The Smiling Death-Chapter 287: Devouring The Abyss

At the very bottom of the inside of Celestial Tree, where no light had ever reached, the abyss churned.

Amon was there. Or something that resembled Amon.

His body floated at the center of the black lake, suspended as if gravity no longer mattered. He was unconscious. He could not understand what was going on.

His eyes were wide open, completely pitch black, reflecting nothing. His mouth was open. He was not screaming, he was not in pain, but in hunger.

Darkness flowed toward him.

The lake itself trembled as thick black liquid rose in streams, spiraling into Amon’s body. The smoky clouds above twisted violently, pulled downward as if caught by an unseen force.

Every trace of darkness, every shadow, every fragment of that ancient substance was being dragged toward him.

Amon was sucking everything in. Not consciously. Not intentionally. It was happening naturally. As if this was what he was meant to do.

The darkness entered him endlessly. Through his mouth, his skin, his eyes, his very existence. His body did not burst. It did not resist. It accepted everything.

And it wanted more.

Then two figures fell from above. They were dragged down with the darkness.

Vaelrix and Renard crashed into the black lake with violent splashes. The thick liquid swallowed them halfway, dragging them down instantly. Both of them struggled, flailing wildly as terror filled their faces.

"This– this place!" Renard screamed, choking as the black substance entered his mouth. "No—get it off me!"

Vaelrix tried to summon mana. Blue energy flickered around his body, but it was weak. Too weak to rebel. The moment it appeared, it was swallowed by the surrounding darkness.

"Impossible..." Vaelrix growled, panic cracking his voice. "My power, it’s not responding! Dammit! I can’t do anything here!"

They looked around desperately. Both of them were in real trouble. Death seemed closer than ever. And then they saw him.

They could guess whose body it was. That was Amon. The young man they had thrown into the hole.

Floating at the center of the abyss, surrounded by spiraling darkness. His body was completely black, veins glowing faintly like dark lines beneath his skin. His presence alone made them tremble.

Renard’s eyes widened in pure horror. "T-That human... what did he become...?"

Vaelrix felt it too. He felt fear. Real fear.

Something ancient stirred within his instincts, screaming at him to run. But there was nowhere to run. They were completely stuck down here, held by something unknown.

The darkness around them suddenly surged.

Thick black tendrils rose from the lake and wrapped around their legs, their arms, their torsos. They struggled harder, screaming in desperation.

"No! I don’t want to die!" Renard shouted, his voice breaking. "I don’t want to die like this!"

The darkness did not answer. It only pulled tighter.

Black liquid forced its way into Renard’s mouth and nose. His screams turned into gurgles. His eyes widened as his sclera slowly turned dark, veins spreading across them like cracks.

His body convulsed violently. Vaelrix tried to resist longer. His will was stronger. His pride refused to break.

"Get away from me!" he roared, slashing blindly through the darkness. But it was useless.

The black substance crawled over his skin, seeped into his pores, invaded his bloodstream. One by one, his veins turned pitch black. His breath grew heavy. His movements slowed.

His eyes met Amon’s pitch-black eyes. For a brief moment, clarity struck him.

"That thing..." Vaelrix whispered in horror. "It’s not the real darkness... you are."

He felt like Amon was behind all of this. The reason they were pulled down was him.

Amon did not respond. He did not need to. Not forgetting that he had no control over the current situation. Everything was happening too fast.

The pull intensified.

The darkness inside Vaelrix and Renard was dragged outward, torn from their very cores and pulled toward Amon. Their bodies trembled violently as the black substance swallowed them from the inside.

Their skin darkened. Their screams faded. Their forms began to lose shape.

Slowly, both demon commanders dissolved into the darkness. Flesh, mana, soul. Everything breaking apart and becoming one with the abyss.

And then, they were gone.

There were no bodies. There were no traces of them. It was as if those two demons had become part of the darkness. Now only darkness remained, and Amon continued to absorb it.

The lake shrank. The smoky clouds thinned. The abyss itself seemed to grow quieter, emptier, as if it were being drained dry.

In the lake, what remained was clean water, while the darkness had been sucked out of it.

All of it flowed into Amon. Every last fragment.

At the center of the bottom of the Celestial Tree, where ancient darkness had slept for countless years, only one presence remained.

Amon continued to devour it unconsciously. After a while, everything was absorbed by Amon, endlessly devoured.

---

After what felt like eternity, every bit of ancient energy was absorbed by Amon.

His once pitch-black skin slowly started to return to normal. Then the black veins became normal. His skin was smooth and fair.

Inside his body, where darkness had been flowing instead of blood, it was somehow absorbed deep inside him, becoming part of him. Now blood started to flow naturally like before.

His heartbeat returned to a normal rhythm. His mouth closed. His pitch-black eyes turned back to normal. His sclera turned white, while his pupils looked darker than before—as if they were two black empty voids.

His body fell flat onto the lake, which now contained pure, clean water.

Splash!

Amon did not drown. Instead, he floated above the water. His arms were spread wide, his face above the surface.

His breathing was calm. His eyes slowly closed as he remained unconscious. The wounds on his body were completely healed. The cut marks on his body were gone.

His appearance had improved by a lot. The boy who was once average-looking now looked better than average.

He leaned toward being good-looking, though still far from extremely handsome.

The body floated calmly in the silent space above the water.