Chapter 1556 (1/2)

Velio Dunn, appearing confident in his victory, didn’t strike immediately with his image as the two moved toward their next clash. Besides, Randidly was zooming directly down toward him like a fastball toward a batter. Instead, the excited Velio began to speak. “This was always your fate, for having the hubris of breaking through the physical limitation- ugh!”

Although Randidly’s hand was useless for punches, he flicked the appendage and unleashed a spray of blood at Velio that spattered in the man’s eyes. They were close now, only a few meters apart. To Randidly’s disappointment, there was no sizzling or burning; it was clear Velio was powerful enough to ignore the damaging effects of Randidly’s blood. Still, it was extremely satisfying to force the assassin to reach up and wipe away his blood.

Then, several things happened at once.

Although he had never done it himself, Randidly had witnessed the methods of his Fatepiece and Nether enough times to have a hunch about a new use for his Skill. In the brief period of time that the overconfident Velio was distracted, Randidly gathered as much Nether to himself as he could. His Nether Nebula continued to accelerate, spinning wildly to reaccumulate the mass that had been depleted already in this fight.

He near-instantly wove the Nether into a tight funnel. His Willpower ached from the strain, but he dare not hesitate. Gritting his teeth, Randidly connected two points in space. Another dangerous tremor ran through his Nether Nebula. At the same time, he felt a ripple through the surrounding Aether; the suppressing array was shattered.

Screams echoed from above, just as a message arrived. I won’t be able make it down in time to prevent him from killing you. And fighting him…

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Ritual (A) has grown to level 192!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Ritual (A) has grown to Level 201!

I understand, Randidly replied as his Nether Ritual bridged space. One fraction of time he was shooting toward Velio’s chest, the next he was beyond Velio, shooting deeper into the darkness. The distance covered was only five meters, yet the entirety of his Nether Nebula was depleted. It was more exhausting than he had expected. And with both of his arms out of commission... I’ll be able to survive down here, I believe, at least for a while. Enough to escape later. But he needs to be pinned down for a few seconds.

His now completely exhausted Nether Nebula began to accelerate further. It was spinning crazily, sending waves of destabilizing energy through the entirety of Randidly’s body. His images weakened rapidly, caught by surprise by the phenomenon. But of course, there was currently nothing Randidly could do. These next few moments were too important to spare much attention for the issue.

Got it, came Edraine’s reply.

Just as Velio realized something was wrong and twisted around to glare at the figure of Randidly that had teleported past him, a beam of sizzling orange light shot downward, like judgment from heaven. Velio had begun to move to strike at Randidly again, but he instantly recognized the danger presented from Edraine’s strike and was forced to ignore Randidly.

Instead, he faced upward. Randidly couldn’t see Velio’s expression, but he could hear the barely controlled fury in his growl. His back was wide and ominous. “Just who the fuck are you…?”

Edraine didn't reply, but her light laugh echoed down through the Web. Velio raised his sword and smashed it against the orange energy. The two lights mixed and became as blinding as a direct blast from a floodlight after your eyes grew accustomed to the dark.

Randidly continued to shoot down in the meantime, tumbling through the air. Yggdrasil was knitting together his flesh, but both the emotional damage from the strange utilization method of the Grim Chimera and his destabilizing Nether Nebula were extremely dangerous. The Nether content in the air continued to climb, finally pushing past 25% of the ambient energy.

Luckily, the prevalence of Nether meant the space turned chaotic. Although he had only traveled a short distance, the air turned murky. Even the powerful image reverberations as Edraine and Velio clashed were muffled by the turbulent emotions and thick Nether around him.

Still… Randidly’s expression turned bitter. The Grim Chimera image was largely lifeless, having spent everything on Chimeric Impunity and still been deeply wounded by Velio. A wave of emotions smashed into Randidly’s from the side, dragging a groan from his lips. In addition, the ambient Nether hungrily tried to eat at his flesh.

Normally, he would create a buffer of his own Nether to protect himself, but his Nether Nebula continued to dangerously accelerate without showing any results; all of the Nether he was producing was being steadily stolen by the mass of significance below. Which meant that his Nether Nebula continued to rev faster, trying to accumulate Nether faster than it could be stolen.

That half-formed grey bubble at the core of the Nebula was the only reason things hadn’t completely collapsed.

After tumbling down for thirty more seconds, Randidly huffed out a breath and decelerated. Blood continued to trickle out from the ruined wreck of his hand. The Nether content of the air was almost exactly 30%. Although it wasn’t ideal, he manifested his Yggdrasil image directly in the space around him. It clashed with the Nether, but it also gave Randidly some time to gather himself.

He felt oddly isolated, surrounded by the murky clumps of Aether and emotion. But that was for the best. He needed a chance to-