News of the Abyss's closure initially circulated only within the relevant departments, but other departments gradually learned of it as well. After all, the impact of the Abyss's closure was simply too great.
Abyssal Iron had existed for so many years that the public was not completely ignorant of it. People knew more or less about it, and they had guessed some things from the authorities' recent actions.
Thus, on the eightieth anniversary of the Abyss invasion, the authorities made a decision:
They would make the news of the Abyss's closure public.
This was no small matter. The Abyss had existed in this world for a full eighty years. It had affected an entire era, changed the thinking of more than one generation, and shaped modern humanity's understanding of the world around the existence of the Abyss. People valued the Abyss and regarded it as an important part of their lives.
Some had aspired to become hunters since childhood, while others had dreamed of becoming Relic Researchers. The Abyss had not only influenced the world—it had also touched the hearts of many people.
Moreover, the Abyss had formed deep ties with humanity, ties that were difficult to sever all at once.
"What about my family in the Abyss? Can't they come back?"
"How are the hunters who still haven't returned supposed to come back?"
"The Abyss has been sealed. Are we just abandoning them?"
"..."
The Abyss's closure had not been impossible to foresee. During the final years when Abyssal Iron was sealing the entrances, the authorities had notified every Monitoring Station beneath the Abyss in advance, urging anyone who wished to return to the surface to do so quickly. Yet there were still some who had not received the notice, as well as those who chose to wait and