Chapter 335 Bed Of Lies
"Well, not rifts? But at the same time rifts. No one knows what it is. But rifts started breaking into the surface world while destroying ours. So yes, that became problematic. But having so many powerful figures solved the issue on our part, and you guys are just so weak, keep venturing into rifts to get stronger. Tsk tsk."
He shook his head, smacking his tongue.
Northern was still thinking after Sura had spoken.
Sura, on the other hand, watched him for a bit before adding:
"Stuart is a short word for Stuartalle, the city of elves."
Northern frowned and moved his head back a little in disbelief.
"Elves? As in long-eared, human-looking beings who can live for over five hundred years?"
Sura cocked his head, "Can't everyone live for over five hundred years? Soul is very flexible with the control of essence; anything can be done these days."
"Eh? Really?"
Sura shrugged proudly, "Yes, I tell you, my friend."
Northern was stunned for a minute, but he recollected himself and confirmed,
"So these elves fit my description."
"Yes, they do… and they are a lot to deal with. Caladhel that you killed was an elf guy from Stuartalle. And I hear some even take shelter in your world."
Northern grimaced a little bit,
"How?"
"The rifts are easier to access from the underworld than from your world. But it's also doable from your world. If someone from the underworld enters the same world as your own, they could encounter and even leave the rift to your world."
He sighed.
"Although that is forbidden. And currently, some inhabitants of the underworld are on bounty because of going to your world."
'It was that flexible? So there could be elves roaming around in the Central Plains?'
The thought of it made Northern's blood boil with excitement. Suddenly everything was getting interesting.
He looked up to Sura's face, hesitating before he finally decided to ask:
"So, what about Tyrants and Origins? Are they like the supreme deities of your world?"
Sura raised a corner of his lips.
"If Tyrants and Origins were in the underworld, there'd be no world left for us commonfolk to live in. No, they have a world of their own, Tyrants do, as Origins do too. But our world is easily accessible to Origins alone."
"I see…" Northern's gaze was on the ground, completely out of focus.
"That's two debts by the way…"
Sura's voice caused his head to swing up.
"What?!" He inquired harshly.
Sura, however, was unbothered; he smiled and responded to Northern.
"You were only going to ask about Stuart and Underworld. But you ended up asking about the Origins and Tyrants. I figured if you wanted to know that badly, I would just add it as another debt."
Northern's brows drifted subtly together.
"When did I ever say I was indebted to you?"
Sura pouted, "You said you were going to help me though?"
"Help is not a debt!"
Sura stared at him, blinking with a pouted mouth. Northern felt like he was going to puke if he continued to watch a grown man that looked to be in his mid-twenties, pouting and trying to act cute.
He face-palmed himself and looked away.
"Forget it."
He was trying to play Sura but in the end, he was the one that got played.
'This guy is a fox!'
He sighed and looked at him.
"So what is it you want exactly?"
Immediately, Sura's expression radiated with bright light as a genuine smile came out of it.
He then said, giddily,
"Help me out of this rift."
Northern raised a brow but listened.
"I can't destroy the core myself; if I do that, Taerun will notice and will immediately come for me. But if the rift is defeated by an outsider, it will shatter and I'll automatically be redirected to my world. It's a win-win situation for you and me."
Northern squinted his eyes; something still felt off, but he couldn't decipher what it was.
He shoved the thought aside and asked:
"Your second debt is?"
Sura waved his hand with a small chuckle and said:
"Since we are friends, I'll write that off for you. Instead, just do this one thing for me."
Northern nodded; he was silent for a while, ruminating over the things Sura had told him.
Suddenly he realized something, a realization that caused him to frown, flash across to Sura, and grab his neck tightly.
Sura was unfazed throughout, instead had his eyes closed with a twitching one-corner smile.
"What is this? I thought we were friends?"
Northern clenched his teeth. He glowered:
"Are you mad? You think I'm a fool? In order to make the rift defeat its core, I have to kill the guardian, and if you made Ulzred and his sisters to be the guardians of the rift, you are telling me I'll have to kill two children to reveal the rift's core? Moreover, your story is fabled. Except you are an Origin, I don't see how you'll be able to create thousands of monsters with soul cores."
Sura shook his head,
"You are a tough one to please, aren't you?"
"I most definitely am. Because this is all a bed of lies you are laying for me. What is your true intention?!"
He inquired rudely, gripping Sura tighter.
"Look, okay, okay. I might have exaggerated a little bit, but I did create Ulzred and Alana and Fano too. Okay, I created those three for real."
Northern narrowed his eyes at him, observing for a while.
"I swear I'm not lying." He struggled to talk this time as Northern's grip was beginning to get in the way of his breathing.
Sura tried to maintain his cool, but his forehead was already hot, and he was already sweating buckets.
Northern finally let go and glared at him.
Sura rubbed his neck, coughing out for a couple of beats before looking at Northern, who at that instance said:
"Still, you are asking me to kill a child?"
"You are not killing a child; you are killing my puppets. Don't give an overwhelming meaning to meaningless things and burden your soul unnecessarily. Ulzred is my puppet, as is Alana; I created them both using the core of the former guardian. All you just need to do is kill them, okay?"