Chapter 1556 (2/2)

“Shit,” Randidly spat out, his eyes turned upward.

Although it was being weakened by the ambient Nether and those same emotions that were burning Randidly’s skin, a light blue slash cut sharply down toward Randidly. Velio’s image didn’t waver at all, even as the Skill it was riding faded. Luckily, Yggdrasil was already manifested. So Randidly could quickly unleashed the Inscrutable Mien of Genesis and Yyrwood Body of Yggdrasil to defend himself. A purifying and holy halo bloomed from Randidly’s body. The emerald leaves of Yggdrasil rustled their indignation at this affront to their dignity.

All of the power of Yggdrasil reached its apex inside the enclosed space of the web. And into that power, that rather dull-looking blue slash arrived.

BOOOOOM!

Congratulations! Your Skill the Inscrutable Mien of Genesis (M) has grown to Level 301!

The strike was much weaker than the first one Randidly had endured today, likely due to the environment and Edraine’s assistance. But Randidly was also in a much worse condition than he had been at the beginning of the fight. Yggdrasil could only endure for a few moments before flickering and vanishing. Once more, he was smashed downward by the strike.

Eventually, Randidly managed to recover and slow his descent. But this time, the ambient Nether reached about 41% of the environment. Painful tremors ran through his Nether Nebula as it accelerated beyond its limits to gather Nether. But of course, this much closer to the horrifying significance below, Nether was stolen before Randidly could manage it at all.

Without much choice, Randidly bloomed into the Stillborn Phoenix. A vortex surrounded him, bending the surrounding energies. Both emotion and Nether were devoured by the nondiscriminatory image. The process was painful, but Randidly needed some safety to stabilize himself. His headache intensified, but Randidly used his remaining dregs of his Willpower to naturalize and convert some of the raw Nether into his own energy.

He kept a tight grip on that Nether and used it to ground his Nether Nebula. Some of the strain immediately eased, although he now needed to constantly divert a portion of his attention to stabilizing his Nether. The greed of that significance below was truly horrifying.

Might give me a bit of inspiration later for Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil… Randidly shook his head and took a long-needed breath. Then he glanced upward through the murky air. Even with Grim Intuition, he couldn’t sense anything at all from Velio and Edraine’s fight. Gradually, the sense of tension in his shoulders eased.

It took about five minutes of meditative recovery for Randidly to feel at least safe. No further attacks had come from above, meaning that he was stable for now. He produced his Philosopher’s Key and gave himself a few more minutes to focus. The Fatepiece activation remained fraught with discomfort, which wouldn't help his current circumstances. Then he raised the key and sought the folds in space-time that would allow him to escape.

After a minute, he gave up with a vicious expression; the only locations he could find with his Fatepiece were deeper toward the core of the Nexus. Then, with rising alarm in his chest, Randidly noticed something else.

Although he believed he had been floating in the same position during this recovery, the amount of Nether in the air had risen to 42%. It might mean nothing, but considering the result of his Fatepiece….

Randidly had gone too near whatever lurked at the heart of the Nexus. He was now being inexorably pulled down into the depths.

*****

Lady Iellaya’s expression was blank for several seconds. “And you just… left him down there?!?”

Edraine nodded slowly. “Even I cannot do anything about the core of the Nexus. You’ve felt it, right? The horror of that place? What would be the use of sacrificing myself? Besides, Mr. Ghosthound is… the most resourceful of us all. If anyone can make it out of that place alive, he can.”

True but… Lady Iellaya hesitated.

Edraine turned away and walked to the window. “He hasn’t responded to my messages, which leads me to believe that the Ghosthound is already at a dangerous depth. Still, have faith in him. But that is not why I called you two here. I assume you’ve seen the report released about the Seventh Cohort?”

Across the room, Octavius nodded slowly. “Military High Command… has found no traces of systemic corruption. The hidden Aether was a result of a few independent actors.”

“Quite different than expected. And the fact that there was no corruption rather than corruption on a small scale…” Edraine’s voice was heavy. “This wasn’t just a brokered deal between the NLC and Military High Command; this was a cover-up. We are missing something. So I need help from both of you.

“Octavius, gather every report you can find on Aether yields for the Cohorts. As far back as you can. I want to see the numbers. And Lady Iellaya… do you think it’s possible to get me into the Vault? I’d like to speak with our ignoble former Overseer of the Sixth Cohort.”