Northern, after walking through the dark tunnel for a while, came across a dark hall, a decrepit palace.
But he didn’t venture too far because he couldn’t see.
He just stopped at the entrance and looked forward with a puzzled expression on his face. He stood with his arms folded, contemplating what to do.
A minute or two later, Cal silently approached him from behind.
But Northern did not even spare him a glance.
"A little startle would have been very much appreciated. You are a kid, act like one."
Northern did not give any reaction to his words. He just stared forward with his puzzled expression even as he responded to him.
"Why would I act surprised when I already saw you ing since you entered the cave? Besides, I’m not a kid."
Cal looked at him from behind and almost sneered but ate it up and looked forward.
"There’s no way in front... is your friend probably not here?"
"She is," Northern responded, "She is this depth, and my summon too."
"So you are going to go too...?"
Northern looked at him for a moment and looked forward.
"It’ll be useless. How will I e out, I can’t fly, she can."
"For someone who was so enthusiastic about saving their friend, you seem so reluctant. Scared?"
Northern looked away from the depth, still not giving Cal’s taunt the emotional reaction that would have been expected from a fifteen-year-old.
He said:
"The fight is done. What do I need to do there?"
Immediately he heard this, Caladhel frowned.
"Huh? What do you mean?" He quickly looked down; all those subtle trembling in the ground was gone now, everything was eerily silent.
He tilted his head back in disbelief, the tone of his voice almost shattering from despair.
"No, th-that can’t b-be?"
"Yes, it can..." Northern responded with an irritated frown.
Then he turned his head to face the front. A couple of beats later, someone suddenly slung out of the depth and landed in front of them—on his knee.
Northern looked at Pangu, who had a countenance like he had failed his master etched upon his face. He lowered his head, refusing to look into Northern’s eyes.
The moment after, a gentle flutter rose into the wind. Raven gently landed with swirling air in front of them, pulling a ragged man by his hair.
She released his hair, causing the unconscious man to roll away.
Northern looked at the man and looked at Raven, who for some reason was still as clean as when she had left him.
He raised his chin a little bit. After a while of hesitating, he asked:
"I presume you fought the man..."
Raven nodded proudly. "Yes, I did... this is the rift’s guardian. His name is Fano, and he claims to be Sura’s brother. There are a couple of things he told me that made me hold off on killing him. I’d like to get your opinion on them."
She paused and looked to his side, where Caladhel stood.
"I see you’ve made a new friend."
Northern, who was still frozen in shock from the last few words she had said, belatedly turned his head to Cal.
"Eh? Uh? No! No! He’s not my friend. He’s an enemy."
"I thought we are of a mon understanding now, e on."
Northern glared at him immediately.
"How am I to be sure that you won’t stab me in the back the moment I turn away from you?"
Cal chuckled. "What the hell are you saying? I literally walked to this place behind you."
"Wasn’t that supposed to be figurative? Are you dumb?"
"What is figurative? What’s the meaning of that? Are you abusing me or something?"
Of course, there were some words that didn’t have meaning in monster tongue; he figured this could have been one of them.
Northern face-palmed himself and looked towards Raven, speaking in normal tongue.
"Forget about him. What do you mean by ’get my opinion,’ and why are you unharmed after fighting a maelstrom rank monster?"
A delightful smile adorned Raven’s lips the moment he asked the latter question.
"I am now a maverick rank. Savant by title."
Northern frowned.
"What?"
At that moment, he immediately remembered, then looked, using see.
He waited in silent anticipation. Finally, the panel popped up, but suddenly there was a glitch, then it disappeared.
Disoriented and confused, Northern looked at her face. She was wearing some sort of grim grin.
"What did you do?"
"What do you mean?" She responded like she had no idea what was going on, but she was clearly wearing that satisfied grin and was enjoying it.
"You tried to look into her soul, didn’t you, just like you did with me?"
Northern looked at Cal. He wasn’t supposed to know about that, but he did block it out, so maybe he knew.
’I thought the blocking out was Ul’s doing.’
Cal continued without his response.
"If that was the case, then she blocked it out just like I did. Although it shouldn’t be possible for a Savant, they’d have to focus their heightened senses and close the corridor of their soul. For a Sage, the soul corridor bees more pronounced because our soul is taking shape, but for a Savant, it is not the case, which means... this young lady is incredibly skilled."
Northern looked at him with a deadpan expression.
Causing Cal to frown slightly and inquire:
"What?"
"I’d really appreciate it if you do not speak at all rather than speak and be praising her."
He turned to Raven.
"And you, wipe that grin off your face. You look hideous."
Northern was right with this one because there were just some shows of expression that were not conversant with Raven’s face—this particular one defied the representation of her entirety.
Northern looked at the young man lying on the ground. Just like Cal had said, he was human in every form, except that he had pointed ears and very long hair with shades of red at their tips.
His eyebrows were also thick and sharp. He himself, even unconscious, was flawlessly handsome.
Northern sighed and looked at Raven.
"Did he tell you that you will miss your chance of closing the rift forever and be trapped here if you kill him?"
Raven nodded.
"How do you know that?"
"Because that is actually the case." He glanced at Cal. "We have to take Ulzred to the volcanic region where his brother Sura stays and where his sister is."
Kikikikikikiii
A creepy giggle crawled below as the unconscious handsome man woke up from his slumber.
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