Chapter 1094 (2/2)

“Yep,” Randidly growled, breathing out another plume of smoke with his statement.

“Hmmmm…” Kailm studied Randidly carefully. As the two figures regarded one another, the column of lava that the blade had been floating in collapsed, hardening to stone and metal. The image of heat rapidly dissipated and soon liquid Aether flowed back into the alcove, progressively immersing them.

Congratulations! Your Skill FIre Resistance has grown to Level 120!

Congratulations! Your Skill Pain Resistance has grown to Level 114!

Wincing, Randidly loosened the control he had over his Nether Wells even further. The sword in his chest seemed to have realized the dire situation it was thrust into and it began to burn even more furiously. It had lightened from red to orange and was now approaching yellow. In terms of pain, Randidly had no more useful words to describe what he was experiencing.

It just fucking hurt. His jaw was numb from clenching.

“So, I suppose you’ve swallowed our daughter’s image,” Kailm said drily as he continued to study Randidly. “Congratulations.”

“It, uh, isn’t quite complete.” Randidly snorted out a breath black smog as he modestly denied his success. Or rather, accurately depicted his current continued struggle.

“Yea, well, you haven’t died yet.” For a split second, Kailm’s face split in a smile that was warm and shining. The years seemed to fade away, and suddenly he was just another beaming father. “She takes after me, you know. No patience. If she hasn’t turned ya to kindling yet, you have a fair shot of actually incorporating her into your image.”

Then the smile faded and Kailm regressed to the wrinkled old guard that had a deftness with images that Randidly dearly wanted. Yet Randidly kept his tongue still, unwilling to offend Kailm at the moment. After all, his words made it clear that Kailm was aware that Randidly didn’t necessarily manage to subdue the image from the blade by playing fair. But from the way he spoke, it was also clear that Kailm didn’t care very much.

This was sufficient to satisfy the ultimatum.

Unfortunately, that didn’t mean that Randidly’s situation was a good one. The blade in his chest brightened further to release a white light that seemed to sear Randidly’s internal image with its light. His cores were furiously working to heal the damage dealt to his image body but was only a fraction of the power of those iridescent rays.

Luckily, the flood of Nether Randidly was now pumping on top of the sword seemed to be doing the trick. Finally, the light was fading away from the blade.

Congratulations! Your Skill Fire Resistance has grown to Level 121!

Still fucking painful though. Randidly huffed out a breath. The smoke this time was blessedly more thin and grey. With great care, he turned and began to set one foot in front of the other to cross the alcove toward the opening into the broader tunnel. Randidly kept his spine straight and moved with purpose across the room that was now thick with liquid Aether.

Learning from his prior experience, Randidly used Cursed Appetite of the Wraith every few steps to fill his body with strength once more. He was somewhat sour that it seemed that he was reliant on this method now that he had started enduring this way, but it was too late to back down. Besides, each use of the Skill made his image heavy and solid in front of Kailm’s watchful eyes.

Even if just to hide weakness, it was definitely worth it.

Unfortunately, Randidly still moved at a snail’s pace through the liquid Aether. It was simply difficult to force his image there the extremely dense Aether. Randidly’s eyes never left Kailm’s. But I’m not fucking asking for help from this asshole.

After a full minute, Randidly had managed to cross the room and passed Kailm. But as he did so, Kailm spoke softly. “Wait.”

Randidly turned and raised an eyebrow at Kailm, but as he did so, a low rumbled was conveyed through the stone ground to him. With a vicious roar, the tunnel outside of the alcove was suddenly filled with tumbling Fates. The sound of their collisions with each other and the stone walls left Randidly wide-eyed.

After a few seconds, the current of Aether carried them all away. A few remnant Fates drifted idly past.

Kailm patted Randidly’s shoulder. “Take your time making it back to the surface. You have to pick a second Fate, right? No rush.”

Then he disappeared, leaving Randidly alone in the deep depths of the armory.