Chapter 411: The Way Out
Northern turned to the rest with a bright, accommodating smile, trying not to seem so scary with the gruesome onyx sword in his hand.
"Hey guys, I would appreciate it if you all stopped staring right now?"
All of them blinked and tried to look away from Northern.
The moment Koll entered the battlefield, they all thought it was going to be the end for them.
Even Zephyr felt like this was the end of the road for him. He was already beginning to consider a way to betray them to save himself.
Not that he owed them any loyalty to begin with.
Northern then raised his eyes to the sky and stared for a couple of seconds before lowering them, worry crossing his face.
Annette tiredly dragged herself towards him and glanced up.
"What is that thing?"
He looked at her.
"What? You seem to know that guy just now, and I presume you know what this is."
Northern lingered for a few moments, then sighed.
"That thing is supposed to be the thin line between bloodshed and madness."
Annette tilted her head a little bit.
"What's that supposed to mean? What's in the thin line?"
"Hmmm... how exactly am I supposed to explain this..." Northern drifted away in silence for a couple of seconds, then opened his mouth again.
"You know about Ul, right?"
"The voice of the world? Yes."
"Put aside the voice of the world thing. I would call her a supreme existence in our world."
She shrugged, "Well, you are not entirely wrong, except that she is the world..."
"Well, let's just say the creature in that place rivals Ul's power. It's an Origin or a Tyrant, hell, I don't know which," Northern said casually, no hint of dread or importance in his tone.
Annette looked at him with a puzzled expression.
"That's impossible. Do you know what you are talking about..." she paused and steadied her breathing, "I would have said that if you didn't just mention those two words: Origin and Tyrants."
Northern raised his brows, "Oh? You know about that?"
"Not explicitly, but while I was working with the government, I came across some files..." she paused mid-sentence, "I don't think now is the time for that explanation. What do we do about it?"
Northern looked back up and shook his head slightly.
"To be honest, I thought it would be possible to close it back, but I was wrong..."
Annette looked up and brought her bruised face to him, slightly tense.
"What do you mean you were wrong? If that thing comes down, would you be able to stand against it?"
Northern immediately looked at her, a grave seriousness on his face.
"No way, certainly not. I will die before I even get started."
Northern couldn't tell why he was so certain, but it just felt like something he knew
immediately she threw that question at him.
'Could it be because of the seed...' Northern shrugged and shoved those thoughts aside. 'Right now, I have to figure out way to stop him from coming.'
He tried with Chaos Eyes already, under the notion that he might be able to unrealistically
sew the lines back, but Chaos Eyes picked up nothing.
It was the first time the eyes were sort of useless.
He was stuck with no way forward.
To make things worse, all their gazes were resting on him, even though they tried to be discreet about it. They looked at him with suppressed hope.
And Northern hated it. For a moment, he felt like Raven was the one standing at the viewpoint of those gazes. It made him feel bitter and want to just leave them.
He frowned and turned away from them, looking up.
Then he catapulted into the sky and stopped closer to the line, suspended in the air.
He looked at the white line closely and looked down at the rest of the monsters.
He flew back down and turned to Annette.
"The good thing is that the line is not wide enough for Kryos to pass through. But it's only a matter of time."
Annette looked at him with one raised brow, "What should we do?"
"I need all of you to get out of this rift."
She grimaced instantly, "No, Northern, we are not going to abandon you."
Northern's eyes stayed on her with a slightly ecstatic demeanor, "Have you seen how beaten
you look?"
Annette was silent, pressing her lips together, "Still—"
"Of course, you are not going to abandon me. Do I look like a hero or savior?"
Annette kept a straight expression for a beat, then she smiled, "You might not look like one,
but you are one."
"Yeah, sure..." he ignored her and turned to an empty space.
Then he drew a straight line with flames, burning on the edges of his finger.
The line slowly began to shatter the space, and soon, to everyone's disbelief, a rift gateway
was forming right in front of their eyes.
"This will take everyone back to reality."
Annette's mouth opened and closed slightly. Before she could speak again, Northern
interjected.
"No questions. Just do as I asked."
She swallowed her questions immediately and turned back to shout at others.
Immediately, everyone began to move. The monsters regained their consciousness, along
with the flaming fury in their eyes.
While they wanted to defend themselves and fight back, Northern shouted,
"No one is to fight back, just run like a coward!"
Judging by the facial expressions of some of them, they probably didn't like his choice of
words. But he didn't care.
Still, some of them looked at him with awe in their eyes.
The monsters naturally pursued, but they were unable to get past Northern.
It didn't matter how far away from Northern they were; they were unable to pass him.
He used the invisible void force of Limitless Void as a wall to stop them from moving forward. Spreading it to the end of the horizon, while he allowed the humans passage, he denied the
monsters.
And he waited for everyone to be done. Annette, despite her tired state, made sure that everyone entered the rift.
When they had all gone, she stopped and looked at Northern's back.
"What now?"
Northern looked at Night Terror, who had been silently standing beside him for a while now.
"Night Terror, you should know the realm I'm coming from. Enter that rift; it will lead you
directly there and take Fluffy to the Limitless Void."
Night Terror lowered his head and walked away, entering the rift.
This left Annette and Northern alone in this rift.
He sighed and muttered audibly.
"Damn it, I'm about to lose a lot of my soul summons."
Northern let out a grim sigh and closed his eyes.
The flames of void spread instantaneously, turning the entire landscape black, and from
within it, monsters with black and blue skin began to emerge.
It seemed like their bodies had been consumed by void itself. They looked horrific, terrifying,
and induced fear in the hearts of those who saw them.
Annette's face contorted with more worry and confusion, but she asked no questions.
Northern turned away and said to her, "Let's go."
Annette looked at his face, "Are you sure? Won't he escape still?"
"Even if he does, this rift will be sealed with its gateway broken."