Chapter 1382 (2/2)

One more responsibility… Randidly thought tiredly. But this one is probably worth it. It will be one less source of chaos and death on Earth while everyone struggles to find the Runic Tablet.

True to his word, the Winged Serpent floated back and approached its portal. Right before it went through, it glanced over its shoulder at Thea, seemed to sigh, then went through the shimmering portal to the land beyond. Randidly’s gaze slid to Thea, who stood there and was still staring at Randidly with an aggress light in her eyes. “...you also have some business with me?”

“Just a question,” Thea said in a rough voice of a lifetime smoker of cigarettes. She cleared her throat and her eyes dropped to the ground. “Is… Chrysanthemum still alive….?”

“Of course,” Randidly said, frowning at Thea. Honestly, it was a slightly bewildering question. “How could she be moving around if she was just a puppet?”

“That’s…” Thea just blinked at Randidly.

He rubbed the back of his head, feeling awkward. “Is that all you are here for…?”

“I-” Then Thea flushed. “...fine then. If you don’t want to seriously answer my question, nevermind.”

Without giving Randidly a chance to respond, Thea turned and stomped through the portal. A few seconds later, it faded out of existence. Rather nonplussed, Randidly could only shake his head. Is that answer really so hard to believe, Thea Glasshammer…? Or are you too afraid to admit that such a statement is true?

If its really true… why have you been struggling so hard to kill your fellow humans? And why hasn’t Chrysanthemum hinted to you that she is still alive…?

...honestly good questions. And as much as I once knew Thea… I don’t think I owe Thea any more assistance than I have already given her. Randidly thought with a sigh. Once more he rolled his shoulder and glanced down at his metallic left arm. The frequency of the failures of the Engravings was increasing. About once every five minutes there would be a half-second where the arm would refuse to move.

Randidly had been considering going after Ace as his first order of business, but as the failures became more frequent, he changed his mind. The two real threats that Randidly was worried about were the arrival of the Xyrt Brigade and Kaan Swacc. And if Randidly wanted to draw no suspicion, repairing a damaged arm seemed like a good way to spend his time. And one that would also prepare him for the fight against Kaan once the Xyrt Brigade left.

The thing about the Creature’s missing memories was that Yystrix had clearly taken steps to hide them. Now Randidly didn’t believe that he could rival the investigatory powers of the Xyrt Brigade, but he believed that if Elhume hadn’t already shown up and taken them, they weren’t easy to find. Even Randidly would need to rely on following Ace’s trail to get them.

Randidly didn’t want to run the risk of leading the Xyrt Brigade to those memories, should he be unable to find and locate Ace within a short period of time. Besides, Randidly was sure from Octavius Shrike’s words that he, personally, would be investigated. Some small part of him believed that the memories would be less likely to be discovered on Ace than himself.

Neveah interrupted Randidly’s thoughts. You recovered enough to study yet? You need to get up to speed with the living Engraving.

Randidly rolled his eyes. Yes ma’am.

But while he began to take apart the memories she had sent over, he beckoned over Acri, who had been lazing around with boredom on his floating island. “Hey buddy. Need something to do? How about you go kill a monster for me? As high a Level as possible. Then bring me back hits bones. The more, the better.”

At first, Acri considered Randidly in confusion. But then the living spear realized that Randidly was being serious. It shook its spear tips furiously, demonstrating its enthusiasm. Then it used one of its three pyramidal tips to hit its own shaft, as though saying, ‘you can count on me for this.’

If anything, Randidly became suspicious of his weapon’s reassuring behaviors. But still. Acri was very dependable in the past, so…

What’s the worst that could happen? Randidly asked himself as he pushed his mind into Neveah’s memories. But as the difficulty of understanding the Engravings rapidly shot upward, the issue slipped from his mind.