I believe I know who sabotaged your invitee
Number One flushed He had known that Number Four wished to discuss something privately which was why he had given the pretext of this forgotten book Yet certainly this wasnÆt what he had expected to hear His emotions trembled He growled back I hope you also have some proof that it isnÆt you the most likely suspect I will not stomach more lies from you
Number FourÆs smile was slightly hurt Now Number One I hope you have more faith in me than that Do you think I would do something so meaningless and spiteful as this Truly it is an affront to your dignity that this Ghosthound inexplicably happened upon a Path of Blood But your majesty and talent remain unaffected This attack was remarkably petty
which was not to say that Randidly didnÆt benefit as whirlwinds clashed against wind blades and his maelstrom rumbled forward Wielding this was hugely beneficial to his understanding of the Grand Pattern and also the organic mimicking arrangement of Nether generally His energies stretched beyond the limits of his senses so honestly it was a good thing that the natural patterns could fend for themselves if they could not the whole operation would be ground down and collapse beneath the scrutiny of that consciousness waiting above
With the mental load eased Randidly watched the shade he followed with half closed eyes His senses sang with the whirling force of natural energy arrangement itself into true tides flowing out from this mobile and miniature sea Despite the restrictions of the mountain he was quite relaxed To the point that he began to lose track of time and simply enjoying the slow insights he accumulated
Congratulations Your Skill Philosophy of the Boundless Deluge has grown to Level 429
Congratulations Your Skill Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko has grown to Level 530
Randidly was eventually forced from his leisurely walk by the shade being abruptly obliterated only a few meters in front of him The attack was only in the specterÆs world not his own so he received only emotional damage He slowed and frowned around at the surroundings
From the little he could see Randidly now walked onto a pitted slope The edges of most of those holes might have been softened but he recognized almost immediately what he was seeing
While he was lost in the patterns Randidly had approached the halfway point of the Third Step The deadly force spikes waited for him like the jaws of a bear trap hidden in scattered leaves
Randidly bowed his head briefly the energy churning around him to continually resist wind blades Thank you for your assistance It is tragic that you died so suddenly but due to your assistance I promise IÆll reach the summit of this place
Yet when he raised his head Randidly stiffened The fake Nether around him was pulsing and writhing The Stillborn Phoenix complained that it hadnÆt been able to eat any emotions in a while so he focused more on the lingering remnants to determine the source He figured that this area would have even more diminished presence yet around him
Fuck IÆm the source
Trembling Randidly turned and opened his senses as much as he could go Behind him some stumbling and gasping and others confident Randidly saw thousands of shades walking in hamster balls of wind blades The more he blinked the more he couldnÆt avoid the realization that these remnants were using his Skills too Much more poorly than he did because he watched several wind blade orbs faltering and cracking open against their own spectral onslaught but still
What the hell is going on Randidly muttered watching the surging army of remnants marching past him and challenging the waiting force spikes Most were directly annihilated although some just had large chunks ripped out of the edges of their wind blade orbs and then were eviscerated by wind blades
Yet only a second later they had reformed and tried again seeking a new way forward RandidlyÆs skin burned from the sensation of this fake Nether absorbing something from him and giving it to these remnants Or rather than taking they simply copied
Somehow this fake Nether reflected his Skills out to all the lingering remnants And quite a few seemed willing to give it a try
Chapter 1811
Randidly had to press his eyes shut and focus on nothingness to give his overwrought Grim Intuition a brief break The conductivity of the fake Nether and the sheer amount of remnants that were surging forward with various knock off Amenonuhoko Skills meant that the demand on his senses increased exponentially So many insubstantial forms were layered on top of one another in the course of their determined movements approaching but never reaching physical presence He tried to observe only a few but the projections continued to overlap one another to the point of being an indistinguishable gelatinous mass
Still the more I watch them the more useful they become Randidly thought as he opened his eyes once more and scanned the surroundings Even while his own maelstrom of natural force sustained itself by grinding against the stormÆs continued attacks he observed his little mimics being summarily smashed to bits by the intermittent force spikes that hammered down on them in a cosmic game of a whack a mole
He watched coolly as their bodies were obliterated limbs smashed to spectral paste organs directly annihilated and whole individuals directly forced to start their attempts again by the ragings of the Grand Pattern The experience began to take an emotional toll on Randidly in addition to the mental one But he continued to watch scanning for a pattern within the violence
Even after fifteen minutes of stalling the combination of information overload and the shifting varied perspective they all faced meant that Randidly was having a hard time picking out the pattern of their descent so he could avoid a similar fate
Abruptly he turned to the side because he noticed that one shade was standing very prominently next to him without throwing their body forward And the shade was looking directly at him
To his surprise it was the confident stepping woman that Randidly had followed to reach this point regarding him with a warm smile Thanks for the help Most new arrivals arenÆt as weirdly influential as you seem to be They join up but they are so lacking in presence that we barely notice you know Which is why so many of us have been stuck here in the Third Step for so long
Randidly nodded slowly The woman kept her hair relatively short hanging in ghastly strands down to her chin to frame her face He replied wondering how much awareness she possessed donÆt mention it If IÆm being honest I didnÆt even notice that I was influencing you all until you caught up to me And to get to this point I followed you personally your previous path so I did learn a lot from you as well IÆm Randidly Ghosthound And you
We donÆt have names The woman shrugged Just the desire to make it to the Fifth Step and escape this hell
So you really are trapped here Randidly pressed his lips together and examined the strange fake Nether again By the energy of this mountain I assume
The woman tilted her head to the side Then she moved in several extremely quick box steps avoiding several triple wind blades that shot toward her in her version of the mountain When she had settled a look of understanding came across her face Ah trapped You believe that we are dead and linger here while you are the only one alive Because none of us have names and we can attempt the climb the mountain endlessly But perhaps you are just as trapped as us only you havenÆt realized it yet Or perhaps even if I donÆt remember the details of my life they never existed what if I was raised somewhere that did not feel the need to name its people
You are remarkably optimistic Randidly responded feeling slightly unwilling to attack the womanÆs strange theories even if he was dubious He turned his attention back to the front where the swarm of specters continued to push further up the slope Some abandoned RandidlyÆs energy maelstrom in favor of a more mobile approach while others continued to grind forward as a way to resist the other attacks