Chapter 1147 (2/2)

Even as she spoke, the Nether around them once more accelerated. Then it continued to accelerate, causing more and more thin tendrils of dense Nether to flow up through Azriel’s body and into the small marble floating above her. And also it immediately became clear that the marble was floating slowly down to plant itself in Azriel’s chest.

...and maybe even more dangerous than a Nether explosion… Randidly looked up to the small bead of Nether floating above Azriel’s body. Likely the reason that you are so weak right now is your image is bound in there, ready to infect me. If I felt overconfident after trouncing you and simply ignored your warning, thinking I could protect my Soulskill from the Nether, you would have gladly let me shatter it all and seize back your strength, wouldn’t you?

Randidly shivered, but some part of him felt much more comfortable after he had found at least some of the dangerous hooks waiting within the situation that the Creature had prepared for him. When it had seemed weak and incapable… all of the efforts Randidly had taken to defeat it previously seemed foolish.

Yet it likely did show that some of its superiority was running out if it was willing to play possum in order to get Randidly to lower his guard. And even now, Randidly was still wary of what other tricks might be waiting in the Nether Ritual that was trying to plant something into Azriel and birth a weapon.

“I’m willing to take that risk if I need to,” Randidly said tightly. Then he finally let his senses extend outward toward the whirling ivory bones that seemed to form a ribcage around the beating heart of Nether below them. If he was going to stop this working, this was the engine he needed to foil. All of that energy was spiraling up through Azriel into the tiny, tight marble of Nether that Randidly began to suspect contained the Creature’s image.

Or perhaps more accurately, its memories.

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 60!

Even though Randidly spoke with confidence about stopping this, he could only let his breath hiss through his teeth as he expended his senses to accurately feel what was going on in front of him. He had some ability to manipulate Nether, sure, but it wasn’t until he felt the scope of what the Creature was making here that he felt a tingle of trepidation at the prospect.

The weight of the swirling Nether was immense. It was easy to tell from how vast and thick the intertwining streams were that the Creature was a little less proficient than Randidly himself at concentrating it, but that wasn’t the issue here. Even if the Creature could only manipulate Nether at the three-star tier of density, it simply had been in his Soulskill for far too long preparing for this.

As Randidly looked at the Nether around him, his frown deepened. ...that’s why the Nether Skill she gave me was so strangely made that it conjured a portal. The whole idea was probably to slowly siphon a bit away through the portal portion to fuel this. Luckily I didn’t use the Skill much… but I was eventually surrounded by quite a bit of ambient Nether that would flow into me… and I experimented with Nether’s Caress quite a bit to rescue my body…

“You sense it, I’m sure,” The Creature said softly. “There will be consequences in trying to dismantle it. So why struggle? Is this one’s life truly that valuable?”

For a split second, Randidly’s mind was scorched away by fury. But he hurriedly suppressed it before annihilated the fucked up projection in front of him. He forced himself not to respond to the Creature’s cruel words, mostly because he didn’t have a useful comeback.

But as much as he hated to admit it, the Creature seemed right about the size and difficulty of this demolition job. Although Randidly was superior in his manipulation of Nether, the sheer weight of the thing that the Creature had slowly crafted was too much for him to dismantle quickly.

Even if it hadn’t had quite a bit of time to work with Nether, these engraved ivory-like metal pieces that so resembled Skills… having those clearly gave focus for the Creature’s work. Once it fed Nether through them, the momentum built and built until his Soulskill partially ruptured and began to flood with Nether.

Of course, all these issues avoided the elephant in the room, and the reason that Randidly wanted to tear the Creature in front of him to pieces.

Randidly looked over at Azriel, her hands folded in front of her chest. Her pale hair lay spread out from her head in uneven clumps. She didn’t appear injured, yet that small orb of Nether drifting down toward her would likely soon change that.

Her life and her Fate… huh.

“Even so. I have no choice. I will not sacrifice Azriel to save myself,” Randidly said lightly. The Creature smiled evilly at Randidly, but said nothing.

Releasing a breath, Randidly closed his eyes and gathered every scrap of Willpower he possessed. Ignition Essence, Yggdrasil, and the Grim Chimera all gathered around him, flickering in the air as he concentrated all his potency on this one task. Then Randidly began to squeeze.

His head throbbed painfully and he squeezed even more tightly. When he could feel his will being ground away by the motion of Nether, the Grim Chimera raised its head and roared. Ignition Essence began to sizzle and crackle. Last but not least, a light wind blew through the air, filling the surrounding area with the slight rustling of leaves.

Growling, Randidly squeezed even more tightly. He saw ash and blood-soaked claws and shadows against a cave wall and beams of sunlight through warm brown branches. Randidly’s images spread outward from him and filled the air, adding their weight to the surrounding air. Nether and image hissed antagonistically, but Randidly’s images had a drop of Nether at their core grounding them.

And that made all the difference.

Slowly but surely, the steady churn of Nether below ground to a halt. Step one accomplished.

Great, Randidly thought as the fabric of the Creature’s Nether Ritual began to bulge and warp underneath the strain of so much motionless Nether. Now I just need to figure out how to not flood my Soulskill with Nether, kill Azriel, or release the Creature’s image that’s contained within this.

Typical day in my Soulskill…