Traversing through the rocky parts of the abyss was not something Aurora had thought she would do again.
But being somewhere on the first floor of the abyss did amount to a lot of irregular architecture.
The abyss was like a maze with different levels corresponding to different places. That was what made it so difficult to navigate.
But that was a conversation for another time. Right now, Aurora needed to get out of the first floor of the abyss and get to her designated location.
The most important task of all was to find a girl who would become extremely important in the future. And the name of that girl was Emilia Rose.
Right now, Emilia was an ordinary girl with nothing to her name. She had no family and no money to her name.
The village she lived in took care of her as a pity case but it would not last long. She would soon be outcasted for her phenomenal powers and taken under the tower’s wing.
And later on, she would become the second ‘goddess of victory.’
A well-known fact about the gods and goddesses was that they could not be killed. No matter how hard one tried, one would not be able to end a goddess’s life.
But that did not mean that the divine race was immortal.
Just like any other race, even they had a definite lifespan that was tied to their power and the abyss. Every divine member had a death date and the one etched in the soul of the goddess of victory would be arriving soon.
Had Aurora not been from the future, she would not have known this face at all. Only Lady Minerva knew the truth.
But Aurora had no idea how the eldest goddess knew this fact, or how she even tricked down Emilia in her last life.
Aurora just knew that she could not allow the tower to have Emilia. It would pose to be too big of a threat if they did manage to do so.
The goddess of victory would not die for quite some time. Aurora had almost 2 years to prepare Emilia to take up this role.
But the difficult part of this all was to convince Emilia to come with her.
From what Aurora remembered of the child, Emilia was really timid when she had been young. Her current age should be around 12 and she should be housed in the Horax village.
But Aurora had no idea where the Horax village was exactly. She knew the vague location she could search for clues about the same.
“System, load the location map for the place from here to the Rocx valley”
[Affermitive. Loading the system map]
Aurora had taken the liberty to load some more location maps in her system for such a task. And now it was coming in handy.
It was because of this that Aurora was able to narrow the location of the Horax village.
But the main problem this time would be to get away from the guardian. Exiting the abyss became ten times more difficult this way.
Since Aurora did not have Ava with her, she did not have the authority to command the guardian beasts out of the way. That only left Aurora with one option – to fight.
“Alright. This is it. It should not be too hard since it’s only the first floor.”
Aurora opened the guardian door of the hidden chamber and entered the room.
Her opponent was the goblin king – an elite of the first floor of the abyss.
As per his name, he commanded the smaller hoards of goblins and was responsible for a lot of injuries to the newcomers. His size also intimidated a lot of first-timers who attempted this chamber.
But that was all he had going for him – the number of his smaller soldiers and his huge body. He was not particularly dangerous if you took away those advantages from him.
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Aurora’s whistle gathered the attention of the smaller monsters near her. The hoard attacked her without mercy.
But as Aurora had expected, they did not last long against her lance. The hoard fell in one swoop as Aurora swung her weapon.
But that did not seem to deter the hoard from attacking even harder. New ranks replaced the fallen soldiers and Aurora found herself surrounded by the mob.
The goblin king had not even moved from his throne. He was contented to sit there and observe his subjects die.
Unlike Viera or other higher races, Goblins did not have higher brain function. They were not able to access emotions or rational thinking.
They were truly animals in that sense and would show survival behavior at all times.
That made it easier and difficult to work with all around.
Aurora’s body was not used to her godly powers but it was in prime physical condition. As such, it should be able to channel her power in the form of a small spell.
One might say that performing your best in the physical aspect was enough to overcome one’s lack of magic in the tower. But it only held true for the main course.
For fights such as this, it was better to go with the magical part of one’s kit.
Aurora fired a shot of lightning and cleared out the way to the goblin king. Smaller goblins died even before the magic hit them.
It was a pitiful existence to be a goblin and live such a meaningless life. Aurora did pity them to have been born as such.
But that pity did not mean she was going to go easy on them. She had her own life and ideals to deal with and saving a doomed race was not in her plans.
Besides, mobs like goblins would be respawned by the abyss in due time. Their population would also restock once the abyss decided that they were needed again.
“Your life ends here.”
If Aurora hoped for the goblin king to stand up and fight, then she was sorely mistaken. The goblin king died soon after Aurora served his head from the body.
His throne which housed the goblin king’s body split apart as soon as the goblin king’s blood touched its surface.
And it revealed a hidden door behind the throne.
Had Aurora not known about this door’s existence from her previous life, she would have been hesitant to even enter the door.
But Aurora did know about the door and she knew that it was safe to go through the door. So Aurora did not hesitate to enter the door.
White light eclipsed Aurora’s form and made it impossible to tell where she was going. Aurora tried to force her eyes open but the light made it impossible to see ahead.
Aurora pressed ahead with everything she had. Stopping here would make Aurora a sitting duck and she would be stuck in this light forever.
-Aurora, come back here. It is alright, I am here.
Aurora shook her head as she heard Clove’s familiar voice.
The tower was trying to pull the same shit Ava had pulled in her chamber. Since the first floor was Ava’s domain, it held a similar power to her.
And just as Ava had failed, so did this illusion as well. Aurora was easily able to shave off this feeling and press ahead.
The tower did not give up trying to stop Aurora from advancing.
Since Aurora had not stopped for the voice, it decided to use physical violence instead.
The shadows in the cave grew in size and solidified in the form of small beasts with sharp claws. Their eyes glowed with malice as they eyes Aurora with hunger.
Had it been anyone else, they would have tried to defend themselves against the goblin. But Aurora knew better than to do something this foolish.
These monsters were not real but a part of the illusion created by the abyss to keep Aurora inside.
The abyss was greedy and did not want to part away from its prey. It would hold on to your soul once you entered.
Entry was easy in the domain but exiting it was next to impossible.
The tower had to also clear out a way and maintain it with a goddess’s power to make it safe for people to enter and exit without losing one’s souls.
But Aurora pressed ahead without any problems. She did not allow the surroundings to slow her down or deter her from her goal.
And finally, the light dimmed and the white was replaced by the natural glow of the sun. Aurora had managed to finally make out outside on the other part of the continent.
And now she could start looking around to find the Horax village.
“E-Excuse me, are you lost?”
Aurora almost jumped at the voice coming from behind her. She had not expected anyone to be standing behind her.
But once she did turn around, Aurora could not help but pat her back. She found the person she was looking for.
Standing in front of her was the next goddess of victory – Emilia Rose.