Chapter 1752

Chapter 1752

Winds and emotions swirled together into a grass mass of darkness. The dim illumination of this world was completely screened. What remained was a bleak half-light as the desolation spread.

Claudette’s image projection had been irrevocably altered by Randidly reaching into its heart and adding a flaw to the emotional core. The stable path of its existence shifted as liberated forces seeped downward and upward, upending the previous status quo.

Randidly licked his lips and clapped his hands against his cheeks as he pulled himself out of one of his rest breaks. I need to get everything in place before the image begins to settle again... or the shifts will be that much more difficult. I can’t slow down now.

His Willpower billowed outward, sewing the small changes he desired in the infinite folds of this image. He continued to refine the terrain at the periphery of the image world, adding abandoned stone settlements where the Lizahk had bunkered down to escape the grasping frost taking over their world. Randidly could feel Claudette’s emotional truth attempting to find its place in this altered state, waiting to settle and push itself toward emotional stasis once more.

But Randidly continued to work to the point he possessed a blinding headache, unwilling to let the spirit of this image settle quite yet. The darkness in the sky deepened as he pushed back the original foundation to reshape the whole of the image.Visitt novelbin(.)co/m for the latest updates

Congratulations! Your Skill Grand Perspective (R) has grown to Level 125!

...

Congratulations! Your Skill Grand Perspective (R) has grown to Level 144!

Congratulations! Your Skill Conviction of the Celestial Cataclysm (T) has grown to Level 499!

He felt a flicker of anticipation as he got his Conviction to Level 499, but for now, the mental strain quickly soured the brief flicker in his mood. Randidly raised his eyes and looked at the swirling grey clouds that bubbled along the horizon. He had expanded the scope of the mountains keeping the chaotic weather in check, giving the core area of Claudette’s image a towering barrier of unfriendly granite to protect the interior. However, the emotional force leaking upward from the flawed sword was stronger than Randidly had anticipated; looking at the crackling lightning in those dense clouds, he worried they would soon break out and spread over the world.

The guide-Claudette kept her mouth closed, but looked toward the horizon and hooted her worry. Her eyes were wide and white.

That release would create a horrifying storm that would ravage the world, likely adding some weight to what Randidly had created with his details. But at the same time, the potent tension that currently filled the image would naturally dissipate. Some of the momentum for further change will have been lost.

After chewing on his lip for several seconds, Randidly nodded slowly. “Time to head deeper. I can’t miss this chance... especially not after I’ve pushed things beyond the point of no return with the flaw in her image.”

Randidly pulled out the Visage of Obsession and steadied his breathing. His headache was painful, but he could already feel Yggdrasil beginning to blunt the edges of his exhaustion; very quickly, his eyes settled on the dark staircase and then he was there within the Fatepiece. Randidly began to descend, the slap of his feet against the sturdy steps echoing in the empty stillness of this fake world.

As he predicted, the descent this time required three thousand three hundred and thirty-three steps. Which was fine in this case, but Randidly’s mouth twisted as he approached the gatekeeper of the Visage of Obsession. Right now its manageable, but if the required steps continue to escalate at this rate... Heh. I’ll need to set aside a bit of time to descend to the next level.

A grey-haired Mrs. Hamilton waited for Randidly above the severing shadow that lay across the staircase and this entire world. Randidly cocked an eyebrow up at her and she laughed. “Believe me, sometimes there is no deeper meaning to what gets regurgitated from the subconscious. Or it could be said that deeper meaning of each choice is always assigned after the fact, and some truths are a better fit for the chaos of life than others.”

How long have we been fighting? Krum reached up to rub the sweat from his eyes, but really just smeared blood across his forehead. Before he could try and correct the situation, more Greater Werewolves surged out of the passage, followed by one of the tan Calamity Touched variety.

Zeta bravely moved forward and began to attack the frontrunners and Krum hovered behind the machine man, waiting to assist when the powerful foe made its move.

But to both of their surprises, the tan Werewolf didn’t attempt to attack; instead, it began rapidly dissecting one of the corpses of its fellows, left slumped where Zeta had bisected it a few minutes earlier. Its claws made short work of an elbow joint.

“What-” Krum’s mind struggled to understand why it would act that way, but then he saw its purpose as the monster twisted and whipped a severed arm through the air. Krum kicked off the ground and then off the wall, attempting to intercept the projectile. “Shit! It’s targeting the torches!”

He moved too late; the Calamity Touched Werewolf threw the arm quickly and accurately, whizzing the projectile past Krum’s outstretched fingers and splattering the burning torch with flesh and blood. The illumination was knocked from its perch and sizzled out in a pool of blood. The shadows in the passage deepened.

Before Krum had even touched the ground, the tan enemy had done the same to the other two torches in the area, leaving Krum and Zeta in partial darkness. There was a torch back by the goblins and the fighters could still see in the darkness, but not as well as their opponents. And just as Krum landed-

HOOOOOOOWWWWWLLLLLLLLLLL!

A horrible scratching and cracking noise followed the howl as the leader of the werewolves used the cover of darkness to forcefully rip its way into the cave. Krum shivered and swayed, suddenly unsure of what to do. Based on the volume, it is just as superior to the Calamity Touched Werewolves as they are to the base troops. Even if I was at my peak-

“Get back!”

Krum whipped around. A bloody and dirty Todd stood beneath the remaining torch. His arms trembled and his glasses were smudged, but he held four stone spikes aloft with the assistance of the moss spirits. Releasing a sigh, Krum leapt forward and wrapped his arm around Zeta’s waist. As they retreated, he shouted. “Use the horn, Zeta.”

“We may need that as a strategic asset in the future,” Zeta replied. “Perhaps-”

Shadows hid most of the detail, but a claw large enough to palm one of the diminutive goblins ripped through the cramped entrance to the stone tunnel and sunk into one of the restrictive walls. Then it ripped backward, pulling a chunk of stone with it and reveal a glowing violet eye through the opening.

Without bothering to continue arguing, Zeta’s chest cavity adjusted into a sonic cannon. Krum set the brass warrior onto the ground and it unleashed a piercing, high-pitched noise toward the approaching Werewolves. The frequency of the noise was theoretically too high for Krum to hear, but as he stood next to the machine one of the fillings in his teeth rattled in place until his jaw ached.

The Werewolf leader howled in agony and pulled back, leaving its subordinates slumped and mewing from the sonic blast. The goblins were already retreating in good order, so Krum picked up Zeta again and gestured to Todd. The kid jabbed his finger forward and the stone spikes ripped forward to smash into the cave entrance, causing a small collapse. Hopefully, the stone would keep the werewolves at bay for a while.

“You cleared the Rift?” Krum asked tiredly. Todd nodded.

Zeta chirped, almost in surprise. “Then it is time for exploration of a new location. Do you also feel that tickling in your emotional cavities? Is this the human emotion of excitement?”