Chapter 274 Dawn Of Horror [Part 2]
There was a shimmering pillar of light that cast a thick shadow on the small hill... no, it wasn't a hill—Raven squinted her eyes as she tried to discern what it was.
As she stepped closer, she could see clearly; it wasn't a hill, but a single monster, the same centipedal creatures she had been encountering, but this one was imposingly massive.
Even though its body was folded into a heap, it was still colossal and enormous, which meant it would have been far more formidable and powerful when alive.
She craned her neck and narrowed her eyes...
There was a human sitting atop the corpse of the monster, his rough and mangled white hair fluttering gently in the wind, face marred with violet blood, and azure eyes shone down with a predatory intensity.
Almost sending shivers into her bones.
The human jumped down effortlessly, causing heavy distress in the waters.
He looked at her for a couple of seconds, then sighed and looked away, turning towards the white pillar of light.
"What are you doing here?" He asked.
"I heard you fell...so I came after you."
Northern was silent as she continued.
"I have wings; we can go back up and continue our journey..."
Northern looked up; the whole place was shrouded in gloomy clouds, the scene beyond darkly obscured.
He looked at the pillar of light and narrowed his eyes fiercely.
"I don't have any intention of going back up."
Raven arched her brow.
"What do you mean?"
"It's simple," Northern said, pausing to look at the pillar of light before continuing, "That right there, Raven, is a rift."
She looked up at the shimmering pillar of light; now that she looked closer, she could see the slight cracks in space formed by it.
Raven frowned a little and brought her eyes back to Northern.
Northern continued,
"I'm going inside."
Her eyes widened immediately but creased back again.
"Northern, that's perilous. Judging by the amount of essence it's exuding, it's going to be one hell of a rift. Why go into it?"
"It's a tier IV rift. I'm guessing it would be around the same level of difficulty as the rift I was in." His words were delayed by a single breath before continuing, "If it's the same level of difficulty, I want to see something for myself."
"This is a tier IV rift; the rift you came from was a tier V..."
"It only evolved at the end..."
"Wait, Northern, that's not even the point here. To challenge a tier IV rift, a party of at least six Drifters needs to be assembled, with the inclusion of a Master and a Savant, or two Masters. And you want to just enter into it like that?"
Northern shrugged.
"I've done it before; I'm sure this time it will be way easier." He let out a pale grin and glanced at her.
"I wasn't really looking for your opinion, Raven."
Raven's brow furrowed. Northern did not care what she thought; instead, he marched forward.
She watched with a tight frown as the white-haired boy continued forward without any hesitation.
This was not something they should just be marching into.
They needed maximum preparation; they needed a plan.
It was vexing that Northern was doing this, and she by now understood that there was nothing she could do to stop him.
Hence, she was only left with one option.
She watched as Northern hopped onto the mass of the dead Higher Armored Serpent; immediately, she shot forward and also jumped on it.
Northern, who looked down at the base of the rift, slowly turned his eyes to her.
"What are you doing?"
Raven shook her head with a wry grin and replied:
"I am going into the rift with you."
Northern's brows drifted up,
"Don't be silly; have you been to a tier IV rift before?"
"No, this will be a first experience for me, and I am already looking forward to it."
Northern tilted his head backward a little; his frown darkened.
"What do you think you are doing? Why would you follow me into a rift? Was that part of your plan too?"
Raven shook her head,
"It wasn't; in fact, I was not expecting there to be a rift here... I just wanted to reach the center of the mountain, find the airship, take something in it, go back, challenge the rifts and get everyone stronger. That way, we'll be able to wreak havoc on the Luinngard Empire, steal ships, go home, and also survive the formidable monsters in the sea. Because by then, everyone will be strong enough to make substantial contributions."
Northern's eyes widened slightly; he lingered for a bit before asking:
"Did you just tell me your plan?"
Raven nodded and replied:
"Yes, I did... oh, and there are a lot of soul cores in the airship, enough to make three people Sages."
Northern's eyes widened furiously.
"What did you say? Soul cores enough to make three people Sages? What are you saying?"
"The Lord of Lotheliwan, that man, was strong and peculiar... he killed hundreds of thousands of monsters but never used the soul cores, yet he grew stronger. He also didn't allow anyone to use it, instead saving them so the people could become stronger. His squire was going to use them all for himself. If he had, he probably would have come back to Lotheliwan; the fact that he didn't was proof that he didn't before he died."
She massaged her jaw; for some reason, she had been speaking too much recently, she thought.
"Was that why you simply accepted to give me your share of whatever soul cores we get from killing monsters?" His brows furrowed, "Pretty smart, aren't you?"
Raven looked down for a beat or two, then looked back up; her eyes were brimming with an inspiring level of resolve.
"It doesn't matter anymore, does it? I can't let you go into the rift alone."
Northern chuckled; he looked at her seriously for a while and could see that her gaze was as determined as her words sounded.
"Are you crazy? You have a perfect plan; you could fly back up, grab onto the soul cores, become a Sage, and get whatever you came for, then go back to Lotheliwan, putting a final end to all of this."
She looked fiercely into Northern's face.
"Will you come with me?"
"No."
"Then I can't go..."
"Why?" Confused, he asked.
She was silent, then she seemed to swallow her spit and answered:
"I can't sit back and let you surpass me."
"Uh?" Northern raised one brow. "What the hell are you saying?"
She looked away, frowning as she responded:
"I want to gain all that the rifts have to offer, then come back to the soul cores in the airship too; it'll be a great addition."
Northern, frowning unbelievably, tilted his head backward again. He couldn't comprehend where those words of hers were coming from.
But something else bugged him.
"Shouldn't you just take those cores back up so everyone can get stronger?"
"Why would I do that? That's reckless; they'll get complacent. I should use my overwhelming strength to create fear and respect in them, lead them to a rift so they can fight for themselves and grow."
Northern nodded; she was right in a way.
But still, she was just going to abandon the easy way to go about this because she didn't want to be surpassed.
Just how petty could she be?
Raven smiled and tapped his shoulder.
"Let's go into the rift, Northern."
She jumped down the other side of the Corpse, falling directly into the crack in space.
Northern clicked his tongue and shook his head.
"How can she just go like that, what if I decide to turn back and go up?" He muttered.
He cast one wistful glance backward and jumped too.