Chapter 120: This Woman Wants Me Dead
Evan had been wondering what exactly this woman was trying to do.
Never in a million years would he have guessed he’d receive the answer the very next second.
And in the most brutal way possible.
’Holy... what the hell just happened?!’ he screamed internally, trying to comprehend how a simple snowflake had managed to devour an entire section of ground out of nowhere.
Even from a distance, he could tell that the invisible explosion had consumed nearly ten meters of terrain in diameter, leaving behind nothing but a clean crater carved into the earth below.
The only detail he managed to pick out, the only thing that might explain what had just happened, was the spatial distortion he had noticed just before the detonation. The same kind of trembling he had seen when the rift appeared and pulled him into this place.
He understood then that the snowflake had somehow interacted with the surrounding space, and that interaction had produced this result.
’Wait... she said this snow is the physical manifestation of the Laws of Space and Time. Don’t tell me she somehow triggered those laws...?’ he thought, recalling her earlier explanation.
Though he had been stunned at the time, Evan chose not to comment, since the snow had seemed harmless enough. Now that he had a live demonstration of what it was apparently capable of, he found himself trembling at the sight of the other snowflakes drifting quietly around him and landing on his clothes.
"Please tell me these things aren’t about to explode on me," Evan said, eyeing the snowflakes around him like they were his worst enemies.
"Don’t worry, they’re harmless. Well, harmless as long as you don’t do anything to destabilize them," Seraphine said, watching his expression of pure terror with what could only be described as amusement.
"Destabilize them? You mean mana?" he asked, remembering what she had done to the snowflake before sending it flying.
"Yes. You see, this dimension is an extreme concentration of the Laws of Space and Time, so disordered that any external energy source, anything that isn’t as chaotic as this dimension itself, risks triggering these two laws.
The consequences, needless to say, can be rather unpleasant. What you just witnessed is one of the milder outcomes. Depending on your luck, you might find yourself compressed alive by chaotic space, or watch your life get pulled away in seconds by the law of time, among other things. Some of which are better left undescribed."
Evan stared at her.
"....."
’And you’re only telling me this now? ’He suddenly had a very strong urge to crack this woman’s head open just to see what in the world was going on inside it.
He had been in this place for a while now, surrounded by snow that was apparently an unstable minefield capable of detonating at any moment, and she had not felt the need to mention this in advance?
’Yep... this woman definitely wants me dead. There’s no doubt about it,’ he thought.
Seraphine, unbothered by the storm of thoughts Evan was clearly having, continued.
"In essence, this place is a concentration of two laws, and only by achieving a certain level of control over them can one realistically hope to leave," she said.
That stopped Evan’s resentment cold.
He understood immediately what she meant.
He was capable of assimilating more than one divine bloodline, which, as far as he understood, were fragments of divine heritage, fragments of a divinity’s concept. Beyond that, after coming into contact with void energy, he had managed to develop an affinity with it and even control it to a degree.
’Is it possible I could do the same with these two laws?’ he thought, looking at the snow around him with a complicated expression.
Seraphine had been watching his change in mood and seemed to read his thoughts before he voiced them. She nodded.
"It’s exactly what you’re thinking. Because of your particular origin, you have a chance of developing an affinity with these two laws, and perhaps cultivating it to the point where it could carry us out of here," she confirmed.
"This place is a nightmare for nearly everyone who ends up here. But for you, it’s different. In fact, it wouldn’t be wrong to say that in a certain sense, this place is uniquely beneficial for you," she said, immediately capturing his full attention.
"You mean because of the two laws?" he asked, uncertain.
She shook her head.
"Yes and no. You see, this place is special not only because of its particular nature, but also because of its inhabitants," she said.
’Inhabitants? The Abyss Gods?’ he thought, they were the only ones he could think of, given that she had told him this place served as their prison.
Seraphine’s dangerous smile reappeared, striking him the same way it had every time before.
"No, I’m not referring to those guys," she said, extending one finger toward the direction where the snowflake had disappeared.
Evan turned his head to follow her gesture, and the moment he did, a chill ran the full length of his spine.
His eyes settled on what appeared to be strange shadowy figures beginning to emerge silently from beneath the snow.
"What... what the hell are those things?" he asked, his voice uncertain, reaching out with his senses to try and detect their presence, and failing completely.
He felt nothing.
As though no one was there at all, despite the fact that they were standing just a little away from him.
And yet, for reasons he couldn’t explain, he sensed they were dangerous, not in the way high rank awakened beasts stronger than him were dangerous, but in an entirely different way. One he couldn’t define.
"Those are the product of this chaotic environment," Seraphine said, still perfectly calm, as though she were watching ants emerge from the ground rather than unknown entities materializing out of the snow.
"And they are also what will give you the push you need to begin learning the laws of space and time."
[ Thx Nellon_2141 for the GT’s (￣▽￣) ]