Chapter 440

Chapter 440

The walls and furnishings of the hall were torn to shreds by the Psychic Blades unleashed by Norton's stray psychic power.

Arnold, standing at the center of the storm, was untouched at first, but gradually, fine psychic blades began to slice through his clothing, leaving shallow cuts on his skin.

One of them slashed across Arnold's right cheek, leaving a horizontal gash beneath his eye, welled up with tiny beads of blood.

Arnold sensed fluctuations similar to those when using a Spatial Button. The instant he realized what Norton was up to, his heart gave a little lurch, shocked by how crazy Norton was being, yet he did not let go.

Arnold closed his eyes, pulling his own psychic energy all the way in, his senses going numb as he put himself in Norton's hands.

When he snapped back to awareness, he was already in the air. With his eyes still shut, he released his grip on Norton's arm. Before he even saw where he was, his body had already adjusted to the pull of gravity.

After landing steadily, he opened his eyes. Norton was a little ahead on his right, slowly rising to his feet. Arnold hurried over to stand at Norton's side, then began to survey the area.

Around them was an open desert that went on forever, right up to the horizon. The ground was covered in trails left by some massive creature dragging itself across the sand—tracks any Grath would know in a heartbeat.

Arnold furrowed his brow. "It's the Zerg, big brother. Is Ye Mo really somewhere like this?"

He remembered how Ye Mo had failed combat training, and his frown deepened.

Arnold waited for a while, but Norton's psychic energy never spread out to cover the planet under them. He figured it out—Norton had pushed his psychic power too far. In this state, recovery would be slower than usual, and until it recovered, Norton barely had any psychic power to spare.

The last time this happened was when Norton was a kid, sparring with Baide. Arnold hadn't seen anyone burn through their psychic power like that since he was a kid, let alone Norton.

"Brother, how long will it take to recover?"

Norton didn't answer.

Not far away, behind a sand dune, the head of a massive creature emerged, its mouthparts twitching and writhing. It hung back, coiled up on the dune, it kept staring at them but didn't make a move.

Norton drew the sword at his waist. It slid out smooth, arcing back in a clean curve as he guided it. The blade punched through the Zerg's body as it poked its head out, then snapped back to his side, pulled by his psychic power, the blade humming softly, like it was excited.

The humming stopped the second Norton's hand wrapped around the hilt.

"Man, that takes me back."

This was how they used to hunt when they played as kids. These days, Norton usually shredded his targets with psychic blades, but now, his psychic power was recovering too slowly to waste it like that.

Arnold hesitated, then refrained from covering the area with his own psychic power. He said what he'd figured out, hesitating a little. "Brother, here—the positions of those stars—this is the Old Territory."

Arnold had seen the sky from this angle hundreds of times. Even without trying to remember it, he knew it by heart.

"But where are the Grath outposts? The ports? The fleets that used to patrol the Old Territory all the time? There's nothing here. It's like this is the Old Territory after it got taken over by the Zerg."

Arnold practically spat the words out, fury and all. "But the stars don't lie about where they are."

He glared up, scanning the planets in a rough sweep, each one proving him right and making him angrier.

Norton also looked up at the sky, countless stars hanging in the endless, boundless universe.

Cyril, are you among them too?

...

Yisang stared at the gem, broken into pieces in his hand.

Ye Mo looked confused. "Just toss it."

Yisang immediately looked at him. "That's how you treat it?"

No appreciation at all!

Ye Mo, blamed out of nowhere, looked totally confused. Theodore, on his shoulder, hissed at Yisang's attitude.

Yisang regretted it right away, but he wasn't about to show it. He stood there stiff for a long moment, then could only look away.

His mood dropped too. He'd screwed up again.

As he thought this, another cool gem landed in his half-closed palm—a ruby, a color Yisang wasn't really into.

Would any Grath like rubies? They were all going to end up sleeping in cages of red crystal anyway. Yisang had hated red since childhood, though as he grew older, he didn't dislike it as much. He made a point of not caring—making a big deal out of it would just make him look scared—but he still didn't like it.

If the gem hadn't been such good quality, he wouldn't have added it. In the middle of the gem, Ye Mo had shaped a lion with its mane all puffed up using his psychic power.

Yisang stared for two seconds before suddenly realizing that red could be so beautiful, and that liking a red gem could come so easily. The heavy feeling in his chest quietly lifted a little. "Why not the little lion from earlier? I wanted that one."

He stared at the other gems in Ye Mo's hand.

Ye Mo picked out a sapphire like the first one and made another little lion the same way.

Only then did Yisang feel satisfied, tucking them all into the pocket on his chest.

Theodore let out a snort. "Grath are such a pain."

Before Ye Mo could turn his head, Theodore licked his ear like it was second nature. "Wasn't talking about you, Cyril."

...

Arnold pulled his psychic power back in. "No fleets around. I'll try again later."

Jumping through space with Norton had drained some of his psychic power too—not as bad as Norton's, but until he recovered, he couldn't cover the kind of distance he used to.

"But the planets around here don't look developed at all. Most are crawling with Zerg."

"It's like we went back to the Chaos Era."

After the Grath left the Old Territory, it took several generations before they finished building everything up. That stretch in between was called the Chaos Era.

"But that doesn't matter. Ye Mo's not here. We need to get out and find him."

Earlier, he'd pushed Norton's patience to the limit, sweeping the Old Territory with his psychic power, and found nothing.

They'd come here following a trace of psychic power Ye Mo had left behind.

When he'd let his psychic power out, he hadn't tried to hide it. That much noise—if Ye Mo were here, he definitely would've noticed.

Arnold kicked at the sand and gravel underfoot. "By all rights, Ye Mo should be here."

Norton moved, walking past Arnold and heading forward. Arnold followed, not about to let Norton go off alone while his psychic power was still running on empty.

"Brother, where are we going? Ye Mo's not here, right? Where is he?"

"No idea."

But the leftover psychic power Ye Mo left had led them here for a reason. Norton, restless and on edge, picked a random direction and just walked on instinct.

Arnold stuck close behind him. After walking a bit, he managed to get his bearings in the Old Territory, which was totally unrecognizable. "Brother, up ahead is the Rift Valley—"

Norton suddenly stopped. "Shut up."

His hair swayed as he moved, his gaze sharp and chilling, brimming with icy murderous intent.

Arnold was startled by Norton's look, instinctively taking half a step back.

Among beasts, play determines rank, and when real conflict arrives, their usual authority kicks in—one will always lower its body and head, baring its belly.

Grath submits to strength. Arnold was used to his older siblings shielding him, and used to being the first to show his belly in front of them, but Norton still scared him.

It was as if, if he kept going, Norton would actually bare his fangs and bite down hard on his neck, making him bleed and hurt as a lesson.

A few seconds later, Norton finally looked away.

Arnold silently followed. At first, he kept a bit more distance from Norton than before, then it shrank to even closer than at the start—so close Arnold could almost feel Norton's warmth.

Norton didn't react, keeping his unhurried pace as he continued forward.

Arnold let out a quiet sigh of relief, his restless heart settling again. Beside Norton, he always calmed down.

Even if Norton himself was on edge and anxious, Arnold knew that as long as Norton was there, whatever came, Norton would stand in front of him—he wouldn't have to face it first.

But his brother had never been this harsh with him for no reason before. What had he said?

Ahead was the rift. Beyond that, where? Where was Ye Mo?

Arnold's eyes widened, his heart skipping a beat.

All Graths were eventually sent back to the rift, to slumber in its depths.

And only there was a place mental probes couldn't reach.

He definitely wouldn't be there—Cyril definitely wasn't.

Why was Norton angry? After what he'd said, of course Norton would be angry. He was so dumb—he'd already asked where Ye Mo was earlier, then brought up the rift again. If someone talked to him like that, he'd be angry too, maybe even angrier than Norton.

Then why go there? Why was his brother still heading to the rift?

Arnold's thoughts stalled at that point.

Even though Norton had just scared him, Arnold couldn't help but speak up. "Brother—"

He stopped, speaking almost pleadingly. "Brother, let's rest for a while. When a fleet arrives, we'll leave here and go find Cyril."

Norton didn't turn around, didn't speak, just kept walking at the same unhurried pace.

Why wouldn't he stop? Was he still angry with him?

"I'm sorry, brother. Let's rest. A fleet might come—I'll go look for one now. Cyril is still waiting for us."

Did Norton's steps falter?

Arnold stood still, watching the distance between them grow.

"Brother!"

Norton remained unwavering—slow, but still moving forward.

Arnold eventually followed, head lowered, running to close the gap between them. He felt something blur his vision and spill from his eyes.

It took him a moment to realize they were tears.

What the hell—he couldn't mock Ye Mo for crying anymore, Arnold thought.