Chapter 74 Northern's Decision
First night passed… would have been what to be said if day blessed this hellish realm with its appearance.
Minutes were never distinct from minutes and hours seemed as far apart from each other as they seemed as close.
Northern was not sure for our long he slept after entering the cave but it was for a long time.
Reason being that it was the best he had slept since his first step into this hellish realm.
The days of the prison mine were his worst days, closing his eyes was like a sin. He had little to no time to sleep well.
And when he became a general, things got better but he refused to let his guard down. That automatically affected the intensity of sleep he had.
The days of madness… nothing he could recall.
Even though he was sleeping on stony ground and those days he had the luxury of bed. It was so strange how he could still enjoy his sleep now more than then.
His mind felt at peace…now more than ever.
Even though it was by the side of his nemesis.
Northern stretched as he woke up from his intense sleep. He looked around, the stalwart monster was nowhere to be found.
He stood up, the light orb floating next to him.
Then he walked out of the cave.
Seated outside was the stalwart monster, to be particular, it was crouching.
'For once, I'm taller than this bastard' Northern thought as he stood beside Night Terror.
The stalwart creature did not spare him any glance and just stared blankly into the wide expanse.
Everything spread out before them more accurately, each details flawlessly displayed within their vision.
The thick dark lonesome trees of the gloomy forest, flooded by a thick cloth of darkness that seem to burn endlessly.
The brown lush afar, the cave that they came out from. The backdrop of the entire view was filled with mountains that seem to be fading with the horizon.
Northern didn't need to look twice before recognizing what those mountains were.
'The prison mine'
He dreaded it so much!
Northern seethed and turned to Night Terror.
Feeling his gaze fall on it, Night Terror finally turned to look at Northern, red eyes shimmering gently with ethereal glow.
Northern started:
"I have something to say to you…"
The terror's composure seemed to change slightly as he spoke.
"I want you to… spar …with me." It was so hard to say that Northern had to look away with a frown.
Night Terror stared at him, all four eyes blinking.
Northern squinting his face together, grunted out:
"What?"
The terror stayed silent for a couple more seconds and slowly rose. Then it opened its claws, grinning hideously at Northern.
"Bastard"
Its eyes were clearly saying. "I'm going to enjoy this"
It was very bold of him to dare but Northern saw no other choice apart from this.
The night before this night, Northern had been worried. They have finally found a shelter and would possibly spend the next few nights recuperating from both their injuries.
After which they would go back to the Kingdom of Red Mine and rain carnage everywhere.
There was absolutely no plan. Northern felt so. After all what plan could a monster have apart from "plunge into the horde and decimate them!"
There were the other newly created Night Terror replicas, compared to the others those ones were bound to cause more trouble.
But he was not bothered. All he just had to do was leave the more difficult stuff for Night Terror and his clone to do.
However, for the sake of his growth and to be rewarded heavily for the closing down of the rift. He needed to take part in the last fight.
And it was definite that Night Terror would be needing his help. Simply because by now Northern was sure the castle lord is a maelstrom rank monster and Night Terror is a hellion rank.
'...but with a high danger level… maybe even catastrophe…' Northern suspects.
Otherwise, how else would the terror's overwhelming might be explained.
For the sake of the last fight, Northern needed to do one single thing. Grow!
And he was offered very limited choices. If he was going to grow no matter how slightest in just a few nights, then he needed to swallow his pride and turn to a monster.
Of all monsters… Night Terror? The same monster that almost killed him. Would now spar with him for the purpose of his own growth.
Northern shook his head unbelievably.
"Fate is a strange thing. How annoying."
And so for the sake of that last battle he has to do what he has to do.
Of course, he was not going to be mindlessly sparring Night Terror and revealing all his capabilities such that the monster would have them seared into its mind.
Since both were bound to eventually face each other, Northern knew that would be the highest form of stupidity.
He couldn't as much say he had a battle style yet but Northern was willing to try out a few things.
Some practical questions he had about combat could be answered during his duels with the Night Terror in the next couple of nights.
And through the multiple duels they'd be having, he'd be able to work something out for himself, something that will be unique to just him.
And Night Terror would he his instrument for it.
There was another side to this which Northern felt was another good reason; the darkness.
They'd be training in the darkness. During their fight with the corpse eaters when passing the gloomy forest, Northern has been made to realize how helpless he was against thick darkness.
The only thing he had was his war developed perception.
It was sharp and accurate but what if he is not able to catch up at times.
The only answer he could provide for himself was to give himself to sparring in the dark.
And here they were.
In a dark cave…
A terrific creature and a thoughtless human…
It was just the perfect scenario to put this things into place.
So before sleeping Northern decided that this was what he was going to do.
And he had no doubt about it that it was going to work.
In fact the thought of going through with it was exhilarating.
For the next couple of days…Northern sparred endlessly with a monster.