Chapter 1079 (2/2)

Hatred blossomed like a crimson flower in Randidly's chest. He hated this feeling of weakness. If there was away to avoid every being forced to feel this weak again... if he could kill everyone who threatened him-

Blurred images of Nether Beasts appeared in Randidly's mind. In these memories, Randidly seemed to be shooting forward through the Nether, barely hanging on to his life. The memories themselves floated fuzzily around in his mind and Randidly regarded them with shock. These memories... where did they come from? But that feeling of weakness… It’s the same...

The memories came to him in sharp fragments. There was darkness and the sensation of manipulating the Nether bubbles to rush out and attack something. The victim was a blur. Then there was a strange moment where a soldier was reaching out and touching Randidly's shoulder, and then the limp and violent form of the Nether Gatekeeper-

”Vualla!” Randidly spat out with every ounce of energy he had been able to muster while sifting through the memories. He sat up quickly, smashing his forehead into the knobby elbow joint of Yggdrasil. With a groan, Randidly collapsed backward as those fragmented moments floated together to give him a picture of what happened.

The 'Randidly-ness' that he possessed had been so strained by utilizing his Willpower beyond his natural capacity that it had cracked. Even now, that exposed flaw was exactly why he was hit with such an unnatural pain out of the blue. The fact that he had been able to continue after that was slightly puzzling, but combing more carefully through his memories provided an answer. It had been the instincts of the Grim Chimera that had carried Vualla forward to try and escape the base of the Nether Gatekeeper while Randidly was out of commission.

Since he was here and in one piece, it appeared that the Grim Chimera had been rather successful. But Randidly had no memory of what happened when they returned to the Aether side.

”She's fine, as far as I can tell,” Yggdrasil said warily. The energy that he was channeling into Randidly slowed to a trickle and then stopped. Yggdrasil creaked as he straightened upward. ”Vualla, I mean. Unfortunately, I was more concerned with getting you back here as quickly as possible than I was with checking in with her status any more seriously than determining that she wasn’t in critical condition.”

”Was I that bad?” Randidly asked with a heavy sigh. Honestly, he could guess what the answer was based on the pain that had just seized him.

”Well yes, but I was more concerned about the energy you were throwing off,” Randidly could hear the smile in Yggdrasil's voice. ”I believe it is a way of instinctively healing the damage you've taken... but you have the distinct scent of Nether wafting off of you currently. Easy to explain just as you return, but as time went on, questions would have been asked.”

Randidly checked his inner area, and sure enough, his two Nether Wells were radiating significant Nether. Most of it was gobbled up by the two cores that continued to try and restore Randidly's exterior to its prior state, but some was no doubt leaking out through the cracks. Whatever sort of thing had been established inside of himself, it had been done completely subconsciously. And Randidly had to admit that he wasn’t the most delicate engineer of these things even at the best of times.

Especially without the Skills of the main body.

Randidly both tightened his control over the Nether Wells and created more powerful currents of Nether in his core to control the energy. It wasn’t a long term solution, but it would at least reduce the amount of Nether that he was producing.

Such actions, of course, earned him a sharp spike of pain from his persistent headache.

”Plus,” Yggdrasil continued cheerily. ”You were only a few seconds away from having enough Nether in your body to reach three stars. So I wanted to get you away from Commander Terith before that happened. Too many shocks in one day is dangerous for a man his age; you should have seen his face when you and Vualla appeared.”

Again, with trepidation, Randidly turned his attention inward and discovered that Yggdrasil had been telling the truth; a third star had already formed inside of himself. Perhaps even more shocking was that a fourth was also halfway done.

However, Randidly discovered something extremely annoying about the new produced core. Perhaps because of his subconscious actions, the third core had recorded a very flawed version of his image. He must have moved it to press it against his bubble during one of his dreams. As such, while two cores were trying to heal himself, the third was working against them and trying to keep everything in its murky state. Which had halved his recovery speed.

Gritting his teeth, Randidly touched the offending core and followed his instincts to completely cleanse it of the terrible image it had imprinted. Instantly, it stopped absorbing Nether to use to affect his bubble. Some internal tension Randidly hadn’t even noticed finally relaxed. Nether began to flow more easily through him. Which made a marked difference in the speed that Randidly felt his image was slowly restoring itself.

”How long until the next mission?” Randidly asked grimly. The healing speed increased, but the image body was only half of the battle; he still needed for his Willpower to recover. And also Randidly needed to find out how gently he needed to treat this cracked psyche that was at his core.

He assumed it would heal, but if he kept ending up in situations where he was forced to use every ounce of his power...

For several seconds, Yggdrasil was silent. The lack of response stretched for so long that even the bleary Randidly opened his eyes and blinked rapidly at the dim light of the tent’s interior. While Randidly tried to get his bearings, Yggdrasil quietly said, ”Two days.”

Two days? But that would mean...

Randidly had an urge to sit up again but quickly suppressed it. ”I don't suppose Lady Iellaya was so moved by my generosity in volunteering that she gave us a day off?”

Yggdrasil's leaves rustled as he shook his head. ”I went into the Great Rift in your stead. After being there, I certainly can't blame you for returning with grievous injuries every time. And we only encountered three Nether Beasts during our stay. Compared to the trials that you have faced...”

Even though it hurt, Randidly forced his body to sit up. Then he turned and regarded Yggdrasil.

Likely earlier, when it had felt like Yggdrasil's healing streams were less powerful than before, it might not have just been context. The current Yggdrasil looked more like a weeping willow with greying leaves than the towering tree that held up the world. It was clear that the image hadn't become any less detailed since Randidly had seen Yggdrasil last, but certainly, it was less vibrant.

Randidly's eyes flashed as he ruminated on the coldly calculating Iellaya. I'll fucking kill that bitch.