Chapter 1121 (1/2)
“WHAT!” Cail Tweocs bellowed. Faster than Yggdrasil believed possible, Cail was sudden right in front of the pod, reaching in and feeling around inside of it. Despite the horrifying speed that Cail displayed, it was somewhat amusing to see him so frantically searching the pod for the main body, as though it was simply hiding in a nook.
After an intense minute, Cail took a step backward. His face was contorted with fury and Yggdrasil could see his worm-like veins wriggling in his forehead. His hands were pale, hairless claws and his fingers wiggled ineffectually like luminescent, pale worms. Luckily, all of that anger was not directed toward Yggdrasil.
“You imbecile.” Cail Tweocs hissed as he rounded on Lord Miln. In a way that made the frost between Lady Iellaya and Lord Miln look like a melting ice cube, the entire tent was plunged into an artic glacier. Yggdrasil barely was able to move while the fury of Cail was on full display. “How could you allow this to happen? My investment-”
“Mr. Tweocs, please.” Lord Miln raised his hands. “This should be impossible. Besides, can we not simply recover his body? How can he escape your esteemed capture? And I hope this doesn’t mean our other deal is off the table…”
“We CANNOT simply capture him once more.” Cail Tweocs eyes were twitching as his high pitched voice wavered wildly. Jabbing his finger toward Lord Miln’s chest, he stalked forward. “The temporary punishment as a heretic divested him of his rights as one who possesses the qualifications for Tier I citizenship, but as soon as he recovered his body those rights-”
Cail Tweocs paused and hissed through his teeth. Then he straightened and adjusted his cloak. Instantly, the fury was gone. He calmly turned and regarded Lady Iellaya, Abiodun, and Yggdrasil. “Leave. Now.”
Lady Iellaya put her hand on Yggdrasil’s shoulder, bowed, and then hurried the trio out of the tent before they heard something that would mean Cail Tweocs was willing to kill them. But Yggdrasil believed that they had heard more than enough already for it to have been worth it to be there.
But it was only when they were out of the small tent that Yggdrasil realized how powerful Cail Tweocs truly was and the knife-edge along which they had walked; after leaving his presence it felt like Yggdrasil could finally breathe again.
“You were right about your body, and likely the other image,” Lady Iellaya said quietly. Chewing on her lip, she studied Yggdrasil. “Apologies for doubting you.”
Yggdrasil shrugged. “I can understand why you didn’t believe me. Because what I was saying didn’t make sense. But that is just who Randidly Ghosthound is. That’s why we are the ones that can give you the Class you are seeking.”
With a rare genuine smile, Lady Iellaya nodded. Then her expression shifted to something more serious. “Now, where is your main body? They seemed angry, but I believe what Mister Tweocs was saying is correct… once a Heretic has recovered his physical body, the punishment portion of the stay on the front lines has been ‘served’. If we begin working on the Class now, do you think you can have it finished before the main force of the Nether King arrives?”
Awkwardly scratching his face, Yggdrasil could only say. “Well…”
The two regarded him with heads tilted to the side as Yggdrasil shifted awkwardly side to side. Then Abiodun released a barking laugh. “...you are saying that you also don’t know where your physical body is? Truly, a troublesome individual we’ve involved herself with.”
“It’s not like I don’t have any ideas where he might be,” Yggdrasil winced. “The main body… but especially the Grim Chimera image… has an extremely bad habit of… running directly toward the most dangerous place. An old habit that we’ve never really been able to shake. So if I had to guess…”
They were walking down a stone path from the headquarters toward the front of the battlefield, but Lady Iellaya stopped abruptly and stared at Yggdrasil. “The most dangerous place? I hope you don’t mean-”
“Yes,” Yggdrasil sighed and raised a branch to point directly forward. “I suspect… that the main body has disguised itself and is now a part of the Nether King’s army.”
“But how?” Lady Iellaya hissed.
Yggdrasil could only use his verdant canopy to shrug.
After a split second of stillness, all three turned and hurried down toward the chaotic battlefield below them.
*****
Vualla roared in fury and raised her hand as the Nether Gatekeeper lashed at her with one of its deadly tails. Her image of destruction condensed into a hard core and smashed into the tail, but Vualla was still knocked several steps backward. Without setting her stance correctly, coping with the Nether Gatekeeper was a struggle.
In that opening, two lesser Nether Beasts about the four-star level ambushed Vualla from behind. With a single backhand, she shattered their bodies and cores, but it gave the Nether Gatekeeper the space to take another few steps forward and followed up with another whip-like strike with two more of its tails.
Groaning, Vualla forced herself to hastily stop and raise her heavy gauntlets. This time, her defense was strong enough that she didn't take a step back. But as she panted and lowered her arms, Vualla was stricken to see that the Nether Gatekeeper had finally pushed Vualla back enough to step through the iron barricades; Nether Beasts began to swarm around it to attack the forces of Aether that had been able to huddle behind them.
When Vualla had originally arrived at the battlefield almost fifteen minutes ago, she had built enough momentum and image with her descent to the location that she had struck the Nether Gatekeeper and smashed him backward out of the rupture in the iron barricades. The Nether Gatekeeper’s body was thrown back and crashed into one of the floating islands caused by the Great Rift’s invasion. Stone and rock rained downward, burying the Nether Gatekeeper completely.
Using that opportunity, the forces of Aether rallied and rapidly slaughtered all of the Nether Beasts that had made it through the gap before Vualla had arrived and plugged it up. But she knew that it was only a temporary thing. Her blow hadn’t been enough to deal serious damage to the Nether Gatekeeper, only surprise it.
And after the floating pillar of rock collapsed to the ground, it only took a few seconds for the Nether Gatekeeper to rip apart the surrounding ground and stand back up. Its eyes tight with fury, it began to stride purposefully forward toward Vualla. Lashing the surrounding ground with its tails, it made its intent extremely obvious.