Chapter 1094 (1/2)

For several embarrassing seconds. Nothing happened.

Randidly continued to drag the tip of his bone spear across the blade, but although the blade itself was long, it wasn’t infinite. Small motes of ash drifted away from his spear that was currently overflowing with the tang of the Grim Chimera but it apparently wasn’t enough. Randidly felt… something from the blade, but it was a dull and fuzzy sensation; this would not be sufficient.

It was Kailm’s chuckle that set Randidly off. He barred his teeth. Fine then, let’s stop playing around. Cursed Appetite of a Wraith.

Normally, Cursed Appetite of the Wraith would pull some attributes from individuals surrounding him. Namely Stamina and Mana, in order to help Randidly recover more quickly than he could independently. Without a body, much of those specific benefits were lost. But, as Randidly had found fighting in the Nether with the support of Salazar, there was a very large benefit to be gathered from using Cursed Appetite of a Wraith on Aether.

His first pull didn’t bring him much; too much of the surrounding air was dominated by the image of heat coming out of the blade in his hand. But the amusement on Kailm’s face instantly disappeared as he felt Randidly’s gentle tug. So Randidly pulled again, harder, spreading his reach to outside of the alcove and tugging at the liquid Aether that was waiting there.

Congratulations! Your Skill Cursed Appetite of a Wraith (L) has grown to Level 255!

It was exceedingly difficult to pull the liquid Aether toward himself. So much so that he barely managed to grip half of a drop even when he threw every bit of attention he could spare behind the Skill.

Yet that little bit came, and instantly Randidly began to burn.

Which was, perhaps, an unfortunate choice of word as his hand continued to be scalded by the presence of the blade. Because the Grim Chimera was not lit on fire by the energy that flooded through it. It just swelled and crackled with sudden power, quite in the same way as Randidly’s Judgement had become ridiculously potent by being fed enough Aether to drown Randidly in it.

With only a small distance left on the blade to go, Randidly shoved his bone spear against the delicate patterns covering the slate grey blade with renewed ferocity and the blade instantly flared angrily to life.

The wave of heat that followed in the wake of the Fate activating was so vicious that this time, Randidly did drop the blade. Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on you looked at it, the same awakening that caused the heat to spike so sharply upward meant that the now cherry-red blade began to float up before Randidly like a furious god about to pass judgment.

Congratulations! Your Skill Fire Resistance has grown to Level 118!

Energy began to concentrate around the blade, clearly indicating that the blade wasn’t going to take this obvious attack laying down. Taking a deep breath, Randidly drew once more with Cursed Appetite of the Wraith and pulled another small drop of Aether toward himself. He shivered in pleasure as it pressed against his skin. The refreshing chill and hidden heat of it was addicting. As it filtered through his body, the slight flickering that had come upon his image with the new advent of the heat ceased.

Growling, the Grim Chimera rose, tall and regal and cloaked with ash and woe. Where it couldn’t cut through the heat it simply pressed it downward, forcing the aura of unending fire backward before the raw, Aether fueled strength it now possessed.

Of course, this was all a front; Randidly was literally burning through his Willpower much more quickly than was intelligent. But he was doing this purposefully, so what was about to happen wouldn’t seem too abrupt.

Why does it always have to be heat, Randidly thought sourly as he regarded the spreading plumes of molten stone around him. But he supposed that eventually, these resistance bonuses would add up. It was just a quite unfortunate reminder of how much he had struggled against Aegiant.

The Grim Chimera and Randidly with it pulled for a fourth time with Cursed Appetite of a Wraith. With his vision starting to spin, Randidly stepped forward and raised his claw against the red blade. It flared even more brilliantly, trying to erode the small advantage that Randidly had seized by relying on the fuel of liquid Aether. A brilliant white light flashed outward.

Randidly’s eyes narrowed. Perfect.

Randidly took another step forward and allowed his body to be baptized in the illogical level of heat. His skin dried and cracked. The pain was back, worse than ever and seemingly everywhere. Then, now targeting an object with legitimate substance and purpose, Randidly grabbed the blade and pulled it into his internal world-

-and promptly doused it with the swirling Nether that he had been furiously stockpiling ever since he had conceived of this plan. His body shook and swayed as he was buffeted internally by the violent reaction between the blade and pool of Nether it was thrust into.

Painfully, Randidly burped out a mouthful of smoke.

Seconds ticked past as Kailm carefully watched Randidly, and Randidly did his best not to simply keel over.

Congratulations! Your Skill FIre Resistance has grown to Level 119!

Kailm seemed genuinely surprised. “You… are you alright?”