Chapter 1104 (2/2)
“Yes,” Alana said simply.
“The Nexus has the power of countless worlds.” The Dragon Broodmother showed teeth as long and thick as dolphins. “Numerous ‘heroes’ have been devoured by the Nexus. My world has already been trampled beneath its Calamities. It is very likely that this supposed God of which you speak will end up the same way.”
“Even so,” Alana whispered. Just like she had realized abruptly how powerful images were when she saw Randidly use them, another facet of Randidly’s magnetism became clear to her as she watched the light in the Dragon Broodmother’s eyes.
He was someone whose existence became synonymous with hope.
The Dragon Broodmother was silent for a long time. Snow drifted down around them and settled on the rocky ground still stained with the Dragon Broodmother’s crimson blood. As Alana’s golden light faded, it was the only splash of color on the whitewashed summit. During this time, Alana gaze remained on the slow coursing of blood down from the Dragon Broodmother and counted how many Dragons over Level 60 were surrounding her.
Fifty-four. There are fifty-four of them. But at least this gives me some time to regenerate Mana…
Finally, the Dragon Broodmother opened its mouth again. “You… what is the name of this god?”
Alana’s face twisted. Calling him a god is a bit…
But still, she opened her mouth to speak. “His name is Randidly Ghosthound.”
Congratulations! Your Skill The First Sermon of Alaihym: The Shadow of a Distant God (L) has grown to Level 3!
Congratulations! Your Skill The First Sermon of Alaihym: The Shadow of a Distant God (L) has grown to Level 4!
Congratulations! Your Skill The First Sermon of Alaihym: The Shadow of a Distant God (L) has grown to Level 5!
Congratulations! Your Skill The First Sermon of Alaihym: The Shadow of a Distant God (L) has grown to Level 6!
Congratulations! Your Skill The First Sermon of Alaihym: The Shadow of a Distant God (L) has grown to Level 7!
Congratulations! Your Skill The First Sermon of Alaihym: The Shadow of a Distant God (L) has grown to Level 8!
Congratulations! Your Skill The First Sermon of Alaihym: The Shadow of a Distant God (L) has grown to Level 9!
“...please, tell us more about this Ghosthound.” The Dragon Broodmother’s expression was troubled enough that Alana could recognize it even on the gargantuan, reptilian face.
So, feeling strangely foolish to be talking to so many Dragons, Alana began to relate what she knew about Randidly Ghosthound.
Then, when she finished. The Dragon Broodmother bent its neck and allowed Alana to mount it once more.
*****
Randidly closed the Nether Ritual feeling profoundly embarrassed. Technically Alana was talking about the exploits of the main body, but still…
Shaking his head, Randidly turned to look at his work on the ivory lock and his jaw dropped at what he saw. In disbelief, he reached forward and touched the lock. This… doesn’t it look like it’s almost one-third of the way through the lock? I shouldn’t have used any of the refined Nether to reduce it, so why…
After a bit of hesitation, Randidly checked his swirling stock of refined Nether, and none was missing. Then Randidly pressed some addition Nether against the lock and witnessed as the lock barely decreased underneath the assault, as he had expected.
So he leaned back on his heel and racked his mind. What had suddenly accelerated his depletion of the lock while he was focused on the Nether RItual? A couple of days had passed in this time while he was fixated on Alana, but that was nowhere near enough to explain the sudden difference in the lock’s corrosion.
Randidly spent a few more hours searching his mind for ideas, but it wasn’t like there was an obvious answer. He could only reluctantly assumed that his instincts had perhaps found a weakness in the lock while he wasn’t focused upon it. Yet that explanation seemed profoundly insufficient to deal with the magnitude of the change he noticed.
Randidly had perhaps depleted 1% of the ivory lock before this. Now suddenly he had pierced through 30%. That acceleration was ridiculous with such a flimsy explanation.
But Randidly knew that part of his fixation with this new problem was simply a way of not thinking about what Alana was doing right now on Earth.
What will change if these monsters listen to stories about me? Randidly wondered. I mean, it’s not a bad thing if more people directly confront the fact that we are being used by the System. No matter how skilled we get at dancing their tune, we will never evolve beyond their sick dance if we don’t try and understand broadly why these things are happening.
Shaking his head, Randidly settled back down. Now that he had a taste, Randidly was curious how other things were going on Earth. Some part of him considered choosing Helen next, but Randidly somehow understood that there was a significant chance that she would just be fighting or training. Despite her influence over his Order Ducis, she wasn’t someone to look at to understand broader trends.
So this time when Randidly fired up the Nether Ritual, he bit his lip and focused on Miranda Hamilton.