Chapter 725: An Interesting Battle
The sky was drained of color, black clouds moving slowly like shards of drifting darkness. The entire place, as far as Northern's eyes could see, sprawled with pitch-black jagged trees that resembled twisted echoes of what they once were.
The ground didn't seem far different, dried and stripped of living essence. The rocks looked as if darkness had undergone sedimentation, and the horizon carried a grey cadence.
Stepping into the grey realm, Aster shivered, assaulted by cold dread.
There was cold... the weather was harsh and gnawed at his skin with freezing intensity, even though it was hidden beneath thick layers of fabric.
Then the dread of such an empty and dark place assaulted his heart, causing him to breathe irregularly. His eyes widened and his heart thumped terribly.
The other two showed the same reaction. Their eyes widened, trembling with blood-freezing fear.
Northern gave them a strange look for a second and sighed.
"You three just stay here... and don't go anywhere. I will be back before you start to miss my presence."
Northern stared at them one more time, observing them with a chagrined look in his eyes.
After that... what they saw... made their eyes widen even more.
Northern's form shimmered suddenly from their vantage point, a red light pooling around his frame. Then the light suddenly dispersed, creating a powerful gust of wind that almost blew them away.
Then he flew.
His flight was tender and almost unrealistic. His body lifted swiftly, almost as if the chains of gravitational force had been lifted from his body.
He glanced back at them one more time and with a blur... not a blur. His body became an imperceptible shimmer of red light as it shot away and disappeared instantly before their
eyes.
Their mouths were left gaping.
"He flew..."
The boy with a bowl cut muttered, his small eyes expanded, almost falling out of their sockets.
Aster had the same reaction.
Flight was a complicated and different phenomenon. Although nothing was impossible for a drifter, it was very possible for a drifter to be capable of flight based on their abilities.
But the problem here was that Northern was not. Aster had studied Northern from spending a few weeks with him. It was a suspicion at first but later grew to certainty.
Northern's talent was being able to take and give talents. How and where did he see a flight talent?
Aster was sure...
'...there is no such talent in the academy. No single student capable of flying. None had appeared in the past hundred years.'
So how exactly could Northern fly?!
Aster was left confused and bothered about it.
Northern's body drifted through the air at a low altitude, very close to the ground. He could feel the wind brushing against his body as he weightlessly flashed through the air with a thin crimson trail.
'It means that my body state is not affected by the Name change. Didn't think I'd be able to fly after changing it.'
Northern, immediately after they stepped into the realm, had changed his name and afterward tried to see if he was going to be able to fly.
Although he suspected it was not the case, he had often felt like everything about him was tied to his name. So, he almost expected it to be non-functional the moment he changed his
name.
However, his body was different.
The growth and changes that had occurred in his body were not tied to his soul and hence his name, but rather his body alone.
'...This should mean Chaos should be accessible to me.'
Chaos was a force that resided in his body, while Void resided in his soul, more tied to his name than Chaos was.
All his Void abilities were slightly inaccessible. Although he felt like if he tried well enough, he would be able to access them. However, having them slightly inaccessible did not bother him.
In fact, it was good this way. Like this, he would be able to take full advantage of his new Identity and the talent it gave to him.
Finally, Northern sighted a creature. It was a single one.
'Strange...'
Usually, monsters came in flocks close to the rift entrance, but something seemed different
about this one.
'Doesn't matter anyway.'
He was going to crush them with tremendous strength.
The monster scurried forward furiously, its legs pounding on the ground with furious intensity, claws tearing up the desolate terrain with every stride.
It resembled a grotesque amalgamation of a wolf and a lizard, its skin an ashen gray marred with glowing crimson veins.
Its eyes, hollow and blood-red, radiated malice, and its gaping maw revealed rows of jagged teeth dripping with strange black ichor.
Northern descended slightly, his body hovering just above the ground as his crimson trail
dissipated.
He tilted his head, observing the creature with mild interest. The beast snarled, its sound reverberating through the empty wasteland, and charged with terrifying speed.
The beast'
harge was a blur of aggression, claws gouging furrows into the lifeless ground. Northern stood unmoving, his arms crossed, watching the creature approach with
dispassionate eyes.
When the monster finally leapt, its jaws opened wide, aiming to tear him apart in a single bite. Northern uncrossed his arms, letting out a breath.
BOOM!
His fist connected with the beast mid-air, meeting its skull with an impact that echoed like a thunderclap across the grey realm.
The creature's head caved inward, its body flung back like a broken doll. It crashed into the ground, sliding for several meters before finally coming to a halt, lifeless and crumpled. Northern straightened, his hand still extended from the punch. He flexed his fingers, the crimson aura around him pulsing faintly.
"Wow..."
His eyes were slightly widened, looking at his fist.
But the moment of silence was short-lived. A distant rumbling rose from the horizon, the sound growing louder with every passing second. Northern narrowed his eyes and turned his gaze toward the source.
The jagged trees on the horizon began to shake as a horde of monsters emerged, their numbers stretching far beyond what the eye could see.
They came in all shapes and sizes-some resembling massive wolves, others towering like giants, their twisted forms a grotesque reflection of primal fury.
Northern grinned.
"What the hell? Was that a scout?"
He released a pale smile and cracked his knuckles.
'The more the merrier, alright.'
The ground beneath his feet cracked as he took a single step forward. The monsters charged, their roars filling the air, a tidal wave of claws, fangs, and glowing red eyes rushing toward
him.
Northern moved.
He shot forward like a cannonball, his fist colliding with the first monster in his path.
The beast's body exploded into fragments, its limbs and ichor scattering like debris. Without pausing, Northern swung his leg, his kick striking another creature with such force that it was hurled backward into the horde, bowling over a dozen of its kin.
A massive, lizard-like beast lunged at him from the side, its gaping maw snapping shut inches from his shoulder.
Northern grabbed its jaw with one hand, his grip unyielding, and slammed it into the ground with a sickening crunch. The creature writhed, but he stomped down, shattering its skull into
the dirt.
The horde pressed closer, undeterred by the carnage. Northern pivoted, his movements fluid
yet devastating.
His fists were hammers, his kicks wrecking balls, each strike sending shockwaves that ripped through the monstrous tide.
One particularly large creature, its body armored with jagged black plates, barreled toward
him.
Northern leapt into the air, his body arcing high above the beast. With both hands clenched together, he descended like a meteor, his combined fists slamming into the monster's back. The creature's armor shattered under the force, its body crumpling into the ground. The impact sent tremors rippling outward, toppling smaller monsters nearby. Northern stood atop the broken creature, his crimson aura flaring brighter.
He stared down at the endless line of monsters with a predatory light burning in his eyes.
Then he grinned.
The monsters seemed to respond, their movements becoming more coordinated, their attacks more deliberate. Northern relished the challenge.
One giant beast, towering over the rest, charged at him, its four legs pounding the ground
with earth-shaking force.
Northern didn't wait. He crouched, his muscles coiling like springs, and launched himself
forward.
The two collided mid-charge. Northern's shoulder drove into the beast's chest, shattering bone and flesh alike. The creature let out a choked roar, its massive body collapsing to the
ground as Northern landed gracefully beside it.
Another beast lunged from behind, its claws aimed for his back. Without turning, Northern spun on his heel, his fist swinging in a wide arc. The punch connected with the monster's side, folding its body in half before it was sent hurtling into the distance.
The battlefield was chaos incarnate. Northern moved like an unstoppable force, his strength
rendering the monsters' numbers meaningless. Each swing of his arm, each step he took, left destruction in his wake.
At one point, three beasts rushed him simultaneously, their combined weight threatening to
overwhelm him. Northern grabbed the closest one by the neck, using its body as a shield to
block the others. With a roar, he swung the creature like a club, smashing it into the others and sending all three crashing to the ground.
Black ichor coated the battlefield, the ground littered with the broken remains of monsters.
Northern stood in the center of it all, his chest rising and falling steadily, his crimson aura still glowing faintly.
But the horde wasn't finished. From the shadows of the jagged trees, more monsters
emerged, their forms even larger and more grotesque than the ones before. Northern wiped a smear of ichor from his face, his grin widening.
'This battle... is very sweet.'