Manga
Description
On a remote island surrounded by the southern sea, a massive, mysterious pit known as the Abyss descends into the earth. Its exact depth is unknown, but it is estimated to be at least 20,000 meters deep and is divided into six known layers, with a rumored seventh at the very bottom. For nearly two thousand years, the Abyss has drawn people to its edge, fascinated by the ancient relics and remnants of a lost civilization scattered throughout its depths. These adventurers, known as Delvers, have built the town of Orth at the edge of the pit. The greatest danger of the Abyss is not its hostile creatures or treacherous terrain, but the Curse of the Abyss, a phenomenon that inflicts increasingly severe symptoms upon anyone who ascends more than ten meters. In the upper layers, this causes dizziness and nausea, but in the fourth layer, it leads to intense pain and bleeding from every orifice. The fifth layer brings loss of consciousness and self-mutilation, while ascending from the sixth layer results in the complete loss of humanity or death.
The story follows Riko, an orphan living in Orth who dreams of becoming a legendary Delver like her mother, the White Whistle known as Lyza the Annihilator. Riko holds the rank of Red Whistle, the lowest apprentice level. During an expedition in the Abyss's first layer, she discovers a mysterious boy-shaped robot lying unconscious. The robot has no memory of who he is or where he came from, but his mechanical arms can extend up to forty meters and can unleash a powerful incineration cannon called the Firepunch. Riko names him Reg and brings him to the surface.
Soon after, a message from Lyza arrives from the depths of the Abyss, telling Riko to come find her at the bottom, at the bottom of the netherworld. Along with a sketch of a figure that closely resembles Reg, the message compels Riko to leave immediately despite knowing that the journey into the deepest layers means she will never be able to return to the surface. Together with Reg, she descends into the Abyss.
On the second layer, they encounter Ozen the Unmovable, another White Whistle Delver who operates a monitoring base. Ozen reveals the truth about Riko's birth: she was stillborn in the Abyss and revived using a first-class relic called the Curse-Warding Box. Ozen then subjects the pair to a brutal ten-day survival test to prepare them for the horrors ahead. After completing the training, Ozen gives Riko her mother's Blaze Reap, a powerful pickaxe-like weapon, and the two continue their descent.
In the fourth layer, Riko is poisoned by a venomous creature called the Orb Piercer. When Reg carries her upward to escape, the ascent triggers the fourth layer's curse, causing Riko to hemorrhage from every orifice. They are saved by Nanachi, a rabbit-like humanoid creature with soft fur and a pleasant scent. Nanachi is a Narehate, a being who underwent the Curse of the Abyss but survived, transformed. As Riko recovers, Nanachi reveals her tragic past. She and her friend Mitty were orphan children taken to the fifth layer by Bondrewd the Dawn, a White Whistle scientist. In his experiments on ascending from the sixth layer, Nanachi received the Blessing of the Abyss, gaining enhanced senses and physical changes, while Mitty absorbed the full curse and became an immortal, disfigured blob of flesh that could not die. After escaping with Mitty, Nanachi searched for a way to end her friend's suffering. Reg agrees to help, and using his Firepunch, he finally destroys Mitty. Grieving but freed, Nanachi joins Riko and Reg on their journey.
The party reaches the fifth layer, where Bondrewd resides in his forward operating base, the only known passage to the sixth layer. Bondrewd is a charismatic yet utterly amoral scientist who has used the curse to conduct horrific experiments on children, including turning them into cartridges to mitigate the curse's effects. He has also achieved a form of immortality by transferring his consciousness into other bodies. His adoptive daughter, Prushka, befriends Riko and dreams of becoming a White Whistle. In a desperate battle, Bondrewd mortally wounds Prushka, but her dying wish allows her to transform into Riko's White Whistle, a life-giving relic. With Prushka's sacrifice, the trio manages to defeat Bondrewd's main body and escape into the sixth layer.
In the sixth layer, they discover Iruburu, the Village of the Hollows, a strange community of Narehate ruled by a being called Faputa, the Princess of the Hollows. Faputa has four arms and speaks with a unique verbal tic. The village was founded by the Ganja Corps, a group of explorers who, trapped and starving, used a powerful relic to consume one of their own and transform into Narehate to survive. Faputa was born from the wish of Iruburu's core to give birth to a child of pure value. Her purpose is to destroy the village and consume everything inside, fulfilling a promise to her mother. After learning the village's tragic history, Riko and Reg help Faputa unleash her destructive rampage, which results in the village's annihilation. Faputa survives and joins the party as they continue their descent toward the bottom of the Abyss, where Lyza waits.
The story follows Riko, an orphan living in Orth who dreams of becoming a legendary Delver like her mother, the White Whistle known as Lyza the Annihilator. Riko holds the rank of Red Whistle, the lowest apprentice level. During an expedition in the Abyss's first layer, she discovers a mysterious boy-shaped robot lying unconscious. The robot has no memory of who he is or where he came from, but his mechanical arms can extend up to forty meters and can unleash a powerful incineration cannon called the Firepunch. Riko names him Reg and brings him to the surface.
Soon after, a message from Lyza arrives from the depths of the Abyss, telling Riko to come find her at the bottom, at the bottom of the netherworld. Along with a sketch of a figure that closely resembles Reg, the message compels Riko to leave immediately despite knowing that the journey into the deepest layers means she will never be able to return to the surface. Together with Reg, she descends into the Abyss.
On the second layer, they encounter Ozen the Unmovable, another White Whistle Delver who operates a monitoring base. Ozen reveals the truth about Riko's birth: she was stillborn in the Abyss and revived using a first-class relic called the Curse-Warding Box. Ozen then subjects the pair to a brutal ten-day survival test to prepare them for the horrors ahead. After completing the training, Ozen gives Riko her mother's Blaze Reap, a powerful pickaxe-like weapon, and the two continue their descent.
In the fourth layer, Riko is poisoned by a venomous creature called the Orb Piercer. When Reg carries her upward to escape, the ascent triggers the fourth layer's curse, causing Riko to hemorrhage from every orifice. They are saved by Nanachi, a rabbit-like humanoid creature with soft fur and a pleasant scent. Nanachi is a Narehate, a being who underwent the Curse of the Abyss but survived, transformed. As Riko recovers, Nanachi reveals her tragic past. She and her friend Mitty were orphan children taken to the fifth layer by Bondrewd the Dawn, a White Whistle scientist. In his experiments on ascending from the sixth layer, Nanachi received the Blessing of the Abyss, gaining enhanced senses and physical changes, while Mitty absorbed the full curse and became an immortal, disfigured blob of flesh that could not die. After escaping with Mitty, Nanachi searched for a way to end her friend's suffering. Reg agrees to help, and using his Firepunch, he finally destroys Mitty. Grieving but freed, Nanachi joins Riko and Reg on their journey.
The party reaches the fifth layer, where Bondrewd resides in his forward operating base, the only known passage to the sixth layer. Bondrewd is a charismatic yet utterly amoral scientist who has used the curse to conduct horrific experiments on children, including turning them into cartridges to mitigate the curse's effects. He has also achieved a form of immortality by transferring his consciousness into other bodies. His adoptive daughter, Prushka, befriends Riko and dreams of becoming a White Whistle. In a desperate battle, Bondrewd mortally wounds Prushka, but her dying wish allows her to transform into Riko's White Whistle, a life-giving relic. With Prushka's sacrifice, the trio manages to defeat Bondrewd's main body and escape into the sixth layer.
In the sixth layer, they discover Iruburu, the Village of the Hollows, a strange community of Narehate ruled by a being called Faputa, the Princess of the Hollows. Faputa has four arms and speaks with a unique verbal tic. The village was founded by the Ganja Corps, a group of explorers who, trapped and starving, used a powerful relic to consume one of their own and transform into Narehate to survive. Faputa was born from the wish of Iruburu's core to give birth to a child of pure value. Her purpose is to destroy the village and consume everything inside, fulfilling a promise to her mother. After learning the village's tragic history, Riko and Reg help Faputa unleash her destructive rampage, which results in the village's annihilation. Faputa survives and joins the party as they continue their descent toward the bottom of the Abyss, where Lyza waits.
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