For now he had a debt to pay Claudette needed his support
He spread a general image out to fill the top half of the sapphire lake Then he created a pressured jet of liquid that propelled him out of the depths He splashed out of the surface and heaved an instinctual gasp he didnÆt need to breathe with his Endurance and Uncommon Metabolism but being unable to breathe was still quite unpleasant
When he had recovered he looked around with a sharp gaze The nearby entrance to the next area had been reduced to smoking rubble But thankfully Devick wasnÆt waiting in ambush for him Randidly heaved a sigh of relief having to fight against her right now would waste time that he didnÆt have
Freed of the previous physical suspension Randidly reached up and rubbed his neck He twisted to crack his back but chortled at the lack of physical response the energy he had received from the Monarch had completely recovered him He was loose and flexible
He stretched in a few more ways then began to bound forward The sensation of movement filled him with a vigorous physical accomplishment His chest expanded as he sucked in a breath his senses spreading out through the ripples in the air examining the surroundings Now that Randidly had seen the barrier in the lake he understood the weird influence of this place that distance heavily eroded information So he relied solely on the ripples as he dashed forward through the broken entryway which he had no doubt had been shattered by Devick
As he moved forward he gathered the wind around him into a powerful slipstream His Motif of the Hungry Deep guided the flows of natural energy stabilizing the working with a powerful foundation of Nether His Nether Core was especially potent at the moment seeming to have made some vital connection after the repeated activations of his Authority
As I wield the Authorities Randidly thought solemnly as the wind whipped at his face They will change me That is how powerful and influential they are
Then he burst out of the base tunnel to a strange cavern filled with pillars However sizzling gouts of black flame erupted from one side eating away and causing several of the pillars to collapse
Randidly continued to lope forward leaping boldly over cracked and fallen pillars that still flickered with a strange sapphire hue He could tell that they possessed the same sort of blurriness that he had experienced in the lake which was exactly why Randidly kept his gaze forward and his momentum growing
His legs pumped to the point that he was a blur a massive storm of natural energy and Nether building behind him Ahead a vast sea of black flame dominated the area Without slowing he planted his foot with enough force to crack the ground and launched himself in a whistling arc toward his destination
Ahead he could sense the gripping chill of Clarent spreading out to cover a lighthouse Several other images were rising in contrast to it
Randidly narrowed his eyes His Nether seethed and roiled with all the potential force of an armed bomb IÆm coming Claudette
Chapter 1871
The vast midnight blackness of this isolated space spread above Randidly as he cruised through the air Winds whipped back and forth both from his streaking momentum and as he began to manipulate the flows of force The simple fact of his passage was enough to release potent waves of ripples that he gathered around himself like a cloak suppressing even the seething sea of black fire that surged below
He surfed toward the finale of this sick came riding a typhoon of wind
Congratulations Your Skill Cutting Tide of Amenonuhoko has grown to Level 642
I wonder if this is my fault The thought flashed across RandidlyÆs mind as he considered the seething tides of black flame that seemed intent on devouring the entire floor of the area Then he turned his attention upward and decided he had larger problems in front of him he felt several powerful images clashing against one another The grew increasingly damp and cloying He planted his foot while focusing on a surging emotional demand doing his best to imitate DevickÆs capabilities and accelerated enough to release a sonic boom
More wind whistled on his heels desperate to keep up
A bold lighthouse rose from the black flame waters releasing a veritable gold mine of ripples that Randidly sucked into himself His limbs crackled with crimson electricity as he forced his senses through the strange blur of the Skull of Truth
On top of the tower Claudette wielded Clarent like an unkillable berserker lashing out at both Kyl MacDuul and Tyune Her frigid blade left seething mist in its wake sheering through the broader images of her foes Both retreated before her clearly more concerned with each otherÆs movements than ClaudetteÆs However such was the power of the baleful song the blade of desolation released that they needed to take her seriously Randidly allowed himself a nod of relief at least for the moment there was parity on top of the tower
MacDuul waved a fat arm and a rising surge of pure earth elemental force gathered around him The richness of warm loam and the billions of small microorganisms that existed within topsoil all seemed to donate their power into his body causing him to double in size and reshaping his bone structure to resemble harsh granite The flat planes of his face made him seem stronger than his doughy form He raised a hand and halfhearted thrust out a grey palm
An amorphous and very clearly weakened ectoplasmic entity with a thousand legs stretched above Tyune lashing out with its tentacles and trying to destroy MacDuulÆs base of power It took a hundred tentacles to neutralize the palm releasing another feast of force ripples With Claudette adding the threat of an ambush both hesitated
Randidly stomped his foot and crossed half the distance to the lighthouse Time to shake things up
Congratulations Your Skill Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm has grown to Level 601
The constant practice gave him the knack for weaving his emotional energy into solid footholes Randidly could finally support his physical prowess He couldnÆt entirely match DevickÆs complete lack of revealing image stirrings which allowed her to feint so effectively but he was finding the ways to make his body more relevant
If he was being honest with himself the fact that he had wastefully expended so much of his energy for so long left him frustrated Now he intended to wield his power effectively
A spectral tentacle slammed down on top of the wide meadow MacDuul conjured cracking the ground and shaking the one portion of the image The collision birthed more ripples RandidlyÆs muscles tightened as he gathered those image and natural force into himself preparing to arrive with a massive bang He surged closer and closer Randidly spotted Neshamah hurrying up below on the staircase around the lighthouse They made eye contact and she sent a message to him
There is a limit on that upper platform You need to stay there for five minutes before you can try and go up to get the treasure Neshamah explained MacDuul has been there the longest but he probably still has two more minutes You cannot fly in head to the base and climb up or youÆll run afoul of the DonÆs defenses Also here are the answers IÆve used to pass through get up as fast as possible
Randidly twisted and kicked upward He rebounded down like elastic lightning crashing toward the black flame covered base of the lighthouse He flared his flames of Nether Weight in preparation to suppress these black flames long enough to enter the staircase but they parted before him In his chest he felt the slightest lingering familiarity from the energy boost that still animated him from the Monarch
His surprise was enough that he took a step to gather himself and consider These black flames arenÆt exactly Nether but they arenÆt Aether either Some sort of blended mix of the two energies Yet they retain enough of Nether to recognize I was touched by their maker That Monarch perhaps its a good thing I didnÆt try and free him Only the Nether King makes me warier