Randidly glanced around carefully at the surroundings when they arrived. This most recent fractured space centered around a large sandstone canyon. Tall stone walls hemmed them in on each side. When the group appeared, almost a hundred Nether Beasts and two Nether Gatekeepers deeper in the canyon noticed and focused on them. With a roar, a sea of Nether foes rushed to attack.

And Randidly could sense that deeper in the canyon, there were at least fifty more Nether Gatekeepers, plus two Nether Heralds. Which didn’t even include the countless Nether Beasts. His mouth twisted in annoyance. I knew there were plenty of Nether Beasts here, but even I didn’t realize we walked into a place where two Nether Pinions had landed… Looks like this place will require some light exercise...

Still, Randidly wasn’t overly worried if their Nether foes just amounted to this much. Two Nether Heralds should be just about right to work up a sweat. He gestured sharply at his subordinates. “DiOrtho, Helen, clear a path. Raymund, stay here for a second, I want to try something. Oh, and Lay’mel… try not to make Kerwin’s job too difficult.”

After nodding, Helen and DiOrtho both rushed forward. Randidly noted with approval that DiOrtho took a step back and allowed Helen to take the lead. Her Tides of Blood Domain surged out, instantly turning the air in a ten-meter area crimson. And with every step that she took toward the enemies, the color of her Tides darkened even further. The edges gradually spread outward.

Looks like she didn’t waste five years in my Alpha Cosmos. Randidly noted. Heh, the thickness of that Domain… I wonder if I could still break it like I did in the past…?

By the time that Helen’s spear lashed out toward the first unfortunate Nether Beast, she was standing at the core of a twenty-meter whirlpool of crimson flows. After she bisected the first Nether Beast with her spear, those in the surroundings were torn to shreds just from the force of her Domain. Meanwhile, DiOrtho’s Ancient Machine Horror stayed concentrated around his body. He shot forward to intercept the closest Nether Gatekeeper, keeping his image concentrated to not affect Helen’s Domain too much.

Raymund quickly approached Randidly. Randidly spun Acri and then settled into a fighting stance. Once more, the drifting lines of Ripple of Amenonuhoko appeared before him. “See if you can copy this Skill.”

Randidly cut sharply up through the air. Around him, the wind began to howl.

Congratulations! Your Skill Ripple of Amenonuhoko (M) has grown to Level 337!

Amongst the rippling lines that Randidly could perceive with his Skill, there were several different varieties. Generally, he utilized the thicker and firmer lines and manipulated the ground beneath his feet. Yet this time, Randidly’s cut seemed to glide and surf through the air, sliding forward in a complicated arc. As he finished the strike, the howling of the wind grew deafening. All the air in the isolated space was mobilized.

As the wind accelerated, the edges of the natural force grew increasingly sharp. Just as thirty meters of the Nether Beast army was shredded by Helen, a whirlwind of blades descended upon a hundred meters of space. The wind blades became a dragon that swooped down and annihilated everything within the tight confines of this area of the canyon. Those unfortunate Nether Beasts caught were diced into tiny cubes before they could even react. Only the Nether Gatekeepers in the area survived, although they were crisscrossed with several deep wounds that spurted blood.

The dangerous wind blade storm began to twist and writhe, but before it could head deeper into the canyon, Raymund reached out and grasped. After the first attempt, the Skill stalled somewhat, forcing Raymund to grasp again. But with the second attempt, the Skill disappeared entirely.

The wind blades glided on their previous inertia and harmlessly cut off chunks of stone from the canyon walls.

Randidly grimaced, in spite of the fact that Raymund was only taking action on his orders. The sensation of having a Skill stolen was not a pleasant one. It left him with a strange sense of helplessness, as though he was briefly cut off from his ability to utilize the Skill. Still, with Randidly’s extremely high Willpower, he could force the issue and quickly re-established his connection to the Skill.

Once he rid himself of the helplessness, he turned around to inspect Raymund. Sure enough, behind the Vulpine’s back a new spectral tail had appeared. In comparison to the three tails he had obtained from Vizzeret, Charlotte, and Jieu, the new tail was constantly flickering, like a candle about to be blown out by the wind. However, it was also double the size of the other three tails and radiated an oppressive aura.

Raymund chuckled at Randidly’s sour look. “...if you wish to know the truth, that single act of appropriating your Skill earned me ten Skill Levels. In terms of complexity, your Skills are quite a bit more difficult to manage than Lady Vualla’s. Ahem. Based on the success rate… I cannot use this Skill for long. Ripple of Amenonuhoko, huh…? Let me attempt to utilize it.”

Raymund flexed his fingers and then slashed his claws through the air. For a brief second, his entire visage changed. Randidly was shocked to discover that the Foxman could capture his expression almost perfectly. Immediately, the ground beneath their feet began to rumble… but as the crack in the ground ripped outward, it did not travel in the direction of Raymund’s strike. Instead, it snaked rapidly to the right, directly toward Lay’mel and Kerwin.

“Stop trying to kill me!” Lay’mel screamed as he hopped backward. But his speed couldn’t keep up with the attack. And since Kerwin simply possessed the basic attributes of a Lancer, neither could dodge the widening crack in time. Both fell into the widening gorge in the ground.

Which was honestly for the best, because when the crack reached the side of the canyon, the stone in the surroundings shattered and collapsed, quickly tumbling down in a small landslide. Had they not already fallen into the crack, both would likely have been bombarded by heavy stones.

Considering the Aether density in the isolated space, the materials in the environment were quite dense. The duo likely wouldn’t have died from the landslide, but they might have suffered quite painful injuries.

Raymund coughed lightly into his hand. The Ripple of Amenonuhoko tail flickered and died. “As expected, your Skills are too cumbersome for me to wield effectively. Targeting someone of your tier with my Skill is near pointless.”

Randidly didn’t bother to hide his pleased expression. Seeing Raymund so visibly failing to manage his spearmanship, it was much easier to accept a small deviation in the long-distance attack to clear the path in the prior space. His high Fidelity of the Ascendant Moirae definitely was the reason he could handle it.

In the meantime, Helen and DiOrtho had slaughtered their way forward until they had eliminated enough Nether Gatekeepers that two powerful roars emerged from the depths of the canyon. Like a wave of flesh, Nether Beasts howled and charged forward. Yet they were just the appetizer; the Nether Heralds were approaching and they were furious.

Randidly spun Acri lightly. “Alright, fight freely. We need to cut through this space as quickly as possible.”

*****

Meldoon Crum was inwardly sweating, but he dared not reveal how much fear he currently held in his heart. While his associates continued to strengthen the Nether Array, he had to actually interact with the individuals they had captured. Yet in Meldoon’s mind, he wished he had encountered a scouting party from basically any Pinnacle Seeker organization rather than the Holy Frost Society.

And not only that, but the leader Meldoon recognized. She was the current favorite of the Frost Matriarch, Claudette Beigon. Even worse, she was extremely famous in the Nexus. Her disappearance would be noticed very quickly. Not only had the Beigon Family founded itself in the Nexus in the Third Cohort and remained illustrious for thousands of years, but Claudette was a particularly exemplary descendant.

Not only was she considered one of the most beautiful women of her generation, but she also fought a very famous duel against the Patron of Corrosion after she rejected his marriage proposal.

And she had brutalized the man, too.

Meldoon could only rub his temples and attempt to buy time. His squad had set the ambush as ordered and he had triggered it on the first group to have the bad luck to wander through, but right as he had activated the array, Meldoon knew he was making a mistake. They were supposed to wait for high ranking Nether combatants to capture and use for experiments. They had even chosen a relatively isolated space within the maze of spatial islands. Nether forces should have arrived first.

Yet somehow, his traitorous hands had triggered the trap even as his eyes were absorbing information. And in the next moment, the Pinnacle Seeker squad was captured. They stood now at the base of a small hill in the middle of a clearing; the array covered a space about five meters in diameter. Thick and pulsing black liquid formed the bones of the array, heavily suppressing all Aether within its grip. Yet Claudette Beigon stood there calmly, waiting.

After a few failed attempts to manifest her image, she stopped struggling and stared at him. Her dark eyes burned a hole through his flesh and seemed to peer at his soul. And so Meldoon began to sweat. Had they met each other in basically any other circumstance, she could annihilate him. It was only due to the preprepared Nether Array that their power dynamic was suddenly reversed.

As the silence began to stretch, Meldoon cleared his throat. “There is no need to be petty; it is understandable that you are unable to escape my trap. This move was prepared to restrain even a true Pinnacle Seeker. As a subordinate, even a valuable one, you-”

“You’ve bitten off more than you can chew and you know it,” The blonde-haired Claudette looked out of the Nether Array, her voice cold enough to freeze some of Meldoon’s sweat. Her midnight blue armor was even more ornate than her nine subordinates. She folded her arms and scrutinized Meldoon with a small smile. “You kill us, the Frost Monarch will find out and then hunt you down to turn you into a popsicle. You release us and I will kill most of your subordinates, then report your name to the Fallen Seekers to teach other insignificant characters like you not to mess with the Holy Frost Society.”

“You…!” For a second, Meldoon couldn’t breathe. Rage and fear pounded through his veins in equal measure. He stared at the baleful glare of the blonde woman in front of him and struggled to think of something to say. After sucking in several breaths, he managed, barely to forcibly reduce his blood pressure. “Please, let’s be reasonable. There is no need to be so obstinate; are you truly not afraid of death? If we can come to an amicable agreement, we can part ways today as though we had never met.”

The woman shifted her weight from one side to the other, putting her hand on her hip. She smiled almost sweetly up at Meldoon through the barrier of Nether that separated them. “If I would let a small impediment like this shake my determination to move forward, how could I ever hope to reach the Pinnacle? You claim I am but a subordinate, but I still will someday reach the Pinnacle.”

“This… this isn’t about the Pinnacle at all,” Meldoon spoke through his clenched jaw. “If you can swear on your image that you won’t report this interaction-”

“All decisions relate to the Pinnacle.” The second in command of the captured squad announced. Claudette glanced over her shoulder and nodded in agreement, leaving Meldoon with a growing feeling of helplessness. This was exactly why dealing with Pinnacle Seekers was so difficult; they simply didn’t possess reason.

Meldoon’s expression turned ugly, but in his heart, he knew that it would come to this from the moment he had mistakenly sprung the trap on the group. A woman who dared fight against a Patron would not be intimidated by a relatively obscure figure such as him. “Fine then. With no other choice, I will eliminate you and destroy all evidence.”

At his gesture, his fellows activated their own Nether Cores and integrated their Weight into the Nether Array. Gradually, the flowing lines of dark energy began to tighten around the ten-member squad of the Holy Frost Society. The Nether density sharply increased and black lightning crackled up and down the array. Yet Claudette simply continued staring at him.

Her dark eyes were infuriating. Meldoon knew that standing in the center of such an array was agonizing. He had experienced it himself when he had been chosen to receive a Nether Core. Yet she didn’t flinch at all.

And soon, Claudette grinned wildly up at him and laughed loudly. “Do you truly think you can hide the truth of this matter? Maybe if one of the Engraving Guilds’ elites were here, but you? You are one of the lowest members of the Nether Lattice that I’ve ever seen. Even with your Nether Array, the imprint left by my image on this world will never fade!”

“You’ve lived a blessed life, but will soon be over. Reality... will reduce you to nothing but a prideful loser,” Meldoon was grinding his teeth as he carefully mobilized Nether within himself to flow in the appropriate pattern. His eyes were bloodshot as the intensity of the Nether continued to climb. The array tightened. He was determined to be looking at the blonde woman when she finally died.

Maybe then she could understand the stress that he had endured. Maybe then she would see that it didn’t have to be this way. Maybe then-

Behind Meldoon, there was a slight popping noise. Then an unfamiliar voice spoke.

“Alright Lay’mel, prove your worth. Who are these two groups of people?”