Chapter 1186 (1/2)

“He’s sucking in Nether.” Lord Miln wrapped his knuckles against his desk. “And am I the only one who is noticing that his Skills have notes of Nether embedded in them…? True, it boosts the power, yet…”

Ileot Swacc shook his head sorrowfully. “You just pointed out that Randidly Ghosthound is absorbing Nether. What would he do if he didn’t produce Nether in his attacks? Eat it?”

Complaining to you is a waste of time. A vein throbbed in his temple, but just as quickly he let the issue go; after all, Ileot Swacc and he were tied too closely together now to let a small matter like this come between them. Especially when the points that Ileot were making were so annoyingly reasonable.

Instead, Lord Miln focused his attention once more on the actions of Randidly Ghosthound. Lord Miln was torn between annoyance and amusement as he watched the two lashing out and dodging while both holding their ground. “How long will this pathetic battle last?”

Ileot chuckled lightly and tucked his hands behind his back. Both stood on the very peak of the rocky outcropping and surveyed a vista that allowed them to see the entirety of the chaotic battlefield. The Great Rift pulsed above them and the blue veins continually threw down fistfuls of Nether Beasts toward the ground. With the dense Nether energy released by those impacts, the visual distortions were growing tiresome, even for individuals as powerful as these two individuals.

But both of their gazes were focused to their left, where Randidly Ghosthound had been drawn into a brutal and bone-crunching fistfight with the most pathetic excuse for a Nether Gatekeeper that Lord Miln had either seen. It was an affront to all the value that Lord Miln had placed on the boy’s body that he hadn’t even been able to overcome this insignificant foe.

It was a continuing affront to Lord Miln’s pride that a boy who was an insubstantial image only a short while ago was also managing to possess immense strategic value.

Aether and Nether surged against each other across the whole of the front and slapped against each other in a cacophony built from thousands of straining bodies. Many died in the churning impact between the two forces, but even Lord Miln could see how this remained a reserved engagement. Aside from the two foes fighting in front of Lady Iellaya’s camp, no other real powerful individuals had yet entered into the fray.

What Lord Miln was currently forced to watch was thousands of worms squirming their way against each other.

If Randidly died or was wounded in this fight, Lady Iellaya would likely be forced send her second Abiodun to deal with the threat, and the Nether forces would bring the hammer down to eliminate that camp that had played its hand. If the Nether Gatekeeper was overcome, the Nether would send a much more capable job to finish the job that its first minion had failed.

In both situations, the Nether forces would seize the initiative after the battle had ended. And there was nothing Lord Miln could or would do about these hypothetical scenarios. The numerical difference between the two sides’ number of Nether Gatekeeper power and above individuals was too vast. The Aether forces could only endure.

Lord Miln gritted his teeth as he focused on those two distant figures who were taking a small break in their furious exchange of blows. The slugs were clearly gassed from their extended exercise. Yet even if Randidly Ghosthound might be bleeding and panting in a disgraceful manner, the Nether Gatekeeper was just as bruised and exhausted. Both had pushed themselves physically to the limits of their bodies. Somehow, the boy completely ignored the sea of dense Nether being thrown at him and just transformed the confrontation to a fistfight.

And that had already been going on for twenty minutes.

Ileot Swacc giggled. “You are only annoyed because you cannot be annoyed based on the current situation. Although it appears like a stall, we are gaining quite a bit of momentum from the current state of affairs, are we not?”

Lord Miln grunted noncommittally. Yet his eyes hadn’t missed the strange aura that Randidly Ghosthound was producing to strengthen the soldiers around him. It had started by only affecting Lady Iellaya’s group, but the edges of it were slowly spreading outward to the next-door camp. Even more importantly, the Nether Gatekeeper’s Nether pulses might be neutralized by Randidly, but Randidly continued to reap the lives of the surrounding Nether Beasts with his roots.

...For god’s sake, his leafy spear is crawling around and killing hundreds of Nether Beasts too. Lord Miln was stretched by the glee he felt at the predicament the furious Nether King must currently find himself in and sympathy for said King’s experience also being frustrated endlessly by Randidly Ghosthound. Because as soon as Randidly became too injured to continue, Lord Miln fully intended to intervene and ‘protect’ such a valuable asset for his own safety.

Just as Lord Miln had done with Commander Terith. Hopefully while avoiding the same tragic fate that had taken consciousness away from Commander Terith. But it was impossible to predict such things.

Accidents happened in war.

“And on your side? You could not convince him to allow you to duplicate his valuable body?” Lord Miln said as he turned back to Ileot Swacc, the mysterious benefactor that Lord Miln had gambled so much to appease.

Ileot shrugged, seemingly unruffled. “Surprisingly no. It appears he does not value the life of Vualla as much as I anticipated. Not that I blame him; this version of Vualla is extremely uninteresting-”

Both froze at the same moment. For a second, a weird sense of pressure had descended across the battlefield. And from the expression on Ileot’s face, he was just as surprised by the sudden pressure as Lord Miln had been. Even the visual variations around the Nether Beasts were cowed by that pressure.

Then it passed, likely mastered by the furious individual who released it. Lord Miln allowed himself a tight smile and tried to calm his beating heart. He always knew the power of the foe he was aiming for, but to feel that pressure... “It seems that the Nether King is being suitably annoyed by our problematic subordinate as well. Good.”

“...Perhaps.” For the first time since Lord Miln had met Ileot Swacc, his face was extremely serious. He squinted upward, as if searching for something. Then he shook his head. “At any rate, convincing him the old fashioned was always the safer, but it is a more inconvenient method. He even called my bluff by providing Vualla energy! Better still to use your suggestion.”