Central District of Orth, The Grand Pier.

"Are you sure the information within this letter is not a prank?"

"Of course! I'm sure Haruto would never joke about these matters"

"Very well, report to the elders of this information and assign a danger level of 4 stars!"

"Right away!"

In an office inside the Gondola station was an old gentleman who sat at his desk with a letter atop it. The letter described what happened to Haruto and the other delvers. The ambush and death of the delvers, his escape and return, and eventual discovery of the Corpse-weepers being attacked by an unknown creature. Several papers were displayed on the desk with one of them having a drawing of a slim black creature with an elongated head, extremely long tail, and an inner mouth. This was no doubt a drawing of Juno. In time, the delvers bestiary will be updated with new information regarding Juno.

The gentlemen didn't worry much about the new creature that, in the future, would be named 'Nightcrawler' by delvers. Compiling the letters into categories, he continued with his work and received letters that came from the Abyss.

2nd Layer of the Abyss

During my travel, I came upon many creatures of all sorts of shapes and sizes. Most of which were hostile towards me, but it didn't bother me one bit. Hostile or not, I'd still kill and devour them. I hunted and ate whatever crossed my path, experiencing different tastes. Some tasty, some nasty, and some that caused me various symptoms like disorientation and headaches. Humans, too, were apart of my diet. There would be some witnesses but they were fairly tricky to catch because they used strange tools to escape and different methods to avoid me. I shrugged it off and continued on my way towards the inverted forest.

Several hours later I stood on top of an ancient wind-riding windmill that was covered in moss and vines alike. A few meters beneath me lay thick heavy clouds some updrafts occasionally blowing from below. I turned around and crept along the edge of the forest that was starting to twist and turn, forming an inverted forest.

Crawling along the edges of the cliff, I jumped from tree to tree until I was walking upside down, leaving the clouds that blocked the view of what was below. Below said clouds was a dimly lit environment due to the lack of sunlight with trees sticking from the ceiling, hence the name The Inverted Forest.

『Uhm... This looks to be the Inverted forest, and there's a Seekers Camp here?』

Screeching sounds interrupted her thoughts that were trying to remember the contents inside the Humans' book, causing her to hiss angrily at the idiotic creatures that looked like monkeys. The monkeys called Inbyos screeched at the strange scary-looking creatures and started to throw objects towards her.

Swish

Juno crossed the distance in mere seconds avoiding the objects sent flying towards her and killed the stupid and befuddled monkey. The surrounding monkeys jumped and screeched annoyingly. She killed the loud ones first growing more agitated by the minute from their constant screeching and throwing of objects.

It didn't matter how many she killed, they kept coming wave after wave. Because of this, she remembered that they're territorial and will pursue their trespassers until they eventually chase them out. Juno didn't care about that, she was angered past the breaking point and was slaughtering them in the hundreds.

This backfired on her because she had pursued them directly into the center of their territory. A large movement shook the Inverted Forest from the large army of Inbyos that angrily rushed towards her. They were, for the most part, harmless to her and only an annoyance. But the sheer number of them was the real problem. Would she eventually be piled upon? Or perhaps thrown into the seemingly bottomless pit? She didn't want to stay to find out about either and only promised these stupid monkeys that she would return and exterminate their entire species.

Juno hissed at the Inbyos who retreated back into the deep forest, leaving me alone on a bridge that rocked side to side from the heavy gusts of wind.

『Seekers Camp? Should I go there or continue down the Abyss...』

She decided on the former in order to search for an energy source. Little was understandable in the delvers guide as the language was written in an unknown language to her. All she could make out was the images and some words. Thus, she naturally didn't know of the danger that lurked within the Seekers Camp, nor the telescope that had caught sight of her...

Crawling her way towards no particular direction, she followed the bridges until she ended up at the Seekers Camp. Of course, she was well hidden in the shadows so whoever that was peeping on her earlier had already lost sight of her. Climbing down the walls of the Observation Tower, she entered through the windows and into an empty hallway.

『There's no one here... no, there's one person.』

She followed the smell of the only Human in the camp. Creak The sound of running water and small splashes were heard outside the room. Juno entered the room and walked directly towards the Human who was sitting within a tub.

"I wonder where that creature came from... it's not recorded in the bestiary and it looks to have come from above... is it some kind of mutant creature?" (???)

『Who's a mutant creature.』 (Juno)

A shallow hiss escaped my mouth despite myself which alerted the human who appeared to be a child with blue hair.

"Ozen? Did you say that?" (???)

The inner mouth that was about to bite through the child's skull choked back inside my mouth. I watched the child as she turned around and faced me. We both stared at each other and processed what we were looking at or what was going on.

"Ahhhh!" (???)

He was frightened out of her wits to see such a scary face up close, even having the time to blush for some reason.

『Can you understand me?』 (Juno)

He nodded to my words before he took the towel to cover his body while shaking slightly. Am I really that scary? I thought, looking at my blurred reflection on the running water. Er... let's not answer that question. Resisting the urge within me that wanted to kill and devour him, I waited patiently for him to get changed while watching his every move.

An hour later I learned a lot of things related to the Abyss, its culture, creatures, artifacts, and many more from this sweet child in front of me. Why was he so cheery with a monster like me? I wondered. But it was answered by him explaining how he has not many children his age.

『I'm not a child!』 (Juno)

"Oh... I'm sorry Juno. I had the impression you were..." (Marulk)

『Anyways, you said there was someone else that lives here with you too?』 (Juno)

"Yes, Ozen-sama. She's a white whistle and... oh no! She'll be returning soon so you gotta go right now!"

Creak

It was too late because the door was pushed open. A hunched-back woman stood at the door and stared at me with her blank expression. Those dark eyes gave me the chills and a sense of crisis came from her. Sadly, the concept of running away was not inside her dictionary, and she jumped directly at the woman.

Bang!

She caught my throat easily and threw me onto the floor then stepped on my big head. She grabbed onto my tail that was lashing around wildly and ignored my claws that attempted to rip her legs apart.

"Oh? And why does this creature need to leave?" (Ozen)

"F-forgive me Ozen-sama..." (Marulk)

"I'll give you some punishment later. But you... Juno, was your name? I'm interested in what exactly you are" (Ozen)

We left the Seekers Camp... no, I was dragged from the Camp by Ozen towards another building.