Northern was struck with a whirlwind of confusion. He stared, dazed as the stalwart monster fought with itself.
Something was happening to it, its body was changing and the change seemed to come with a harrowing pain.
‘Stupid! stupid! stupid! stupid!’
These words resounded in Northern’s head over and over again. He thought he had cracked it all but he looked past one thing.
Only one being was allowed to be a deviant. To be different from other monsters, stronger than other monsters.
It was the guardian of a gate.
However, there were two. Northern not only failed to consider the possibility of there being two guardians but also failed to evaluate this fact and place more suspicion on Night Terror:
If the castle lord was the rift guardian. What then is Night Terror.
One could also not blame him, he knew nothing about rift after all.
Northern had come this far solely by relying on the information that his parents fed him. All by himself, he had pieced the puzzle of this gate together and reached this point.
But it still annoyed him to think that the rift’s soul core was hanging around him all this while.
‘But how? How?’
Northern had never heard of a situation where the soul core of a rift is an actual monster.
Always, the location was revealed after the guardian is dealt with and it usually is a place being guarded by the last boss… called a guardian.
But this rift…
The castle lord even sort to kill Night Terror.
How is that guarding the rift’s soul core?
Northern felt like his head was going to burst from all the thoughts that were running through his head.
‘Could all this problem stem from the castle lord’s true identity?’
Northern frowned as he remembered something the maelstrom had said.
He looked at the corpse…
‘He split himself into two… and only half is this strong?’
“I hope I and your other half do not cross path’ He muttered to the corpse of the castle lord.
Then he looked at Night Terror who was beginning to undergo some changes.
It’s body seemed to be swelling, like something was trying to break out of it. This made the monster let out a guttural growl.
An elegant blade slowly materialized out of black sparks as Northern stretched his hand.
Its one-edged blade had a distinctive bluish hue, reflecting light and creating a subtle yet mesmerizing pattern that resembled flowing water, hinting at the blade’s sharpness and potential lethality.
The tsuba (hand guard) appeared to be wrapped in a dark wrapping material—a tattered black tape of some sort.
The sword’s silhouette against the dark room created an almost ethereal ambiance that looked graceful yet deadly in the hands of the white-haired mortal.
Northern’s gaze even though blurry did not waver from Night Terror’s disproportionate form.
The monster seemed to be getting worse by the second…
Northern almost felt pity for it. Then he voraciously shook his head and filled it with the horrors he had faced all because he encountered this monstrous entity.
All the hatred and vengeance he had nurtured began to resurface.
He additionally thought about how stupid he was, failing to recognize that killing Night Terror from the beginning would have saved him from this hell a long time ago.
Anger boiled inside of him, it made all his visceral hot, his chest heaved with vexation.
‘Nothing. I have wanted nothing more than to kill you. I have waited for this moment. Had I known better, I should have stabbed you during war, times when I had the chance’
But he even went as far as saving the terror from the clutch of death.
Northern couldn’t begin to tell how much despise for himself welled inside of him.
How could he be so dumb!
However, all that was going to come to an end now.
Allowing Night Terror to finish evolving was going to be a hassle.
No, a hassle is an understatement.
Night Terror is of a catastrophe danger level, upon evolution it would evolve to a devil danger level.
A devil danger level could wreak havoc at an unfathomable rate. Since it’s even an hellion rank, it could tear down strongholds and even a sage would be unable to deal with it.
And that was the monster he was going to face?
He didn’t need to be told, even with Soul Taker he had no hope.
That is why he could not allow Night Terror to finish evolving. He had to kill the monster while it was going through the changes of evolution.
He needed to strike now. And with the Soul Taker, it should work.
After all, the blade ignored slash resistance.
Northern’s grip tightened around the hilt of the ethereal sword that had materialized in his grasp, his knuckles whitening as a newfound determination surged through his veins.
His battered body still bore the scars of his harrowing clash against Koll, but in that moment, all pain and fatigue faded into insignificance.
For he was consumed by vengeance and rage.
—
Outside the rift.
Several tents of rags decorated the deserted plain that hosted the imposing rift.
People in different kinds of armor, sleek and huge walked to and fro in chatters.
A massive tent plunged out of the circle of other tents, closer to the rift than others.
Inside it, a couple of individuals sat on the ground, cross-legged and facing each other.
“So what is the next thing we do? We are not going to wait around till it shatters, are we?” The green haired boy asked politely with a smile.
Every other person in the tent had the same concern, they didn’t need to voice it out–it was evident on their faces.
Bram’s question was met with a grave silence. Everyone was facing the same dilemma. Obviously.
In the decorum, Terence suddenly flinched. She looked outside, her eyes trembling.
At that same time, Annette also looked outside, her face contorted with a deep frown.
Both their expressions had Gilbert so worried that he had to ask:
“What is wrong ?”
“The rift…its essence is suddenly rising ”
Annette sprawled to her and hastened out of the tent, having to lower her head.
Every other person also had to bend as they ran out of the tent. All of them stopped in front of the skyscraping tear in space.
Staring with puzzled expressions.
There were no visible changes in the rift appearance but the two people who were marvelously adept at sensing soul essence stared at the rift with concerning expressions on their faces.
Annette particularly looked pissed. She gritted her teeth and clenched her fist.
‘If he is the one in there… How is he supposed to survive? Damn it!’
Terence’s voice came out, breaking the tension in the air. She looked at Gilbert.
“The rift is evolving… again”
All of them gasped… Well, Raven and a distinctive few were indifferent to the news.
Even Bram was still smiling as usual.
“But there is also something else…”
Gilbert looked around Terence as she continued.
She turned back to the rift.
“For some reason, its guardian is dead… the gateway is open… at least until the evolution process is complete. That’s what I think”
‘I couldn’t sense that. She’s incredible!’ Annette mused. Her expression came to life with a vibrant spark ignited in her fiery eye.
“What are we waiting for?! Enter into the damn thing!” She shouted.