The group each mobilized their own images, all their practice fighting together against Yuroach suddenly being put to a whole new test. Death, the taboo, and a giant animalistic machine mixed with Randidly’s own bouquet of images. Meanwhile, a gaggle of infuriated warriors continued to crater into the nearby mud as the foursome descended the slope, releasing blasts of power to open up a path in front of them.

Fiona took the lead, her image spreading slowly out to become a thick mauve mist that disguised their progress and confused the nearest fighters. When that wasn’t enough to keep the encirclement form tightening, she unleashed sharp bursts of force to give them an edge, swinging her leg around and knocking an opponent dazed by her image into the mud.

Xershi continued to happily drain Randidly’s Nether in order to take advantage of his violent tattoo, but luckily the volume was a lot less onerous than the Stillborn Phoenix’s massive gulp. Randidly could support the metal liger covered in grey flames while also unleashing waves of Yggdrasil’s roots behind them to smash against the body of a flaming turtle rushing behind the group.

He grimaced as the sedan-sized turtle just barreled through the roots, its image-heavy and powerful enough to overwhelm the World Tree, even reinforced with flames of Nether Weight. The mass of different images activated around them released conflicting waves of force that buzzed against his skin. Man, if we had some extra time, staying here and honing my images would be so valuable-

Randidly stopped up short and pivoted to the side. The fraction of time given to him to react was impossibly slight, but Predictive Synapses were not easy to surprise. A golden spirit lanced down out of the sky and burned a deep hole into the ground. It raised its featureless face and glared at Randidly with two glowing white orbs, sizzling like a chemical fire. Waving a hand, he unleashed a current of Nether from his body that obliterated the golden spirit.

In response, the giant sky island began to turn and drift after the group. A half dozen golden spirits shot out of the sides and twisted around to attack the group from different angles. Pullas wheeled around and unleashed several beams of pale death power, making the flaming turtle snap its teeth in irritation. Randidly began mobilizing flows of Nether to surround the group, keeping the golden spirits from being able to approach.

Ahead, Xershi fought against two different images users, a four-armed monkey and a humanoid with the head of a shark. Both had powerful images, but Xershi’s Nether empowered claws slowly burned their way deeper into the substance and shape of the images. They roared in pain and struggled to throw off the limbs, but Xershi was filled with bloodlust enough to overcome them.

Their progress was stalling out. Pullas spun around and unleashed another beam of death that cut a swooping crow out of the sky. Fiona avoided a diving golden spirit and then kicked an alien in the chest. Randidly did some quick mental calculations as one of the golden barges dropped another ten warriors down around them. Soon they would be fighting almost five to one, with the odds growing worse every second. Decisively, he yanked back the Nether from Xershi’s tattoo.

His metal claws stopped being able to rip so easily through images. Suddenly, Xershi’s metal liger found itself trying to suppress two other potent images on just his own power. Xershi’s optical apertures began to rapidly click as the ape and the shark man noticed the change and began to push him back. Unable to resist their power, he was pushed back. “Uh, Randidly-”

“Just focus on running,” Randidly said. His skin began to tingle and steam wafted off of his body. The Nether flowed through him, faster and faster. Those flows of Nether he used to defend against the golden spirits tightened and thickened. A storm began to brew, with the group at its center. “If we get too bogged down, we will be done. I’ll clear a path.”

“Alone?” Fiona glanced sideways at him after snapping the neck of a praying mantis creature. Even now, her practical capability for violence felt strangely impressive.

Randidly grinned. Kinetic energy swirled around him, twisting in larger and larger patterns. He took small bursts of force from all the conflicting images and fed it into a growing restrictive storm. Every flare empowered him, settling down and beginning to sizzle and weaken the surrounding images. “Well, I have my Stats.”

Congratulations! Your Skill Philosophy Within the Boundless Deluge (M) has grown to Level 890!

Congratulations! Your Skill Cutting Tides of Amenonuhoko (T) has grown to Level 921!

The storm rumbled with power, slashing at their pursuers with heavy waves of Nether. Of course, they just manifested their own images in response. Randidly might have a lot of Nether talent, but these were refined and potent images; each ripped open holes in his Nether storm. But in the end, their struggles only empowered him.

Kinetic energy gushed into his body, converted from violent images into ripples.

Randidly took a relatively light step to get out of the middle of the group of four, spraying them all with the sweaty and bloody mud water that had seeped into every inch of this place. Fiona gave him a positively sizzling look; Pullas sneezed. He skidded several meters as he landed, dispersing his momentum and leaning forward in preparation for his next move. He narrowed his eyes at the two fighters beginning to lash out at Xershi and stepped again, this time with all his force.

The ground beneath him couldn’t handle all the force channeled through the crackling storm into his body. But he did get enough forward momentum to crash into the shark man and then physically slam him into the four-armed ape. The two were sent skipping across the muddy slope, clearly dazed and bewildered by the sideswipe.

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Their images shook and dispersed, ill-prepared for the concussive meeting.

Randidly cashed in some of the growing kinetic force of the storm to steady himself. Around the group, the next ten warriors landed and began to dash toward them. Even through the film of Nether, they zeroed in on their position. The prospect of fighting each set Randidly’s teeth on edge. With how unstable the footing is, I’ll need to use the storm to keep myself moving. Well, that’s fine. I just need a slightly different shape-

The storm building around Randidly bulged and shifted. The vicious winds curled into four cyclones, rotating at such a fast speed that they rapidly gathered mud and water to become larger, browner versions of themselves. One of these whipped itself forward and plucked up two warriors before they could manifest their image in a useful manner. Fiona and Pullas dragged an unwilling Xershi forward into the space Randidly had opened up.

A flash of light revealed a speedy, dragonfly-winged humanoid shooting to catch up to the trio. Randidly grinned and shifted into motion with Dreadful Alacrity. He crushed one of the man’s wings in a brutal crack, then twisted mid-air and threw him into the nearest whirlwind. His body got caught briefly by the increasingly powerful winds and then spiked directly down into the mud.

More and more kinetic force was generated by the clashings of all different images. The shouting of the warriors and the screaming of the rising wind became a droning wall of noise. The flaming turtle raised its head, a giant burning anvil manifesting in midair; the thing was preparing a powerful attack. Randidly kicked with a burst of wind and shot over at the warrior, raising a fist to slam it down on the shell.

To his surprise, all of his momentum and physical power bounced off the shell in a shuddering backlash. Randidly’s bones ached. He grimaced as he looked down at his knuckles. I suppose its a bit much, even with my Stats, to clash against the image directly. Still, I’m not going to let this fucker unleash whatever its building-

Randidly absorbed one of the four whirlwinds back into himself, his body burning with kinetic force. He raised both his hands and hammered them downward. The flaming turtle shrieked and the anvil became even more solid.

Congratulations! Your Skill Wicked Waltz of Tartarus (T) has grown to Level 800!

The whole hillside shuddered with the collision. Randidly again bounced off with his joints loudly complaining, but he had practically buried the turtle in the soft mud. It was unharmed, but its legs had been stuck.

Grinning, Randidly spun away and shot back to his companions. While he had been distracted by the turtle, the shirtless greatsword user had reached the group and now clashed against Xershi. Pullas and Fiona used their powerful images to fight off two other image users, but they couldn’t get the upper hand because the golden spirits swarmed around them and sniped at their backs.

A wave of Randidly’s hand annihilated the golden spirits with pure Nether. Then he accelerated and body-slammed the greatsword user sideways. With his speed, he released force and arrived, barely giving a distracted image user time to respond. He skidded to a stop, throwing a wave of mud onto Pullas’s opponent. The detail-oriented woman didn’t miss the chance and unleashed a bolt of death that snuck into her foe’s chest and began to wither the flesh from within. Randidly drew the energy and flows of Nether tighter around their position, slowing the pursuit down.

Without the distractions, Fiona ripped her opponent in half. The golden spirits sizzled with antagonism as they stayed outside of Randidly’s storm, still unable to fight against the Nether. But this was the opportunity the group was waiting for. Randidly smashed one more humanoid out of the way and the group accelerated to their full speed, in the clear.

Congratulations! Your Skill Motif of the Hungry Deep (P) has grown to Level 971!

Randidly glanced around. The floating island behind them had begun to shift, but the acceleration was slow. Instead, his senses went to the continually chaotic interaction of images in the sky. What a fascinating method maintained by the owner of this ring. The constant fighting of powerful image users means that unlike other areas that add depth to the image, you are constantly hammered here. Your image becomes purified and condensed the longer you remain…

He clicked his tongue in disappointment, but lowered himself and loped with the group. Occasionally a random warrior wandered over a nearby hill-- Randidly took a deep breath and realized that powerful image users were everywhere in this ring. Xershi or Fiona, whichever reacted more quickly, happily handled these single foes with the assistance of Randidly’s oppressive Nether Storm.

Yet while they continued to open up space between themselves and the floating island, Randidly felt a horrible foreboding in his chest. The worst part was that it was familiar; his Nether clearly informed him a connection existed between the source of his fear and himself. The Stillborn Phoenix had the strongest reaction, a competitiveness rising inside of it.

That confused Randidly all the more. As they sprinted across muddy roads, he frowned at the ground. What entity would the Stillborn Phoenix have connections to…? The easiest answer is Devick approaching, but that doesn’t seem right. And I haven’t felt her image in a while.

He took a deep breath through his nose, trying to discover the origin of the sensation. Because it was very clearly not the floating island. However, if anything, Randidly felt connected to the entire ring. The impression was vague and constant. His expression became even more intense.

Whoever owned this ring clearly possessed a lot of capability. Their essence pervaded the entire area.

“Slow down,” Fiona suddenly said. The tight emotion in voice immediately made Randidly curious. Through their shared Nether Ritual, he could feel an absolute torrent of emotions, a seething song of destruction that made the Grey Creature seem like it was just throwing a childish temper tantrum when it tried to rip him apart from the inside out.

Feeling that force, Randdily could understand why Fiona might have so much difficulty finding it in herself to lay that down and trust him. Yet all emotional concerns were pushed to the side by the new arrival. At the top of the hill in front of them, a smartly dressed man stood in a suit. His clothing was impeccable, untouched by the grime and mud of the ring.

“Mimic,” Fiona spat out the words.

Mimic smiled shyly. “Madam, I appreciate your attempts to throw yourself upon Master Ambar’s mercy. However, he is in a very fragile state right now. It’s better that the two of you… never encounter each other. Throw yourself into this Gobbler’s hell and vanish into anonymity. Because if you insist on climbing to the next floor… I’ll need to bury you here.”