Chapter 1075 (1/2)

After studying Vualla’s overly bright expression for several seconds, Randidly turned around and reached for that dense plane of Nether balanced perfect in the halo of blue veins. It took a few tries to focus his Grim Intuition due to accumulated Nether, but Randidly used all of his Willpower to force his Skills to activate.

“No, if you do this now, the Nether Gatekeeper will proceed here directly.” Kel’ev’s eyes were very wide and white. “You have a role to play, Vualla. If you die here, how-”

“If you cared about my life, we wouldn’t have had to be here,” Vualla chuckled darkly.

Kel’ev balled his hands into fists. “How could I have known you wouldn’t back down? You backed down before; how could this time be any different?”

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 29!

Randidly’s senses spread outward toward the portal in front of him. It was clear that it wasn’t possible to simply walk forward and see the Nether Wells, but with Randidly’s ability to sense Nether it shouldn’t be impossible to make his way through. His delicate touch traced the lines of the blue veins, looking for patterns and shapes.

Vualla didn’t bother to answer. She simply began to gather her power to herself. Kel’ev was twitching now, but he remained silent as Randidly continued to work. What was much more persistently distracting is the cracking reverberations of Vualla’s image that she steadily released.

Whatever she was preparing, it would be big. Very big.

Even with those distractions, after feeling out the surrounding area for a short amount of time, Randidly found the key he was looking for. The dense panes of Nether slid easily sideways, revealing the hidden realm that was positively filled with Nether Wells. In fact, they were packed in so tightly in that area of bent space that the blast of rich Nether that rolled outward knocked Randidly several steps backward.

This Nether seemed to have slowly gathered and stewed for quite some time. The potency of it was staggering. Randidly’s unprepared bubbles from his stars were overwhelmed and his image body was forced to endure much of the Nether directly. But still, Randidly struggled to gather himself and keep his gaze forward.

Randidly’s gaze was solemn as he quickly used Nether Sensation to spread out his perception. Although he couldn’t be sure due to the constant interplay between the Nether Wells, he counted at least six hundred in a quick scan. Six hundred Nether Wells roaring at full capacity in a veritable sea of Nether.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 30!

But Vualla was there to step forward past him and face the onslaught as Randidly was forced continually backward.

“One last punch for all the marbles,” Vualla whispered quietly as she moved past Randidly. She looked at him and smiled, almost sadly. Her eyes were so blue and pure they bit into him like a clear sky on a freezing cold day. Randidly to say something in response, but he was forced another step backward as wave after wave of Nether crashed against him.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Acclimation ® has grown to Level 135!

In the next moment, Randidly was knocked even further back as the concussive force of whatever monstrous image that Vualla threw forward smashed into hundreds of Nether Wells. For several seconds, even Randidly’s Grim Intuition wasn’t able to pierce through the chaotic conflict of energies to see how the clash was proceeding. There was only a horrible grinding noise, so viciously loud and all-consuming that even a fuzzy minded Randidly had to grit his teeth in pain.

Perhaps even more embarrassing for Randidly was the fact that the fluctuations of energy were more than enough to addle his already weakened image body. If he had to do much more fighting…

Then the light winked out. Vualla crumpled from a standing posture to a heap so suddenly that Randidly didn’t even have time to respond. But just as he was about to run to her side, his eyes were pulled upward by a shifting movement in the chasm of dense Nether in front of them.

Although Vualla had decimated the Nether Wells,, she hadn’t been able to completely destroy them. Two whirling discs of light slid forward, weaving between each other as the aimed toward Vualla’s limp body.

Randidly moved without thinking toward the first Nether Well, his eyes burning. He steadying himself and tried to calculate how quickly he would need to move in order to block both of the approaching Nebula.

Luckily, Kel’ev moved with a roar toward the right one. “YOU CANNOT DIE *)*(@*##!”

The sudden string of gibberish where the System would generally translate tugged at Randidly’s attention, but he just as quickly shoved it to the side. It could wait. Instead, Randidly braced himself as this Nether Well crashed into his chest and slid just as easily past his defenses. As the other one had, it immediately nestled up against his core and began to pump out Nether into his body.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blur of light and Kel’ev’s body twisted and grew. But then his focus shot down to the problematic Nether Well in his chest.

It burned against his will as he reached out toward it, but Randidly ignored the worst of the pain with a stoic sort of determination that he had learned from Shal’s harsh lessons. His two cores swirled down to surround the Nether Well, suppressing its Nether production by a significant amount. Then his hand alighted upon the fragile substance of that core nebula that was a portal into the negative energy.

I know, it’s hard to be alone. But you cannot just destroy.

‘We are not alone! We are one! All of us are connected!’ The Nether Well screamed ineffectually. But Randidly ignored its words and brought his will to bear against it. He tightened the seal.