When Randidly removed the mental blinders he had carefully erected during his interaction with Vualla, the sea of information that Grim Intuition provided him crashed against his senses. For several seconds, Randidly had to stop his mad dash back toward Lady Iellaya’s camp and simply process everything that was happening around the battlefront. But just as quickly the inherent comprehension that was present in Grim Intuition started to take over and ease the process.

Gradually, Randidly could sense the surroundings. The madness of the battlefront slowly settled into the horrific, slow-moving tragedy that it truly was. The cries of the wounded and dying filtered to Randidly’s ears. He could see the shredded flesh and terrible corrosion on both sides that resulted from their contact. Sweat and grunts became a low rhythm of conflict.

The Aether lines were currently doing very well against the bull rush of the Nether Beast’s assault, but it was mostly because the scattered early groups of Nether Beasts were the only ones who had reached their fortifications. Behind them, the Nether forces were flooding forward in an absolute torrent of bodies. Even if the Aether forces had been bolstered by some modest defensive fortifications and these fresh recruits, they still only possessed one-tenth of the numbers.

That was a hard hurdle to overcome.

When Randidly reached Lady Iellaya’s camp, he didn’t bother going through the gates; he simply flexed his legs and leapt up over the back wall to land on the battlements. Even though the rear of the fort was lightly guarded, several individuals looked at him in panic before they recognized him as an ally and quickly relaxed.

Blurring into motion, Randidly rushed along the battlements to the front of the fort to look out with his eyes at what was happening. Perhaps because he could feel the visceral violence of the Aether and Nether smashing against each other, but he desperately needed to view the fighting directly. To witness it in its entirety.

Or maybe I simply want to distract myself from the feeling that I’m missing something about Vualla’s situation…

Shaking his head, Randidly blew past several more guard posts landed at his normal position. Both Salazar and Zauna were waiting for him and hurried over to his side as he leaned up against the walls. It was a testament to how serious the situation was that even Salazar kept his mouth shut.

Randidly released a breath and witnessed the greatest conflict that had occurred between Nether and Aether in their generation. And this was just the beginning.

With the additional forces they had received, Aether had set up a series of low trenches fill with pitfalls to slow down the Nether advance. Currently, the Nether Beast’s bodies flailed and struggled to break through this impediment, but the Nether Beasts that followed the initial surge were crawling over the hissing corpses of their allies in order to make it through safely. A road of bodies was being paved.

The area around the trenches looked like an amorphous and flailing blob. It was a little easier to make out the Aether soldiers, standing in formation at the edges of the trenches with some low walls and stakes to slow the opposition's advance. But they were a small grouping of bodies compared to the horde rushing forward toward them.

And beyond the next wave of Nether Beasts were more monsters of hungry violence ready to fight to avenge their Nether Prince.

Plus, Randidly couldn’t help but notice how… mediocre the images were that the new recruits possessed. Not that he was in a position to be critical of the weakness of new arrivals, but there wasn’t much refinement present in the images; they were extremely raw. Of course, raw was a relevant sign to indicate potential, but these people needed power now as a Nether Beast attempted to rip out their larynx. And it just wasn’t present.

Randidly flexed his hands. At least around Lady Iellaya’s camp, he would not allow the Nether Beasts to casually approach. Because Randidly didn’t miss how none of the Commanders or other powerful fighters had appeared on the battlefield yet. They were waiting for their moment.

“It might be better to wait,” Randidly admitted to himself. Both Salazar and Zauna looked at him in confusion. Randidly shook his head. “No, it’s definitely better to wait. To appear now… will definitely draw more attention to our position. Lady Iellaya’s camp is already targeted enough as the leftmost base.”

Randidly lowered his head and chewed on his lip. And to his surprise, Zauna spoke in a small voice.

“If you do not act… can the rest of us handle the spare attention you won’t be drawing…?”

“Not without a lot of people dying.” Randidly admitted. Then he cracked his neck. His abilities were too well suited to the battle to wait. The effects he could have on a large area were certainly attention-grabbing, but that was because they needed to be addressed. It was only with someone like Randidly that it was possible to live through vastly uneven odds like this.

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But still, he looked up toward the central keep of their small fort. He could feel the shape of Lady Iellaya’s image within. Present but patient. And Randidly definitely believed that she could understand his hesitation.

When no orders manifested after a few seconds, Randidly turned back to the battlefield and barred his teeth. Then he glanced toward the headquarters. Lord Miln wasn’t exactly silent, but all that had changed was Lord Miln set up a grand barrier that prevented the Nether Beasts from landing very close to the bases.

Which ultimately, wasn’t much help at all. The Nether Beasts were perfectly willing to walk. Randidly looked back toward the Great Rift above them. “Drawing attention it is.”

Just as a particularly dense group of Nether Beasts was hurrying forward over their companion’s bodies, the trench erupted and a towering emerald and gold root reared up into the air. There was a split second of hesitation as forces on both sides froze at its sudden appearance, but then three more huge roots ripped up out of the ground along the long trench in front of Lady Iellaya’s base. They were evenly spaced and formed an intimidating barricade.

Congratulations! Your Skill Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil (T) has grown to Level 277!

The roots were as thick as a tree trunk and dozens of meters long. By the time that the Nether Beasts realized the threat that they represented, the roots began smashing around, physically concussing and rupturing the bodies of the living Nether Beasts and scooping out the corpses of the deceased Nether Beasts so they didn’t corrode away the trenches. The roots moved so quickly that the hummed at the violence of their passage.

There was a lull in the nearby assault as everyone focused on these new threats, then Nether Beasts started throwing themselves forward to end these abrupt foes. Of course, the roots never stopped moving.

Randidly lined the trenches with sharp and thorny vines and allowed his four giant roots to continued their brutal work. Although the Nether Beasts didn’t possess exactly physical bodies, the glowing and empowered Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil could use brute force to destroy their substance. Very quickly those trenches turned into a horrifying meat blender. The roots tenderized them and the thorny vines waiting below eviscerated them.

Congratulations! You have reached Level 51! +8 Stats distributed between Vitality, Perception, Resist, Intelligence, and Control, +35 Free Stats! +1 Stat to a Mental Stat. +1 to a Physical Defense Stat. +1 to a Mental Support Stat. +2 Control. +36 Health, +45 Mana, +40 Stamina, +3.5 to all Regenerations! +1 to Health and Stamina Regeneration!

Due to Guidance of the Wraith Adder, +4 Agility and +2 Bonus Stats!

Due to your Fate Philosopher's Key, +3 Intelligence, Wisdom, and Focus!

Experience rapidly flowed into Randidly as he murdered the Nether Beasts, pushing him up to Level 51. Of course, the Nether Beasts were also able to inflict significant damage on the golden roots during that time. Even if Randidly possessed a Skill that made him largely immune to the antagonistic properties of Nether, his Skills didn’t share that protection.

Yet just as one of the roots was being scratched and mauled to the point that it was wavering, a towering phantom of Yggdrasil flickered to life over their corner of the battlefield. For a split second, the sound of rustling leaves filled the air. Vitality began to rapidly pump back through the roots, healing most of their superficial wounds within a few seconds. The image of the World Tree wrapped around them like a suit of armor.

This nurturing energy that suffused through the roots only drew additional ire from the forces of Nether. As he looked up at the sky, Randidly saw how more and more masses of Nether smashed down from the blue veins above and resolved themselves into groups of Nether Beasts. Grinning, he looked around and noted with amusement that they were probably drawing about double as much attention from the enemy.

Perfect. Now let’s begin the show. The Inscrutable Mien of Genesis.

The golden light around the towering four roots rippled. Then it shifted to a white light, reaching a lumen level that was almost blinding. Wielding that light like a bludgeon, Randidly smashed back the next wave of Nether forces that attempted to crawl forward. Some Nether Beasts at the four-star tier quickly made themselves known to limit the damage, but Randidly still had a slight edge over them.

The image was too powerful; the Skill had more punch than normal Nether Beasts could handle. That light was something precious and almost holy. The Nether Beasts could only do their best to corral it, but they couldn’t rival it. In the short term, it would continue to overpower them.

Congratulations! Your Skill Inscrutable Mien of Genesis (M) has grown to Level 251!

What they couldn’t rival in potency, they attempted to drown in numbers. More and more Nether comets crashed to the ground and fueled the rush toward Lady Iellaya’s camp. As it was not his own Nether, even Randidly could prevent the brilliant light from the Skill slowly being worn down.

But it had accomplished the goal. Lady Iellaya’s forces had used the break to recover and catch their breath. They were ready enough to rejoin the fight, and Randidly could feel how the grand array was sucking away at the ambient Nether he created by blending the Nether Beasts and using it to empower the defenses across their lines further.

An added benefit that it brings more power to old Vualla’s array… now, let’s see if I can lure them in to cut to the bone.

The phantom of the World Tree filled up the sky above them, standing starkly opposed to the almost treelike blue veins of the Nether. Enemies surged forward, gradually fighting through and pushing back Randidly’s Skills. He killed, but he didn’t put all of his Willpower behind the images. Because this was a trap.

And he would need his strength to make them pay for rushing forward so boldly.