Swoosh—!
Linthia looked ahead.
Not too far away, Amanir was flying as fast as he could. He was going through the Black Rift and was also supporting Devo. Kraken is inside him, so his flying speed was faster than normal as the Black Rift helped him glide and gave him little resistance despite going against the wind flow.
Even so, it wasn’t nearly fast enough.
She glanced over her shoulder and saw a glowing lava heading straight towards them.
It was one of the Gatekeepers, Dorn.
A barrier was protecting him from the Black Rift. Fancy items that are only reserved for the powerful.
"I need to distract him."
Linthia’s entire form turned into a shadowy spectacle. She gathered unknown dark energy across her entire arms as she floated up, and when she was ready, she descended like a heavy stone—and slamd her palms against the earth.
She summoned a violent vortex that expanded rapidly; the aftershock even reached a few miles.
It was pulling in the dark smoke of the Black Rift, creating a chaotic ss of energy.
Dorn stopped abruptly and looked up.
His glowing eyes scanned the rising vortex and frowned.
"Only voidal monarchs could influence the Black Rift like this," He thought aloud, surprised to see that Linthia could even do this. "I don’t know what she really is, but she’s not a Spirit. Not anymore. She’s sothing else entirely."
Dorn debated to disperse this vortex once and for all.
But he refrained from doing so.
It was easy to do with his strength, but his life energy would’ve lured stronger voidal monsters.
And if a voidal lord managed to locate him, then he’ll be in trouble.
Not because he couldn’t take down a asly voidal lord, but because a voidal lord is deeply connected to the voidal prince. And it wouldn’t take long at all before the voidal monarch was notified that one of the Gatekeepers was venturing into the Black Rift.
A change for them to get their hands on a hefty livestock.
"I have to go through it!’
Boom—!
Dorn sprinted with extre speed, turning into a streak of lava as he charged through the vortex.
Inside, he expanded his senses, fixating on Linthia’s presence.
But he frowned when he noticed three identical presences going to three different locations.
"Spirit Genesis: Lava Golem!"
Almost instantly, lava spilled from the ground and ford three lava figures that hardened into copies of Dorn. All three of them chased one presence, while Dorn leaped skyward, breaking out of the vortex and hovering there to see which one was real.
On the other hand, Linthia looked back and clicked her tongue.
Despite her attempt, she couldn’t even distract Dorn even for a second.
’That’s a Gatekeeper for you.’ She picked up her pace and dipped into the earth like it was water.
Like a sea serpent, she swam through the earth, dipping and resurfacing to make herself go even faster than before. She went past Amanir and Devo in the sky and stopped. "I’ve never done this before," She thought aloud, playing with her unique energy that was almost like a black sticky goo in her hands. "I’m really not sure, but here goes nothing."
Splash—!
Linthia shot black sticky goo skyward.
Once it reached far enough, she made a gripping motion, making the goo stop.
Its tip looked like it was latching onto sothing even though there was nothing but air.
And with a pull, she tore open the dinsion and created a portal.
"Amanir!" She roared. "Get into the portal!"
"I don’t want to!" Amanir replied, seeing that whatever is on the other side is a rubbery black.
"Do it, or you’ll be captured!"
"Fine!"
Amanir flapped his ears and went straight into the portal along with Devo.
It was a portal that led straight to the shallow part of the Well of the Untold.
She has reign there, so it shouldn’t be a problem.
Not even a second after the portal closed behind Amanir and Devo, Dorn crashed from the sky. He was aiming to get those two, but only a fraction of a second too late. The impact created a big crater on the ground, but it did nothing to Dorn.
Linthia already created a portal to leave, too, but a wall of lava blocked her and knocked her back.
A grunt escaped her lips, and when she stood up, Dorn was already not too far from her.
"Don’t run," He said, approaching slowly. "I’m only here to talk."
"As if I’d believe you," Linthia sneered. Her feet left the ground, energy crackling around her fists and hair. "Know that if you harm , the next ti he cos, there will be no more Sky People. Consider this your only warning. Let go, and do no test him again."
"I’m not," Dorn raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. "I really ca to talk."
"Speak," Linthia said sternly.
Despite her arrogant tone, Dorn didn’t seem to be troubled by it.
He has the entire realm’s longevity on his back, so his pride doesn’t matter at all.
"I need to know his location. He asked to be a Spirit Adjudicator, and I’m going to do it," Dorn said, being as straightforward as possible. "I can’t bring the materials and do the work without his presence. So, tell his location."
"What about earlier?" Linthia tilted her head. "You tried to catch them."
"Okay, that’s my fault," Dorn surrendered, admitting that it looked bad. "I thought capturing them would guarantee a eting with him. That’s completely my fault."
Seeing that he’s being cooperative, Linthia lowered her energy, but not her alertness.
"I don’t know where he is, but I can bring a ssage to him," She answered truthfully.
After the Sky Judgnt drew the sky white, she couldn’t sense Rex anywhere. He was likely wounded and was now hiding sowhere deep to recuperate. Until he announced himself, she had no idea where he might be.
Even now, she was only going to try to go where the Sky Judgnt went and search for him.
Or maybe she’ll go with the Shade Crawlers, who already went on ahead.
"Okay," Dorn nodded, deciding not to press further. "Tell him that I wanted to et about what he asked to do. Also, I want to talk to him about chaos. It’s really important, and I’m sure he’d want to know about what I have to say."
Linthia ntally noted what he said and nodded.
She slowly seeped into the ground, starting from her feet.
Frankly, she was still expecting Dorn to be tailing her in silence, but he didn’t make a move even after there were only her eyes left. Once she entered the Well of the Untold, her presence disappeared entirely. And Dorn was left alone in the middle of nowhere.
...
Princess Davina combed her wet hair back and waited.
She had already shot a beam of starlight skyward to notify Rex and Lilliana of her location.
Not too far from the waterfall, she found a grotto that was perfect as a temporary shelter.
Its location and curves blocked the dark smoke, so the Black Rift’s influence was less inside.
"Hmm?" She looked up at where the waterfall should be. "What’s taking them so long? It’s been more than thirty minutes already." As she was about to check, she heard the sound of wet footsteps coming down the stone wall.
Rex landed before her and stretched his arms.
He looked noticeably better than earlier.
"What took you so long?" Princess Davina asked. "I already signaled to co half an hour ago. I even cleared out so voidal monsters around."
"I thought you only marked where you are so that we knew," Rex replied. "So, we took our ti."
"And where’s Lilliana?" Princess Davina looked up, seeing no sign of her coming down.
Considering that her internal energy flow was still a ss, Princess Davina was worried.
She might not be able to protect herself.
"Ah, she said she was going to stay a bit longer," Rex waved his hand dismissively, and then walked past Princess Davina, bending down to look into a small cave mouth with water flowing in. "Have you checked inside?"
"Yes. It’ll fit us perfectly," Princess Davina looked up again. "Are you sure she’s going to be fine?"
"I already cleaned most of the voidal monsters up there—she’ll be fine," Rex nudged his head towards the cave mouth. "Co on, let’s head inside. I want to show you sothing. I can block the Black Rift, so we don’t need to worry about Voidal tamorphosis."
Since Rex sounded confident, Princess Davina decided to trust him.
No strong voidal monsters around, anyway, so it should be fine.
Monts later.
Two charms glowed with a golden glow on each side of the entrance.
Once they were activated, a golden veil covered the entire body of water, splitting the small chamber and blocking any of the Black Rift’s influence from entering. Princess Davina stared at it in surprise, "It really worked... How can you make that charm?"
"I can teach you," Rex smiled. "It’s not that hard. Just a bit taxing, that’s all."
Of course, he purchased the blueprint from the System—the Golden Veil Charm.
His body is adapted to the Black Rift, but right now, his cracked Soul Artifacts needed a mont to heal properly with his life energy. It was one of the reasons why he purchased this blueprint. Rex turned to look at the place he’s going to use.
It was a small cavern chamber split at the center by a body of water.
Rex purchased comfortable beds from the System and placed them on either side.
"Only two beds?" Princess Davina looked at Rex, not even caring that the beds appeared from thin air.
"Yes?" Rex raised a brow. "You and your sister could sleep together, and I’m alone. Are you not used to sleeping together with your own sister?"
"No," Princess Davina shook her head, but when Rex was about to place another bed, she stopped him. "It’s fine. I will sleep together with you. But don’t think of even trying anything funny, even though we now have a bed."
Rex wasn’t expecting her to offer that kind of setup.
But then again, he wasn’t complaining.
"You’ve had enough, right...?" Princess Davina asked hesitantly.
Rex instantly knew what she ant and offered a smile, "It’s fine. I can manage it."
Once they settled down on their temporary hideout, Rex sat cross-legged on the ground and ditated. He was focusing on healing his Soul Artifacts, while Princess Davina loitered around on the bed. It was already morning, but after last night’s events, she was extrely sleepy.
Although she wasn’t as busy as Rex, she went to war with the royal bubble.
It’s pretty taxing even for her.
Soon after, Lilliana also erged from the water.
She looked around, eting with Rex’s gaze for a second longer, and then with Princess Davina.
"You haven’t gone to sleep, sister?" She asked and climbed out of the water.
"I was waiting for you in case you got into trouble," Princess Davina clasped her hands above her belly and closed her eyes, sleeping like a corpse. "Now that you’re back, I’ll be getting so sleep. Wake up if sothing happened."
"Such a cutey," Lilliana giggled and went over to her own bed.
"Go sleep, too," Rex instructed; his eyes were already shut. "I’ll be waking you two up later since I need to know the situation out there."
"Commanding already?" Lilliana cast him a smile, but did as she was told.
A few hours later.
Rex opened his eyes.
"Still a long way to go until the cracks are nded," He clicked his tongue and raised his gaze.
Both sisters were still asleep.
Rex didn’t wake them.
Instead, he walked to the side to head out of the grotto. He could feel Nivellen’s presence in his mind. She is calling for him, so he needs to find a more private area. I need to contact Linthia and the others, too. Hope they got away safely.
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