Chapter 1600 (2/2)

Now that’s a fucking Nether Ritual… Randidly thought with a little bit of fear as his anger ebbed at the awe-inspiring display. Another pulse of Nether ran through the sky and that enormously scaled Nether Ritual began to tighten and squeeze the bonded space.

But before the Nether Ritual managed to fold the moon even closer to the Aether Headquarters, a familiar feeling image exploded out of the Military Base. This image possessed none of the finesse and beauty of the Nether Ritual above, but the image of stratification and tight control was just as overwhelming. That singular Willpower exploded upward and smashed forcefully into the Nether Ritual. The sky creaked and groaned, a distant thunderstorm on the scale of planets. Randidly could feel the vibrations of the conflict against his skin, standing on the surface of the planet.

Commandant Wick saw the activating Nether Ritual and decisively said no. The Nether King and the Commandant clashed visibly, the two powers grinding away at each other. The Commandant’s image was a singular force moving to meet a complicated machine, yet that image was powerful enough on its own to completely make all the arrangement and Control of the Nether King irrelevant.

...which is exactly why I don’t quite want to quietly assume a post as an aide to the Commandant. He’s better as an ally than an enemy, but… Randidly barred his teeth at the sky. Both titanic figures upped their effort, causing dimensional cracks to flare to life and disappear in split seconds. Thick cords of black lightning ripped outward from those cracks, disappearing just as quickly as they came. Yet they left the air sizzling and buzzing; when Randidly sniffed, he smelled the distinct tang of ozone.

Then his eyes flicked sideways. Huge orbs of darkness were breaking off of the moon that hung so low over the planet and shooting downward. Almost thirty rolled lazily down from the moon to smash into the planet below. While the two leaders held each other at bay, it was time for the troops to engage. And coincidentally, one of the giant hunks of darkness was coming down to near Randidly.

“Well shit,” Randidly swore. Then he crouched next to Raymund Ballast and helped him sit up. The Vulpine was licking his lips, but his eyes were still glassy. Randidly grimaced. “Are you alright? Can you walk?”

“I… apologies. I…” The Foxman trailed off, clearly still deeply disturbed by his brush with death. Randidly sighed and didn’t pressure him. Instead, he glanced again up at the sky. The Nether Invasion was coming. Which meant that there wasn’t much time to arrange for Randidly to be part of Military High Command’s response. He could just assist in the fight, but then he wouldn’t receive any credit as a ‘volunteer’. And he supposed he could just enlist directly, but Randidly had the feeling that then he would end up with Commandant Wick anyway-

Randidly paused as a thought occurred to him. He looked down at the dazed Raymund Ballast. Then he grinned.

“Recruit Ballast; let’s not mince words. You aren’t fit for action right now, and we are running out of time. Hand over your identification card and I’ll take care of your muster call for the time being. In the meantime… I suggest you return to my Soulskill, where you can recover for a bit. When things have calmed down, we will discuss what happened to you.” Randidly said seriously.

Raymund blinked and raised his gaze at the sky. Through the haze of his own thoughts, the rapidly approaching invasion of Nether seemed to finally hit him. For a second his jaw tightened like he was going to pull himself together, but then that bleak blankness returned to his gaze. With a sigh, he nodded and passed Randidly his identification card.

After quickly opening a portal to his Alpha Cosmos and letting Raymund through, Randidly nodded and brushed himself off. He allowed one last look toward the descending Nether forces and then produced a long brown cloak from his inventory. Not that the recruitment coordinator would likely care about Randidly’s impersonation, but the longer it took for Commandant Wick to find out about it, the better.

Influence +3!

Through his connections with some of the other recruits, Randidly could feel them nearby. Clicking his tongue, he produced his Philosopher’s Key and opened a portal to nearby to the Military Headquarters, but not inside it.

The place was a kicked anthill as Randidly traveled the rest of the distance on foot, with soldiers running every which direction in a chaotic mass of bodies. Randidly was jostled several times as he moved forward, quickly eroding his patience to the point that the lingering fury he felt from Raymund’s mortal injury came back to the surface.

Next time when someone made to barrel into Randidly, his hands flicked out and tossed the offending grunt away.

As Randidly suspected, the muster station for the new recruits wasn’t difficult to pass through. All Randidly had to do was state why he was there and the harried Sergeant paused in his frantic packing up of the station to make a hasty note on a clipboard. Then the Sergeant gestured vaguely to the South. “You’ll see your people that way-”

RUMMMMMBBBBBLLLLEEEE!

The sky shook as the clashed between Commandant Wick and the Nether King intensified. The Nether King had created some new arrangements of its Nether and applied more pressure, but the Commandant didn’t budge an inch. The Sergeant visibly flinched from the explosive reaction and Randidly smiled and turned away.

Still wrapped in his long cloak, Randidly followed his instincts; even if the soldier had been general, he could feel the presence of his recruits through the Nether that they had shared. Those bonds might only have been built for three months, but they were the Nether flows he had made at Randidly’s current height of Nether sophistication.

The group was standing nervously together, still dressed in the same dark green uniforms of the elite squad. The material was dusty and worn from the constant physical training that the Overseers had demanded. DiOrtho was the first to notice Randidly as he strode confidently forward.

The ram demon’s eyes widening in recognition as he approached the group. “Head-”

“Everyone,” Randidly rumbled with a voice that was aided by his Nether Weight. Instantly, he became the center of attention and smiled around at his recruits. “I would appreciate it if you would pretend like I am Raymund Ballast for the next several hours. There isn’t time to explain, but everyone should be careful during the fight; the Nether isn’t our only foe.”

Looks of pained understanding came across many faces, but Randidly ignored those expressions and looked at the scroll in Vant’s hands. “We’ve got orders already?”

“Ah… yes, sir.” The ram demon scratched his cheek and passed over the scroll. Randidly scanned through it: the elite squad was supposed to move to clear one of the impact points for the giant Nether Spheres.

Randidly barred his teeth. If he hadn’t have come, taking on an impact zone alone would have been a dangerous prospect for the elite squad. He could sense there were at least a hundred Nether Gatekeepers within each sphere, with more hidden in their depths. But since he was here to help-

“One last lesson,” Randidly said gravely, looking around at his recruits. “Let’s take the first step together. Try to keep up. I’m not going to hold back.”