Faced with so much questions, there was little he could do. One thing however that settled in early enough was that he couldn’t continue to stay in this place.
Or the kingdom of Red Mine.
Northern instructed his clone to search the surrounding area and search for paths that would lead to a successful escape.
He watched silently as the other him raced to the entrance, disappearing for the next few minutes.
In the absent of his clone and expectancy of its report, Northern wondered for a second about the amount of fragments he received.
Just how many did he kill for him to be so close to one thousand fragment.
He sighed.
‘I don’t know if I should be happy or disappointed with myself’
Having his mind bogged down; managing to survive through it. One was worthy of a praise… the other…
Northern couldn’t even find the words to express how disappointed he was at himself.
If there was anything he prided himself in, it was his strong mental fortitude.
But it’s only been his first rift and he was overtaken by the madness of war breeded by thr crazy rift.
Northern had always known that rifts were dangerous and unpredictable, witnessing it himself hit different.
The reality was tremendously scary.
He shook his head and exhaled away his disappointment one last time.
This time, he had learnt not to overestimate himself.
‘I’ll be more careful next time… crap! Fool, what do you mean next time?…
Gruuu
Northern paused, blinking as a weak growl eerily sounded in thr darkness.
‘What was that just now…’
The growling came again, tiredly, and strained in its texture.
Now, it registered to Northern’s head clearer than before. He swung his head back traced where the growling came from.
Luckily, the growl crawled forward again, making it easier to find trace through the darkness.
Northern found himself back at the platform he had broken free from, then a few steps to the side. There was another platform.
And on that platform… there was another monster.
Northern couldn’t see completely through the darkness. But those eyes he would recognize anywhere… even though now, they burned weakly, almost with no life.
“Night Terror?”
His eyes trembled as he stared at the figure chained to the platform… in a horrible state.
Red crystals protruded from his skin, spreading disgusting red veins throughout his body.
The platform was bathed in its blood, and stream of channels connected a pathway from the platform to the base of several cocoons, where the red crystal was cemented alongside the stones that held the foundation of the slightly transparent cocoons.
A frown creased above Northern’s brows as he observed this pathway. He never noticed it until now, lost in focus, he followed each path.
Walking in between cocoons, blood was currently not flowing through the pathways but the dried and black red stain proved that it had once flowed.
Maybe a long while ago.
And then…
Northern raised his head to the cocoon erected in front of his vision.
A few of them had been torn down but this one still held a figure inside.
And it had a striking to Night Terror’s.
The two that attacked him, the one that was brought back to the battlefield.
Because of his odd bond of vengeance with the monster, he was able to tell that it wasn’t the one. But his state got the better of him.
Northern brought his mind back to his kidnapping.
A suspicion sank into his mind.
And he shook his head, with widened eyes.
‘It can’t be… that will just be very crazy… right?’
Northern even though he didn’t want to accept it didn’t see any other better response to this situation.
It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that Night Terror was the ultimate soldier of the Kingdom of Red Mine, the reason why so many battles were worn.
However he got wounded and disappeared.
A few moments after that a mass of Night Terror was created.
In the disappearance of Night Terror, he rose to become a formidable general.
Leading the monsters to the heart of victory through every battle and becoming another ultimate battle.
But he was never wounded… not weakened… maybe in a way proving himself to be an even greater ultimate soldier than Night Terror was.
Then he was brought here and tied to to the same plan.
Just like the few crystals stabbed into Night Terror, one was stabbed into him too.
However, because of that pain… his mind was liberated, he regained his sense of self and was able to break free thanks to his clone.
But there was no way for Night Terror to escape.
Northern’s face paled, the frown on his brows pressed deeper, drawing lines of terror on his facial features.
‘So… if I had not escaped… would I have been subjected to an experiment to multiply me…’
Monsters would play around with his body.
It was a scary idea at the same time the wildest shit he ever thought could happen to him.
His lips curled to let out a terrified laughter but no sound came out, as funny as this was… it was tremendously frightening.
Chills ran through his spine at the thought of it… what if he didn’t have the Cloning ability or wasn’t strong enough to break through the chains.
Night Terror’s weak growl rolled across the darkness, retrieving Northern’s attention from his thoughts
It was bare that the dying monster was seeking help.
Hurrying towards the monster, Northern raised his hand, a black blade materialized within it and as he brought it down.
The shackles binding Night Terror shattered. After breaking all four shackles, Northern helped the monster up.
‘I hope I don’t go having a soft spot for monsters after this…’
It was very infuriating that the vile creatures he wanted nothing more than to slaughter and enjoy himself while doing so were being left at his mercy.
He questioned if he was doing the right thing…
But Northern knew what he was doing at the same time.
There was a question at the root of all this strange happening.
Northern’s eyes gleamed coldly for a second as he thought about it. At the same time tendrils of fear tingled across his skin.
Who is behind this operation? Who could have commanded that Night Terror should be taken… who would have dare to order his kidnap too…
There was only one answer.
He knew it was an unavoidable fate but the thought of it made him wish there was another alternative.
He bit down on his lips painfully.
How in the world was he supposed to fight a monster that even this Night Terror couldn’t face.