Northern stared for a few seconds, not saying anything as Bairan's eyes lingered on him.
The Sword King was on his knee, his eyes fixed upon Northern, patiently-with all the patience in the world-waiting for what Northern's response was going to be.
Dante stood on guard, his hands fisted around the handle of his sword, eyes locked onto the strange being before him.
Every part of his composure was brimming with calculated awareness, showing he was actively gauging his target as much as he was getting ready to strike at the slightest threat. Northern, however, was occupied with something else. His eyes stayed on Bairan's entire demeanor, from the unbreaking and resolved look in his eyes to his stalwart composure.
And there was just something Northern could not shake off.
The feeling of being evaluated.
He shook his head. 'No, he can't be doing that...'
But there was something strange about this act, unless he was overthinking it and reading extra meaning into what Bairan was doing.
'But if he is not testing me then why did he not go ahead and deal with the guardian and say, "Oh master, I have vanquished your foes"? Isn't that what the case should be?'
It was as if Bairan's act of extinguishing the Behemoths and even calling them minions was to inform Northern of his worth, and now, he was asking Northern to also prove his own worth.
Is it bad? Is there anything bad about it?
'Nah, if that is what he is doing then I am utterly disappointed. Even Revant wasn't this daring... or was he?'
Northern raised a brow and thought deeply. After another few beats of silence, he frowned. 'No, he's definitely doing it.'
The next second following that... no, before the next second, a wild gust of wind blew and Northern was instantly in front of Bairan's eyes, his own darkly widened.
"How dare you try to test me?"
Bairan, shocked as Northern suddenly appeared before his eyes. With how focused his eyes were on his so-called Master, he hadn't seen the young boy move an inch.
He did not even blink, but Northern's movement bypassed his vision somehow.
'Or did he not move?' Bairan was left utterly confused.
"I'm talking to you." Northern's tone struck like thunder, demanding the Sword King's attention with a lace of fear.
He wanted to speak, but only stammers and failed words found him.
He went silent, steadied his breath, and his rapid heartbeat.
A grin formed on his face, and he bowed his head.
"I am sorry for my daring act. I wanted to be sure that someone who shares my dream of vanquishing a dreadful foe is worth my attention and effort."
He dropped his second knee and kowtowed.
"But I was only stupid. I see now that I was only ahead of myself. Definitely, the times have changed from what they used to be. And you are definitely a strong man, worth serving and fighting for. It is an honor to share a dream with you."
Northern stood upright and glared down at the Sword King from his vantage point.
With Bairan's heartfelt apology, there was nothing more he could do.
'Damn, these Void entities keep asking for it.'
He turned back to Dante. "It's fine... I have it under control. He won't bite you."
Only then did Lieutenant Dante relax from his position and push his slightly drawn sword back into its sheath.
He came forward, still observing Bairan, even though he was still kowtowing towards Northern.
Northern glanced at the colossal door of the cave briefly, his eyes catching a glimpse of a crimson flood-like engraving.
"Since you were going to do it anyway, stay outside and keep watch till I'm done inside." "Yes Master. Do not worry yourself, you can leave these shrubs to me," Bairan responded in excitement, raising his head.
The moment Bairan raised his head, Northern grabbed it and slammed it back down.
"Don't you dare move an inch from this position, else I'll be sending you into the nothingness you came from."
"Yes master, I dare not disobey." With a line of blood streaming down the ground, the Sword King responded full of vigor.
Northern stood back up and then moved towards the door. Meanwhile, Lieutenant Dante couldn't hide his shock at what he had just seen.
A child treating an obvious adult like a lesser being. All these things just raised more questions about Northern's identity.
And for once, he felt very tempted to use that one wish he had gained from Northern. But he resisted the temptation-the value was too small to spend such an expensive opportunity on. Not that he thought little of Northern, but what good would knowing Northern's identity do him?
It was better off being left to rest. At the very least, he could understand why Northern had used his last wish to shut him up.
Northern stood in front of the door studying its engraving.
"It looks like these things are telling a story..."
His voice drove the Lieutenant's thoughts away, prompting him to also look at the
"Whoever created this must have taken a long time doing it," the Lieutenant commented shortly after he began to study it.
"It seemed like the metal was carved and painted afterwards, but the painting is so amazing, the details of shading are astonishing... is what I would have thought if I was inexperienced." Lieutenant Dante, fascinated by Northern's latter statement, interestingly raised a brow. "Okay? So what's your deduction as an experienced drifter?"
Northern squinted his eyes and moved his hand to touch the door, feeling its smooth and rough surfaces due to the engraved shading areas.
"This material was entirely forged from blood. The engraving was done when the door itself
was in a semi-hardened stage."
Lieutenant opened his mouth. "Ooooh, that's quite an interesting deduction. Only an experienced drifter would indeed say something without much evidence."
"What other evidence do you need? The smell of blood has been prominent since we entered this place. The red mist, the red cloud, and the monsters themselves-all of them are clues that this rift has some ardent attachment to blood."
Northern explained, of course, leaving out the fact that he had seen the title of the rift to be one of the ten plagues, so something definitely must be wrong.
'Most likely a plague of blood.'
"Alright then, I guess it's time to go inside? So we can find out if you are right?"
A grin tugged at the edge of Northern's lips. "Do you like dramatic entries?"
"I wouldn't care any less."
Northern fully formed the grin and with a sudden clutch of his fist, using pure strength, he
squeezed the metal in the middle, wrinkles folding the surface of the colossal metal door.
With a flick of his hand, the gate wrenched itself free from the arms of the cave wall, flying inside and destroying the ground viciously.