Northern frowned slightly. He was uncertain about the disturbing flame burning in the depths of Night Terror's being. This seemed unprecedented.
At first, he considered that Night Terror might be evolving his void rank—that wouldn't be concerning. But void rank evolutions happened naturally, and Northern always somehow knew when they occurred.
It had never been this dramatic.
This was as if something was being born in the depth of Night Terror's soul. Something evil and vile.
As Northern watched, the building shook violently and its side walls exploded, ejecting the charred devil. Immediately, two figures followed—one a glossy black, the other a shining silver. Each collided with the monster in a ferocious whirlwind of force, unleashing hellish blows upon the creature.
But the creature matched their combined speed, blocking their blows so swiftly that its hands blurred into wind. A nasty grin sat comfortably on its face, eternally taunting them.
Night Terror and Paragon Raizel had teamed up to confront the monster, but the situation remained precarious. Not entirely unchanged, though—the pressure would ease on Paragon Raizel, allowing him to conserve power for the Leviathan.
'Should I join them?'
Northern considered it briefly but dismissed the idea. He understood that Paragon Raizel had asked him to stay back not just for his safety, but because they weren't certain if only one Belial would emerge.
His expression darkened with sudden realization.
'If more of that vile thing appear, it would be catastrophic.'
He sighed and gripped Grengar tighter before diving toward a Behemoth giving Lynus and Shard Creeper trouble.
The creature seemed remarkably resistant to the goat's memory illusions.
Moreover, it was already establishing a relationship with the wind.
'Tsk!'
The longer these creatures remained outside, the greater the danger.
Inside the rift, Behemoths couldn't learn their relationship with the world. They were contained in a cubicle that followed forged principles. But the moment they stepped beyond that boundary, they began to learn continuously, their mentality evolving.
This was deeply troubling. Currently, the Behemoths couldn't perform something as significant as Essence Manifestation, but it was only a matter of time before they mastered it.
Northern needed to eliminate them all before that became possible.
Furthermore, he worried about Paragon Raizel and what was happening to the Belial as it continued to exist outside the rift.
'I never imagined battling monsters outside the rift would be more dangerous than inside it.'
Who would have thought that the place he considered hell was actually a devised safe haven, protecting the world from the monsters' ruthlessness?
No wonder rifts were meant to be challenged and defeated before they shattered into reality, disgorging monsters into the world.
Northern collided with the monster, tearing it downward away from the two of them. With slight strain, he raised Grengar and began to drive one end of its curved blade into the back of the monster, while grabbing one of its wings to displace its balance.
The monster succumbed to the force of falling, its equilibrium lost. Beyond that, it had to contend with an impact that wrenched its very being to the core, crushing its impenetrable skin with relentless, persistent force.
Cracks began to appear on its hide.
But the wind subtly responded, assisting the creature in such a way that its reckless descent was being cushioned. Though it should have plummeted into the ground moments ago, it still swayed in the night wind's embrace.
Northern noticed this, though somewhat late.
He grimaced behind the vicious eyes of the Night Terror armor and dug his clawed, armored hands deeper. Although he still couldn't scratch the creature's skin, his grip tightened, allowing him to apply greater force—as if he meant to tear the wings from their roots.
He needed to position himself to use Grengar to—
He paused his thoughts.
'Alright... hell...'
Northern closed his eyes briefly, absorbing everything within his spatial awareness. Not a single thing moved in the air that escaped his notice.
He promised himself he was not going to care anymore about it. He would just unleash the full extent of his abilities. And yet he found himself thinking methodically in moments like these, finding a subtle way to deal with the situation.
It had to stop now.
He sighed and exhaled cold, smoky air from the overlapping plates around his helmet's mouth region.
His lips beneath the armor turned frigid white, slowly cracking as if diseased by frost.
Patches of ice spread across his armor. The air followed, its temperature plummeting rapidly.
Northern's summons were somewhat resistant to extreme temperatures, so their movements remained largely unhindered by the strange phenomenon taking place.
But Lynus found himself unable to fly as usual. Frost spread over his glass wings, forcing him to slow. As the wings began to crack, he managed to find a roof and crash onto it moments before they shattered completely.
Jeci had also landed quickly the instant she felt her entire body tremble from the frigid cold assaulting the air.
Lynus had crashed on the same roof where she had gained solid footing.
He stood, his silver helm unfolding to reveal his face. He wore a dark, enraged frown.
"What the hell is that bastard doing again?"
"Mind how you address my master!"
Jeci stood eye to eye with him, her gaze blazing with twisted, malevolent intensity. His burned with ruthless indignation.
He sighed and looked away. When it came to matters concerning Northern, they were like cats and dogs. Jeci despised the way Lynus regarded him.
Yet somehow, the two had developed a strange, twisted battle bond because of it.
Their gazes shifted from each other to the center of the suddenly white wind.
The air had transformed, as if an evil, sentient blizzard had descended upon the upper reaches of the city alone, claiming everything there as its territory.
Of course, they both understood that no one else could be the architect of this insane level of attack except Northern.
It somewhat failed to surprise them, yet simultaneously did... Realizing he still possessed such an ability was quite chilling—more so than the cold that assaulted them.
Northern, meanwhile, on the back of the still-resisting Behemoth, muttered:
"I guess this is the first time I'm using another ability of Frostheart aside from Ice Manipulation."
He paused and breathed.
"Absolute Zero."