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?”

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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?”

Claudette continued to beam at Randidly as he was relaying his orders, causing him to falter in his words. She seemed actively trying to gather positive emotion and shine it toward him through her smile. In response to Randidly’s question, she simply waved her hand and giggled. “Nothing, nothing. You just seem quite reliable.”

Randidly was speechless for a second. But then he shrugged and turned away. Helen and Narthalla were engaged in brutal battles with seven and six Nether Gatekeepers respectively, effectively stalled out in their offensive in the face of superior numbers. Randidly gestured sharply. “Raymund and DiOrtho, let’s hurry this skirmish up. I want to study this material a little bit longer, but not too much longer. And Raymund… see if you can take anything from the Nether forces.”

The two nodded and shot out to help with the battle. Neither were as powerful as Helen and Narthalla, at least not without Raymund being able to swipe a powerful attack from someone, but they both possessed enough physical power to compete directly with the Nether Gatekeepers. Their presence would definitely alleviate the pressure on the women. In the meantime, Randidly crouched down next to the Nether Vein again and examined it even more closely.

Rather than metal, the Nether Veins seemed to possess the traits of wood. The more minutely he examined them, the more he could sense the faintest flicker of life amongst the material. Only, the grains were extremely small. After a few tries, Randidly could only give up at using Absolute Grasp of Yggdrasil to affect the veins directly; whatever refinement process this had gone through had annihilated any resemblance the material had to actual plant life.

Instead, Randidly could only tsk lightly and produce Acri. The plant weapon sensed Randidly’s intent and pressed its blade together as tightly as it could manage. Randidly brandished the spear and then slashed down with enough force to produce a sonic boom and deeply scar the ground around the Nether Vein. But Randidly was unsurprised to find that the attack didn’t mana to inflict much lasting damage on the material.

The ghost of that significance he could barely witness hung in the air, subtly blunting his attack.

Sure enough, they wouldn’t bother to install this shit if it could be easily removed, Randidly clicked his tongue in distaste. But let’s see how seriously the Nether Forces take their material sciences…

Randidly spared a glance over his shoulder for Lay’mel, who was crouching miserably as the reverberations from the battle with the Nether Gatekeepers were spreading throughout the isolated area. Then Randidly became very aware of Claudette, who was still watching him curiously. Inwardly, he could only sigh. Although he would prefer not to reveal too much of his power, just demonstrating all of the physical power he possessed was an acceptable cost to test the limits of this material.

Randidly had a hunch that if he proceeded any deeper, this arrangement would become increasingly relevant. He didn’t want to be unprepared if he had to destroy an array like this in the future. As he readied himself, he gripped Acri with both hands. His eyes blazed with emerald fire.

Yet the portion of Randidly that was the most mobilized was his Nether Core, which began to roar to life. Nether spiraled out of its wild gyrations, flowing through his Soulspace and weaving through his veins. His heart began to pound loudly. Although Randidly was careful not to mobilize his images, the ghost of the image physicalizations still flickered to life around him due to his Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm. The very fabric of his existence shifted from humanity to something more monstrous and harrowing. As his veins glowed golden and his torso turned partially insubstantial, his left eye darkened.

Behind him, he sensed Claudette’s winning smile slip and fall off her face, revealing an expression of genuine shock.

Randidly’s fingers tightened on Acri and he swept the spear downward. His muscles exploded into motion, his joints cracking in meek protest before the overwhelming power Randidly channeled through his body. Quick as a spark, Acri cut into the Nether Vein. The pseudo-wood screeched in protest.

Congratulations! Your Skill Sharpness has grown to Level 257!

…

Congratulations! Your Skill Sharpness has grown to Level 279!

Just as soon as it arrived, the weapon shuddered to a stop. Randidly grimaced and planted his foot on the Nether Vein to yank Acri’s tip out of its current resting place. Then he crouched down and examined the marred material; mobilizing his physical power had only allowed Acri to cut halfway through the Nether Vein.

Still, it should be possible for me to destroy this material if I need to… Randidly sighed and straightened to look toward the continuing fight. After being stricken with indecision while watching the image smash into Nether Gatekeepers below, he decided to focus on proceeding deeper for now; something about the pattern of the Nether Veins unnerved him.

Randidly almost wanted to remain here for a bit and pry a portion of the Nether Vein out of the ground, but it wasn’t really worth the time commitment. So he straightened and gestured to Kerwin and Lay’mel. The other four hadn’t killed all of the Nether Gatekeepers in their way yet, but they had injured them and forced them backward. “Come on. Let’s head to the next area.”

While the fighting continued on either side of them, Randidly led Claudette and the weaker individuals directly across the lake, walking lightly across the surface of the mist-shrouded water. Claudette simply froze the water and walked forward, but Randidly chose a different tack. By activating Hallucination of the Bloodless Heart and utilizing its gravity manipulation abilities, only Randidly’s toes touched the water and produced serene ripples. Even if the process was somewhat elaborate, Randidly grinned down at himself from the sensation. I can’t do this directly because I don’t have the right sort of Skill, but this sort of thing is actually quite fun.

When they reached the other side of the lake, Randidly paused briefly because he noticed a change in Claudette’s expression. If he had to guess, it started when he had attacked the Nether Vein. Although she had been so radiantly positive previously, she now looked at Randidly with her brow slightly furrowed. “Is something wrong?”

“That… no, it’s nothing, Mr. Ghosthound.” Claudette shook her head. A ghost of a smile flitted across her face. “But your subordinates are very impressive; each is a match for Nary. It makes me wonder how much power their superior possesses.”

Randidly grinned as he looked forward once more. “I actually wonder the same thing these days… alright, call your subordinate back. It’s time to move on.”

They quickly crossed the rest of the distance to the far spatial wall and Randidly pressed his hand against it. The Nether Gatekeepers seemed to realize what was happening, but Helen’s Tides of Blood Domain had gained too much momentum during the last few minutes of battle. Restricting the wounded Nether Gatekeepers was quite simple.

As Randidly spread his senses out throughout the surrounding layered space, he frowned. There were three nearby pieces of space he could travel to, but unfortunately, this was the portion of the area that wasn’t well described by Claudette’s map; it seemed even the Frost Matriarch was unsure of how to proceed at this depth.

Likely, her senses hadn’t been able to pierce much deeper. Honestly, Randidly was shocked that he had managed to capture as much information as she had.

However, a growing resonance quickly bloomed inside of Randidly’s Soulspace. He sensed a kindred energy to his own in one of the spaces in front of him. Randidly blinked slowly; a second later he began to smile as he recognized the source. He was close enough to vaguely sense the position of his next Fatepiece in the next space.

Which meant that he had found the trail of Shal and Techetadore.