[Location: The Vortex Between Layers]

[Time: Unknown]

The screen switches back to the abyss, and right now Damien and Isabelle had just jumped of the ledge as they fell towards the second layer for the abyss.

However, this type of falling was much differnet from what either of them had ever experienced. It wasn't like falling from a cliff, not it felt much stranger.

The moment they crossed the threshold of the vortex, the physics of the world seemed to dissolve.

There was no up or down. There was only the screaming wind and the crushing weight of a million eyes watching from the dark.

"Join us..." "Hungry..." "Meat..."

The voices didn't seem to save a source, rather hey vibrated directly into their skulls.

They were the whispers of the Damned, souls of Drifters who had died between layers, trapped in the eternal gravity well, eroded until they were nothing but resentment.

Even some high ranking abyss demons who had nothing to do would peer their head in the gap between layers in hopes of finding something interesting

Unfortunately, just before Damien could continue to examine his current situation, Isabelle screamed, clutching her head.

Her eyes, usually a sharp, intelligent red, began to bleed into a murky black. Her horns grew longer, cracking the air.

As a Half-Demon, she wasn't just a visitor here, rather from the moment she fell into the abyss, it was as if she had returned home

Every second that passed, her demon blood strengthened, and now that they were moving deeper into the abyss, it seemed to have taken a qualitative leap.

And because of this leap, the voices of rage and anger in her blood she hadn't heard in a long time began to sound once more.

'Let go,' the darkness whispered to her. 'Why serve a lowly human? You are a demon. Eat him. EAT HIM.'

Her grip on Damien's hand loosened, black jaded claws grew our from her hands, scratching against his glove.

"Isabelle."

A voice cut through the madness. It an absolute sound, calming her increasing madness.

Damien yanked her hand, pulling her close. He grabbed her face with his free hand, forcing her to look at him.

His cross-shaped pupils were glowing gold, burning away the shadows around them.

"Look at me," Damien ordered, his Will slamming into her mind like a hammer, shattering the foreign whispers.

"I don't want to use the contract gem to forcefully control you, to harness the full power of your blood, only you can truly control it."

"Now tell me, are you really going to lose it because we're going down the second layer? If you lose control here then by the time we reach my parents, wouldn't you have become a mindless half demon?"

Hearing this, the blackness in Isabelle's eyes receded. She gasped, the air rushing back into her lungs as if she had been drowning.

"Master..." she choked out, terror etched on her face. "It... it wanted me to..."

"I know," Damien said, pulling her into a protective embrace as they plummeted faster.

"Focus on my voice. Only my voice."

Below them, the darkness ended.

A canopy of violet and neon-green light rushed up to meet them.

*BOOM!*

They hit the ground hard.

Landing with a large squelch, they were both surprisingly uninjured.

Damien rolled, absorbing the momentum, and skidded to a stop in a pile of thick, viscous mud. He stood up instantly, sword drawn, ready for a fight.

But there was nothing. Just the sound of dripping water and the heavy, humid buzz of insects.

"Layer 2," Damien whispered, wiping a glob of purple slime off his shoulder.

It was nothing like the First Layer.

Layer 1 had been a wasteland of ash, ruin, and dead stone. A graveyard.

Layer 2 was a jungle.

Towering mushrooms the size of skyscrapers blocked the "sky." Their caps glowed with bioluminescent blue spores that drifted down like snow.

The ground wasn't dirt; it was a living mat of moss and pulsating veins that throbbed beneath their boots.

The air was thick, hot, and smelled of copper and sweet rot.

"It's... alive," Isabelle whispered, stepping back as a vine curled curiously around her boot. She kicked it away.

"Everything here feels wrong. It feels like we're inside a giant stomach."

Damien took a deep breath.

"The Abyss Mana Density," Damien analyzed, exhaling a puff of steam.

"It's exactly double that of Layer 1."

He looked up at the glowing fungal canopy.

"It's seems with every layer we go the density should double," Damien realized.

"If that's the case, then the use of sanity potions would indeed become more important the lower we go."

"The thicker the Abyss Mana, the faster corruption"

He nodded solemnly beneath his mask.

"Alright, lets go Isabelle, we need to find signs of life here before so we can ask how to get to the next layer"

Said Damien as he took another major step forward in finding his parents

…........

Time soon passed, and the two of them had been walking in this jungle like abyss layer for over three hours

Just as they both were wondering if they should give up, a sudden sound attracted their attention

SNAP

Hearing what sounded like a twig snap, they instantly sprung into fighting position,

In a jungle this wet, wood didn't snap unless someone stepped on it.

Damien and Isabelle went back-to-back instantly.

"South-West," Damien whispered. "Three targets. Moving fast."

Sensing them with his will, his eyes soon narrowed

"North," Isabelle countered, her eyes scanning the shadows. "Two more. Flanking."

From the dense fern-like undergrowth, shadows detached themselves.

They weren't mindless beasts like he had dealt with previously, these monsters were humanoid.

In an instant, he consumed ten Dp and ran a quick scan on them

[Monster Analysis]

[Species: Abyssal Headhunters (Tier 3)]

[Intelligence: Medium]

They were small, wire-thin demons with obsidian skin and long, spindly limbs.

But what caught Damien's eye wasn't their claws.

It was their gear.

The lead Headhunter was wearing a chest plate made of carved beetle shell. It held a spear tipped with sharpened flint.

"They have armor," Isabelle noted, her tail twitching. "And weapons."

The Headhunters looking at them didn't charge blindly like mindless beasts.

In fact, as if to confirm his their guesses, one of them clicked its tongue, a sharp, rhythmic sound.

Click-click-hiss.

The others fanned out, creating a perfect encirclement. One Headhunter raised a blowgun.

"They have language," Damien corrected, his eyes narrowing. "Guess their smarter than I thought."

He tightened his grip on the Pantheon Sword.

"However at the end of the day, does it really matter?"

The lead Headhunter hissed, pointing its spear at Damien throat.

"Against overwhelming strength, no amount of intelligence can save you."

THWIP.

Just as he finished speaking, a poisoned dart flew from the shadows.

However, Damien didn't even look, he simply caught the dart out of the air with two fingers.

"Playtime is over," Damien said, crushing the dart. "Die!"

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