Chapter 1560 (2/2)

Congratulations! Your Skill the Implacable Price of Exodus (M) has grown to Level 269!

Randidly turned away with disinterest as the invisible and bloodthirsty woman he had added to Yggdrasil shredded the eels that were foolish enough to approach him with malicious intent. Some she tore directly in half, others she seized and used as weapons to kill their fellows. There were also some that she rather carefully cut in half so she could peer into their inner workings. She mashed their immaterial hearts between her molars. For a few seconds, the all-consuming madness of Exodus reigned. It was a bloody and near-instant slaughter.

Leaving the shattered emotions in his wake, Randidly shot downward. The information he was receiving was confusing, but he was quickly developing the ability to interpret its signals.

As soon as he neared the target, the natural flow of significance between them quickened. Randidly barred his teeth and shot downward, reaching the depth of 59% of the air being Nether before he found his target. And what he found was… disturbing.

First, the chunk of flesh he had tossed away had grown more twisted than he had expected. Not to the size of a human adult, but perhaps to the specifications of a gangly preteen. It wore no clothes and was a farcical imitation of Randidly himself. It had a head and limbs, but those were purely decorative. There wasn’t even any skull, eyeballs, or teeth filling out the doppelgangers face. The head flapped emptily in the semi-liquid air, looking like a hollow mask made to resemble Randidly. The arms and legs were the same.

It was more floppy, flesh-colored rubber gloves than human.

Horrifyingly, the real features were carved onto the torso. Pure green orbs swiveled to fixate on Randidly. A gaping mouth filled with crooked teeth spasmed and pulsed. It quickly became clear that this creature was trying to say something to him.

Randidly could feel its emotions, too, as the thing’s expression continued to contort. It was shocked and panicked at his sudden appearance, but what truly destroyed any glee Randidly might have had for the confrontation was what he felt next. A shy hopefulness emerged in the doppelganger. In its frozen indecision, Randidly could feel slowly wondering whether Randidly had come down to save it.

It wondered whether he hadn’t meant to toss it aside.

Randidly closed his eyes as his right hand shot forward. As he gritted his teeth, he felt something crack in his jaw. This world… the burden of living here is sometimes too heavy to bear. I can’t believe I need to...Fuck.

Congratulations! Your Skill Pernicious Fang of the Shade (L) has grown to Level 299!

The doppelganger screamed like a pig with a broken spine. The brief flickers of hope were washed away by fear and pain as Randidly’s hand pierced forward. Although the thing was made from Randidly’s body, it had none of his accumulated significance or stats. The image physicalizations weren’t present. So this strange being was depressingly easy to slaughter. Significance spun around the two of them as Randidly crushed the dense bowling ball of matter at the doppelganger’s core. The screaming stopped.

Randidly didn’t open his eyes. He didn’t want to look at the empty hollows of the skin mask the thing had for a head. He didn’t want to see the blood he could feel dripping across his fingers, in case it was red like a human’s. He was more tired than he could remember being in a long time. In a strange, inexplicable way, Randidly had just killed an innocent child.

It had developed the ability to weaponize emotions and lash out at him, but still… it was a chunk of flesh he cast away-

No. It’s pointless to think about this further. The muscles of Randidly’s jaw clenched again, earning him another pop. He reached up with Tide of the Void and once more seized the extended emotions. Suddenly, he could feel the insistent pressure of the significance below dragging him downward. It was… more troublesome than he thought, but it was still manageable. He was at 61% Nether content. I know I’ve had to do terrible things to live… and sometimes, I’ve done terrible things without needing to. But that’s why I want to free us all from this hell…

I cannot stop now…

As Randidly gradually calmed his trembling emotions, the Grim Chimera went about the grisly task of gliding forward and devouring the doppelganger’s remains. Through the process, it absorbed a significant portion of the emotional capability from the queer body. Then the semi-independent image glanced over its shoulder at Randidly’s main body, still frozen in that moment that he killed the cast-off bit of flesh.

Very quietly, the Grim Chimera gathered together some of the remnant thoughts and emotions it also absorbed through devouring the significance between the two of them. Then it isolated those emotions and resolved itself to throw them into the Stillborn Phoenix when it had finished exhaling.

There was no need to expose the main body to some of these thoughts.

Despite his best efforts to deal with the strange emotional turmoil, Randidly remained frozen for quite some time. The doppelganger’s body had already been dealt with completely, but his outstretched hand remained curled into a claw. He held onto the emotions that flowed upward, preventing him from falling any deeper. He incorporated the significance he had gained into his Nether Nebula, finally evolving that half grey bubble fully into a bubble. He also tried and failed time and time again to keep his emotions even.

As the Grim Chimera watched Randidly uneasily, it was Yggdrasil that eventually awakened him from this fraught rigidity. It brushed a branch along his back to draw his attention then released a pulse of energy: there was something he had to see.

Gradually, Randidly opened his eyes. He looked at his frozen hand for a second and then sighed. The tension left him and he rolled his limbs to loosen himself up. Then he turned to see what Yggdrasil was indicating.

What he saw sent rumbles through his emotional state once more. Shallowly scratched against the wall were three rough-looking drawings. With a trembling hand, Randidly reached up and touched the childish pictures. He had witnessed how durable the spine was; how long had the doppelganger been down here, insistently carving, to make any sort of effect at all…?

Of course, it was obvious as Randidly examined the area that the doppelganger had relied on Nether, but it was still an impressive achievement. The first picture was of a twisted tree with sharp branches. The second picture was of a glowing sun. The third picture… was the perfect human body.

“As above… so below.” Randidly sighed to himself. Was the doppelganger trying to create its own versions of Randidly’s images…? Indeed, that was most of the advantage Randidly had against the emotional attacks. He traced his fingers across the messy pictures, his expression turned thoughtful. If the doppelganger had managed to replicate his images-

Then Randidly noticed that although it was still shallow, Nether was flowing through the images, even now. With wide eyes, he inspected every inch of the drawings. Then he could only release a humorless laugh and look down at his right hand. “...thank you.”

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 335!

Something clicked into place in his mind. Randidly smiled bitterly at the wall. This kid… left me the keys to making a Nether Class.

His shoulders sagged. A deep sigh escaped his lips. “I guess… I’ll need to find you somewhere nice. And then I’ll dig you a grave. Somewhere with plenty of sun and trees...”