Chapter 1201 (2/2)

Crack.

The thrust ripped open the flaw in the lock, creating a jagged passage to the other side. The rest of the lock trembled as Randidly barely was able to hold it together with a widening flaw. Like a sled at the edge of a slope, thinks were teetering at the point of going out of control.

Yet as the Nether Herald rushed forward, something met it in the crack between the outside and inside. Grinning like a maniac, the Grim Chimera unleashed a point-blank roundhouse kick that smashed into the Nether Herald’s chest. The leg of the Grim Chimera shimmered and spasmed, weakened as Randidly was and forced to endure the density of Nether, but it passed on the kinetic force to knock the Nether Herald backward.

Perhaps normally that force wouldn’t have been enough, but the Nether Herald had been only able to maintain its position through spinning to disperse its own momentum. All of its previous charge had already been endured. Now, taken by surprise, it was pushed away and back.

The blank face of the Nether Herald considered the Grim Chimera as it sailed backward. Snorting in derision, the Grim Chimera dug its claws into one side of the crack and thrust its bone spear into the other. The muscles of its chest strained as it began to pull the flaw back together.

Partway through the process, the Grim Chimera rippled. Its skin became rutted and brown and its limbs strange. Suddenly it wasn’t the Grim Chimera, but the shimmering World Tree covered in golden script. Its vast branches and leaves twisted inward, using its prodigious natural energy to close the flaw. Emerald leaves spread out, gradually masking the original location of the crack in the wide canopy.

Shortly after, the canopy began to rustle and sway, driven by a wild wind. And in the next second, leaves began to turn orange and the canopy became the raging inferno of Ignition Essence, searing shut the flaw before the helpless Nether Herald’s blank face.

In Lady Iellaya’s battle, she was forced to use her tail to try and keep the other Nether Herald at bay while she capitalized on the other’s weakness. Unfortunately, the Nether Herald was too quick in its attacks. It was clear that Lady Iellaya was taking significant damage. Yet her jaw was slowly tightening. The struggles of the pinned Nether Herald gradually slowed into sluggish spasms.

Randidly wanted to take a breath, but he couldn’t; the hairs on the back of his neck stood straight up as the Nether King’s gaze abruptly fixed on him. An emotion so vast that it resembled karma in its absolute existence slammed into Randidly. Yet Randidly did not flinch. He endured the horrible examination stoically with gritted teeth. His skin crawled. The bile of his stomach made its desire to be let out known.

There was the sound of a rotten watermelon being smashed open and then the raven-winged serpent raised its head and roared in triumph. Bits of the former Nether Herald dribbled down its chin.

When the Nether King’s gaze shifted away, Randidly wanted to collapse into a puddle. But the sky had other plans. The was a shift among the blue veins and two more large arteries lifted themselves up and threw two huge Nether comets down toward Randidly’s lock.

Two Nether Heralds. Two at once.

Almost unconsciously, Randidly looked over to Lady Iellaya. The beady eyes of the raven-winged serpent met Randidly’s emerald gaze. An understanding passed there, even as the raven-winged serpent was still drunk on its victory. Both realized the other’s thoughts.

Without waiting any longer, the raven-winged serpent began to rampage forward, clashing against the remaining Nether Herald in front of it. The movements of the two fighters were quick and brutal, as the greatly wounded image of Lady Iellaya tried to take advantage of this opportunity to focus its ferocity on a single foe.

She landed several glancing blows, but it was clear that the Nether Herald understood what was going on and had learned a lesson from its companion’s death. It twisted out of the way of direct strikes and even avoided trading hits, despite Lady Iellaya’s obvious wounds.

Seeing that her small ploy was useless, Lady Iellaya shed all pretense of weakness and surged forward. Strange crimson lines slowly extended across the raven-winged serpent’s brown scales. Obsidian feathers fell from the sky like rain as her wings spread wider and wider to cast a long shadow. The darkness from her image seemed to draw on the vast darkness in the sky, swelling larger and larger.

But the two Nether comets were shooting closer. They exploded into sizzling debris and two more Nether Heralds surged forward. Randidly watched them calmly. The second before they impacted the lock he had created, Randidly bowed his head; without any warning, he turned the key and unlocked the sky.

Rather comically, the Nether Heralds spun impotently in their attempts to shatter the lock, dispersing some of their momentum on their own. It wasted several more seconds that Lady Iellaya used to unleash an onslaught against the struggling Nether Herald in front of her.

“Distraction achieved,” Randidly whispered. Then he turned and leaned heavily on Acri as he hobbled away to find his subordinates.