Chapter 346 (2/2)
Randidly studied a small remnant of one. Feeling extremely unsettled, he created a root spear and prodded the hole. Randidly wasn’t able to widen the rip with the object, but that was mostly because that anything that went within the hole was ripped apart by a strange force, and didn’t return. None of that suction extended outside of the rip, however.
Curiously, Randidly flooded the spear with Aether, forming a membrane around it, and prodded it again. Behind him, he sensed Dozer and Decklan approach, followed by a humming Neveah, but ignored them for now.
This time, when he put the spear into the hole, it resisted for a while, before his membrane ripped, and once more the spear was obliterated. Blinking, Randidly sat back on his heels. It was a close thing, but…
Meaning business, Randidly weaved a shield of Aether, taking great care to make the structural integrity his number one priority. It took several minutes before he was confident, and then wrapped it around a near root spear. This went into the spatial rip and held. Randidly kept it there, studying its effects.
It appeared his Aether… was slowly unraveling, under the influence of whatever was in that void. If he focused his will, channeling Aether Manipulation to its limit, he could resist it somewhat, slow it to the point that it didn’t really appear to be happening, but it took a great amount of focus to do so. And to Randidly, that was disturbing.
Because if his stats weren’t enough to do this… there would be effectively no one in this world who would be able to survive it.
Dozer walked up to Randidly and gave him a questioning look, considering the spatial rips.
“These will kill anyone who touches them,” Randidly said bluntly. “Avoid them. But go in, and tell me what you can find.”
Dozer nodded, as if this was the most normal thing in the world, and ducked under one of the rips that Randidly had been studying. Simon and Thea, both on Chrysanthemum’s back, showed up at the base of the tower, staring up with wide eyes. Behind them were the hard and scarred men than made up Dozer’s squad, looking up at the tower with a very unimpressed look on their faces.
Doing his best to even his breathing, Randidly considered his options. There was one month remaining. Probably, even a bit of time after that would still be acceptable without a loss of life. It would take a while for the ambient Aether in people’s bodies, that they had already absorbed, to run out. In that time, someone had to clear the Raid Dungeon.
Randidly’s hands tightened into fists. But if there were more of those spatial holes inside of the Dungeon…. He had lashed out with abandon, just wanting to express his frustration and powerlessness. And it appeared that that instinct… had come back to bite him.
It made him furious. It stunk of the Creature’s twisted smile. And he hated every minute of it.
Dozer returned, his face impassive. “...Aside from being a Lvl 49 Dungeon, pretty simple, with one catch; only one team in at a time, and the team clears the Dungeon or dies. You go in, you better go all the way.”
Randidly hissed. So no scouting the Dungeon before they went into the thick of things. It would mean that if he sent a group into the Dungeon that he wasn’t a part of, they would all be doomed to die if his struggles had left scratches on the inner parts of the Raid Dungeon…
...that were expanding even now…
Growling, Randidly cracked his knuckles. And if he wanted to go into the Dungeon…. he would need to address something else, first.
Warning! You do not currently possess a Class. Please proceed to the nearest Newbie Village and obtain a Class, to obtain access to the Dungeon.
Which, frankly, was extremely repugnant to Randidly. This was not the circumstances, forced by threat of death of the entire Zone, that he wished to obtain a Class. This was not on his own terms, this was dictated by fate.
But what Randidly wondered most of all… was this exactly what the Creature wanted…?