Abyss Descension: I Perform Rituals to Evolve In The Apocalyps-Chapter 44: Psychological

A few days ago—

A group of people appeared in a wide, stone hall out of thin air.

Towering walls surrounded them.

The walls were easily a hundred feet tall, as if the hall had been built to accommodate giants, not humans.

These towering walls were lined with massive sconces.

The warm glow from these oversized sconces brightened their surroundings and illuminated their faces, revealing the unease in their wide-eyed expressions, making it clear they were utterly ignorant about the severity of their situation.

They were looking around in confusion and alarm. Upon realizing their surroundings had changed without warning or explanation, panic gripped their hearts and they felt overwhelmed by the oddness of their surreal experience.

"What the...? I was gambling in a casino a second ago. Then I felt a tug. And now I'm here? What the hell is going on?!"

A loud, gravelly voice broke the thick, oppressive silence that lingered in the hall.

The one who spoke was a tall, burly man, shirtless, with tattoos sprawled across his muscled chest and arms. A thick, worn locket hung from a leather cord around his neck, and he wore only a pair of black cargo pants with no socks or boots. His feet were bare.

His left ear had a corrugated tug mark, as if it had been bitten in a fight. A burning cigarette was tucked behind that very ear. The smoke curled lazily from it, rising in thin, serpentine tendrils as it mixed with the air.

From the way he looked, talked, and behaved, he came off as a very dangerous gangster.

The other people in the hall immediately developed a disfavoring impression of him, wanting to stay away from him and not get on his bad side.

"That's what I want to know too."

Beside him stood a woman who looked like she had stepped out of a fashion magazine. She had flawless, radiant skin, high cheekbones, and striking eyes framed by long lashes. Her tall, slender figure was wrapped in a stylish trench coat, though the heels she wore were clearly unsuited for their current environment.

Her hands rested on the handlebar of a shopping cart, which was filled to the brim with grocery items such as packs of meat, bottled water, canned food, and so on. From the way it was loaded, one could tell she was the type of person who preferred doing a month's worth of shopping all at once.

A single glance was enough to tell what she had been doing before she was pulled into the hall without warning just like the rest of the people who had appeared there with all the items they were carrying or grabbing when their surroundings suddenly changed.

Her sharp gaze swept across everyone present, taking in their expressions. They seemed as panicked and confused as her.

"And it looks like everyone around us is pretty much wondering the same thing."

"Ah, it seems I was mistaken!"

She corrected herself as she finally noticed that one person in the hall who didn't look panicked or confused at all.

He was a middle aged man who was wearing a white coat, the kind you'd see on a doctor or a scientist. Stubble darkened his jawline, and his short dirty blonde hair stuck up slightly. He was standing still with his back to the wall and his eyes closed in meditation.

Her hips swayed seductively as she moved like a cat. She approached him and asked, "Mister, you're not freaking out like the rest of us. Do you know something?"

The man opened his eyes, and the sight of a beautiful woman, whose level of attractiveness was comparable to a radiant sunrise casting its golden light upon a tranquil sea, filled his vision.

With how close she stood to him, he could smell her body fragrance. It was pleasant, captivating yet delicate.

'It has been a while since I've smelled anything other than the rancid stench of rot and decay,' he thought, sniffing again and again, unapologetically taking in more of her scent.

Watching the man sniff her like a dog unabashedly, a trace of disgust appeared on the beautiful woman's face, but she didn't say or do anything, just taking a step back in silence. He might be the only one who knew what was going on here, and she didn't want to give him a reason not to speak.

The man noticed her discomfort and realized he was being rude. So he immediately stopped sniffing.

"You've got a sharp eye." His actions were driven purely by instinct, so he didn't offer up a apology. He just smiled at her faintly and complimented.

"In my line of work, you've got to be sharp and attentive," the woman replied, her tone direct. "Otherwise, you never know when you'll be plotted against."

"I do have a decent idea of what's going on," the man said, raising an eyebrow. "And I'll gladly share what I know. But."

He paused.

"But what?" The beautiful woman asked impatiently.

The pointed at the pack of spring water in her shopping cart.

"...I want to have some water first."

The gangster approached him threateningly.

"Answer her or you won't like what comes next."

He had been listening to their conversation from the sidelines, and when he saw the middle aged man intentionally leaving the beautiful woman hanging and blackmailing her for her items, he felt offended on her behalf. So he quickly came to her aid to make things right.

The gangster was taller and burlier than the middle aged man, but not a hint of nervousness flashed in the latter's eyes as if nothing could threaten him.

"You don't need to be so harsh. It's just water."

The beautiful woman didn't want a fight to start. She hurried back to the cart that was some stopes away, grabbed a bottle from the pack, and tossed it to the middle aged man.

His hand reached out and grabbed the bottle that was flung through the air. He uncapped it and greedily drank it like someone who hadn't tasted water in ages.

"Thanks, I haven't had a single drop of water in the last 48 hours," he said. "I thought I was gonna die of thirst soon." He looked at the beautiful woman, gratitude shining in his eyes.

It was clear from his words that resources were pretty scarce in this place. The beautiful woman felt like she had been fooled and lost something valuable.

"You tricked me," she accused.

"No, I did no such thing," the middle aged man replied, running a hand through his hair, causing his hair to stick up. "I just proposed a deal and you accepted."

"You still haven't answered her question," the gangster said, his tone slightly threatening.

"This is the place you get sent to after disappearing from Earth," the man explained.

"Disappearing from Earth?"

Almost everyone in the hall felt confused upon hearing the man's words.

Looking at their reactions, the man said, "It seems you didn't even get the chance to learn about the vanishing before it took you. I pity you."

"What's the vanishing?" The beautiful woman asked.

"It's a disaster. My friend told me a lot about it. I can share what I know."

This response didn't come from the man. It came from a young woman in her teens. Who else could it be but Lena?

"Go on." The beautiful woman urged her to speak.

Lena then explained to the group what Kev had told her before she disappeared from Earth.

As she spoke, her red lips moved. The gangster stared at her lips, his gaze intense. He felt the desire to kiss them and taste what they feel like.

He liked them young. His lecherous gaze traveled down her body, making Lena's skin crawl.

She noticed him checking her out shamelessly and felt disgusted by his gaze but she was too scared to reprimand or scold him.

Just when she thought she would have to endure the humiliation in silence, the middle-aged man stepped between them, saving her from the gangster's unwanted attention.

Tsk!

The gangster clicked his tongue in dissatisfaction as he could no longer indulge in eyeraping a helpless and vulnerable woman with no protectors by her side because the middle aged man was blocking his gaze.

"Who's this guy to interfere while I'm having fun? He is asking for a beating!"

The gangster clearly felt provoked by the interference, but he didn't follow through with his rage. He didn't want to turn everyone against him and be driven away. He knew that in an unclear situation sticking together with others was safer than being left alone.

"Where are we? Do you know?" The beautiful woman asked.

"I don't know where we are. But if I have to give it a name, I'll call it hell. You'll understand why pretty soon." The middle-aged man replied.

"What hell? It doesn't seem that bad." The beautiful woman said.

"That's because you haven't seen what lies beyond this hall," the man said.

"What lies beyond it?"

Not only the beautiful woman, but also the gangster and everyone else who had arrived in the hall after the man felt curious about it.

Led by the beautiful woman, they moved toward the hall's exit, but the middle-aged man blocked their way.

"What are you doing? Why are you blocking our path?"

"I can't allow you to leave this hall."

"You can't stop us."

One person's hand couldn't contend against four, but the middle-aged man was in an even worse position.

He was up against several people.

However, there wasn't a shred of hesitation in his voice as he said, "Try me."

"Watch me punch his face in."

The gangster snorted and punched out with his fist, but it didn't break a nose like he was expecting. His hand was grabbed, he was lifted off his feet, and then he was thrown over the middle-aged man's shoulder like a sack of rice!

"Ugh!" His back hit the ground with a thud, and a groan escaped his mouth.

Before he could recover from the fall damage, the middle-aged man kicked him in the stomach so hard he felt like the air had been knocked out of his lungs. To add insult to injury, a boot reeking of something worse than shit was pressed against his face.

"I advise you to stay down. It won't do you any good if you resist."

The gangster felt like his head would be crushed if he didn't listen, so he reluctantly gave in.

"Okay, okay, I get it! Move your foot off my face."

"What do you say when you're asked for something?" the middle-aged man asked, his tone condescending.

"Please," the gangster pleaded.

"Good boy." Only then did the middle-aged man lift his foot off the gangster's face.

Watching this exchange, everyone in the room sucked in a cold breath.

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The middle-aged man wasn't as simple as he seemed. No wonder he hadn't been afraid when threatened earlier.