Chapter 1424 (2/2)

She had a reputation to uphold.

A crimson wave of blood exploded outward from Helen’s body. It impacted the partially blinded commissioner in the chest. He barely managed a yelp before he was tossed down the slope to impact a tall oak tree. His body crashed through the canopy and then rolled down to thump against the ground. It was clear from his dazed expression that the current training session would need to be paused until the man could recover.

Clicking her tongue in distaste, Helen turned away from her trainee and began to stretch. It had been one week since the group had come into the Dungeon and Helen was becoming a bit restless. As Randidly had suggested when they arrived, the monsters within the Dungeon were numerous but none were so powerful that Helen felt even the tiniest spark of excitement as she hunted them. Besides, the Riders appeared to be having an unofficial competition to see who could clear the most monsters, and greatly resented the fact that Helen had been encroaching on their turf. So she could only pass the time with her own training and that of this rather unreliable commissioner.

After all, the prospect of trying to teach children or weaklings was even less appetizing to her.

It was a small blessing that Ajax had taken over the training of most of the force, but that just meant that Helen had more free time to become bored. Some of it she spent watching the other people who came into the Dungeon, but she found no joy in watching children learn to build mud buildings nor did Helen wish to listen to Sam, Nathan, and Gertrude excitedly talk about these ‘keystones’ they were developing for Kharon Academy.

Helen growled, and as always happened when she was at her most annoyed, and her gaze turned up toward the peak on which Randidly had set himself up.

Even if she hadn’t seen him physically go there, it was quite easy to locate him. The Ghosthound was constantly training his powerful images up on that peak, seeming to seek a way to maintain all three images at once without compromising their power. Helen had been rather confused by this training at the beginning, but as the heaviness surrounding that peak grew more palpable, she began to feel quite a lot of fear for what Randidly Ghosthound might become in the future.

As it was, Helen marveled at the way that Randidly’s images slowly spread out and formed a constant seal on the surrounding area. The weaker individuals wouldn’t notice it, but to an experienced image-user like Helen, she could clearly feel how activating an image was just a little bit more difficult than it would be in normal circumstances. Randidly’s domineering images spread out and warped the world to his will and the rest of them had to pay the price.

The most intimidating part was that the effect was cumulative; each day it became a little bit harder to utilize images that weren’t related to the Ghosthound. Helen couldn’t help but be amused by the commissioner’s bleak response when he noticed how little he had improved each day. But each day saw him restrained by the increasing weight of ambient image. It was honestly rather impressive that the man was improving faster than the restraint was. It proved he was worthy of experiencing her training.

Still… Helen frowned up at the peak. I planned on waiting until we had developed a while in here before making trouble, but if you insist on making this area so beneficial to you, I’m left with no choice…

Leaving the commissioner mumbling to himself and staggering to his feet, Helen began to walk up toward the peak of the Ghosthound. As she neared the base of that mountain, the image’s reverberations grew more intense. But Helen raised her chin and marched up the winding mountain path. Then, about halfway up the mountain, the surrounding scrub trees that had hardily rooted themselves began to show signs that they were withering and dying from exposure. Their leaves were brown and their branches drooped, as though they couldn’t handle the weight of the images in the air.

Yet beyond that, only a hundred meters below the area where Randidly had settled, the trees seemed to come back to life. But these trees were… strange. Their branches grew long and they seemed to sway in the wind. The leaves on these trees were a deep green that produced an almost bell-like tinkling as they rustled. In addition, the leaves were so thick that the area around the trunk of these trees was obscured with thick shadows.

Occasionally, Helen was struck by the strong impression that something was within those shadows, watching her movements. Yet Helen’s lip just curled up under the shrouded gazes. Even if some weird sort of monster had been modified by Randidly’s images, wouldn’t it be a much more interesting foe than the weaklings that filled this fucking place? So she looked around with enthusiasm.

Of course, none dared attack her. So Helen arrived quickly at the top of the peak.

Randidly had leveled the top portion of the mountain, creating a large flat area for himself. Then he had reinforced the ground beneath his feet by lining the stone ground with a latticework of roots, largely increasing the integrity of the mountain. In addition to that, he had set up a strange stone orb lined with runes as well as a small root hut on the far side of the area.

When Helen arrived, Randidly was standing in the center of the training area. His form had warped to a larger-than-life version of himself, with an eye that devoured light, emerald hair, and a long bony tail. Although there was no doubt that he had sensed her coming quite a long time ago, only when she stood at the edge of his training area did he pause.

Despite the fact that she knew it was an image, even Helen found it somewhat off-putting as the Ghosthound studied her with one emerald eye and an egg of darkness. “Helen… why are you here?”

Helen smiled wickedly. “Well, why do you think?”

Then she unleashed her Tides of Blood Domain and crimson waves submerged the entirety of the peak.