Northern was silent for a few minutes after Helena’s question. He sighed and shook his head slightly, then said:
“Even if I explained, you wouldn’t comprehend.”
Helena nodded cockily.
“Try me.”
“I’d love to, but you see, we don’t really have the…”
The forest shuddered heavily, interrupting his speech. Northern looked around the trembling trees and sighed once more, then completed, “…time.”
He bent his head right then left, cracking the bones in his neck, then folded and unfolded his hands to see if they were in good condition.
[Chaos Thread] truly was an amazing attribute.
Aside from the fact that it caused tremendous pain when doing its work of mending, it made Northern’s hands feel like they hadn’t gone through all that agony.
Imagining what he would have been like without the attribute… he didn’t even want to consider it.
Northern looked down for a moment, then looked up at the rest of them with slightly narrowed eyes.
He seemed skeptical as he spoke, hesitating slightly.
“Would… it be possible to let me handle this one alone?”
The three of them turned their eyes toward him.
Helena was the first to exclaim.
“Oh save Metynnis, I thought you at least had a bit of common sense. To think I was wrong the whole time.” She looked at Raven. “What rank did you say this guy was again?”
“Drifter,” Raven answered shortly. Even she seemed taken aback by Northern’s bold suggestion.
“Right! A Drifter. And you think you can take on a Maelstrom-rank monster alone.”
Northern smiled slightly and said to her,
“I wouldn’t be alone, Ms. Sage…”
Helena tilted her head back, narrowing her eyes.
“What?”
Northern’s small smile grew a little wider, appearing incredibly smug.
“You see… I have companions… just like me.”
At that instant, two more Northerns appeared, both on his right and on his left.
All clad in black, lustrous armor, too ominous to be referred to as anything less than monstrous.
Helena found her mouth open, hoping to speak, but words failed her.
Raven raised her chin slightly, as usual, her expression was impassive.
And Terence… her eyes gleamed, brimming with admiration and awe.
A Cloning ability was indeed already rare.
But being able to perfectly copy his armor was even rarer.
Northern looked at the other two, inspecting the Night Terror armor they had on.
While he had been pondering it for a while now, he wasn’t entirely sure.
But somehow, his eyes and senses could now discern better the extent to which his soul was cloned.
The armor, while its functionality was also copied, its order ability wasn’t.
Also, Northern discovered that right now, his clones were incapable of using his talents.
Except the Owned Talents.
Meaning the only thing they could do was clone themselves.
And that made a lot of sense, considering it became an owned talent after he ranked up.
Maybe they would be able to use his other talents when those ones become owned talents too.
Or maybe there was a limit to which talents they could use—and maybe that limit was tied to the fact that he had not evolved the attribute rank.
Another possibility was… it could be that Cloning is all they can do because of the attribute.
After all, they were unable to use any of his attributes. None at all.
Not even [Formless].
“There… are three of you.”
Finally, words broke out of Helena’s mouth.
Northern raised his head slightly, savoring the moment to its fullest.
“Two, actually.”
The shuddering of the forest once again resounded.
And simultaneously, a black flame enveloped the Northern in the middle.
The other two had a deadpan expression, mirroring how Northern would have been if he hadn’t learned to smile.
Helena wore a very wary expression as she watched the black fire burn Northern.
Of course, she wasn’t foolish enough to start freaking out.
All three of them had an essential understanding that this young man had something unfathomably shocking up his sleeves.
And watching it unfold was beyond exciting…. It was a mesmerizing spectacle that held them all spellbound.
Finally, the flames licked off Northern’s skin, revealing a completely different being before them.
His eyes were black and vicious, empty and dreadful.
His black hair was fiery and like the mane of a colossal beast.
Red runes, like tattoos, ran across his charcoal skin, his body barely covered by an encroaching and gloomy darkness.
Primal evil radiated from the air around him.
He was different.
He was a demon.
He was…
Koll.
Northern raised a corner of his lips, it did not look good at all. His razor teeth displayed a vicious and fearsome grin.
One that made even Helena shrink from cold fear.
Whatever that was… it couldn’t be a drifter.
No, it made no sense for that to be the power of a Drifter.
The presence, the power she could feel from him, nullified all common sense.
This was a monster!
A Maelstrom-rank monster!
The shuddering in the forest once again resounded.
Whatever was coming for them was definitely taking its time.
Its steps sounded large and heavy.
It was probably big enough to cover tens of meters in a single move.
Because every resounding shudder shook the entire landscape more heavily than the last.
Northern, in Koll’s nasty and evil visage, then said:
“So, what do you say?”
His voice was still hoarse as usual.
Helena, trapped in stunned silence, turned to Raven.
Who, in response, shrugged.
Helena shifted her eyes back to Northern.
“Well… I guess the battlefield is yours.”
Her voice shook slightly.
Her body tinged with excitement.
She didn’t know that a day would come… when she’d be looking forward to a fight with these abominations.
A battle that could end one’s life, she didn’t know that she’d be filled with exhilaration in anticipation of how it would unfold.
Watching Northern, shrouded not just in Koll’s appearance but embodying his soul and powers, walk forward, her heart raced.
Not just hers, Raven was more adept at hiding her feelings, but her eyes did not waver from the moving damnation of a being as he passed. Her crimson eyes trailed along.
In their depth was a subtle spark of excitement.
She too… like Helena, was looking forward to it.
