Chapter 350 - 348:Raukhar Forest.
"You scream like a little bitch. You know that?" I couldn’t help chiding my little passenger as I tore through the abyss skies, headed straight for my next destination.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" The little wimp couldn’t even hear me, too busy caught up in his screaming.
I tuned out the fucker and decided to go over the requirements of my abyss warden test.
Apparently, my feat of taking out a Calamity-grade Gorath while still being a mere B-rank mortal was enough to give me some special privileges as I bypassed the Riftstrider rank and jumped straight to the Deepwalker ranks.
Personally I still feel they under rewarded me, but it doesn’t make much of a difference.
As for what an Abyss warden needs to do to get that promotion? Well, I just needed to clear out a nest of infernals.
What’s a nest of infernals?
A concentrated gathering of infernals occupying and claiming a territory.
That’s what they called a nest.
Yes. I had already unknowingly done the same shit again. Wiping out a perfectly good nest just to get hold of a shitty gorath. But. The damage has already been done, and I didn’t feel bothered enough to let that information out anymore.
For one, I don’t think they’ll believe it.
For two, it would hinder my going for another rampage.
So...
"Ahhh... we’re here.." I could finally see it.
I slowed down my flight and pulled up the screaming abyss walker.
"Is this the place you mentioned earlier?" I pointed out.
His face slowly paled as we approached closer and closer.
"Ye... yes.. this.. this is it.."
"So.. what exactly am I looking at here?" I asked as my eyes slowly took in the place.
An endless sea of ancient trees stretched beyond the limits of sight, their towering, gnarled trunks rising like forgotten pillars that held the abyss itself aloft. Colossal roots coiled across the land like mountain ridges, swallowing rivers, valleys, and entire cliffs beneath tangled wood. Overhead, twisted branches intertwined into an unbroken canopy, while crimson fungi, pale crystal growths, and veins of glowing abyssal moss clung to bark older than kingdoms. Every direction offered only more ancient giants, more suffocating silence, and the unsettling feeling that the forest had long outlived every civilization foolish enough to challenge it.
"These, Lord Absolute, are the Raukhar Forests. Home to the vicious Raukhar."
"Hmm? Raukhar?" I asked.
"Yes. Raukhar. A race of fiendish wolves that hunt in enormous packs. For as long as anyone remembers, this place has been a graveyard for wanderers."
"Damn... they’re that bad?"
"I’d say they’re worse, my lord. Entire expeditions have vanished within these forests without leaving behind so much as a single corpse. And those fortunate enough to escape never returned the same. Most gave up being wanderers entirely."
The more he spoke, the more excited I became.
An excited grin slowly appeared on my face as I asked an intriguing question..
"Between these Raukhar and The Goraths from before, which is more dangerous."
He seemed to think about it for a few moments before opening his mouth,
"I only have general knowledge, my lord, so I might be wrong. But from what I know, the ashen plains are a special land due to the fact that the Goraths were essentially unkillable so long as the land remained. Or atleast, that was the case until my lord happened."
"But. The Raukhar, despite having a generally higher number of powerful monsters in their midst, can still be killed. So, if I were to rate their danger levels, I’d say the Goraths were more dangerous purely because they can exhaust anyone. But the Raukhar are an equally deadly threat because they can swarm you with massive numbers."
"Honestly? I think it all depends on who the warrior was. Afterall, more lives have been lost here than at the plains."
I could only stare incredulously at the abyss walker before me.
"You.. what did you say your name was again?"
"My name? My lord, you still don’t know my name?"
Slap!!
"Ahhhh!!!!"
"If I knew your name, would I ask you? Now talk before I slap your remaining teeth out of your mouth."
"Wuu... itsh shulvan..."
"Shulvan?"
"No... shulvan.. shulvan.."
"That’s what I said. Shulvan"
"No.. it’s.."
Slap!!!
"Ahhhhh... why!??"
"If I say it’s Shulvan. Then it’s Shulvan. What’s all this arguing you’re doing?"
"Hic.. I’m shorry my lord."
"You’re pardoned." I huffed gracefully.
"Now. Shulvan. Tell me. If you’re this intuitive, why and how the fuck are you still so mediocre?" I asked as I felt the pitiful C-rank aura of the guy.
His expression turned saddened as he registered my words.
"Well.. my lord.. it’sh becaushe I wash born with exactly that, mediocre talentsh."
"Hmm? Explain."
"How do I put thish... I don’t undershtand how it worksh on the outshide, but one’sh talent ish tied directly to the quality of their abysshal coresh."
"Abyssal cores?" Well that’s new. I’ve heard of beast, spirit, mana, demon, now we’re adding abyssal cores to the list too huh?
"Yesh.. ironically or not. We nativesh shtill ushe mana ash our main energy soursh. But, the abyssh is shaturated with thish dreadful essensh that it becomesh imposshible to train properly. Thish ish where coresh become vital."
"Explain." I healed his mouth to prevent that annoying lisping.
"The more qualitative your core, the more of the tainted mana one can take in. The faster one can refine said mana and then store it in his or her core to get stronger."
"Don’t you guys just kill things to level up?" I was confused. What’s all this talk about taking in energy? Did we drift off from the script?
"That’s what I’m talking about my lord. There are no infernals that a born below the transformation ranks. And that too, the Late-stage transformation ranks. But we natives are born as weak as any other race outside. And it’s worse for the outer fringes that have less options. So, we’re taught to convert the tainted mana into pure usable mana, that’s how we "level up". Stuff enough mana into our cores until our levels increase."
"That’s why all wanderers are respected, irrespective of rank, since being a wanderer means you’ve survived the culling and are now worthy of standing outside the domes."
"And you...."
"Yes. My lord. My core wasn’t... isn’t good enough. It took me all my life to get to this rank. And even now, I am still not qualified to even dare stand before the weakest infernals." His head lowered.
"I offered you my life. But it’s of hardly any use. The knowledge I have you can get from any other native. And I have no personal strength of my own. My path has already ended. I am... sorry for being a burden."
...
...
Even the wind went silent as the moment hung in the air.
His head hanging lower by the minute as he seemed to be slowly falling into a state of depression, but..
"Well.. that’s harsh, I guess. But. I don’t really give a fuck either way."
"Ehh?"
"So. You’re weak. Pathetic. A loser basically.." I stood from my air seating position. He hadn’t even realized that I was no longer holding him up.
"But, who cares? You’re my trusty assistant. If there’s any information you don’t know, we’ll make sure you know it, since I obviously won’t bother myself to do so." I cranked my neck as I felt the forest below becoming restless..
"And if it’s strength you seek. Then who cares about your dead ass core? You’re with me now. And If I want you to be strong. You. Will. Be. Strong."
Multiple auras erupted from the forest below as the winds slowly picked up speed.
"So. Just stay there and watch me work. When I return. We’ll get to work on fixing you up. I can’t go around with my assistant being a fragile piece of paper, now can I?"
HOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWLLLLLLLLL!!!!!!!!!!!!
"Alright then. That’s enough talk. It’s time to teach scooby do how to bark properly." I finally focused on the figures rushing towards the sky.
"You mangy mutts dare come to me? Allow me to arrange a personal meeting with Cerberus in hell... HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!
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A/N: Another landscape about to be leveled? I hope not. Bro is just terraforming the abyss at this point.
Anyhoo.. this is the last Chapter for our month end release marathon.
Once again. I am deeply grateful for all your support. We closed out at a solid #37 for the month. I am beyond happy. Thank you guys very much.
But, as always, there are those that stood out this month as well..
[GT hall of fame..]
#1- Chuckalotapus.
#2- Zelkova9927.
#3- Jessierose.
[Topfan hall of fame..]
#1- Omni_Dragon.
#2- Tristan_Hall_.
#3- Chris_Heidema.
Hahaha.. these topfan rankings haven’t changed since the birth of these rankings. Damn. But there you guys have it. A special shout out to these six for the efforts.
But as I always say. It has been a collective effort from all of you and I do not appreciate you any less.
Once again, thank you. And a happy new month in advance.
And as always..
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Thanks for reading...