The darkness was not an ordinary one; it was some powerful force reacting with the Void and causing a massive explosion.
And this strange force did not come from the Kirithon.
Northern read the notifications internally as they appeared in front of him.
[You have slain, Apex Maelstrom, Kirithon]
[You have gained 20 talent fragments]
[You have slain a monster of Acheronix]
[You have gained 100 talent fragments]
Northern tilted his head at the latter part of the notifications.
'Acheronix? What does that even mean?'
Of course, there had to be a special case to the Kirithon; otherwise, it just made no sense why it was ruthlessly strong.
Northern sighed and looked at the Soul Taker. As he had expected, the sword was broken.
Seeing this made him click his tongue in regret. The soul damage ability of the sword was incredibly rare among the majority of his items.
And it wasn't like he had so many items to begin with-not when his own drop rates were extremely low.
Northern sighed and dismissed the thoughts. 'That's why I have Hao, anyway.'
He had been deliberately intentional about Hao because he needed an expenditure source for his soul cores. Now that he had found out that he didn't have many items, it seemed to him they would serve a good purpose.
They were all stacked up in his bottomless bag, which was in the Limitless Void with Mr. Fluffy.
'Even now, after killing something so powerful like that, there's no item drop.'
Northern sighed and glared moments later.
The Kirithon was a Maelstrom rank, but it felt insanely strong compared to other monsters of its caliber.
He understood that it was an Apex level. And the thing about Apex level was that they sat at the peak of unpredictability.
They were the true monsters of a certain rank. An Apex level monster with just the Fiend rank would probably be unkillable by seven drifters, or as many drifters unless they outdo the monster by unreasonable numbers.
And who'd pull that much for just a Fiend rank monster?
Seven Nomad ranks would probably put up a fight, as well as a single Master rank-enough to escape alive-but not without losing a limb.
But two Masters would certainly slay it.
Northern's deduction was coming from his experience with monsters thus far.
He dismissed his whole thoughts.
'Now that it is over, can I just go and rest?'
As he attempted to move, he suddenly felt a tightening in his chest. It was so heavy that it stopped him from moving.
Northern immediately bent and held his chest as the pain gripped his heart. He began to find it difficult to move and annoyingly could not even deduce what this strange feeling was. But it was painful.
He staggered back, his vision got blurry, and on top of it, a screeching sound entered his ears. It was soft but very bothersome.
He couldn't keep being on his feet, so he slumped to his knee, supporting his body with one hand on the ground while holding his chest with the other.
He even dispelled the Night Terror armor at some point and squeezed his chest tighter as the pain persisted.
Then suddenly, there was an overwhelming relief that washed all over him. It was like he hadn't been suffering so much that it felt like he would die just now.
He sat down on the ground and slumped on his back, staring into the sky.
That was when a couple of notifications began to appear before his eyes.
[Congratulations, you have gained new soul summons]
[You have gained a unique soul summon]
[You have gained the incomplete soul of a Tyrant]
[Your seed is resonating with the soul]
[Your seed growth phase has started]
[You have gained a unique talent]
[Due to the seed in you, your nature is beginning to take effect. Along with the resonance of the Tyrant's soul, a talent has been created as a countermeasure for maintenance and equilibrium purposes.]
'So, to put it in simple terms, because I gained the soul of a Tyrant, some ripple effect was caused, and now to control that ripple effect, a talent was given to me. Link.'
Northern was silent for a couple of seconds, digesting the information.
The fact that he had just received a freebie talent from an entity he couldn't even figure out- Ul? Nexus? The system?-confused and amazed him at the same time.
Northern sat cross-legged and touched his chest.
'I guess that pain in my chest has something to do with the soul of the Tyrant or the seed sprouting...'
He let out a sigh and stood up. Then the scenery around him changed as he moved his feet.
Northern walked forward to the hollow hall of the Void palace, walked through the flames like they were merely illusions, and sat on his throne seat.
He looked down at the notifications before finally dismissing them and thinking:
'The soul of a Tyrant...'
This meant that a Tyrant among several other monsters had been felled by the Soul Taker.
Then Northern's mind clicked.
Its reaction to the Void, the power, and heaviness.
'...could it be the Chaos Prince?'
The idea, the moment he thought about it, sounded outrageous to his ears. It felt too easy to
come by, and at the same time, the deduction felt reasonable.
But Northern hated his luck, so he didn't want to be optimistic.
'Having the soul of the Chaos Prince? Nah, just shoot me dead. It can't be so easy to come by.'
He sighed and finally decided to summon the souls.
A mass of fire blew up in the center of the palace, right in front of the flames. It was an
explosion of flames like clothes of darkness, that wriggled with the wind.
The flames themselves began to recede, and Northern could now see the forms of the souls.
To his surprise, all-or most of them-were humanoid.
Northern was more convinced that they were human than monsters. Maybe not human, but they were definitely not monsters.