Chapter 294 The Kidnapping [Part 2]
Northern sat cross-legged on the enormous throne. There was no vivid way to tell what exactly was going on.
Being in the Limitless Void worked like he was pretending to be asleep; he could feel and tell what was going on around his body, but not vividly.
'I wish I could see what's going on with some kind of outside body oversight…'
That would have made his predicament a much more solvable one, but Northern couldn't, so all he could do right now was just sit around and wait.
He sat there, arms folded and eyes closed, waiting for the moment the motion would stop at the very least.
Suddenly, a sharp sensation jolted him from his reverie.
Northern's eyes flew open—not in the Limitless Void, but in the tangible world—as a dark silhouette burst through the window, spinning with deadly grace and scattering the White Walkers like leaves in a storm.
In an instant, Northern sprang to his feet, but the heavy chains binding his wrists and ankles pulled him back.
He struggled against the restraints, the cold bite of the metal a stark reminder of his captivity.
Raven stood before him, her sword held forward with a dark, determined expression. Her eyes blazed with an intensity that Northern had rarely seen.
'Crap, what is going on all of a sudden?'
"Woman… stay out of this," one of the White Walkers, who had recovered quickly, snarled at Raven, his voice dripping with authority.
But Raven merely cocked her head, a cold smile playing at her lips, and in a blur of motion, she vanished.
She reappeared behind the White Walker, her blade slicing through his neck with effortless precision.
His head tumbled into the air, and she swung her sword sideways, the blade clean and gleaming once more as she wiped it of gore with ease.
The remaining White Walkers hesitated, their eyes flicking nervously between Raven and Northern.
She glared at them, her stance shifting as she prepared to launch herself forward again.
The ensuing massacre was swift and brutal. Raven moved like a dark ghost. Each swing of her sword was calculated, each strike lethal.
She flowed through the White Walkers with a deadly grace, her movements too fast to follow.
Within moments, she stood before Northern with a rusted key in hand, freeing him from his shackles.
Northern frowned as he stood, rubbing his wrists. "I wonder if I have an unknown fetish for shackles or something," he muttered, casting a wary glance at the lifeless bodies strewn across the room.
He looked at Raven. "What's going on?"
"I was attacked," she said curtly, her eyes still scanning the hall. "I think we've been discovered."
"Discovered how?"
"My bird has been destroyed," she replied, her voice tinged with a cold fury.
The loss of her familiar seemed to cut deeper than any wound, and Northern could feel the simmering anger beneath her calm facade.
Northern thought for a while, then exhaled.
"Will you be fine if I ask you to head to the back of the palace on your own?"
Raven looked at him.
"What will you be doing?"
"I need to find Ulzred. You said Terence asked us to run away with him, right?"
"Yes. But if we are running, why am I going to where the source of trouble is?" Raven asked with a slightly confused expression.
Northern allowed a pale smile and said:
"That's because we won't be running."
Raven frowned deeply, but Northern continued, his voice calm and resolute.
"You are angry, are you not? I don't know what the bird means to you, but right now you are trying so much to contain yourself. It's permissible. But you see, Raven, I was just thinking a couple of minutes back… that I want to become a Master before I leave this gate."
Raven's frown eased slightly as they heard the distant approach of multiple footsteps.
"I can't become a Master by running away," Northern continued.
"Helena was right in a way, and my problem was that I was trying to play safe, while still saying I didn't want to be complacent. I didn't want to be reckless, I didn't want to be radical. But it doesn't matter right now, because right now, I feel so pressured by the things I know."
He shook his head slightly, a determined glint in his eyes.
"I can feel it… a storm is coming for me. And I don't know, I don't know anything at all. Which is why I want to start fighting from henceforth."
He materialized the Soul Taker in one hand, the blade humming with a soft, resonant power as he allowed the feeling from earlier to sink into his soul again.
The White Walkers were already at both ends of the hall, their weapons drawn and eyes glowing with a fierce, icy light. Northern turned to face one end while Raven faced the other, their backs almost touching.
Then he muttered to her, "You too, you don't need to hold back anymore."
The words were barely out of his mouth when they both surged forward, their movements a blur of coordinated destruction.
Northern's blade sang through the air, meeting the first White Walker with a swift, upward slash that cleaved through flesh and bone.
The creature crumpled to the ground, its icy blood spreading in a violet pool.
[Congratulations, you have slain a Disastrous Hellion]
[You have gained 4 talent fragments]
Northern's body again moved instinctively, and Soul Taker took another turn, swinging in a perfect arc and slicing through the icy air.
The blade met resistance for only a split second before cutting through the other White Walker's body, leaving a trail of shimmering, ghostly light in its wake.
The creature fell, its severed parts hitting the ground with a dull thud.
[Congratulations, you have slain a Disastrous Hellion]
[You have gained 4 talent fragments]
Raven was like a force, her swordsmanship, which was usually a blend of grace and skill, transitioning into a convolution of brutality.
She moved with the fluidity of a shadow, her blade slicing through the enemies around and leaving them with crude and unsightly gashes.
Her strikes were swift and sure, each one finding its mark, and at times she lunged multiple attacks at the same point, dealing the creatures with a whirlwind of furious strikes.
A White Walker lunged at her, but she sidestepped effortlessly, driving her sword through his heart before spinning to decapitate another attacker.