Chapter 341 Our Mayhem [Part 1]
Of course, he was scared. But not so driven by fear that he would lose sight of what he could do.
Regardless of what they had seen, there had never been an aim to fight this thing.
At least Northern thought Raven had made it clear in the way she put it.
What she said they were strong enough for was to survive it. Which had not even been in her calculation before now, same with entering the rift.
'She seriously made all those calculations from the beginning to the end and left this single one out?'
Northern was surprised.
From the beginning of this journey, Raven had shown a terrifying control of what they were up to.
From recruiting Helena, to battling the Kirithon.
Probably when things started changing was when Northern fell into the depths and she had to go into it with him.
So, apart from that which she didn't see coming, this monster was probably the only thing Raven couldn't control in their journey.
Her plan was probably to outrun it or just survive it somehow.
Northern smiled, knowing that there was this one thing Raven couldn't control brought a strange comfort to his heart.
"Are you seriously laughing... With the situation we are in right now?"
Northern looked at her, getting rid of his small smile.
"Can't a man chill a little? As you can see, I'm the one most affected by the reality of this situation," Northern said, glancing at his vomit.
"No. You're just a weakling."
Northern said "Ouch..." with a straight face. Then he intoned after Raven's demeanor did not find it funny.
"So, where do we go from here? We find Helena and Terence?"
'Crap, thinking about that feral woman pisses me off. I'd rather not even see her.'
Raven shook her head.
"I doubt if Terence would be here, she would have come taken what we came here for and left."
Northern was silent after she spoke. But kept his gaze on her for a couple of minutes, hesitating.
Finally, he spoke:
"What is it exactly that we came here for? I know I accompanied you based on payment and do not necessarily need to pry into that information. But why come all the way here?"
Raven looked at him, a little trace of a smile on her face.
"Northern, you are my friend now and I trust you, so it's okay to ask."
She paused and began to explain.
"First, what we are after is an item called teardrop."
"Teardrop?" Northern repeated after her. "What is the significance of this item to surviving or leaving this Desolation?"
Raven nodded, her expression squared.
"Good question," she commended and continued, "The teardrop is an item that can cause flood. And I need it for the one time that we will need to leave the desolation."
Northern looked at her plainly, he did not understand what she meant by the one time.
"You need to put more effort into that explanation."
Raven looked down for a jiffy and raised her head back.
"When we successfully clear the rifts, we will make our way to Luinngard for ships. Most likely they won't let us in, we will force our way in and cause a large discord which we will take advantage of to steal ships that would sail to the Central Plains."
Northern's mouth dropped, she continued still...
"Getting ships from Luinngard is harder than challenging any rifts. We don't know anything about them other than they have strong knights and their emperor is practically a beast. The flood is our key to stealing ships that would be enough to take as many people that are willing to leave this place at that time."
Northern was still stunned by surprise even as she came to an end of her speech.
'She had thought that far ahead? Just how many calculations are in your fucking head?' He questioned internally.
Raven smiled wistfully.
"Although, you'd probably be long gone before we do all of this."
Northern turned away from her and set his gaze upon the gruesome scene again. The rotten smell choked him so much that he had to squeeze his nose together.
But he did not respond to Raven. He too was glad he would be leaving soon, he was glad.
'What is this dissatisfaction I feel...'
Something was throbbing him from within. He furrowed his brows and said:
"So what is the way forward? I'd do anything to leave this place."
"Most likely Helena and Terence have left."
She looked forward, there was no way to even map out where the sea of bloodshed and corpses had stopped, it seemed to spread towards the horizon.
Raven turned back.
"We go back..."
Northern observed her for a couple of heartbeats before asking her.
"Are you sure? If we turn back only to find out that they are trapped in wherever they are or that they've died? And what about my ship?"
Raven shook her head with a proud smile on her face.
"You seem to forget that Helena is a Sage. And do not understand Terence, that lady is a mystery box. You never know what to expect. Your ship is probably what they used to go back. They'll be waiting for us at the end of the mountain."
Northern's eyes stayed with her for a while before he responded:
"I see... you seem to trust their abilities a lot."
"As I do yours too." She looked into his eyes.
Then removed her eyes and looked at the floating pillars they have to cross.
"Do not trip this time."
Northern frowned,
"Of course not. What do you take me for? A tripper?"
Raven flew into the air and spread out her wings. Immediately Northern shot into the air also, leaving with so great a momentum that the ground beneath him shattered.
He landed on the first stone pillar causing it to shudder strongly.
Now he didn't even need to time his jump because he was strong enough to leap and land as he deemed fit.
He could see it clearly.
'Ah, I have definitely gotten stronger.'
Of course, he knew he had, it was just that realizing it so vividly like this hit different.
It made his belly churn with excitement.
Northern leaped away from the stone and landed with a great 'thud' on another, then leaped again.
Each time he leaped and landed, the stones shook like they couldn't bear his weight and had to stagger a bit to find balance.
Raven curled a corner of her lips as she watched him easily traverse the floating pillars.
She was about to speed forward when a sudden darkness overwhelmed the entire landscape.
The mountain was one of dark skies, but this one was far darker, and ominous. It instantly caused Raven to not see anything such that she began to fall.
Northern, whose Chaos Eyes glowed in the darkness, quickly jumped into the sky to catch her and landed on another stone pillar with ease.
"What is going on? What is this darkness?"
Raven's voice came out, strained:
"I can't see anything." Her voice became more tensed, "Northern... I think it's our mayhem. I think it's coming."