Chapter 559: Black Lance
Northern had been considering it ever since he saw Ryan use ice manipulation over a large expanse. But he knew he needed to understand his abilities better before attempting something like that.
There was also the matter of giving his essence a form, something he hadn't fully grasped yet.
At the same time, Northern was aware he didn't need to completely comprehend that part of his essence.
After all, he wasn't like every other drifter he was something different.
He was the embodiment of the void, of nothingness itself. He wouldn't be surprised if his essence didn't have a form.
However, one thing he had come to understand from using the power of Void, Chaos, and Formless was that if his essence didn't have a form, it likely had the ability to mimic or adopt any form.
Not the form of other drifter's essence, of course-that would probably be more complex to achieve.
But drifters' essence gains its form based on everything surrounding them, which ultimately ties back to the nature of their talent.
Lightning, ice, wind, fire, water, sand, earth, sound, blood-these elements were diverse and endlessly unconventional.
When drifters adapt them to their talent, they undergo a rigorous transformation, forging them into something distinct and original from these base natures.
This was why it would be challenging for Northern's essence to mimic such forms. However, when it came to elemental nature in its purest form, that might be possible.
Northern pondered all of this as he considered which element would be most compatible for propagating the effect of Black Lance.
Black Flame and Black Lance were dual abilities of Chaos Flame.
Black Flame embodied the power of burning, while Black Lance embodied the power of cleaving.
Both were branches of Chaos, designed to bring devastating destruction.
Black Flame had been relatively easy to propagate and improve. Black Lance, however, had proven far more challenging.
Yet, with every use of Black Lance, Northern had been gaining small insights, and when he saw Ryan use ice manipulation, inspiration struck.
He thought long and hard as they walked. If his essence truly was formless, as he suspected, then this innovation might just work.
What would best propagate [Black Lance]?
He found only one answer: the Void.
But since he couldn't use the Void recklessly, he chose the element closest to it: darkness. That was when Northern's senses picked up the strange energy at the center of the rift.
The realization of what this rift might hold both terrified and excited him.
But nothing thrilled him more than the opportunity to finally go all-out and harvest as many talents as possible.
That was when Northern decided to speak to Ryan also summoning Night Terror and Black Mamba to head toward his father's location, then plunging forward himself.
He ran without stopping, his speed not only relentless but also calculated.
Although it was his best speed at that moment, with each step, Northern felt his muscles contract and expand like elastic, his speed increasing as he moved.
It was as if his body itself were an infant, constantly learning, adapting, and improving. Finally, he plunged into the flood of monsters, spinning Grengar as he surged forward.
He reached the heart of the swarm, where a grotesque statue stood-a monstrous figure resembling a decaying corpse, its sagging skin drooping from a face twisted into a grotesque sneer, trailing down to its feet.
An acrid stench of rot hung heavily in the air. But Northern had no time to care as he plummeted toward the monster.
He unleashed an overwhelming amount of Void essence instantly.
This action shrouded the entire area beneath a canopy of death, creating the foreboding atmosphere that Ryan sensed from above.
Northern took the massive amount of Void essence and submerged it into the shadows, turning the ground beneath the flood of monsters pitch black.
The flood of creatures was so dense that even the darkness from below was barely visible.
Then, Northern channeled the power of cleaving.
Black Lance.
A dark forest erupted-not of wood and leaves, but of jagged, obsidian lances piercing through the chaotic throng.
Each lance appeared to be carved from pure darkness, its edges razor-sharp and its surface glistening with an eerie, oily sheen.
In a single, ruthless motion, they thrust upward from the ground, slicing through the dense wave of monsters with unforgiving precision.
It was as if the very shadows of the rift had been honed to deadly points, a pure embodiment of merciless intent.
Following the brutal assault of the black lances, an imperceptible yet devastating slice ran across the landscape.
The monsters' bodies couldn't withstand it, cut so rapidly that nothing recognizable remained—only a splattering flood of gore, merging into a crude, blood-soaked mire.
The monster at the center was heavily cleaved, thin black lines crisscrossing its body as chunks of flesh separated, spilling torrents of crimson blood like silken streams. Ryan, floating above, watched with wide eyes as the forest of lances decimated the swarm, a thick flood of blood spreading below. He could barely comprehend what he was witnessing. "What... what kind of power is this?" Ryan muttered, horror mingling with awe as he took in the aftermath.
Northern emerged from the heart of the carnage, his azure eyes glowing with an eerie calm. The light from the lances reflected in his gaze as they dissipated, dissolving back into shadow and leaving behind silence and a thick, metallic stench in the air.
He combed his hand through his blood-soaked hair, wiping away the blood from his face as
well.
'I see... I think I finally understand what Black Lance is. Black Flame is a fire that never stops burning. Black Lance is a lance that delivers a cut that can only be received by what it is cutting. But since I enhanced it with my essence, the result this time was too devastating.'
Northern finished his thoughts and looked down at the notifications that wouldn't stop appearing before his eyes.
[You have slain a Hazardous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments]
[You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments]
[You have slain a Hazardous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Calamitous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +8 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Hazardous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Hazardous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Hazardous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Hazardous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Hazardous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Hazardous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Calamitous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +8 talent fragments] [You have slain a Hazardous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Hazardous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Calamitous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +8 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Calamitous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +8 talent fragments] [You have slain a Catastrophic Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +8 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Hazardous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Catastrophic Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +8 talent fragments] [You have slain a Hazardous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Calamitous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +8 talent fragments] [You have slain a Hazardous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot] [You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Catastrophic Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +8 talent fragments] [You have slain a Catastrophic Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +8 talent fragments] [You have slain a Calamitous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +8 talent fragments] [You have slain a Hazardous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments] [You have slain a Disastrous Hellion, Rabid Rot]
[You have gained +4 talent fragments]
...