Chapter 271 Down Below [Part 2]
Northern plunged deep into the depths of clouds, rustling through the intertwined vines.
With his weight, it was arduous for his momentum to cease abruptly, even though the vines were plentiful.
But it was seriously reduced, such that the damage from his fall was minimized enough for the Night Terror armor to absorb and dispel it.
After falling into the swamp, Northern laid there for a minute, having covered his face with the helmet of the armor and currently resembling a vile abomination laying in the water.
Gazing at the clouds.
From this vantage point, they were like skies, obscuring every single thing above.
Moreover, the lower parts of the pillars could nowhere be seen.
Which meant they were floating above the clouds.
Or was it all because of the clouds that they were floating?
Who knows, there could be some metaphysical concept at play in their gravitational field.
Northern had never encountered a floating stone, neither did he ever think it would be possible.
Of course, that kind of mentality was from his past life. Right now, he was open-minded... very.
He got up after thinking for a while and observed his surroundings—which was not a difficult task.
Despite the fact that his entire surroundings were obstructed by thick white clouds, he could easily pierce through the veil with Chaos Eyes and discern what lay ahead.
And there was nothing.
The swamp extended forward, and that was all his eyes saw... the swamp continually going forward.
Northern looked back; far behind, over three hundred meters away, was the base of a rock, which he believed was the hill they had climbed before starting to jump on the floating pillars.
He sighed and looked ahead.
The only way forward was ahead of him.
Sighing one last time, Northern dispelled the helmet of the armor and summoned the Shadow Cloak.
Then, covering his head with it, he began his journey forward.
He continued walking, watching as the dense light of the depths transitioned into absolute darkness.
Soon, he could be seen walking forward like a moving wraith of darkness, unmoved by the eerie sounds that crawled around him.
Northern continued forward, bored in his mind.
Even if he wanted to rest, he couldn't, as it wasn't like he would sit down inside the swampy water.
Sometimes when he trudged forward, his steps were often held back by stubborn vines, and they would seem so alive, as if begging him not to go forward.
Some would be so strong that Northern wouldn't be able to cut free with his sheer force; he'd have to use the Mortal Blade.
And so he knew that it was possible that should he lose guard and decide to rest, he could get kidnapped by the vines.
Who knows what would happen then.
The only thing he could do was move forward.
And that is exactly what he continued to do. At some point through the night, he got so sleepy that he felt he wanted to rest.
He could just assign his movement to two of his clones, one would carry his body, and the other would act as a guard.
But he didn't want to do that in the thick of the night.
Because of the unpredictability of the night, he decided he would rest better when it was day.
And he continued to go forward.
And just as his perception had warned him, he was right to make that call.
Northern was constantly using Chaos Eyes, so before he came within a hundred meters of it, he had seen it.
The strange creatures that were lurking this deep in the swampy area.
At first, he thought it was just one.
But out of caution, he decided to survey deeper with Chaos Eyes.
And he could see that this part of the swamp was brimming with diverse kinds of monsters.
Shrouded in the cloud mist and the swamp water.
Undoubtedly, it was their natural habitat. And it probably took this long to sight them because of the Lumidrakes.
Those ones were too much not to have caused several other monsters to retreat deeper into the depths.
However, it was not the numbers of these monsters or how strong they could be that truly bothered Northern.
It was something else.
Something much worse.
With the Mortal Blade in one hand, Northern summoned the Soul Taker to the other and continued forward, cautiously.
Chaos Eyes was carefully and keenly observing his surroundings, even as he walked forward... seemingly carelessly.
He had already locked his gaze on the first monster—which didn't perceive him until he got around fifty meters away from it.
With his next step, the water rippled softly.
He paused and looked down; the rippling of the water was even and was as though there were several points of vibration beneath the surface.
Northern narrowed his eyes to a slit and carefully clenched his grip around both of his delightful swords.
Suddenly, a creature plunged out of the swamp in a heavy shower of dirty water.
Immediately, the helmet folded out, protecting Northern's face at the same time, unveiling the fearsome visage of a horrendous creature.
Northern took a Chaos stance, instinctively appreciating another opportunity to use the Heritage ability.
As the waters cleared, a massive creature was revealed before his eyes.
Not that he didn't already know what it was, so there was no hint of surprise on his face.
In fact, the envisage of his helmet carried a vile, unreadable expression, one that hinted at only darkness.
Beneath them, however, his eyes were brimming with heightened resolve.
He was finally alone again,
Oh, how he missed the bliss of being alone.
He could finally go all out without having to worry about anything.
—
Helena landed on the next hill, Raven and Terence were there waiting for them.
Terence looked behind her and frowned slightly, then she looked at Helena.
"I don't see Northern."
Helena's face contorted somberly, her countenance fell, and she bit down on her lips.
"He fell."
Raven glared at her.
"Helena..."
She looked up, her eyes were deeply furrowed; she was fiercely angry.
Raven's eyes widened as she saw Helena's face. She could tell that look; she could tell that the Feral Sage was incredibly mad at herself.
It wasn't enough to let her off the hook for letting Northern fall just like that.
But at this point, saying nothing regarding the entire situation was probably the best solution.
She was silent for a few moments.
Then Terence spoke.
"None of us... especially Northern, would have just let you fall like that."
"I..." Helena wanted to talk but stopped midway.
Raven let out a pale smile and suddenly pierced her with a crimson glare, saying:
"Continue forward, protect her even if your life depends on it."
Terence looked at Raven.
"Rave..."
Before she could completely call her, Raven dove into the depths below.