Chapter 269 Clench Your Teeth
Northern watched with a heavy heart as his clones harvested the cores of the fallen monsters.
Remnants of the Lance's crude obsidian flames flickered upon the ground here and there, and the entire atmosphere had been contained.
Terence and Raven were also harvesting some cores, while Helena sat down, heaving unevenly, something clearly amiss from Northern's perspective.
But he decided to disregard it, as relations were strained between them after she had rashly voiced her thoughts.
He was not angry; in fact, thanks to her words, he was beginning to consciously scrutinize himself more than usual, but he would simply ignore her and abstain from involving himself in her affairs out of pettiness.
Raven rose up,
"The way forward?"
Northern lingered for a few moments, exchanging glances between the Corpse and the surroundings.
Raven observed him for a while, then said:
"They are mere monsters... why does it trouble you so?"
Northern squinted one eye and glanced upward, then turned.
"The way forward is up... we would have to scale the hill."
Raven solemnly closed and opened her eyes, then she looked up the hill.
"Wait, ascending the hill is perilous. And since when did you become our guide? Last I recall, you lost the only thing that could have made our journey effortless."
Northern looked at Helena, who had stood up and was fiercely frowning.
Raven glanced between them, remaining silent and slowly stepping away from the center of their confrontation.
Northern silently stared at the Feral Sage. He was reaching his limit.
His brows furrowed as he opened his mouth to ask,
"What is it? Why do you have such an issue with me?"
Helena tilted her head backward and let out a scornful scoff.
"Issue? With you? That'd be a waste of time. Sadly, you're not even worth the attention, I mean you're a coward."
Hiss
Northern felt something boil within him.
His eyes turned cold as he slowly walked towards the Sage. He stopped a meter away from her and said:
"Clench your teeth."
Helena frowned and suddenly thrust her hand forward to grab Northern's neck.
But before her slender hands reached halfway, she folded like a piece of paper, coughed out blood, and flew away, slamming into the tree behind her.
Northern watched his hand with an emotionless gaze as it smoked out.
Helena groaned and immediately shot up.
'What was that? What just happened?' She couldn't tell.
She was sure she had lunged her strike faster than Northern had.
And yet, she was hit first?
Not to say, she was certain that she was swifter than the Drifter.
"Your speed has diminished tremendously... something is obviously wrong with you, and you are not perceiving it?"
Her eyes widened.
Now that he mentioned it, she noticed that she was tiring faster than usual; she observed it during their battle with the Lumidrakes.
But she had thought perhaps she was just worn out from fighting the Kirithon minor in the forest. She didn't ponder it too much.
But it had affected her this severely?
That her speed had diminished tremendously, and she couldn't even discern it.
If not, how would a Drifter like Northern have landed an attack on her?
"I don't intend to fight you or anything like that... I think you should feel better after coughing up more blood."
Helena's frown deepened.
"What do you mean?"
"I find it quite baffling that you are a Sage and you didn't know you had inhaled a poison."
Immediately Northern said this, Helena staggered back. She looked at the others with a tense frown.
Raven looked at her skin, then noticed it was pale, her face too.
But she didn't even seem worried, no stunning shock or surprise etched on her face. She just looked blankly.
Terence also looked at her hands.
"I have resistance to poison effects, so there's no way I would have known."
Helena grimaced and growled at Northern.
"Or you're just using this as an excuse to avoid my wrath?!"
"Why would I? I'm actually not scared of fighting you. If I put all my resources together, I am more than confident that I can defeat you."
Helena's grimace only darkened. She retorted, her voice brimming with predatory anger.
"You wanna go? You wimp."
Northern scoffed and nodded his head.
"It'd just be a waste of time and effort, really." He turned, "You guys can decide where you go. I'm going up." He said and started to climb.
His clones, when they were done harvesting all the cores, disappeared one by one, and only one that carried the bottomless bag remained.
Raven looked at him and returned her crimson eyes to Helena.
"You're causing more discord than I expected... and it's quite vexing. I thought you joined the cohort because you were astonished by Northern. Then what the hell is this?"
For once—with someone other than Northern—her tone brimmed with slight anger.
Terence observed both of them from behind for a few seconds, then stepped forward.
"I'm just going to go with Northern."
Raven watched the Oracle walk up the hill, she sighed and looked back at Helena.
"You just broke our cohort into two." She raised her head and sighed.
"If I knew Northern was this impressive, I'd have just settled for stealing the map instead of trying to win you over by killing that damned maelstrom."
Helena shuddered where she was. Her voice lingered for a while but somberly came out.
"Truth is..." she started but paused for a moment, "I blame myself a lot for how Afkon has become... we were kids... just kids, this horror, this desolation was too much."
She bit down on her lips with her head lowered.
"Damn, I envy him."
Raven stared at her coldly.
"He has everything, talent, luck, he has everything, and yet, yet, he is so understated."
Raven frowned slightly.
"You are mistaken."
Helena's brows creased into a small frown.
"What do you know?"
"I don't know how his life has been before now. But I know one thing. Northern did not survive that rift solely by luck. If it were, I wouldn't be here with him. I still believe he is currently the strongest person in this desolation. Even now, after witnessing the impact of his punch, I'm beginning to question if I can best him.
"But it does not matter; we need not worry about besting each other or being envious of one another. Because Helena, we are of the same race; we are on the same side here... the enemy is not Northern, the enemy is not Afkon, the enemy is the monsters and the principal who robbed us of our freedom."
After speaking, Raven felt her jaw ache. It was the most she had said in her entire life.
She cast a look at Helena.
"Get your priorities straight, Helena... let's go. And you owe Northern an apology."