Probably a lot of those people that Neveah was forced to kill were just like this Randidly thought bitterly ThatÆs why we canÆt just sit still and let the System rule our lives It will push us to fight until it has wrung every ounce of value it can from us and then devour the remains
But even if he chose the peaceful approach Randidly wasnÆt going to be subtle He didnÆt have time to waste infiltrating the city So Randidly jumped high enough into the air to cause Shual to squeak and let nature take its course
They arched upward and forward to hang over the edge of the lagoon As gravity gripped onto them their passage upward ceased Then they accelerated faster and faster down toward the ground the air whistling past
With his high Perception Randidly heard Shual gulp
Randidly laughed Honestly he quite enjoyed the feelings of vertigo he experienced especially after the past few days Because all he was doing was running for long stretches of time Randidly was experimenting with methods to make himself go faster to push farther with each step One method was lowering gravityÆs effect by using Influence of the Molten Core another was making small steps that threw him forward with footholds of vines
It took quite a bit of practice but that was all Randidly had The effect was some novel ways to make Randidly go very very fast And the reason that he could dedicate himself to fully to the task for these days was that he found in himself quite a bit of an adrenaline junkie Chasing that speed kept him motivated
Randidly landed in the shallows of the lagoon sending up a powerful spray of water that knocked an innocent family backward with the concussive force Although they didnÆt notice it in the chaos a lone vine thrust upward out of the ground and slashed to slip the wave and lessen the force
Even with his interference his arrival was forceful enough to clear a space The surrounding people were knocked away leaving Randidly standing alone on this bustling shore of the lagoon Randidly slowly spun grinning around at them all to search the eyes of those near for any hint of recognition Had they seen humans before Would he be able to confirm the location of Roy here
All he saw was a blank shock But he supposed these dozens of average citizens of this world werenÆt likely to know much So Randidly opened his mouth and spoke IÆd like to speak to the Toad Lord that rules this city Now
The Crown of Upheaval and Gloom was still active above RandidlyÆs head He had kept it there for the past three days simply allowing it to grow steadily from feeding off his focused pursuit of its goal Yet that wasnÆt all it absorbed some part of this worldÆs Aether became woven into the fabric of the Crown
A tool is only what you use it for Randidly thought lightly And I was here in this strange world destroying every monster that I came across regardless of the consequences If that didnÆt have an effect I would be surprised
The only question is how that effect would manifest itself Only time would tell
After a few beats of silence where the adults covered up the mouths of children and kept them from screaming at this strange monster that demanded immediate entrance to the city there were bubbles from below Two nervous looking Frogpeople wearing armor surfaced looking warily at Randidly
The Demon Prince arriving at our city of Athan What an honor One guard said woodenly as though not seriously believing he was saying the words he had been given
Instantly the surrounding Frogpeople who were muttering in confusion to each other went dead silent
It seems everyone has heard word of NeveahÆs exploits Randidly thought grimly At the very least it means the people will be against antagonizing Earth In that respect she certainly succeeded
Please follow us The other guard said with a bow She gestured to the lagoon behind her Our Lord is expecting you
Chapter 895
Despite RandidlyÆs misgivings about simply following the servants of the Toad Lord down into an underwater base there was no vicious ambush waiting for him beneath the surface of the water Just a long causeway of shells embedded into the settling mud that stretched off into the depths of the lagoon
In addition it looked rather well maintained Rather bemused Randidly gathered some algae and plant matter from the surrounding water and attached it to himself to form a rather effortless propulsion system Because he created thrust by rupturing the cell wall of his algae he had to continually replace it But within such a lagoon continually gathering the requisite plant matter was extremely simple
Which gave Randidly time to consider his surrounding
When Shual had said that others had attempted to reproduce what happened in these Deep Cities to no success Randidly hadnÆt quite understood the difficulty Because he had just been picturing barebones buildings that frogs swam into and out of with impunity
As Randidly and his guides drew deeper into the lagoon that wasnÆt what he saw Instead each building maintained a bubble of air within that allowed people to behave as though they were on land even underneath thirty meters of water These bubbles were often wider than they were tall and included dirt and mud to create a walkable surface within
Strange semi living vines snaked up from the buildings to lily pads that Randidly could sense above allowing recycling of the air within Honestly it was a pretty impressive engineering feat even if it was slightly ungainly to look at Yet even so the strange bubbles filled the underwater world with color and life
ShualÆs second statement also came true the buildings that dotted the Deep Sea were beautiful
Randidly floated forward through the water without apparent effort and he studied the city If he believed that he had witnessed the suburbs on the shore of the lagoon he was dearly mistaken The trickle of people he had seen back out on land was barely a drop in the bucket that was this city Under the water people were buzzing back and forth flitting quickly with powerful strokes of their legs through the water
More than that the group of them was approaching a blimp like bubble of algae that held within it a living and breathing park It was rather dim down here and the entrance seemed to be a complicated series of sequestered bubble spaces but within there were trees and paths and playground equipment
Small Frogpeople hopped gleefully in play unaware that a powerful being from a rival world was floating down past them in order to speak with their leader The whole thing set RandidlyÆs teeth on edge somehow He didnÆt like this side of things It was easy enough to focus on a powerful enemy that was taking advantage of you But to fight against a populace that was largely innocent
Strangely his Crown pulsed calming him down immediately Such was his Path There was no point in quibbling with himself about it
As the neared the city proper there were even more of these strange bubble spaces Most were arranged in elaborate chains that extended upward almost like a strange underwater equivalent of apartment buildings And at their base strangely luminescent choral twisted upward varying between shades of red dark orange and green
Without light from the surface the choral slowly grew more bright by contrast Proceeding deeper took them further away from the light above but it also adjusted their eyes to the alien light emanating from below
Likely due to the constant cloud cover above the Deep City was awash with shadow This deep place was a domain of shade And surrounded by the strange semi darkness Randidly felt his mood shifting to something more focused Was bringing him deep into the Toad LordÆs territory supposed to cow him
Am I supposed to be impressed Randidly thought sourly as his guards continued to slowly swim forward They displayed none of the speed that he had seen some other Frogpeople possess especially when an individual was in their path and recognized the armor worn by these guards
It seemed that this Toad Lord was not a kind ruler
Unfortunately the one problem with being underwater was the fact that he really didnÆt have any way to communicate At least communicate non aggressively So he couldnÆt make conversation and he couldnÆt urge the Frogpeople forward Randidly simply had to endure the slow speed and allow the guards to lead him as they wished