Chapter 1148 (1/2)

A tremor ran through the surrounding area as the backed-up Nether began to destabilize and crackled with potency. Even the huge construction of this deep pit into the ground couldn’t withstand the cataclysmic energy reaction as the working within began to disintegrate. The Nether Ritual that the Creature had created was somewhat crude, and definitely not designed to simply cup this huge quantity of Nether.

It had been too tightly bound to the ritual, and now it had nowhere to go.

Squinting upward, Randidly had three immediate ideas to deal with the sudden problem of the imminent Nether explosion that was balanced precariously above his head. And he needed to choose one of them quickly because like all explosions, this one was likely to blast upward and annihilate everyone that had come into the Hell Labyrinth in a tide of Nether.

Not that Randidly wouldn’t probably have difficulties too, but it was his Alpha Cosmos that was being held hostage by the Creature’s plot. They would be the ones to suffer from a mistake here. And as if to emphasize that point, a thin crack appeared in the staircase leading up from the 50th to the floors above.

The first, and likely the most desperate of the plans, was to bring the Nether out through his physical body and release it into the outside world. He would act as a release valve that would siphon away the bubbling pressure above him that was currently beginning to warp the surrounding space.

Randidly likely wouldn't need to switch his position in the real world to do so, as he was already hidden within the badlands beyond the front lines. Still, the flaws were obvious: a touchy Aether army was likely to notice a huge quantity of Nether abruptly appearing behind their lines. And then he would need to explain why he had produced so much Nether from nowhere.

And its not like he could afford to watch out for witnesses while trying to corral this huge amount of Nether.

For all that Lady Iellaya’s opinion toward Randidly was favorable, discovering this sort of action might spell a sharp end to rose-colored perspective on Randidly. Which would expose him to some of the wider threats on the frontlines that he had thus far avoided. Even though Ileot Swacc had stated that he only wanted to be friends with him, Randidly didn’t trust that man at all.

The second option was to use the Aether Crossroads in his chest to produce enough Aether to counteract the Nether here. Although the two energies had found an equilibrium inside of his body, that was because the Nether and the Aether were two sides of the same coin: Randidly himself served as the conduit between them. Although this Nether had slowly been gathered within him, it likely was not related to him and should conflict with Aether in the usual way.

Randidly’s hair had grown long enough that the stirring winds caused the black strands to sway messily across his forehead. Even with his images’ assistance, it was incredibly difficult to maintain the current balance as the loss of momentum to the Nether caused it to simply sink down, pressuring Randidly with raw weight. Which of course, was patently impossible. Nether was energy; it couldn’t possess weight.

And yet… With a strained grunt, Randidly adjusted his stance and glared upward at the laws-of-physics violating energy.

Again, the problem with using Aether was the sheer amount of Nether that was present here. Randidly could produce Aether quickly, but not this quickly. If he opened himself up widely enough to address the Nether before it collapsed, he would risk exposing himself to the strange urgency of expansion that lay within the energy release. If he wasn’t careful, he could be completely consumed by it. In the same way that the Nether Wells he absorbed had been before Randidly had brought them around.

Of course, that ignored the same problem that was present in plan number one. Randidly would likely release some significant amount of Aether out of his body in the real world and come back to find that everyone was shocked at his ability to produce Aether. He had already served out his punishment as a Heretic, but that was ignoring the truth of that label.

What Randidly could do wasn’t truly Heretical. The System only named him as such because it had no other way of understanding what he could do. Even though the people that Randidly slowly encountered were powerful, they all were tied to the System.

It seemed his Aether Crossroads made him very, very special.

And Randidly did NOT what to give Ileot Swacc another reason to desire his body.

Another shuddering groan escaped Randidly’s lips. He clenched his jaw so hard the muscles began to spasm in his cheeks. His hands flexed as he raised them to give a physical guide to the effort he put toward balancing the Nether above him.

The third plan was the most daring. And it would solve several of Randidly’s problems at once. The gist of it was to gather all the abundant Nether here, annihilate the working that the Creature had been shaping to plant a weapon in Azriel, and create a Nether Ritual that would only be Randidly’s.

Likely the result could be the creation of the focus that Randidly had been wracking his brain over for the Grim Chimera. With that focus in his pocket, Randidly could return to his body and put the finishing touches on the Yggdrasil focus while slowly allowing the memories from the hiltless blade to prepare him for what the Ignition Essence’s focus would be.

However…

Another tremor ran through the air, this one much louder than the previous one. The extremely ornate platform on which they were standing shuddered as it was forced to endure more weight than it was designed for. Jade, obsidian, and silver cracked beneath Randidly’s feet. Even the Creature was beginning to pale as the density of Nether in the surrounding area began to warp the space around them.

It was an exceedingly peculiar feeling, Randidly reflected. Due to his Nether Modification, it wasn’t too uncomfortable for him to endure, but he could feel the way that the Nether was trying to press all of the space together in the surrounding area into one point. When the Nether was free to choose its own path, Randidly could suddenly sense how it wanted to destabilize the surrounding area and create a singularity.

Which was a whole different issue, and probably just as dangerous, as allowing the Nether to spread out and slowly corrode the people of his Soulskill faster than they could develop Skills to resist its effects.

Gritting his teeth, Randidly’s emerald eyes flared and his images became so vivid and detailed that it was nearly impossible to tell them from actual, physical presences next to him. The branches of Yggdrasil creaked and a low, hissing breath of ash escaped the Grim Chimera's mouth. Together, all four of them pushed against the fraying Nether Ritual and once more set the thing spinning.