Chapter 1145 (2/2)

He had briefly considered simply jumping down into the vast abyss that surrounded the staircases between floors, but the Nether there was extremely turbulent. If the Nether Ritual was a human body, the staircases gave Randidly a window to the arteries, carrying huge amounts of Nether and pumping it out to the places that needed it.

Nether Modification can handle this, but… Randidly hesitated.

The density wasn’t the issue, it was how quickly the Nether in front of him was moving. If he exposed himself to it, he would likely be able to find the core, but he didn’t want to risk encountering something even more dangerous waiting in that Nether.

Besides, it had barely taken him an hour to reach his current floor by hurrying forward. As long as it didn’t become vastly more difficult as he proceeded downward, Randidly felt confident that he would be able to reach the desired destination.

Of course, is it smart to walk into a test that was probably designed by the Creature? Randidly asked himself quietly. But two facts had him walking forward anyway. The first was the difficulty of the test thus far; maybe he would need to worry about harder trials later, but so far the quality of the Nether opponents didn’t exceed the one-star level. And the second thing was Azriel’s involvement.

Her fate after being drawn into this trap couldn’t be a good one. And that pissed Randidly off in a way he hadn’t felt in a long time.

Creature, if you are responsible for hurting even a hair on her head…!

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 40!

Randidly hit the 32nd Level like a tsunami, gathering the ambient Nether in the air to protect the surface from being flooded with it and using it like a cudgel to smash back the Nether that was eagerly surging forward. The air trembled and the unfortunate guardian that was hiding in wait for him keened in pain.

A split second later Randidly moved past it, releasing a long-held breath and pulling once more at the Nether around him in a tight spiral. Although Randidly didn’t have any Skills that related directly to manipulating Nether, he still felt like-

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Ritual (A) has grown to Level 61!

Even if I don’t have a goal in mind, the ritual is responding to my faith. Randidly reflected as he hurtled forward. Truly… Nether is entirely different than Aether. Just my momentum is enough to bring more and more of it under my control…

And just like that Randidly streaked down like a comment, shooting through the 32nd floor, then the 33rd, then the 36th, then the 39th.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 48!

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Ritual (A) has grown to Level 74!

And just like that, Randidly was taking wide steps down the huge stone staircase that led to the 40th floor, practically gliding over the stone beneath him. A maelstrom of Nether had gathered behind him now, shaking the air and the surrounding stone. And it gave Randidly great pleasure to sense how the chaotic Nether flows around the staircases were growing turbid as he forced this huge mass of Nether deeper down the gullet of this massive ritual that Randidly still hadn’t been able to see the shape of.

Carrying that momentum forward, Randidly crashed into the 41st floor. To his amusement, a modified automaton/ Nether Beast around the two and a half star level leapt out to ambush him.

Chimeric Avoidance.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Avoidance (L) has grown to Level 220!

With extremely quick steps, Randidly swayed his body back and forth. The Nether Beast slashed outward with its claws but he leaned just out of range of the attack. The Beast’s longest claw scratched quietly against Sulfur, and then Randidly was past it. He planted his foot on its back and exploded with force.

So fucking weird that they look like Skills...

Chiming angrily, the Nether Beast could only tumble forward as Randidly accelerated beyond it and proceeded even deeper into the Hell Labyrinth. Just like the thirties, the forties were gone in a blur, leaving Randidly blowing past a foe that was just short of the three-star tier of strength for the Nether Beasts and proceeding to the long staircase beyond.

Yet here Randidly paused, standing at the top of the threshold to the staircase, allowing the river of Nether that he was leading deeper to surge around and past him while he studied what was waiting for him below.

Unlike the previously staircases that led forward, the staircase he found here was a spiral staircase that led downward in a tight orbit. Yet what stopped Randidly cold was the tight coils of Nether that surged downward around the staircase. They were the same, if not greater, in size than the amount of Nether that Randidly had gathered surging down here.

And as there were ten of them and only one of Randidly’s flows, they rapidly ground down the Nether that he had gathered to nothing. It continued to flow from behind him, following its previous momentum, but it was easily devoured and repurposed into the vast flows of this place. Randidly’s mouth firmed into a line as he looked down over to the small platform that waited below as floor 50.

Even from here, he could see her familiar figure, wearing the guise of Lyra and staring up at him with a small smile on her face.

“The Creature… Yystrix.” Randidly clenched his fists. Then he began to walk down the stairs.