Northern stood silently for a couple of minutes. He looked at Mr Fluffy who was unconscious. He could hear squelching noises mixed with guttural growls.

"Night Terror is definitely not taking it easy." Northern mumbled, and leaned against the wall of the entrance.

'The bastard will probably fight his way to the lord's room.'

Then he would join in that moment. In essence, all Northern was waiting for was for the noise to quiet down.

'Considering the rate at which cries are filling the air. He'd probably be done soon'

Northern combed his air backward with his finger and blew air with his hand.

He looked around again.

The once neat and grotesquely glamorous castle… was now a land of damnation.

Northern looked towards the mountain.

'They are probably some hellion monsters that are overseeing the activity of the mining in the mountain. But they are not enough to change this situation'

Northern closed his eyes and opened them, then he leaned away from the wall and laid his eyes on the inside.

'The noise has gone down. Time to go in I guess…'

The next battle he would fight would be with the lord of the castle.

Thump

Thump

Thump

Thump

His heartbeat ran faster as he dwelled on the thought.

'I will be fighting a maelstrom rank monster' He stood in front of the entrance, about to enter as the reality sank deep within him.

As he moved his legs to enter, Northern sprang back all of a sudden, his dominant hand posed for a sword attack.

A sword was already materializing itself into it.

His brows creased and he twirled the black sword, slashing down in a graceful arc.

'It's gone. But I could feel it vividly this time…' Northern raised his head to look at the castle.

The same pair of eyes that seemed to be looking at him earlier on, focused on him again.

And he was sure he could tell because of his own eyes.

And this tike the location was more vivid.

Northern's frown became starkly dark.

'The lord of the castle… there's more to him'

Either ways, he had to end this today. After doing a breathing exercise, Northern steadied his heartbeat and breathing then proceeded into the castle.

As expected, the grounds were littered by piles of Night Terrors.

Northern stabbed his sword through one's chest, turned his sword with a squelching sound to make the opened wider.

Then he used his sword to navigate where the core should be.

Northern raised a brow.

'Of course… there's no soul core'

And Night Terror did not take it out and absorb it. Northern himself just dug through the monster's flesh and where is the time to do such thing on the battlefield.

'I suspected that there would be no soul core since they were experiments and not real monsters. But what I don't know is if I would have gained talent fragments had I fought them.'

Northern breathed.

'It doesn't matter either ways, I prefer being careful and cautious than being sorry. There's no reason for me to fight them, there's no gain, they will only wear down my stamina. Yes, I made the right choice'

He continued, navigating his way through the piles of corpses. Even though he tried his best not to step on them, sometimes it was just unavoidable.

Even to the stairs and upper floor.

Northern felt his irritation form in his mouth, and spitting his saliva would even made it all worse. He just swallowed and went forward without thinking to much.

At least, he was glad that seeing so many corpses had an effect on him. That showed the having void in his soul wasn't that drastic.

It wasn't all that bad after all —he thought to himself—and stopped in front of the massive doubled door.

The door was slightly opened which showed that Night Terror had already gone.

'That bastard…'

Northern seethed but calmed himself and paid attention to listen to whatever was happening inside.

'There's no sound of blade… no sound at all'

Which was rather disturbing because Northern thought the moment Night Terror entered the throne room, it would rain escapades of attack on the monster.

But there was nothing at all.

'Something is wrong' Northern frowned and summoned his clone.

An exact copy of himself materialized beside him, wearing a black armor.

His eyes glinted with blue light but compared to what was in the original Northern's eyes, his were pretty dull.

Northern faced his clone and commanded in whispers:

"Hey, there is only one command I have for you… use all you have learnt so far to fight the strongest monster inside that room. And whatever you do… don't die"

His reason was simple. He'd not have the time to pass information or focus on the link. So it was better to pass the information now from the beginning.

It wasn't like the clone was capable of dying permanently. But Northern was worried of something such as his muscles getting sore from sudden pain of memories being burnt into it.

"Now, go…" He commanded and slowly stepped back, entering the embrace of the darkness that clung to the corners.

The second Northern, slowly materialized a silver sword as it walked forward, brimming with determination and purpose.

As he stepped into the foreboding room. He laid his eyes on a bipedal monster struggling to stand straight before the eyes of a being clothed in darkness.

The castle lord turned its head with deliberate slowness, a wry smile creeping across its pallid face.

"You…"

Northern's eyes suddenly widened.

'Did I just hear well… a monster spoke?'

[Due to attribute 'Vestige of Chaos' you can understand the language of monsters]

Northern's mouth fell agape, his astonishment evident.

Damn… monsters can actually talk? And I can understand what their speech? Did my life just get more complicated?'

He grimaced ruefully in the darkness, 'Somewhere deep down, I feel like it just did'

"Welcome… I have been expecting you"

The voice of the castle lord resonated like a convergence of several deep voices. The very air seemed to quiver with its utterances.

Northern's clone remained stoic, silent, his expression devoid of emotion.

Slowly, he turned his head to fix his gaze upon Night Terror, who struggled to maintain eye contact with the castle lord.

Then, with a dark contortion of his features, he drew his sword and lunged.