Chapter 1062 (1/2)

In such a short amount of time, there was only so much that Randidly could do to repair the damage to his image. Not that he had experienced any truly dangerous wounds in the short and violent fight, but he had gotten so caught up in the heat of battle that he had directly exposed himself to the dense cores of Nether much more often than was necessary. Emotions had gotten the better of him after his last boring sortie into the Great Rift.

It was only light, superficial damage as he punctured and popped the bodies of the Nether Beasts, but it added up. And, as always in the Great Rift, this was ultimately an endurance contest. It wasn’t enough to just defeat these foes, but there was also the reinforcements and the environment itself that he would need to cope with.

Randidly shook his head roughly, trying to dislodge the distracting thoughts. Even if the healing he could accomplish was small, he needed to give the process his entire attention. That was how he would survive.

And to the Grim Chimera, survival was everything.

Finally a foe worth fighting too… Randidly shivered in excitement before allowing everything else to fall away but the form of the Grim Chimera that hovered before his eyes. As before, the faint echo of the original image that was used by the main body could be faintly perceived. There were an increasing number of things that were different about his current form to the main body’s image, but that didn’t bother Randidly too much. In fact, Randidly believed that a lot of the changes he had main since splitting off from the main body were improvements.

What he was looking for was potency. The specific details didn’t matter so much as the fact that there were details associated with the image. Heaviness, reality, and weight were the touchstones of his refinement. And Randidly was proud of his work.

After so many sorties into the Nether, the skin of the Grim Chimera had taken on an extremely sickly quality. It had always been rather grey with large, flaking chunks, but now there were thick black veins pulsing visibly across his torso and arms. As his skin visibly paled and thinned, the tenacity of the image actually strengthened his resistance to the Nether. But it did mean that the shuddering movements of his internal organs were partially visible.

Still, Vualla didn’t seem to mind.

Shaking his head in irritation at the sudden distraction, Randidly once more banished the thoughts and focused his attention inward. Then, as an afterthought, he checked the approach of the Nether Well with Nether Sensation. Probably two more minutes. Time enough for a few small things, stay focused Randidly.

Salazar’s image was almost completely devoured by the Great Rift, but Randidly couldn’t deny that some of the low thrum of pain from Nether was starting to grow on him. Just like the Eidolon Reign, it was a constant grind that would force him to grow stronger. Even if it was uncomfortable, that sensation of growth was enough to keep him addicted.

And he would need it. Just feeling the weight of the Nether Well against his senses caused Randidly to shiver in a mixture of anticipation and dread. These were fundamentally different beings than the Nether Beasts, that was clear. Rather than a monster that fought and killed in the Nether, these Nether wells seemed to be the pillars that held the Great Rift up. And it didn’t escape Randidly’s notice that this was the foe that so destroyed the camp of Vualla’s father-

You can be afraid most of the time, but if you claim to be alive you cannot be afraid all of the time.

Randidly gritted his teeth. “I’m not fucking afraid.”

Both Salazar turned to look at him. Nether hissed idly at the skin of each as they both watched him with wide eyes.

Randidly scratched his chin with his neck tail and tried to think of something to break the silence. “...the Nether Well is gonna arrive soon. Get ready for battle. I’ll engage first, Zauna follow up and see if you can figure out its weak point. If you see a chance, hit hard. Salazar… I suppose… you can continue your story where you previously left off…”

Salazar brightened immediately, but then it tilted its head to the side and looked at Randidly curiously. “Don’t they say that the first person to engage a Nether Well usually dies?”

Chewing on the inside of his cheek, Randidly considered Salazar. “Do they say that? I haven’t heard much about Nether Wells.”

“...they do…!” Zauna whispered with remarkable volume.

Randidly looked at her and chuckled when he saw her stoic expression. This woman… maybe she and Abiodun have more in common than just their race. Bloodthirsty fuckers. “So I suppose what you are saying is that you think I shouldn’t engage first? Are you volunteering?”

“Yes,” Zauna said.

“Denied.” Randidly shook his head. “This one is mine. You can fight the next Nether Well we fight, alright?”

From her stance, it was clear that Zauna didn’t agree with his decision. But she kept her mouth shut, simply expressing her significant volume of displeasure from a dead stare from her flickering eyes. She, at least, was much easier to handle than the snakeman and his unpredictable behavior.

Chuckling again, Randidly turned away and looked out into the darkness. “Thirty seconds. Salazar? Get started with that story, will ya?”

“A-ah! Oh, ahem. W-where was I?” Salazar looked at Randidly and Zauna as though he actually wanted an answer.

Randidly cleared his throat meaningfully as Salazar continued to remain silent. “Twenty seconds.”

“O-oh, I suppose just picking up anywhere would be fine… so a-as I w-was saying, I was born and the v-volcano underneath my mother erupted in an explosion of molten-metal glory, heralding my arrival…”

Randidly gritted his teeth to ignore the constant drivel from Salazar, but that struggle only lasted a moment. For the next moment, he saw the approach of the Nether Well.

Unlike the horrid and strange creatures he had encountered thus far, this was bright. At first, Randidly believed that it was something akin to the personification of the blue veins of the Great Rift, but then he realized that it was just that the Nether Well had the veins chasing after it like a school of fish hiding in the shadow of a whale.

It was also bright. There was a piercing light to it that seemed to appear so suddenly and abruptly in the vast emptiness that Randidly couldn’t help but blink in shock. It wasn’t light, not quite. But Randidly supposed that it was the closest Nether had to light.