Chapter 67: An Odd Cohort
Jaw-dropped, Northern stared at the terror, it was evident what it was going through.
A shaky smile appeared on his face, Northern stared in disbelief as Night Terror glared at the cave, eyes burning with vicious hatred.
Northern exhaled.
With that, one of his fears was now over.
He had been skeptical about Night Terror being able to hate the lord of the castle or the other monsters.
But with this, Northern had his answer. As a matter of fact, Night Terror seemed to be consumed by more anger and hatred than Northern was.
Northern turned to the direction of the cave and looked at Night Terror.
A villainous smirk appeared on his face in the next instance. Pointing to the cave, Northern declared:
"Don't worry! We will return to this place and lay it all to waste." He withdrew his hand and then looked into Night Terror's eyes. "But first, you have to heal. And I… I have to get stronger."
Night Terror stared back at Northern, his eyes vividly expressing its primal nature yet Northern couldn't help but feel a slight spark of intelligence in the way the terror looked at him.
'It definitely understands me!'
Was it the rift? But he was speaking the common language of Tra–el–Ukian.
He hadn't even needed to learn the language after his reincarnation while growing up, understanding and speaking it came naturally to him.
Of course, he was still learning other languages such as Vheusmuin and Elmarhi. They were other native languages; one of them was from the Vheusmuin Empire, and the other, was a popularly spoken tongue in the eastern continent.
Pending the time he was to leave he wanted to have a grasp on these things.
Since I was able to understand their common language easily, I suppose it was either the system or the voice of the world. Could it also be that the voice of the world is responsible for making Night Terror able to understand me?'
Northern shook his head.
There was a flaw with that speculation.
Ul did not operate in support of the rift. At least the record of things that had happened so far was proof.
One could say that the voice's ultimate purpose was for Tra-elians to completely eradicate the existence of rifts.
So it would be inaccurate to say Ul was a part of the game.
That was what Northern felt anyway… but it didn't automatically make it correct.
Night Terror could turn out to just be a very smart monster, take Mr Fluffy for example, he could understand Northern too.
'Damn, I miss Mr Fluffy.'
Northern sighed, diverting his thoughts for a second and hoping that the tailless wolf did well without him.
He sighed and looked at Night Terror, concluding on his speculations.
'So, it's either Night Terror is just that intelligent or the rift itself is playing some kind of trick.'
Again, Northern was sure to remind himself that he could be wrong about being in a rift.
He didn't even know where he had been teleported to and why. Of course, at this point, he knew Rughsbourgh was playing dirty somewhere.
That was why his plan was to prioritize his survival.
He wanted to go back home, meet his mom, meet his dad, and meet his unborn sister.
But he had a valid reason for thinking that it was a rift.
First, the sunless sky.
Second, he had received an attribute.
Attributes could only be received inside rifts and were signals that the walker was currently going through some kind of trial.
However, Northern had never heard of a trial that lasted this long, even from his parents, who were elite drifters.
However, there was nothing he could have done.
He was incredibly lonely and lost in this hellish realm, dreading every lightless day.
Northern rubbed his face with his palm and turned to Night Terror.
"Shall we find a shelter to stay for a while? We need to arrange food. I left my bag back in my room… Damn it once again."
The terror stared at him for a while, the hatred in its eyes receding.
Then it nodded and began walking forward.
Northern's eyes widened. He had spoken to conduct a last definitive test so as to confirm his speculations.
'Looks like I am right. Communicating with this bastard won't be a problem!'
Northern smiled and hurried forward, walking side by side with the terror through the brown grass and having to endure the rotten smell that the wind occasionally carried past them.
Night Terror, on the other hand, did not seem to be bothered by it.
The odd cohort trekked a few distances before reaching a deep forest; at the backdrop of the forest was a gigantic mountain.
Night Terror looked up at the mountain, then lowered his face to the forest that blocked their way, glaring at it.
Northern also looked at the mountain. All he had been doing was following the terror and he wouldn't deny the fact that the monster looked like it knew exactly where it was going.
'The mountain is where we are going?'
It was a great idea for a shelter and Northern was amazed that such an idea had occurred to a monster.
Even he hadn't had an idea of where to use as their shelter when he'd suggested that they should find one.
Having Night Terror on his side did seem like a blessing.
'Still, I can't believe I am here… walking side by side with the monster that captured… damn, it could have even killed me then.'
Fate was a very weird thing… or did it just enjoy playing around with him?
Northern groaned, dismissing his thoughts as Night Terror became the object of his focus.
The creature stared intently at the forest, its eyes gleaming with an ethereal crimson light.
'The glow in all four eyes seemed to always shine brighter when it has its guard up or is angry…' Northern inwardly guessed while observing Night Terror.
The creature looked at him after a couple of seconds, then gestured forward with its head, its bipedal legs moving one after the other afterward.
Northern followed closely by its side as they entered the forest.
At first, he couldn't tell whether anything was wrong with the place, except the rancid smell that seemed to be even stronger and more intense.
Because of that, he had to clog his nose with his hand.
Then, after a few minutes walk into the forest, Northern's skin became cold, and tension rose to great heights within his heart as he could sense a chilling eeriness crawling around the forest.
In the darkness beyond, behind, and beside.m, something… a lot of things seemed to be staring at them.