Chapter 310 The Wave Of New Changes Is Approaching
Northern held his sword tightly, getting himself ready to face the oncoming onslaught yet again.
But in a blistering moment, a massive force pierced through them from behind. It happened so fast that any other onlooker aside from Northern would have caught nothing but a massive streak of yellow lightning that caused a shattered shockwave, one so powerful that the ground was upheaved.
Having seen it all happen, and how it happened, Northern frowned.
'He finally decides to draw his sword, huh.'
Northern watched as Cal swung downward, splashing off the gore on his blade. Then the guy returned his katana to its sheath behind his back and approached Northern.
"Did you feel that just now?" he asked as he reached Northern's front.
Northern looked at him suspiciously for a second and answered:
"Yes, I did." He glanced towards the mountain.
"Then I suppose that is your partner?"
Northern nodded, "Yes."
"And you are going to meet her?"
Northern nodded again, "Yes."
He suddenly scrunched his face together and leaned his head towards Cal.
"Wait a minute, I don't remember ever telling you she's female?"
Cal chuckled, "It was obvious from the way you talked about her?"
Northern raised a brow. He was silent for a while and seemed to be in deep thought.
Trying to remember what exact way he talked about her. Did he even mention her at all to him?
Cal tapped his shoulder, "Why don't we focus on the matt—"
Before he could finish his statement, the Soul Taker was already over his shoulders, subtly about to lick his neck.
"Are you insane? You think I'm dumb? Are you trying to gaslight me into thinking I gave you a hint that my partner is a female when I definitely didn't? Who the fuck are you?"
Cal raised both hands and chuckled.
"Easy there, alright. I mean you both no harm."
"Then you better start talking." Terror dripped from his tone.
Cal was silent for a while, lingering. Then he started:
"I just saw the two of you when you came into the rift."
Northern narrowed his eyes.
"I didn't want to give myself away, and I didn't even know you guys."
Northern frowned.
"Give yourself away to who?"
Cal scratched his hair, his eyes were beginning to look stressed. He sighed and said to Northern:
"Listen to me and listen carefully, this gate has two guardians."
Northern's frown deepened a little bit.
"Is that even possible?" he inquired as a response.
Cal gestured with his hand, a slight wave, saying:
"Wouldn't you agree with me that these days we don't even know what is possible and what is not anymore? The tides of the rifts are changing, what we used to know as the definition of rifts, its statutes and systemization are changing, everything is changing.
"This rift not only shares two guardians but has its entrance connected to two regions at once and contains two area sectors which are complete opposites of each other. And I dare say, that we might have to welcome the possibility of two rift cores."
His words made some sense and gave Northern some explanations he needed, reasons as to why the core of a rift would be the core of a monster when it usually wasn't recorded so.
Which meant that Cal himself had experienced similar situations before now.
This fact took Northern by surprise and made him only more curious as to who this stranger is and where he is from.
'He called it Stuart?'
However, this didn't provide answers to Northern's questions. As interesting as they sounded, Northern could tell they were meant to be a diversion.
Or perhaps, the stranger was not done talking. Thinking that he could be wrong about his former thought, he decided to give Cal the benefit of the doubt.
"So?"
Cal looked at Northern for a couple of seconds and lingered, then he sighed and his thick voice could once again be heard.
"I had my presumption before, but I think a guardian dwells in that mountain..." Then he turned his head, following the trail of the light in the sky, "and the other at the end of this light?"
"So which of them were you running from and why?"
Cal smiled with his eyes. Northern's questions, no matter how hard he tried to divert, were bringing him back to the main course.
Seriously, he had thought Northern would be easy to fool just a few hours ago when they met.
But at the same time, it felt like a lot had happened to the white-haired kid in those few hours; for some reason, he seemed different.
The gaze upon his face was calm, too calm for a kid his age.
Cal pointed towards the trail of the light in the sky and said:
"Him. Sura."
Northern looked towards the light and soon returned his gaze to Cal. Then asked:
"What did you do?" His tone was serious and blunt.
Almost intimidating Cal, making him almost forget that this is a kid, at least looked like one.
He smiled with his eyes again and released an ear-to-ear grin.
"Nothing much, we just had a very slight disagreement, and didn't get along well, so he sent me out of his domain."
Northern inquired stubbornly, his glare growing intense by the second.
"Well, he tricked me and I gave him a taste of his own medicine. So, he's been pissed with me ever since and is out for my head."
Northern was about to talk but was stopped with a hand signal from Cal.
"Stop there," he said, "I owe you no responsibilities of answers. Make do with that or go ask Sura yourself."
Northern stared at him in silence, the atmosphere between them was somewhat suspended in suspense.
Then Northern mumbled out:
"How's he like?"
"Uh?" Cal inquired, to hear what Northern said very well.
"I mean, Sura, how strong is he?"
Cal was silent for a second. He folded his arms and looked down, then returned his gaze to Northern's face.
"What's your name?"
"Northern."
"Okay, Northern, firstly with the level of strength that Sura has, it makes no sense that this rift is tier IV rift. To make things worse, he has a twin who is a complete opposite of him? Northern, except a new set of rifts that defy the logic of the former tiering system are beginning to appear, it makes no sense that one being, just one being would be able to smoke from a volcano."
Northern tilted his head backward a little bit.
"I'm sorry, what do you mean?"
"Sura, he is a drunkard and a chronic smoker, but he smokes from a volcano..."