That wasnÆt a pretty sickness to go through It left the body exhausted and ravaged It was a diet that you couldnÆt stop until your Aether cannibalized itself
Randidly pressed his eyes shut even as he accelerated away from the lagoon and toward his goal More and more strength flooded downward from the image of the World Tree to accelerate him forward
Finish it now Finish it quickly
Chapter 900
It took only a half hour to catch up to the scent Once Randidly had the familiar tang of Earth’s Aether his eyes took on a whole new intensity Although his Crown of Upheaval and Gloom and been dim to that moment his fury ignited it back to full brilliance emanating cold light in the overcast world
A paradigm shift came over Randidly His strides lengthened the distance in front of him shortened Randidly wasnÆt sure what he was expecting but from a faint whiff came the definitive confirmation in a short span of time he had caught up to Roy the Undying Hero And he stopped because the lumbering figure was not one that he remembered
The figure was positively bestial a hulking thing that resembled a bone ape more than a human It possessed huge arms designed to crush and shatter It walked on its knuckles and bounded forward And there was a large bone dome covering its head that appeared to function something like a helmet Underneath a bone exoskeleton there didnÆt appear to be any real flesh just more bones
And Roy was loping forward casually seeming unaware of the possibility of pursuit Ape Roy ran across the countryside the dull noise of bone grinding against bone barely audible above the patter of rain on the soaked grassland Randidly spared a glance to the side and saw a familiar figure of the boar with the giant maroon arm
The presence of that monster slowed Randidly’s advance but only slightly His eyes narrowed Once more the arm was gesticulating aggressively at Randidly But the boar regarded him stoically almost critically Had it led him here
Randidly’s attention returned to the loping figure of Roy His gaze tightened Either way he would just beat down anyone that tried to stop him from accomplishing his task He had found Roy now was the time to bring him to heel All he needed was a moment to drop a yelping Shual and lower his stance
Like a bolt of darkness across the marshy fields Randidly streaked toward Roy’s back As he approached it wasn’t until the last second that Roy seemed to notice The ape like figure spun around bringing a brutal fist upward toward Randidly as though he had been expecting the attack the whole time It was a familiar and dangerous punch And yet
Not sharp enough
Phantom Half Step gave him a small advantage moving him a meter closer before Roy could respond RandidlyÆs spear thrust took him low in the right part of his chest ripping through the bone exoskeleton and piercing through to the core body Shards of bone were smashed away giving Randidly a shot at the vulnerable insides
Or at least Randidly hoped that was about to happen But his spear stopped dead as it hit an inner layer of bone that was much more structurally sound than the prior layers So much so that a brief hint of shock crossed RandidlyÆs face But then his face transformed into a crooked smile
So not all talk eh Roy I’ve been looking forward to seeing what tripling your stats can do If only just to confirm that focusing on image is the better method
Randidly’s eyes narrowed as thousands of roots surged upward out of the ground at his urging The slithered upwards and surrounded Roy on all sides even before the other man had been able to catch his balance from the initial strike Not that I’m giving you much time to make your case no hard feelings
Even as he could feel the boar bounding toward Randidly’s current position Randidly grinned Not going to get here in time Like hungry leeches the roots were swarming in the crack that Randidly had made in the exoskeleton seeking the body beneath When almost a hundred had dug into the wound and stuffed it so tightly that no more could intrude Randidly sent his roots a new command
Explode
As one the vicious roots developed thorns and rapidly exploded in size At first there was a moment of stillness as there was nowhere else to expand but Randidly continued to flood those roots with Mana Eventually something gave way against the irresistible tide of energy that Randidly was capable of producing
Even as Roy realized the threat and roared with fury it was too late His torso exploded into a huge wave of disintegrating bones that filled the surrounding area with dust and cracked shards With a python like viciousness those same vines that destroyed the exoskeleton quickly encircled and bound Roy’s body within There wasnÆt a chance to recover because the vines were already there Randidly had him
Smiling grimly Randidly continually tightened and empowered those vines even as his eyebrows rose at the strength of the resistance Truly this amount of Strength was far above what Randidly possessed Better to keep him bound than to
“He hahahah Ah Randidly it took you long enough didn’t it “
Randidly spun around only to see that the disintegrated bones shards that Randidly had ripped away were slowly coalescing into the familiar form of a skeleton Very soon the skeleton disappeared as an illusion replaced the guise of flesh that covered the bare bones A classically handsome middle aged man with a strong jaw stood grinning at him His brown hair was swept back and the manÆs smile was wide and impossibly white
Trumpeting its fury the boar rumbled closer Randidly’s eyes slid sideways from Roy to the boar then his Perception slid backward to the figure still struggling in the clutches of his roots behind him What was going on
Confused right Roy said blandly seemingly unconcerned with RandidlyÆs presence Well let me just say this bluntly you are the key we had to unlock to EarthÆs future
Randidly activated the Cruel Indignation of Yggdrasil and smashed that smug piece of shit with a bout of physical and mental agony Cursing Roy stumbled backward even as Randidly used Raucous PhantomÆs Finale and brought his fist directly into RoyÆs chest Seeing how easily that Roy had recovered from being ripped to shreds Randidly threw everything he got at him
At the last second Roy was able to sidestep out of the way and only have most of his left ribs shattered by the blow RandidlyÆs lips twitched Crafty But even as the dust was falling toward the ground time seemed to pause and float back upward to reform into a skeleton
After a bit of flickering the human guise returned Roy held up his hands Hey Slow down No good can come of senseless violence At some point IÆm going to run out of Mana and then
Acri crashed downward in an Idiosyncratic Cut splitting Roy from collarbone to hip Strangely the illusion of humanity was kept over RoyÆs face the entire time so that he was a fleshy head above a failing skeletal body After staggering for a single step the skeletal frame couldnÆt withstand it and collapsed
Heh will you be my second trial I wonder Roy muttered The boarÆs roar was almost deafening now Well donÆt say I didnÆt warn you Randidly my friend We are on the same side after all Who doesnÆt want to show Earth its perfect Path
Randidly didn’t even bother to respond to that He simply stalked forward causing another wave of roots to slither up out of the ground and wrap around Roy But Randidly stopped in abject shock as he felt the almost house sized mass of vines he had conjured up behind him ripped to shreds
Spinning Randidly turned and looked at the figure standings in the aftermath
RoyÆs laugh was long and loud ItÆs truly a tragic Fate almost as tragic as being a hero To be a blind deaf and mute tool only suitable to be used by your betters IÆve been keeping him under control as best as I could but now that my Mana is depleted