"I just hope the young master likes them too"

Thinking this, he immediately remembered what Damien had told him before leaving and began to focus on the contract gem in his heart

Closing his eyes, he then followed this connection, imagining himself slowly swimming until he reached the round table from before

*BOOM!*

After a few seconds, of concentrating, much to his surprise, it indeed worked

And he was once again in this unfamiliar gray space, however now the only difference was that it was no longer crowded and only he and Damien where there.

However this shock only lasted for a few seconds before the excitement of showing off his new creations quickly took over.

"Delivery for the Boss," Hephestus grinned, wiping soot from his forehead.

Damien stood up from his throne, looking at the weapons.

The Scourge of the Rat King lay coiled like sleeping snakes.

The dark metal chains pulsed with a sickly green vein of mana, and the serrated blades at the ends looked hungry.

Next to them, the Visage of the Greedy King shone with a cold, metallic perfection.

"Beautiful," Damien whispered.

He raised his hand.

"System. Materialize items in Abyss Layer 2."

[System Notification] [Cost: 50,000 DP] [Processing...]

And with this notification, after telling Hephaestus goodbye and he'll contact them later, the items on the table dissolved into light, crossing the dimensional barrier.

A scene that made Hephaestus once again in awe of his young master

…..........…..

[Location: Abyss Layer 2 – The Hidden Cave]

Back in the humid, purple-lit cave, reality shimmered.

The heavy chains and the mask fell onto the mossy floor with a wet thud.

Damien picked up the chains. As soon as his fingers touched the cold metal, he felt a connection.

The Soul Blueprint Hephaestus had used meant these weapons were tuned specifically to Damien's soul wavelength.

As hee wrapped the chains around his forearms. They retracted automatically, coiling tight against his trench coat sleeves, the blades resting near his wrists like hidden fangs. They even felt weightless.

"Chains?" Isabelle asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought you preferred the sword."

"The Pantheon Sword is indeed a good sword, probably the nest too," Damien explained, flexing his wrists.

"However, using it on Tier 3 jungle trash is like using a nuke to kill a mosquito. It just wastes stamina and mana."

He lashed out with his left hand.

RATTLE-SNAP.

The chain extended twenty feet in a blur, the serrated blade biting into a stalactite and pulverizing it.

"This," Damien grinned, retracting the chain instantly, "is much better, especially for large crowds."

He then picked up the mask.

He took off the cracked, porcelain fragments of his old mask, the one that had hidden his face since the beginning and dropped the shards on the floor.

With emotion, he placed the new mask over his face.

CLICK-HISS.

The mask sealed against his skin. The air filtration system kicked in, scrubbing the metallic taste of the Abyss from his breath.

"Oh? It feels quite comfortable," Damien's voice came out slightly distorted, deeper and more metallic.

He turned to Isabelle.

"How do I look?"

Isabelle stared at him. The black trench coat. The dark chains coiled around his arms. The sleek, emotionless metal face.

"Very cool," she whispered, a blush showing slightly on her face. "Very, very cool."

"Cool?" hearing this, he couldn't help but look at himself again, although he was expecting something, cool wasn't really the word

However, considering Isabelle was the one who said that, then perhaps he indeed did look quite cool

"Thanks I guess!" he paused

"Since that's all settled, let's go out, I want to test these weapons for a bit," Damien ordered.

Luckily Isabelle was currently still embarassed by what she just said and left the sanctuary of the cave first, stepping back into the Spore Sea.

A move that made Damien smile wrily.

Stepping back into the spore sea, just like before, the environment was hostile.

Giant venus flytrap like plants snapped at them from the undergrowth. Toxic spores drifted like snow.

However unlike before, Damien now moved with a new fluidity.

SNAP.

A vine-monster lunged.

However before it could react, Damien's chain shot out, wrapping around the monster's throat.

He yanked it back, dragging the creature into range, and crushed its skull with a casual punch.

"Nice," Damien smiled.

Like this they traveled for hours, cutting a path deeper into the second floor. The humidity rose. The sound of buzzing insects grew louder.

Suddenly, Isabelle stopped. She held up a hand.

"Master," she whispered, her nose twitching. "I smell Smoke."

"Not only that," Isabelle shook her head. "But it seems to be from Wood smoke, probably Cooking fires."

Hearing this, Damien signaled for stealth. They crept through a dense patch of ferns, parting the giant leaves to peer into a clearing below.

And sure enough following the direction of Isabelle's smell, and his sensory intent, what they saw next made both of them shocked

It was a settlement. Crude huts made of woven fungus and bone were clustered around a central fire pit.

The inhabitants were Abyss Imps, small, red-skinned demons with bat wings.

But unlike the feral beasts of the upper layers, these wore armor. They carried spears. They even had a society.

However, what caught Damien's eye wasn't the demons.

It was the cages in the center of the village.

Three large cages made of rib-bones stood near the fire. Inside, huddled together in rags, were Drifters.

Elves. Humans. A few Beastkin.

They were emaciated, covered in filth. They looked like they had been there for weeks.

An Imp poked one of the prisoners with a spear, laughing as the Elf inside flinched. Another Imp was sharpening a large butcher knife on a stone.

"They're treating them like livestock," Isabelle said, her tone cold with no emotion.

"They probably plan to eat them or maybe worse."

For people who had no relation to them, she had no obligation to save, nor the spare time to pity anyone

Even Damien, who wanted to test his weapon, looking at the settlement, wondered if she should kill them or not

After all, who knows if they have a backer, that could just bring unwanted chaos and attention to them.

But then again, he also wanted to test his new weapon.

"To kill or not to kill? That is the question," Damien muttered as he placed his hand on his chin, lost in thought

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