Chapter 1499 (1/2)

“Your mission is simple,” the bear-like military man next to Lady Iellaya spoke immediately when Randidly entered into the room. Just as quickly as Randidly walked forward to stand before the group, his Grim Intuition pinged an even larger threat from the man than Randidly had felt previously. That made his eyes narrow; so characters that were this powerful still could hide their abilities from even Grim Intuition. That was a good fact to learn when the stakes were relatively low.

The dangerous bearman pointed to a partially melted statue that lay near the interview chair had sat in only two hours ago. “Demonstrate your capabilities by healing the body and image of this man and you will receive the position of head Drill Sergeant. However, let it be known that you will bear the consequences of any… lingering afflictions that affect him in the future.”

Belatedly, Randidly’s eyes widened; the melted statue was actually a toppled over metallic humanoid. From what Randidly could see, several of his limbs were bent in the wrong directions. He wondered whether they were normally so uniquely bent, or whether it was a result of whatever had occurred here. And judging by the image wafting off of the metallic body…

Randidly glanced once more at the furry military leader. The bearman’s irises were two black chips in his eyes, as dark as the empty space next to the moon in the night sky. Slowly, Randidly nodded. “...of course. If I’m supposed to heal someone, their convalescence is my responsibility.”

The bearman smiled at Randidly with an expression that would have been a smirk had it spread from his mouth to his dark eyes. Meanwhile, the Xyrt Brigade representative released a bark of laughter. “Ha! You’ve been hoodwinked kid. That fool down there is from the Swacc Family. I suspect that no matter how skilled you are, he will remain broken and they will come demanding compensation. The sort of compensation that’s above your paygrade.”

As Randidly crouched down next to the metallic body, his mouth was moving before his brain really thought about the response. “I’ve dealt with the Swacc Family before. I’m sure it will be fine.”

A split second later, he paused and wondered whether he should have revealed that when he was still attempting to earn this job. The silence of the people at the table on the dais became somewhat strange. But Randidly decided to ignore the change and just focused on his work. He reached out and pressed his hand against the being before him to get an idea of his current status. And at that exact moment, the Stillborn Phoenix’s had sucked all of the volatile emotions into itself.

There was a churning rumble from Randidly’s chest and then the image became to exhale. Emotions rampaged outward with all the desperate devastation of a broken dam.

“Hsssssss.” Randidly let his breath sneak out between his teeth as Yggdrasil unfolded into the air above him in order to suppress the changed emotions. This journey back from the interior of the Stillborn Phoenix saw the emotional intensity increase again by an order of magnitude. The emotions practically hummed with infectious and dangerous power.

“Ah, please do be careful. Fragments of my image may remain… from the earlier interview.” The bearman said, very officiously. Randidly had to make a conscious effort not to roll his eyes while Yggdrasil stabilized the seal on the emotions within himself. But he was then rather shocked to see that perhaps the military man hadn’t just made a baseless assumption about Randidly’s display of weakness; the damage to the metallic man’s body was quite similar to what had happened with Yggdrasil’s root.

The source wasn’t the same, but the result bore a significant resemblance to each other. The bearman’s image had somehow stripped the ‘shape’ of Aether from this metal man and left him with chaos. When the metallic man had probably panicked, heightening his emotions… that overwhelmed what remained of his mental framework and caused his entire self to collapse.

Randidly felt a strange sort of horror as he inspected the result.

“Please…”

Randidly blinked in surprise. Because of the strange angles of his joints and the coloration of his body, he didn’t realize the patient was still conscious. These were the sort of injuries that usually pushed someone into a coma. But now, to his discomfort, he realized that even the man’s neck had been twisted to the point that he was staring up at Randidly. His eyes were filled with fear and pain. “Please…”

Strangely, Randidly remembered the shock and horror that Neveah experienced when she had been struck mentally by Kaan Swacc. Something hardened in Randidly’s heart and the Grim Chimera raised his head from within his baptism of violent emotions to glance at the bearman and curl his lip upward. It is exactly because of people like you that this Nexus is such a hell for those without the strength to defend themselves. I WILL surpass you.

I will end your casual violence.

Then Randidly turned his attention back to the man and released as much of his image as he could. Once more, the other physicalizations of his images receded; his hair became emerald and his veins pulsed with golden light. The energy he radiated downward was soft and gentle, like rays of sunlight on cool mornings. The metallic man gasped and gulped down desperate breaths of air.

There WERE in fact remnant bits of the bearman’s image, continuing to destabilize the metallic man’s body and agitate his emotions. Randidly rapidly used a surge of Yggdrasil’s Inscrutable Mien to blast them away, taking great joy in the thought that he was annihilating that small smirk from the bearman as he did so.

The image fragments were strong, but they were truly just remnants. Randidly had no trouble eliminating them.

Congratulations! Your Skill the Golden Roots of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 298!

Congratulations! Your Skill the Glittering Leaves of Yggdrasil (L) has grown to Level 257!

Very quickly, the metallic man’s image and body initiated the healing process without those lingering elements causing damage and began to greedily absorb the ambient energy that Randidly was producing. In fact, his body and image were absorbing so much energy that Randidly could feel flaws beginning to emerge in the restructured physical form

Randidly narrowed his eyes and restrained the flow of energy to the man before him. The subject groaned again, but the strange mutations within his body ceased. Although his body was no longer affected, it seemed like there was a permanent change to the man’s emotions; they now possessed an intensity that could destabilize his form.

Randidly wasn’t sure whether it was just a side effect of what he had recently experienced that would soon fade or a permanent change he would need to learn to control.