Chapter 1628 (1/2)

As the man they called the Ghosthound walked almost serenely forward and cast a long and dark shadow, the featureless Mynway turned to address Claudette. “Miss, if that man proceeds out onto the battlefield, the reverberations from the other confrontations-”

“Can’t you feel it?” Claudette exhaled and licked her lips. Her dark eyes began to glitter. As she stared at Randidly’s back and those strange spectral flames that flickered across his body, she couldn’t muster up the gumption to follow him. The pressure was a totally unique and unfamiliar sensation It was different from what she experienced near the Frost Matriarch, a pressure that made establishing an image in that space impossible. Nor was it the dominant physical disintegration that a Nether Herald could mobilize.

Rather than Claudette being suppressed by Randidly Ghosthound, it was like his very real existence made her understand that she was fake and feeble. The very substance of the space in front of Claudette urged her not to take action against this man.

“...certainly he seems… capable.” The featureless Mynway allowed. Meanwhile, almost a dozen powerful images smashed against each other in the surrounding area. The alabaster titan struck the golden orb and smashed it into the ground. The raincloud weeping black drops expanded and riddled the space a bit to their left with caustic liquid. “But the collateral damage-”

He gestured helplessly; after defeating the golden orb, the titan charged toward a glowing green greatsword. The clash of the two images caused space above them to shudder, but as both attackers refused to concede, the pressure mounted. A split second later, the forces ruptured the surrounding space and sent spatial cracks ripping in every direction. One of Mynway’s subordinates that was assisting on that battlefield was crushed into a bloody paste for daring to be too near.

Claudette shook her head slowly, her eyes still straight ahead. As one of those cracks snaked down toward Randidly, it rapidly slowed. Only a few meters away from the spear-wielder, space stabilized and the reverberations vanished. Sure enough, her instincts hadn’t lied; there was something universally authentic about the Ghosthound that even strengthen the fabric of shape. Next to her, Mynway couldn’t figure out how to react to this phenomenon.

In twenty meters in almost any direction from Randidly, the forces of the Pinnacle Seekers and the Nexus Labor Council were locked in the sort of high-tier combat that left the environment sundered and broken. Yet his pace never changed, his gait remained even.

When Claudette had met Randidly, she had been instantly suspicious by how casually he had treated her. Considering her family, it was obvious his attitude was a facade. She had seen similar attempts before, so she decided to treat him casually and wait for his tune to change. Yet he hadn’t reacted when she had flirted, or been ingratiating, or when she had brought the attention of Seeker Thunder Wing directly upon him. Finally, now, she understood why.

This whole time, the man Randidly Ghosthound had been looking forward, toward this confrontation. And such was the intensity of his focus that the entire world aligned with him and did the same.

She was just a side character to him, no matter who her family was. Likely, she would quickly vanish from his mind after they parted ways. And while she had initially balked at that realization, she couldn’t deny it any longer.

Where did this man come from…? Claudette wondered as she watched him finally reach his target. The man Randidly Ghosthound was staring at finally looked back at him.

*****

Influence +6!

Congratulations! Your Skill Chimeric Impunity (M) has grown to Level 359!

Congratulations! Your Skill Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm (T) has grown to Level 392!

Congratulations! Your Skill Nether Sensation (L) has grown to Level 406!

Influence +4!

Due to an extraordinary accumulation of significance, Weight +10

Congratulations! Your Skill Chimeric Impunity (M) has grown to Level 360!

Influence +10!

Randidly’s heart ached as he looked at Shal.

Unwilling to let his attention waver in this important moment, Randidly Ghosthound deftly reached into the Aether apparatus around him and switched off his access to notifications. The notifications were coming too rapidly and, at the moment, he didn’t need them at all. He let the task at hand consume him. He tried to take a calming breath as he stepped forward but his muscles wouldn’t stop clenching. The muscles of his jaw were trembling.

He took another step forward.

Randidly felt… insubstantial as he walked across the battlefield. The other sounds around him faded as Shal’s figure filled his vision. Somehow, he was beyond the impacts and sounds of the nearby conflicts; he was ethereal. He drifted forward like an unwilling spirit.

Randidly’s Nether Core spun faster and faster, gushing Nether through his veins so quickly that he was briefly worried whether even his powerful body wouldn’t be able to handle it. Yet not only was his body withstanding the endless river of Nether being channeled through him, but his cells were thriving under its influence.

With every step, the density of Nether in his body deepened. And in the next moment, another powerful wave of Nether pumped through him, forcing the already accumulated Nether down and compacting it. In response, his image physicalizations steadily manifested to balance out the energies he held within his physical form. Nether flames flickered up and down across his arms as he subconsciously released his Weight to steady himself.

Each step was a dizzying rebirth. If Randidly ripping off his flesh earlier was his body catching up to his Stats, his current situation was the result of his Aether and Nether reworking itself in the same way. And despite the warning Randidly had seen in his Glimpse of the Shallah Path, he didn’t attempt to stop the transformative process.