Northern stared fiercely at both of them.
"What?" His tone rang out with heavy arrogance, almost resounding through the hollowness of the imposing grove.
"Nothing. I'm impressed."
"Don't be! The only reason why I am on this journey with you is to take that airship and fly home. I don't care whatever you intend to do, whether it is to save the world or destroy it."
Raven smiled a little and erased it, "Fair enough."
She turned around, "Then... let's go."
"No, no, no, I'm not going to have that."
Raven turned back around, "What this time?"
'What this time? What the fuck is she smoking?!'
Northern inhaled deeply and exhaled, then he said:
"Look, we are on this mission as partners. I know you are giving me some prizes, but I believe we are here because you need my help, isn't that right?"
Raven lingered, then nodded.
"Yes, you are right."
"Fine, if that is the case, I demand to know everything that you are planning down to explicit detail. And I demand to be treated as an equal! Not like some kid that you're taking on excursions."
Raven let out a deep sigh.
"I do treat you as an equal, and I plan to tell you everything, but not while standing here. We need to go farther away from the city before I can explicitly explain to you."
Now that she mentioned it again, it got concerning. Northern narrowed his eyes a little bit and asked:
"What's it about the city that you are running away from?"
"A lot of things. For one, I don't trust Gilbert, Annette and the twins. Something is off. I don't think I can trust them to end this, so I'm just going to do this on my own."
Northern's head moved back a little, blinking with surprise.
'Wow, she's perceptive. I give her that.'
"Why? Why don't you trust him?"
"I can't tell you because they are only my premonitions as of now. Whatever the case may be, I am going to end this on my own."
"So, you are going to challenge three or is it four rifts, on your own?"
Raven was silent after his question. Her hair swayed a little as she made a slight head movement. She lowered her eyes, then moved them back to Northern's ethereal gaze.
"Who said challenging the rifts is the only way out of this?"
Northern raised his eyebrow in confusion, then furrowed them immediately after.
Raven was silent, causing the howling wind of the grove to grow louder. Then after a couple of breezing seconds, she said:
"North, why don't we just keep going for now? I'll tell you everything on the way."
Northern looked at Terence, who had been standing like a statue all the while, not even her breath interrupting the atmosphere.
She was almost invisible.
He sighed and responded:
With that, the cohort continued their journey. After the short discussion, it was a bit more bearable to walk with them, and instead of walking behind, he walked right beside Raven with Terence on the other side.
A couple of minutes into their proceeding steps, a lot of distance had been covered.
And luckily, they were yet to encounter any monsters.
'I wonder if it's because of Dark Terror.'
There was no way to know if Dark Terror had hunted to this point, but he did remember passing a staunch command to the devil.
Which was the annihilation of every monster that surrounded the capital.
The only thing was that he wasn't sure if Dark Terror had been able to annihilate all before he was called back.
Since he was burning away his reservoir of Void essence.
'I wonder just when he'd be able to act independently.'
The fact that Dark Terror needed his essence to manifest and operate was a great hindrance and an even greater limitation in what they could accomplish together.
The ratio of essence it consumed was even greater when it was using its Abilities.
Just like Northern had observed while he was in the dungeon cell.
His guess was probably the fact that Dark Terror had not evolved yet.
He summoned the runes of the monster's profile to confirm something.
However, what he saw blew his mind.
True Name: [Singularity]
Attributes: [Chaos Thread], [Spawn Of Void], [Chaos And Void]
Attributes Ability: [Void Flames], [Darkness Embrace], [Chaos Berserk]
Danger Level: [Devil]
Soul Fragments: [300/300]
Perhaps, it was because he had nothing to do this time. Northern had belatedly guessed that the main reason he probably didn't gain talent fragments from monsters that Dark Terror killed was because the monster itself absorbed their souls.
Since Talent was a core imbued in the soul, it's safe to say that those talent fragments Northern would have gained in particular were being eaten up as shards mixed with the fragments of souls that Dark Terror absorbed.
And he had just summoned these runes to look at how far those soul fragments had probably gone.
He didn't take note of the number the first time he had summoned Dark Terror's profile.
Aside from the fact that it was dark, the matters at hand were pressing. Maybe he did notice it but just failed to think about it since they were more to worry about.
However, none of all that mattered now.
Northern could feel his heart beat heavily as he took one step after another.
On one side of his heart, he was trying so much to put himself under control. This was a very exciting situation indeed, but any strange behavior would warrant questions from Raven.
And let's not forget the lie detector was traveling with them.
Not just now, but throughout their journey, Northern understood very well that he had to beware of the young oracle lady.
On the other side of his heart, he leaped with so much joy.
It was the joy of uncertainty.
That feeling when you feel something good is about to happen, but you don't just know what.
Just when his joy was reaching its peak, a panel appeared in front of his eyes.
[Soul Summon: Dark Terror is beckoning on your approval to get stronger]
[Evolution is possible]
[Enter the Limitless Void to commence evolution]
Northern's eyes widened for a moment. It was getting harder by the second to quiet down his running heart.
'Crap! I need to enter the Limitless Void!!'
Raven finally turned to him, asking casually.
"Is everything okay?"