Chapter 1127 (2/2)

Abiodun scowled and gestured sharply with his hand for the forces around him to fall backward from the sparse defensive fortifications and be relieved by the reserved troops. Aether soldiers gradually retreated, doing their best not to stumble over the cracked and seething ground of the borderlands.

Seeing the opening that had been created by the heavy bombardment of Nether against the minor fortifications, the Nether Beasts surged forward with their strange limbs flailing. The waves of bodies began to concentrate as they forced their way through the openings in the fortifications.

That damned Miln, Abdioun scowled. Taking half of every camps fortification gear to strengthen the center might protect your ass, but it’s going to get the rest of us killed…

But despite Abiodun’s suspicions that it was a directly crafted attack to expose Lady Iellaya to additional danger, as hers was one of the two most vulnerable camps, it was a reasonable order. The prior attack on the central camp at least made Lord Miln’s theory plausible. So they had no choice but to comply. And now they were forced to accept the fact that their fortifications had gaps in them that the Nether Beasts could use.

The gaps at least funneled the Nether Beasts into densely packed columns, but it was hard to take advantage of that fact when the Nether had opened three vast portals for a vast bombardment of the frontlines. The covering fire made it difficult to mass any attack to cut the dense columns apart. So while Lady Iellaya and Commander Terith dealt with the Nether Gatekeepers maintaining them above, Abiodun was in charge of managing the below.

BOOOOOM!

Could be worse, Abiodun thought with a sigh. Then he returned his vigilant glare at the commander of the Nether forces as both were bound to remain still until the other moved toward the battlefield. The only hope of Lady Iellaya finally actualizing her dreams of becoming one whole entity with all the potential she gathered could be here on the front lines endangering himself pointlessly-

Just as he was thinking that, Abiodun her the strange sound of hooves and turned around. Then he sighed. ...this bastard. But at least his Skill can be used from a distance...

Yet even as Abiodun thought that, Randidly Ghosthound continued boldly forward while riding a strange creature that appeared to be made entirely from roots. Behind him, almost thirty knights riding strange, almost insectoid camels came after him with their leafy spears raised toward the sky. They painted a decidedly farcical picture.

Huge shells of Nether continued to crash into the fractured stone ground of the frontlines, but the entire column that Randidly was leading moved with surprising grace as they winded their way forward. Even as the Nether bombs impacted the ground around them, the group moved as sinuously as a cobra through the dangerous landscape of broken and scorched sandstone. Abiodun was surprised to see that even Randidly’s two attendant images were attached to the end of the column, following along with the same smoothness.

There is a Skill here, Abiodun thought with a frown. A weak one… but Skills that impact the battlefield are relatively rare. Few people utilize one of their finite Skill slots for such an ability. With his Willpower behind it pushing it toward an image…

Yet Abiodun couldn’t help but grow angry as Randidly clearly did not intend to slow down as he approached the Nether Beasts that were scrambling forward through the gaps in the heavy grey fortifications. If something happened to him-

At the very least, the bombardment stops near the Nether Forces. But if he doesn’t turn around soon, he’s going to be smack dab in the middle of the enemy army.

But Randidly did not slow down. If anything, he accelerated, the root beast he was riding launching itself forward as he moved toward the Nether Beasts. And his retinue seemed almost pulled to follow him, accelerating behind in a long, elastic line.

A huge crab Nether Beast at the front of the invading force leapt into the air, its six sharp arms stabbing downward toward Randidly. Slowly, Randidly’s gaze drifted upward toward the thing. Without even missing a beat, Randidly’s arm blurred into motion and the leafy spear he held flicked outward once, twice, four times, six times, knocking every attack harmlessly away.

Which meant that the Nether Beast used that opening as Randidly defended the arms to rip downward with one of its huge claws, aiming to physically crush his body and the weird root mount beneath him. And, just as casually as before, Randidly reached up and deftly grabbed the claw with his metallic left arm.

It was clear that Randidly trembled from the exertion, but he stopped the blow dead. Neither the strength of the beast nor the corrosion of the ambient Nether seemed to slow Randidly down at all. And by the time the crab Nether Beast realized what had happened, that leafy spear Randidly wielded punctured the crab’s shell, shattered its Nether core, then bent and flicked the huge body to the side like it was a deflating balloon.

In a blur of motion, Randidly was gone, moving rapidly forward to cut down Nether Beasts faster than they could realize he was coming for them. He was a reaper of death, leaving broken Nether Beasts and motes of drifting ash in his wake. And his army followed him, finishing off those he left wounded but living.

Abiodun’s expression was serious as he watched Randidly move. In terms of image, the effect is marginal at best… but those movements… his Agility Stat is over 1000. Or he possesses an upgraded version of Agility… and a fucking good one...

His craggy face grew more fractured and hesitant as he watched Randidly Ghosthound move like a ghost among the Nether Beasts. His body twisted and contorted in impossible angles, moving at speeds that left afterimages. But is it truly so simple to have Agility reach that level… while also being able to display that power with his potent root Skill… and also he can create a Class for Lady Iellaya…?

Yet there was no argument quite as convincing as the truth. So Abiodun simply stood still, pinning down a helplessly furious Nether Gatekeeper and witnessing Randidly Ghosthound engaging the beasts in front of him directly.

In terms of the beings below the Nether Gatekeeper tier of strength… Randidly was practically unstoppable. But that missed the point.

If you didn’t have a Nether Gatekeeper to slow him down, Randidly might be able to wipe out the rest of the army all on his own. And that filled Abiodun with a strange sense of fear.