Chapter 1051 (1/2)

Eventually, Randidly was required to spend a larger and larger portion of his attention on maintaining the Aether around him. The vast expanse of darkness around Randidly continued to loom menacingly above him. The azure veins gleamed to light intermittently according to some series of rules that Randidly couldn’t seem to understand.

Perhaps worst of all, Randidly was becoming extremely bored.

The net of distant Nether monsters continued to slowly circle his location. Even with the strangely stretched time of the Great Rift, Randidly had a horrible sinking feeling that the waiting for the knife would never end. It was a cruel form of torture to leave him stranded here without any comfort or at least the distraction of a good battle.

Which, of course, was infuriating enough of a truth that it reinvigorated Randidly’s efforts to perfect the repairs to the Grim Chimera. The more unlikely his escape seemed, the more that Randidly was determined to prove this Great Rift wrong. But it was difficult to manage both the repairs and his Aether covering perfectly at the same time-

Ssssssssss.

Wincing, Randidly did his best to redistribute the Aether covering as he allowed a small portion to be exposed to the inhospitable surrounding Nether. Because it was rapidly becoming clear that his efforts to stabilize the Aether was just slowing the inevitable; soon, the entirety of his Aether covering would disappear.

Randidly would find himself alone in the Great Rift without any protection. As oddly exciting as that prospect was, the reasonable portion of Randidly’s mind was well aware of how painful such an experience would be.

Rather than allowing it to happen all at once, Randidly opted quickly concentrate the remaining Aether around his head and face and let his limbs handle the lion’s share of the corrosion for the time being. At least in this way, Randidly was prepared for the locations of the sweat-inducing levels of pain.

Aether and Nether truly hate each other… Randidly thought while gritting his teeth. His arms and legs bubbled and twitched as the Nether continued to grind away at his substance. The pain was a slowing growing into a hot white lance into his brain. At least Nether Resistance is continuing to rise. Otherwise, I might just lose my sense of progression at all…

Once more, Randidly resentfully checked that place inside of himself that had suddenly been filled with a ball of Aether earlier. Coughing lightly, Randidly gave that portion of himself a meaningful look. There was no change. Which left Randidly wondering whether the main body couldn’t observe him, or whether the tight ball of Aether was a one time gift only. Perhaps the effort the main body had to expend was much higher than Randidly would have anticipated.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Resistance has grown to Level 111!

Randidly breathed in his nose and out his mouth. The pain continued to grind at his focus, making the necessary repairs he did to his image that much more difficult to do efficiently. Everything was becoming so exhausting. Time slid past in a constant state of strain as Randidly continued to hone himself while constantly working on his arms and legs to keep the new damage from becoming something systemic.

All the while, Randidly felt the Aether around his chest slowly shrinking. Soon, Randidly’s midsection was exposed. Nether burned and sizzled at his skin. Even though the Grim Chimera was a being that was imagined as this cockroach that thrived in hostile environments, the constant damage from Nether was slowly corroding him.

It wasn’t despair that emerged in Randidly’s heart, but a certain sort of exhaustion that stemmed from his very bones. It was like a heavy wet cloak that was draped across his shoulders. Randidly didn’t fear that he would die here. The gritty, violent determination in his chest would brook no word of failure, even now. In fact, his eyes continued to blaze emerald as he prepared to meet the slowly circling batbeasts.

No, rather than that, Randidly felt in his chest a deep melancholy as he floated alone in the Great Rift because this was the Path down which he was leading Kharon. He wanted to teach them how to fight on the edges of existence in order to protect humanity. Which was exactly what Randidly was doing now, and the pain and toil of it made him feel a great deal of guilt toward the tribulations they would need to endure.

There were no bright rewards waiting for Randidly for what he was doing here in the Great Rift.

But someone has to do it. Randidly breathed in and then breathed out, savoring the feeling even if it had no physical meaning. Rather than recharging his mind, he was falling into the familiar habit to ground his mentality.

Don’t lose yourself.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Resistance has grown to Level 113!

Randidly’s eyelid twitched. Had he been so focused on repairs that he missed the Level 112? That certainly didn’t help at all with his peace of mind. It meant that even though Randidly felt that most of his focus was present, the extended period of time he had been working at this was beginning to blunt the edge of his WIllpower.

The edges of Randidly’s mouth turned downward. And he shouldn’t forget that previously, he had completely lost consciousness in his battle against the batbeasts. For all that he had been able to rest, resting here wasn’t what he needed right now.

The Aether around him continued to slowly be worn away by the press of Nether. By now, all but his head felt on fire as Aether and Nether clashed. Chimeric Avoidance and Monstrosity’s Appalling Physicality were doing their best to resist the damage, but it was a tolerance thing. Pain was not a foe that Randidly could fight. And as time continued to move fluidly around him, Randidly lost that last barrier of protection; he was now completely exposed.

In a way, it was better to have no Aether than only a little. Because now his entire focus could handle the problem of coping with the pain from Nether and image repairs. Or at least, that was the idea. Randidly should now have a fair portion of his attention to dedicate to other problems. And yet-

The pain in his arms and legs had grown to the point that Randidly could barely tell that the limbs were there anymore. Rather than any physical shape, what defined them in his mind was the pain.

His chest and head began to sizzle. Randidly’s eyes narrowed in fury and self-hatred. He should be better than this.