From their vantage point on top of the fort, the sounds of the battlefield were almost distant. It was easy to feel separated from the suffering happening below. Vualla clenched her fists tightly, making her metal gauntlets shake. The interim Commander shook his head sadly as he looked down from the walls. "This young fool. This is exactly why you don't show off early in a serious battlefield. Did he truly think that the Nether Beasts were foes that were possible antagonize without incurring these sort of consequences? He deserves this comeuppance."

Even through that emotionless void that she carried in her chest, Vualla felt a tremor run through her body. It was a righteous fury that was backed by disbelief at the interim Commander’s response. Both survive the hungry drain of the void in Vualla’s chest.

Of course, Randidly knew there would be consequences. That was the entire point. Because he could endure while others could not. Because Randidly Ghosthound was willing to personally pay that price in order to protect some of the common soldiers from needing to pay with their own lives. You spineless cretin.

Outloud, Vualla kept her voice light when she spoke. "Luckily that one that crashed to the ground is barely at the Nether Gatekeeper tier. I can finish it off quickly if I head out now, before more come."

"You will stay put, and that's an order." The Interim Commander tutted while looking at Vualla with an ugly glare. "This could be a ploy to get us to overcommit our forces. Until we understand how the Nether Beasts intend to overwhelm our base, we will not move. Don't tell me that you want to participate in this young man's folly?"

Offering my body to protect others? Of course I want to participate. Vualla thought. But she hesitated to push the issue.

The rather large truth hanging between her and the interim Commander was the fact that the Interim Commander was even weaker than this first Nether Gatekeeper that showed up on the battlefield. The position had been awarded to him based on seniority, and because there were no other suitable candidates. If Vualla were to move now, this camp had no one who could reliably repulse a Nether Gatekeeper on its own.

It is another issue entirely why I wasn’t considered a suitable candidate...

Yet even if she knew she should not, Vualla's eyes kept being drawn to the roaring Nether Gatekeeper. It's cries were swiftly spurring on its fellows into violent activity across the lines. Perhaps even more dangerous than the foe itself was the huge gash that it opened up in the defensive fortifications around Lady Iellaya's camp. Nether Beasts finally had space to swarm up toward the Aether soldiers, resulting in growing casualties.

"Besides, Lady Iellaya is more than capable of handling a threat of this tier. Even her second is powerful enough for a foe like this," The interim Commander said dismissively. He folded his arms and nodded for an aide to refill his coffee cup. "Let's not stick our noses into other people's affairs, shall we?"

Yet second ticked past and Vualla didn't move her gaze. By the second, the gash in the defensive fortifications in front of Lady Iellaya’s camp was growing larger.

Even the interim Commander began to frown as the damage to the defenses grew greater and greater. His glances over toward Lady Iellaya's camp became increasingly frequent. The area around the Nether Gatekeeper had been cleared of soldiers and now a halo of Nether Beasts had formed up around it. The Aether forces were continually forced to give ground underneath the frenzied assault, allowing the opponents to gain several footholds along the edge of the ditch.

This only was ever going to end one way, Vualla kept her eyes opened and waited for the inevitable. She could feel the cold darkness pressing against the skin of her shoulders to her like a cloak, equally as transfixed by what was occurring on the battlefield. The small spark of worry in Vualla's chest endured its constant draining. Everyone on the battlefield is unwilling to play their hands too early, Randidly. This will be a long battle. None are as brave as you are.

None shine as brightly. Look, you even have the attention of this weird-ass, emotionless darkness...

"I say... there are quite a number of Nether Beasts over attacking Lady Iellaya's camp. If they fall, we-"

Yet just as the interim Commander was realizing the strategic value in their neighbor successfully drawing the ire of the Nether, there was a change. The slowly growing footholds across the ditch were abruptly popped like a balloon by waves of thorny roots. Nether Beasts were swept away with all the casual professionalism as a homeowner dealing with red and orange leaves in fall. Then a single figure eviscerated a dozen Nether Beasts with his spear and manifested in front of the Nether Gatekeeper.

Almost subconsciously, Vualla's mouth slightly opened. A warm flame that her heavy darkness could not snuff out steadily burned in her chest. It was defiant and playful and filled her with hope. And this flame suddenly felt ever so familiar. Even from here, Vualla could feel that Randidly was not relying on the image of the tree any longer.

No, this was the Randidly that Vualla knew most intimately. The heavy and violent image of the Grim Chimera was present, suffusing him with a virulent energy. The being that had been hunted its entire existence, and had grown strong on survival.

The nearby Nether Beasts struck at him, trying to reestablish their beachhead below Lady Iellaya's camp. Yet Randidly's form flickered and he slipped between the blows. He moved more quickly than any one man had a right to, somehow completely avoiding the attacks and inflicting deep gashes on the offending foes.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

They keened their pain and tried to recover, but Randidly raised his head and sucked in a long breath of air. Even from the next camp over, Vualla could sense that something strange occurred as Randidly took that breath. Instantly, all the surrounding Nether Beasts seemed to grow dim and sluggish. Narrowing her eyes, Vualla tried to figure out what he had done.

Yet the Nether Gatekeeper had endured Randidly’s actions silently for long enough. The six-armed monster focused its furious gaze on Randidly and roared at a volume that seemed to punch the surrounding air. The ferocity and violence of its call continued forward and smashed into Randidly. Even from here, Vualla could see how the raw oppression of a Nether Gatekeeper was still enough to slow Randidly down.

The Grim Chimera still isn’t strong enough for this...

Just as Vualla was about to assume that it was still too early for Randidly to fight against a Nether Gatekeeper, he blurred forward into motion. Like a loosed arrow, he practically glided forward and smashed into the chest of the Nether Gatekeeper before it could react. The powerful image of the Grim Chimera clashed directly against the fury of the Nether Gatekeeper.

… definitely looks like the image is still a bit short from being enough, Vualla shook her head. But damn, how high are Randidly's Stats that he can move like that even while surrounded by Nether...?

Again, Randidly took a deep breath and the surrounding Nether Beasts wavered slightly. Even the Nether Gatekeeper paused for a short amount of time as Randidly’s action somehow pulled at the surrounding space. But then the Nether Gatekeeper’s fury came roaring back with enough violence to blast away any feeble hold Randidly have over it. It exerted a concentrated pressure on the surrounding area shot that caused the visual variations to flicker and dance madly across one another.

Two of its arms shot outward to smash back Randidly, but Randidly simply wove his torso between the thundering blows with a shocking about of grace. Which only served to infuriate the Nether Gatekeeper further. It growled lightly, but once again tried to suppress the surrounding area with the raw density of the Nether at its disposal.

Once more, Randidly took a deep breath. This time, Vualla finally saw how it took the edge off of the surrounding Nether density. In terms of energy manipulation, it was a flawless and almost instinctual sabotage. Randidly then followed up with a vicious series of short stabs with his spear that cut open a few more gashes across the Nether Gatekeeper.

But even if Randidly could handle the Nether, the punches were proving to be the real problem. This time when the Nether Gatekeeper attacked it came with every intention of smashing Randidly into a pulp. All six shoulders rolled and a rain of blows began to fall toward Randidly.

For the first three strikes, Randidly was able to take a step to the side and weave through a slight gap in the attacks. He even swept the spear downward and inflicted a deep wound on the Nether Gatekeeper's thigh. But that gave the Nether Gatekeeper enough time to bring a rumbling hook across horizontally that was right on target. Vualla's heartbeat stopped for a split second as Randidly stepped backward, but not quickly enough to avoid the punch skidding off the front of his armor. The attack was so powerful that flakes of his chest piece were physically sheered off.

Handling the Nether is good, but that's just the beginning. You cannot forget about the raw power that Nether Gatekeepers have. It's that power that makes them so difficult to put down...

Being hit by the punch sent Randidly stumbling and the Nether Gatekeeper surged forward to capitalize. Two more punches shot out. Randidly was able to contort his body to avoid the first strike, but the second one smashed directly into Randidly's side.

He took all the force directly…! Vualla decided that she didn't care very much for what the interim Commander thought and was going to go help Randidly before he was killed in this meaningless waiting game.

But within a second, the worry Vualla felt was sucked away from her. The darkness seemed to tell Vualla to wait and see.

Because Randidly skidded backward and his face twisted into a scowl, but that was all. He seemed none the worse for wear from enduring the direct strike. It looked like there were more cracks that opened up on his strange, ash grey armor, but other than that he was fine.

Although the armor had cracked, the core had held.

“You need to back off,” Vualla whispered. When the interim Commander gave her a strange look, she didn’t continue to speak. But she continued to will her wishes to Randidly through the palpable connection that she felt for him. Use your Skills. Keep your distance. If it’s you, there should be no problem running around it. So why are you…!

The Nether Gatekeeper didn't waste any time being surprised by Randidly’s tenacity. It simply surged forward and continued its flurry of blows with clear intent to put this threat down. Randidly dodged the first one, endured a glancing strike to his shoulder to inflict a deep cut to the Nether Gatekeeper on the second, and then dodged the third blow entirely as he once more surged forward and pierced the Nether Gatekeeper's chest with a thrust too abrupt to follow with the naked eye.

This time, the Nether Gatekeeper stumbled backward before regaining its feet. Both took a few seconds to study each other.

Are Randidly Ghosthound's Stats high enough that he can meet a Nether Gatekeeper head-on...? And I know he has some proficiency with Nether, but really? His image is barely being corroded by the density of the surrounding energy. How...?

The darkness over Vualla sucked those emotions away. Watch him.

Perhaps Vualla really would begrudgingly allow the emptiness she carried with her to devour her worries if she had not noticed that even larger chunks of the armor wrapped around his torso began to crack and flake off after the contact. Partially disintegrating plates couldn't hold on any longer and fell away, revealing a much darker shade of inner armor, something that was closer to black.

Yet it seemed that the Nether Gatekeeper noticed the same thing that Vualla saw because it rushed forward and aimed its blows to exploit the growing cracks in Randidly's armor. Again, most of these were effortlessly dodged by Randidly while exhibiting an impossible level of speed, grace, and flexibility. But sometimes blows was glance off the armor. Sometimes Randidly would choose to endure a strike directly to inflict a wound of his own.

Over and over again, large chunks were broken off of the armor, leaving Randidly-

Vualla frowned.

Why did it seem like... the armor he was wearing was growing as pieces fell away...?