Chapter 1625 (1/2)

Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Oracle (M) has grown to Level 251!

Congratulations! Your Skill Grit of the Ascendant Bane (T) has grown to Level 406!

Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Oracle (M) has grown to Level 252!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Left Hand of the Nether Oracle (M) has grown to Level 261!

Coughing, Randidly pushed all the way through the expanse of layered energies and arrived at a new island of isolated space. Even he hadn’t realized how difficult an endeavor he had chosen when he pierced past the available bridges. As he shook himself to dislodge the buzzing numbness in his body, he could only grimace; while it was extremely possible for him to burrow through the space blindly with his capabilities, dragging the others behind them had vastly increased the difficulty.

There had been little choice but to utilize his Aether and Nether to push the pressure on his body. And his body was strong, make no mistake. However, alternating doses of very pure Aether and Nether still put quite a strain on him.

At least that’s a bit of inspiration for my next training array, Randidly thought sourly as he brushed himself off.

For their part, Randidly’s subordinates and the newly arrived members of the Holy Frost Society looked around curiously at their new location. A few Nether Gatekeepers looked up from some Nether work on the slope below and growled, but the isolated space was dominated by a mist-covered lake and had very few Nether soldiers. At a roar from the nearest Nether Gatekeeper, a dozen of its fellows that surrounded the lake hurried over.

Looks like it’s just that dozen though...

Randidly rolled his shoulders and focused on his breathing to shake off the discomfort he felt from straining himself to protect the people that followed him through the strangely folded space. The numbness and the burning in his nerves gradually faded. In the meantime, both Helen and Claudette Beigon stepped forward, the former raising a spear and the latter producing a sheathed bastard sword and holding it in front of her.

When the two womens’ eyes met, Helen’s irises flashed in challenge. But Claudette laughed and lowered her weapon. “Ah, very impressive Mr. Ghosthound. I had no idea your subordinate would be able to handle the Nether Gatekeepers. Wow, what an image. Nary, why don’t you go contribute then?”

After speaking, Claudette once more stored away her sheathed stored and the rising image of frost around her instantly dissipated. The accumulation of frost on the grass by her feet ceased. Instead, Narthalla stepped forward, wielding a trident in one hand and a scimitar in the other. Claudette’s subordinate also quickly lowered the ambient temperature in the area. Narthalla sniffed as she looked over at Helen before charging out toward the approaching Nether Gatekeepers. Each step she took froze the ground in a small area.

Lay’mel watched the ice forming and sneezed miserably.

Randidly almost snorted when he saw Helen’s disgust as she observed the dual-wielding Narthalla. He could read her lips when she muttered “fucking unnecessary”. Then Helen hefted her very simple spear and charged forward, her Tides of Blood Domain spreading out to surround her. The crimson flows rapidly accelerated and dominated the lakeshore.

Raymund and DiOrtho glanced at Randidly, but he waved his hand in dismissal and walked calmly forward; the two women were demons incarnate, even against the Nether Gatekeepers. Since they wished to demonstrate their abilities, it was better to give them that chance before sending assistance.

One wielded blood while the other mobilized freezing cold, but both could manipulate external elements and render even these empowered Nether Gatekeepers helpless. Tides of Blood blasted Nether Gatekeepers backward and the waves of frost rapidly reduced the evasion speed of the Nether Gatekeepers. Helen and Narthalla spread out, but Randidly couldn’t help but reflect how capable the two would be if they worked together. It might be difficult to balance their images, but the effects would be significant.

Still, Randidly didn’t bother to try and force the issue. Who knew how long they would spend with these members of the Holy Frost Society, anyway. The only real problem was that neither had much killing power against these empowered Nether Gatekeeper. Both demonstrated that they were too stubborn to ask for help. For now, Randidly was willing to calmly walk forward and examine the portion of the slope that the Gatekeepers had been working on before the group arrived.

Upon closer examination, several mysterious characters were embedded into the ground. Just looking at those characters set his Nether Core spinning; there was significance at work here. Randidly crouched down next to the sigils and flicked the mysterious material that was embedded into the ground. Then he pressed his hand up against the baseball-thick black cables and was surprised to find that the material felt warm.

Randidly pursed his lips as his acute senses pierced through the material’s exterior. Seems like this is a semi-permanent Nether conduit. Almost like a vein that would allow energy to flow. I’m not sure how they create this, but after it’s inlaid in the right pattern, one simply needs to supply Nether in order to activate the Nether Ritual… Even these Nether Gatekeepers will be able to produce powerful effects like this.

Tsk, this pattern… even I can barely capture the meaning it contains. This definitely came from a significant character amongst the Nether Forces...

Turning away, Randidly meant to ask Lay’mel a question but he was briefly frozen because his pivot put his nose in a curtain of blonde hair. Randidly put a finger up under his nose to stifle a sneeze and took a quick step to the side to create some space. Claudette revealed another sunny smile toward him as she straightened from the posture she had used to peer over Randidly’s shoulder.

“...is there something you need?” Randidly asked. But inwardly, he was shocked that she had managed to sneak upon him. Part of the reason for his inattentiveness was the distraction as he scanned the interior of the Nether Vein to examine the whole of its structure and another reason was that the emotions Claudette Beigon released very overwhelmingly friendly and that he subconsciously viewed her as not a threat, but Randidly didn’t believe that those two factors would be enough for him to miss her movements.

There was definitely more capability to this woman than he had initially thought. She wasn’t just a pretty woman with an admirable image.

Claudette shrugged with a cheeky smile on her face. “Nope. I was just curious what you were looking at.” She poked the Nether Vein with her toe. The rigid material didn’t budge in the slightest from her touch. “Any idea what this made out of?”

Randidly glanced at Lay’mel to see if he had any insight. But the elfen man just looked at him blankly, clearly conveying ‘how the hell am I supposed to know that?!?’ Snorting lightly, Randidly shrugged as he turned to Claudette. “It is definitely some sort of material that has been refined by Nether, but even I am not sure of the exact composition.”

Then Randidly produced the cube map and consulted it briefly. “But the fact that Nether Forces are active here in the inner area means that the core portion of the folded space is likely even more densely populated. So everyone should be on your guard when we head to the next area. Kerwin, try and keep Lay’mel as close to the group as possible while we- ...what is it?”