Chapter 620: The Crimson Shadow
Northern stood on the cabin of the airship, his hands behind his back and eyes fixated on the flowing clouds.
It was not a coincidence that he was on the same ship he had boarded two years ago to the academy.
He could recognize the same crew from that time. Some parts of the ship seemed to have been changed; the metallic bow in front was slowly losing its luster.
A few other changes had been made. The wood on the right side had been changed, which insinuated that the ship probably got in a crash that gave it a costly injury.
Northern did not care about all of that. He decided to ride this ship to deliberately remind himself of the pain that he had to go through in the dark continent.
A pain that all began with this ship landing in the academy. He didn't even get to spend the first night; he didn't get to take a tour around and see how things were in the academy.
'Damn Rughsbourgh... by the time you come out of your solitary training, I will be right there waiting for you.' A maniacal grin darkly adorned Northern's face.
He held the rim of the cabin and leaned on it, the grin only widening as the ship went.
He was filled with so many evil thoughts for Rughsbourgh that a dark atmosphere loomed around him.
Anyone that almost approached where he was standing felt a chill and shivered. For some reason, that area was colder than the rest. It felt like there was something of primal evil there and made them quickly retreat.
After a couple of hours of traveling through the air, Northern watched as the walls rose from beyond the clouds.
His mental image of it had gotten very blurry. The academy walls.
Now that he was looking at it again, he could see how enormous the academy's walls truly were. It was blasphemy to compare it to that of Luinngard.
The force of flood that Raven had used to destroy Luinngard walls would definitely not have worked with the academy's walls.
They could already see its high walls before even approaching the Sanctuary of the Crimson Shadow-the island on which the academy was nestled.
Northern, with laser focus, observed as the ship slowly approached the crimson shadows that filled the depth instead of vast waters.
Now that things were different, he was sure he would be able to figure out what they were.
Slowly the ship glided through the sky. Northern was at the ready, his Chaos Eyes dividing into two on each side.
All four blue eyeballs stayed closely with each other to peer into the essence of this wonder.
'What could it be...' Northern anxiously thought as the ship got closer and finally flew directly on the red cloud.
Northern stared down, carefully observing the crimson shadows from a perception that superseded common reality.
The air grew dense, stifling, as if the world itself recoiled from the presence of the crimson clouds below.
Emerging from the suffocating shadows was a grotesque tapestry of crimson eyes, countless and unblinking, suspended in a chaotic mass of writhing blackness.
Northern immediately frowned at what he saw.
Each eye shimmered with a malevolent glow, their scarlet irises pulsing like dying stars, exuding an eldritch hunger that gnawed at the soul.
They watched with an intensity that defied understanding, a thousand predatory gazes piercing through reality, endearing to seep into the cracks of his mind.
The only boon to it was that Northern did not find it difficult resisting their attempts. It was now that he tasted the great benefit of the mental fortitude that Chaos Flame gave him.
The air quivered with their silent scrutiny, heavy with a primordial dread that clawed at reason. The pupils, abyssal pits ringed in fiery hues, seemed to devour the surrounding darkness, drawing it inward like a vortex of despair.
Around them, the world distorted into grotesque silhouettes. The surrounding air and cloud seemed to malform into clawed appendages that reached toward the blood-red luminance. Even the few earth that were scattered around and the distant wall of the academy appeared scorched, smoldering in hues of molten orange, reflecting the searing wrath of the infernal eyes.
Shadows writhed unnaturally, as if sentient, fleeing from the overwhelming light yet tethered to its baleful presence.
There was no rhythm to their blinking-some opened wide, exposing the infinite depth of their malice, while others narrowed, cruel and calculating.
They whispered a silence more chilling than sound, a language of terror that promised ruin to all who dared linger in their gaze.
Northern felt his pores rise; his entire body froze in place. What he was looking at, he had never in his life seen. And he couldn't even find an explanation for it.
It was not the eyes themselves that struck fear into his heart, but what lay behind them.
Northern's danger sense was peaked as Eyes of intent had merged with Chaos Eyes, and he could sense something beyond that depth.
Something that was being sealed by the crimson shadow, something vast, ancient, and unspeakable, pressing against the thin veil of reality.
A force of hunger that had forced open eyes through the shadows that should be blocking it from seeing reality and was now watching through those countless eyes and waiting.
A couple of the crimson irises shifted over, directly gazing at him. Immediately, Northern staggered back, falling on the cabin of the ship, heavily panting and wishing whatever that thing was didn't see him.
"Boy, are you okay?" One of the crews asked.
But Northern sat there on the ground and said nothing. He just stared into the ground.
'What is that? Is that what they call one of the nine wonders of the world? More like one of the nine calamities... even its gaze alone seemed more powerful than the entirety of the Belial that I fought.'
His thoughts subsided for a few heavy breaths, then he closed his eyes in irritation and slowly
got up.
'To think, I was starting to get pompous that I am strong. I don't see myself defeating that thing with all the power I have right now. Even if I was to team with all my summons and Dante and the Emperor of Luinngard, I don't think it's still possible.'
With a tight frown, Northern headed into the ship.
'Damn, I need to sleep.'