Chapter 557: Can't Make Any Promises
Alystren felt his whole body go cold instantly. The Lieutenant's next words weren't much comfort.
"Well, I was an Ascendant then. I was young and arrogant. We had no Paragon in our team, and my arrogance caused the deaths of many. This one will not be like that."
'I was sure... I was sure I'd come back home alive,' Alystren thought, his mind already shattered, barely listening.
The Lieutenant glanced at him, his face contorting with irritation before looking away-just as his subordinates reappeared.
Their breaths were ragged, short, and heavy.
"My liege... this place... this place is Gehenna."
Lieutenant Dante, despite the grave looks on their faces and the weight of the news they delivered, didn't seem fazed at all.
"Tell me, word for word, what you saw," he said, focusing on Rafel, who was looking down with sweat pouring down his face.
"Sir, in the center of the rift, there's an uncountable number of hellion-rank monsters. They're four-legged with long, curved needle-like teeth, and they don't seem to have eyes, but their hollow sockets somehow still see. They saw us-I felt it. They saw us, but they didn't even care."
The Lieutenant tilted his head slightly. "They didn't care? Why?"
Shane continued, "Because of the statue situated in their middle." "Statue?"
"To be exact, sir, it wasn't a statue," Rafel clarified.
He was the primary scout, possessing the ability to peer into a monster's soul and gauge their ranks, among other skills.
"It was a Destroyer-rank monster. Specifically, a Catastrophic Destroyer."
The Lieutenant raised an eyebrow. "A Catastrophic Destroyer? That's impossible. There's no way a monster of that danger level should be in a tier seven rift."
"Unless the gate guardian is apex level."
The Lieutenant narrowed his eyes, a hint of unease reflecting in them. He eventually exhaled and composed his expression.
"I think I understand what's wrong with this rift. I've been in rifts more than a hundred times, and I can tell you one thing: not once has the rift guardian ever been apex level. A devil, in fact, has never appeared."
He paused, resting his hand lightly on his sword hilt as he continued.
"For monsters to advance in danger level, they have to consume each other or a lot of humans. But since humans aren't always available, the former is usually their go-to. And by doing this, they disrupt their own ecosystem and throw everything into chaos. However, this is typically impossible in a rift because rifts have order and a guardian who values the role of protecting the rift core more than ruling the monster ecosystem. Popular opinion is that this is why no rift guardian is as close as devil level. Because when that happens, the priority shifts from protecting the core to ruling the rift."
He took a slightly shaky breath. "And when that happens, this rift becomes a bloodhole. So... I'm telling you all now: I can't promise everyone will get out of this alive."
[Owned Talents]:
[Duplicate]
[Erasure]
[Nsair's Ember]
[Copied Talents]:
[Whispering Gale]
'Those two really did integrate into my body. I'm guessing Travel was sort of integrated into Shadow Step.'
Northern looked at his hands, folding and unfolding them. As he fought, he couldn't shake the feeling that he wasn't using his body to its fullest.
But his opponents weren't providing the necessary challenge either.
He sighed, his eyes falling on the panel once again. Soul Sight and his only speed talent were gone.
One absorbed by Chaos-his eyes, the other by Void-his soul, both now integrated into his body.
Northern didn't feel much loss from using them. Besides the fact that this allowed him to bring out their potential better, he also felt like he could get a better handle on his skills.
'I have to be actively copying talents, damn it! I don't even have a cool offensive power.'
He sat on the pile of corpses he'd created, looking down for a moment as he inspected the new skill he'd just copied.
Talent: [Whispering Gale]
Class: [A]
Talent (True) Name: [Echoes of the Wind]
Description: [The wind is a vortex of voices, beckoning upon you for the world yet to be heard, seen, and known.]
Talent Abilities: [Veil of Currents], [Silent Drift], [Razor Breeze], [Pressure Shift]
Attributes: [Windstride]
Talent Progression: [0/3000]
[Veil of Currents]: Creates a faint, moving air shield around you that distorts your appearance.
[Silent Drift]: Move soundlessly, blending into the natural flow of air to avoid detection.
[Razor Breeze]: Unleash a compressed gust that strikes silently but with slicing force.
[Whispering Illusions]: Create afterimages or faint impressions in the air, making it seem as though you are in multiple places at once.
'I'm disgusted. What would I ever need this talent for, really?' Northern frowned.
He felt like he'd wasted six hundred talent fragments. Not every impressive talent he came across was worth copying.
Now that he was looking at the details of the talent, he felt it was something he could, in the end, pull off with his Chaos Eyes.
After all, the eyes now allowed him to manipulate subtle natural concepts. He'd done a lot with gravity, being able to reduce or increase it in a controlled area.
He had yet to explore other concepts, but he was sure that wind was something he could eventually use; he just needed to think hard and creatively.
'Speaking of thinking hard and creatively, something occurred to me while I watched that guy
use his ability.'
Northern stood, dismissing the panel before his eyes, and summoned another one.
Name: Rian Artemis Reimgard (Northern Longguard)
True Name: [Nameless]3
Attributes: [Formless], [Limitless Void], [Vestige of Chaos], [Chaos Eyes], [Chaos Thread],
[Flames of Chaos], [Seed of Void]
Soul Rank: [Vagrant]
Void Summons: [7/100]
Talent Fragments: [652/4000]
[Copied Talents]: [1/4]
[Owned Talents]: [3]
[Attribute Abilities (Active/Passive)]: [8/10]
[Owned Items]: [Mortal Blade], [Eternal Twilight], [Death Glare] and 13 others.
Name: [Flame of Chaos]
Rank: [Divine]
Description: [An ever-burning flame resides within your soul, capable of searing away
inconsistencies and irregularities. Due to these ceaseless flames, your soul can never be
harmed or consumed.]
Passive Abilities: [Soul Damage Resistance], [Mind Attack Resistance]
Active Abilities: [Black Flame], [Black Lance]
Northern pursed his lips as he stared at the part labeled [Black Lance] and delved into deep
thought.
Then he raised his eyebrows and took a breath.
"Oh well, I guess I'll try it with the next wave of monsters."
Ryan finally walked up to him, hesitating a moment before speaking.
"What do we do now?"
Northern wiped away all the panels with a glance and looked at Ryan for a beat before turning
his gaze forward.
"What else, boy? We move forward."
"Forward how? And can you please not call me that?"
"We find the gate guardian, kill him, and get the hell out of this place." He glanced one more
time at Ryan, then strode away.