Chapter 1072 (2/2)

You have to trust that I have my own concerns… the array isolating me is not a simple thing. It learns every time I escape its clutches to contact you. Theoretically, enough of these contacts will mean I am completely bound. Then you guys out there will need to break me out directly without any assistance from me.

Randidly could sense the truth of the main body’s words in that brief contact. So he shelved his resentment and rage and focused instead on handling the surging tide of information. Very quickly, Randidly realized that the strength of willpower wasn’t coming from the main body; the main body could simply provide him a haven of ‘self’ so he wasn’t born away by the flood of information. From that safe haven, it was much easier for Randidly to leverage his own power to channel the forces that were flowing through him.

Randidly’s awareness of the surrounding area had grown so quickly that he knew too much about the Great Rift. On a scale that was useless to an image that was only as large as he was. What was even stranger was that Randidly could feel a grand pattern from the aggregate of those minuscule veins of blue. But then the main body grounded Randidly’s focus back to the area where he actually was.

With a heaving groan, Randidly tore his finger away from that thin blue vein. The flood of information stopped. Even though he was an image, Randidly wretched and vomited pale yellow bile out into the Great Rift. It floated downward, slowly beginning to sizzle as the imagined bile was consumed by Nether.

The discussion was briefly halted as the surrounding soldiers looked at him in stunned silence. Even Vualla’s face creased with concern.

Be careful of that Vualla. The Aether around her… it’s extremely strange. And old. And familiar. It might be better… to stay away from her until I am freed to inspect it directly. Right now I can only barely use your senses...

And what happens to my feelings for her until then? Randidly thought bitterly. But just as quickly as that reassuring presence of the main body was there, it was gone.

Sighing, Randidly straightened. He supposed there was no point blaming the main body for struggling with his own issues. Besides, they currently had more important fish to fry. “I found where we want to go. It’s that way.”

Randidly pointed. To his annoyance. It was in the general direction that Kel’ev had pointed, only upward about 45 degrees. They would never have encountered the Nether Wells if they proceeded in the direction Kel’ev had indicated, but Randidly would have been much more satisfied if the direction they needed to go was exactly in the opposite direction.

“Then let’s head out,” Vualla said shortly. Randidly was surprised how much relief and warmth flowed into him as she immediately trusted him. Then Vualla sent a sharp glance toward Kel’ev when the tall man opened his mouth to say something else. “We don’t have much choice now, do we? They will begin blinking closer soon. So move out. Speed over stealth, at this point.”

Although it was clear that several of the soldiers were skeptical, they followed orders quickly. The group began to shoot in the direction that Randidly indicates, covered loosely by Vualla’s image but mostly focused on simply plowing forward through the Nether like a sailboat looking to outrun a storm.

Randidly brought up the rear, furiously struggling as much as possible to keep up with the rest of them. In this area, it was quite clear to him that having a body was an immense advantage for moving in the Great Rift. So violent were his struggles was that he earned two Skill Levels in Monstrosity’s Appalling Physicality as he pushed his body far beyond its usual limits to keep up with the group.

Very quickly, Nether Beasts began popping up. Which also taught Randidly what Vualla had meant by blinking. One moment there was nothing, and Randidly’s Nether Sensation felt that enemies were quite a ways off. Then in the next moment, five or six Nether Beasts were right there, roaring at them from the side and approaching with their claws raised.

During the first of these brief ambushes, Randidly had hardly noticed the Nether Beasts’ arrival before a few of the soldiers diverted from the center and exploded out with their own various dominant image. With a workman-like efficiency, small groups of Vualla’s subordinates butchered these Nether Beasts that Randidly inwardly acknowledged that he would struggle against.

Then they would return to the rapid procession, easily overtaking Randidly’s own speed to rejoin the group formation. In terms of capability, they didn’t approach Vualla’s ominous supremacy, but they were still more powerful than Randidly’s main body.

All the while, Randidly continued to push himself. Nether Sensation’s Skill Level continued to quietly tick upward to Level 27. After all, these are the cream of all of the worlds underneath the Nexus. Even if this is just one of many camps on many frontlines, this level of power is nothing special.

Which means I need to start improving much more quickly than I have been thus far. Otherwise, I will never make a difference. I’ll never be able to save Earth from what is to come.

But although the power of their group was impressive, Randidly’s focus kept going to the Nether Beasts. It irked him that his perception wasn’t able to track their movements. If he could figure out the trick of what they were doing…

Which of course meant Randidly was trying to comprehend Nether. And so far, all he knew was the bubble and the core. These were two important tenants of how Nether behaved, but in context, they were relatively incapable of explaining such rapid movements. Furiously trying to brute force an answer was just giving Randidly a headache.

As they rushed forward along the twisting branches of the blue veins, Vualla spared Randidly a glance. “How much farther?”

Randidly considered that vast map that had been forced into his head when he had touched the blue vein. Even now, it was difficult to struggle with the size of that information and force a realistic scale onto it. “I think… just short of halfway.”

“Fuck,” one of the soldiers muttered.

Vualla nodded grimly. “Yea, that’s what I figured. Alright boys, look sharp. It’s about time the real party starts.”

Frowning, Randidly opened his mouth to ask what they were talking about, but then he felt it.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 28!

“An army’s coming,” Randidly said. Even he was somewhat floored by the veritable flood of Nether Beasts that suddenly seemed to surround them. They were one drop of substance and image in a sea of darkness.

Vualla just smiled. “Welcome to the front, Randidly Ghosthound. Don’t lag behind.”