Somewhere Neveah is nodding knowingly about the importance of emotions He pressed his lips together in distaste
Nether swirled outward buoyed by powerful waves of natural force The patterns aligned In a stroke of inspiration Randidly forcefully completed the environment by finishing the top half and mirroring it downward
Devick grinned at him Did you give up and decide to capitulate Well IÆm sorry but its too late
Nether bloomed These pinches were tinier than Randidly had used thus far the merest Nether dust left glimmering in the wake of the thick Nether veins that ran through the storm of air currents around their two forms He did this both so Devick might miss them and also because at the moment he felt eminently confident in his Synechdochence
It might not reach a full 105% since I had to take a shortcut to finish Randidly studied his own face waiting for the Devick lurking within to react to his attacks But itÆs definitely 103% And once you break through the barrier of 100% the shift in deadliness is immense
A bit of Nether bloomed and ripped through the muscle of DevickÆs shoulder Her eyes widened as she twisted and looked down at the black spike that had impaled her These flares werenÆt massive they only grew about the size of a basketball In addition they werenÆt spherical They were six pointed stars with deadly spikes ripping out up down left right forward and backward
Randidly released a steaming breath into DevickÆs face Her grip weakened and she scowled at him How the hell did you
Congratulations Your Skill Right Hand of the Nether Polymath has grown to Level 555
Randidly created five more of those pointed stars impacting DevickÆs back and legs Familiar caustic blood dribbled out of the wounds One protrusion even scratched RandidlyÆs own body in its brief moment of explosive power Unfortunately the environment was steadily moving forward Their lack of movement and the expenditure of Nether meant that the delicate balance was lost His Nether flares rapidly fell back below the 100% barrier
But it didnÆt matter Randidly had already handled her mobility
Next came the decisive strike
Using one arm to shove the injured Devick back Randidly gathered the rest of the natural force running through him into SulfurÆs fist His hand began to glow with power and DevickÆs strangely brown eyes examined the attack
You have a lot of tricks She observed quietly The Nether stars dissipated and her wounds began to heal but she didnÆt attempt to dodge his strike She just observed it as she approached her chest Then she raised her gaze and clicked her tongue I suppose it was a bit much to expect to rival you in your own body The accomplishments of Randidly Ghosthound were not the result of luck
The sensation of slamming his fist against the image barrier that Devick conjured made his skin crawl Madness nibbled on the knuckles of his left hand Something had shifted All that natural force his gathered erupted against the barrier raged briefly then spent itself leaving Randidly looking at DevickÆs cruel scowl with the blow not nearly as decisive as he had hoped
Drown for me Devick announced With her words came a horrifying power a sea of chains and hooks rose around her wrapped Randidly and bound him and then carried him crashing down through the surface of the sapphire lake
Chapter 1866
Randidly gasped or at least he tried to The muscles of his chest contracted and his diaphragm pulsed But immediately he felt restricted his body would not move as he wished Although he had immense physical power none of that could be used against the liquid
He existed within his own body but more a lingering spirit than an animating force The feeling was simultaneously peculiar tension relieving and alarming
So for several seconds he floated down through the aggressively blue water seeing with crystal clarity as Devick stood above him and peered down into the liquid From the way she cast her gaze about it seemed that she didnÆt have the same sort of perfect vision into the substance that he did out Which was just as well Randidly felt his skin crawl when he thought about her near empty eyes as she manifested that shield and then ripped him down into the water with those rusty hooks They hadnÆt been able to shred his flesh but he felt the lingering taint of her corrosion on his skin when he hit the sapphire water
Luckily whatever held Randidly bound also cleansed him the remnants of DevickÆs image that ended up on him were eradicated The sapphire color destroyed all outside force Devick frowned and pouted at the water sending a powerful hook smashing into the lake It absorbed the hook without a ripple but just as quickly disintegrated it
Randidly watched in fascination seeing the way energy spread out through the interior of the liquid Those same disturbing patterns flared briefly in response to the transgression This is one of the most sophisticated barriers IÆve ever seen It incorporates both Aether and Nether principles all force employed is immediately spread out over the entire lake It looks like it destroyed images but it simply dilutes them So
For several seconds Randidly released pulses to adjust his back first descent into the unknown now vacated of his ability to move his body The oppression on his senses was even worse in the liquid giving him no useful information except Devick stood above him and the environment was a deep sapphire
However Randidly quickly got the hang of manipulating that rule and caused his body to rotate in the isolated space The blue medium expanded an image to the point of dilution but Randidly wasnÆt trying to manifest the Grey Creature or any other specific image Instead he scaled his result to the size of the lake He simply focused on a vast sea of sapphire where there was a minute eddy in a particular area
He could hear Devick grousing above him but RandidlyÆs expression turned serious as he finally witnessed what lay below him About twenty meters away a distance that put Randidly already about 1/4th of the way toward the bottom of the lake sprawled a condensed weaving of light The hexagonal lines of light appeared simply to block a small tunnel through which Randidly could see a massive pillar of black flames
Yet as soon as Randidly stared at the very exact framing for that small tunnel the details of what lay on the other side began to shift just like the barrier diluted images from Devick it erased detail from whatever lay on the other side of that hexagonal light fence Concentration would steadily piece together the damage done by the fence After a few seconds of looking an enormous spined shadow lay in the middle of that flame pillar After ten seconds that shadow became a black dragon sleeping fitfully Smog drifted out its nose which eventually became the substance that burned to create the pillar of flame
Or at least Randidly thought it was sleeping fitfully Yet suddenly a massive ivory spike was driven so prominently through its spine that Randidly wondered how he had missed it previously And once he saw the spike the dragon was a young man with raven black hair so long it wrapped around him like a cocoon
Randidly came back to the strange stillness of the sapphire liquid feeling his brain heating up in a similar way as when he tried to calculate the complex interaction of ripples Even more surprising Randidly was only a few meters away from the fence of light He had somehow lost several minutes looking toward that strange figure beyond the barrier
Pulling his attention inward Randidly tried to calm himself He manipulated his expansive imageÆ of the lake around him to slow his descent until he was simply floating in front of the barrier Then he used the liquid around him to turn himself around and looked back toward the surface of the lake DevickÆs looming form had vanished She either was waiting to ambush him or grew bored with waiting and decided to bother someone else
Randidly wasnÆt sure which was more likely