ushernet Chapter 354.2
Chapter 354.2
“I don’t know,” Isaac replied.
“It’s rare to hear you admit ignorance, Isaac.”
“There’s plenty I don’t know. Honestly, compared to others my age, I’d be little more than a dullard.”
“Coming from someone who’s uncovered the secrets of gods and glimpsed the shadows of Urbansus?”
“Of course.”
Isaac was sincere.
There were countless things he didn’t know that were common knowledge for any ordinary person in this era: planting seasons, how to identify edible plants, how to butcher animals, and which types of wood made good firewood.
Hunger never pressed him to hunt, and his tentacles provided more than enough sustenance. Without them, Isaac would probably have starved to death long ago.
But when it came to the Outer Boundary, Isaac doubted that anyone, including himself, truly knew what lay beyond. Nothing about it had ever been revealed.
The concept was limited to being ‘a place outside the Codex of Light’s reach, where the ancient gods and the minions of Chaos fled.’ Isaac couldn’t even imagine what kind of demonic landscape it would be.
“The only certainty is that we must not cross into that place.”
Though Isaac himself could be considered a servant of Chaos, he instinctively felt an intense aversion to going any closer. Just looking out over the gray wasteland filled him with an uneasy nausea.
Isaac stared hard at the dark clouds that melded with the gray plains, as if trying to glimpse something beyond. The slow, undulating clouds seemed almost to whisper.
[Traitor.]
The horizon opened, and a murmuring voice drifted from a mouth formed between the cracked ground and the sky. Crimson-black tongues writhed out from the fractured landscape, slithering like serpents.
[Keep your promise, traitor... Did you not vow to us?]
[Why do you abandon your minions, O god...?]
[The promise will be fulfilled in the end. The traitor’s schemes will only delay its execution.]
Isaac staggered, nearly swayed by the whispering voices with their flickering tongues.
“A wineskin for a parched throat, at last.”
This was the reason Isaac had come all the way to hunt near the Outer Boundary. He needed a fresh offering to meet the conditions of the Thirsty Feast ritual.
This creature was one Isaac had once hunted before, during his time with the Salt Council. He knew precisely where it would appear.
“Get ready, Aidan. Once we catch this, we’re heading back.”
***
With a heavy thud, Nel dropped the enormous Armye in front of the Fisherman’s House.
The creature was so massive that without Nel, they wouldn’t have been able to drag it here at all. Soldiers stared in awe at the winged serpent lying in the front yard.
“Kalaleatoul, an ancient god who fled to the Outer Boundary. A god born from a yearning for the sky. It’s said to command the power of rain and thunder. This should be enough to supply the missing divinity, don’t you think?”
Originally, this ancient god would have roamed within storms, swimming through the clouds. However, something had twisted it in the harshness of the Outer Boundary, causing fungal growths and tentacles to sprout all over its body. Although its divine nature had mostly faded, the fact that it was ‘fresh’ still made it valuable.
Sadraza, watching from inside the Fisherman’s House, looked pleased.
The Armyes of the monsters and ancient gods Isaac had gathered over the past few days more than sufficed for the ritual.
Sadraza slowly pulled Kalaleatoul’s body into the dark pyramid with his writhing tentacles.
Isaac observed silently.
“Is this enough?”
“If I could ask for more... but I suppose that’s not possible?”
“That would be difficult. We have our own timeline to keep. I’m sure I brought more than the amount you specified.”
Sadraza looked somewhat disappointed but nodded.
“Very well. I’ll manage with this. I will begin the ritual now. In the meantime... the Outer Boundary may stir, so it would be helpful if you could protect Miarma.”