man’s identify result.

[Raze Vel’Blanc – Bloodline: None – Level 749]

Yeah, I don’t recognize this person. But they’re an opponent regardless, so I can try out my skills to see how I fare against other Official Pioneers. Even if he’s a lower level than me.

With that thought in mind, I summon numerous large, five-meter-long tentacles around his fleeing airship. And each one of them grapples onto the ship, binding it in place and stopping it from fleeing.

Alright. Now he’s trapped with his ship stuck here, so our battle should be-

My thoughts come to a grinding halt when Vir rushes forward and stabs his hand through the Official Pioneer’s chest before grabbing his heart and ripping it out. Leaving the Official Pioneer gaping at Vir for a moment, only for his body to break into virtual particles as he is expelled from the game.

I purse my lips while staring at the airship and Vir, not even having managed to take my hands out of my hoodie’s pockets yet in the time it took for the guy to die. Then I raise my head to look at the sky above for a few seconds before shaking my head and having Vir take all of the ribbons from the guy’s ship.

Well, that didn’t go according to plan.

Out of curiosity, I look at Vir’s level, only to find Vir having already reached level eight hundreds and ninety-one. Which does explain why he was able to one-shot this Official Pioneer. Considering the level gap.

Still.

That was anticlimactic…

It doesn’t really matter, since that wasn’t an Official Pioneer who mattered whatsoever during this game with his level being so low, but still. I was expecting an actual battle since this isn’t underwater.

Anyway, I turn my attention to the man’s airship as Vir plunders all of the ribbons.

It’s a shame that I can’t get his blueprint in the game. Or, rather, it’s a shame I can’t get the blueprints of the higher level players in Official Pioneer Games.

Still. It’s fine.

Honestly, adding their power to my own isn’t a massive increase in strength. At best the top Official Pioneers at level nine hundred and ninety-nine could be helpful as abyssal servants. But even they wouldn’t be much better than regular monsters.

After all, my abyssal servants can’t use the magical skills of the beings they were originally before extracting their blueprints. So these Official Pioneers would be a lot weaker after becoming abyssal servants anyway, since humans have far fewer physical skills than they have magical skills compared to monsters.

I let out a sigh at that thought before continuing to hunt bird monsters after Vir finishes transferring over the ribbons from this Official Pioneer’s airship. At which point the airship disperses into virtual particles as well, just like the Official Pioneer did.

Without further hesitation, I have Vir put a third of the ribbons I’ve gathered thus far into the engine to upgrade my airship. Which immediately increases the airship’s size and makes it begin moving quite a bit faster than it was before.

I feel the corner of my lips quirking upwards at this as I hunt monsters while traveling through the skies. Occasionally spotting Official Pioneers along the way that I crush with ease. Sometimes with Vir, and other times with a tentacle or two.

Some of the lowest level Official Pioneers participating end up getting crushed by a tentacle on accident when I try binding the ship. Which is awkward.

What I find odd for a time is that none of the Official Pioneers I run into are particularly strong. All of them are in the lower level range despite me having looked into the participants to find that over half of the participants shouldn’t be too much lower level than me.

And yet, the only ones I’m running into are the ones significantly lower level than me.

It makes me wonder if the stronger ones are avoiding me or maybe even grouping up to attack me all at once.

Or both.

Probably both.

Some are likely avoiding me while others are grouping together. If I had to guess.

The former is obvious considering how many of these Official Pioneers are trying to run the moment I spot them, and the latter just feels right.

Thanks to this, I make sure to save up my mana since I’m sure I’ll need it when I face them. Meanwhile I continue hunting the bird monsters one by one with rather terrible luck in terms of finding rarer ones.

At most, I manage to get rarer ribbons from the other Official Pioneers I’m… borrowing from. Yes, borrowing. Not stealing.

I give a firm nod of my head at that wording as I keep flying around for a while on the airship.

Then it finally happens. I find a massive group of Official Pioneers gathered together and waiting for me. With over a hundred airships all lined up in a large arc. One that seems to be closing in around me.

The corners of my lips inch upwards in a smile at what is a genuine challenge for once in this game. Especially since all over a hundred Official Pioneers that I can see moving to surround me are all at the very least level eight hundred and fifty, with over half being over level nine hundred.

What’s more is that a single Official Pioneer at the center of their encirclement with the most Official Pioneers is at the max level for this game. Level nine hundred and ninety-nine.

Darius Vex, also known as the Mind Bender.

An Official Pioneer with mental powers largely specializing in mind control.

So that’s how it is.

This’ll be a good test for my Mental stat.