Rivers of the Night-Chapter 245: Inner Ear

Theron's steps came to a slow stop. The sounds of battle were beginning to intersect in his ears faster and faster. The peak nodes were starting to accelerate, which should mean that he was getting closer.

'This must be a flaw of the sound dispersion method…'

Theron had had a hard time finding his way forward. And because all the tunnels were artificial, they were purposely structured so that each one felt identical to the last while you were in the middle of it.

Between that and the distorted sounds, not only was his balance a bit off, but keeping track of exactly where he was at all times was very difficult.

Without a sense of smell like the hounds to follow, and being unable to follow closely behind them without being attacked himself, he could only move forward by trial and error.

The main trouble was that, as he moved forward, he found that this "flaw" he had found was actually quite a problem to deal with.

The clashing sounds from sudden abrupt silence were really messing with his inner ear. This wasn't just messing with his actual balance, but also his ability to orient himself, to tell up from down and even left from right.

Sometimes when he moved, he had to be doubly or even triply sure before he took a step, or else he was worried that he might go the wrong way.

Theron was slowly finding his own methods of countering this, his steps slow and steady, his mind completely focused.

By the time he got to this point, he felt that his ability to counterbalance and shift the fluid in his inner ear was getting better.

He entered Veinsong, and his steps began lighter. His sharpness over the control of his body increased.

Then… he began to play around with the density of the fluid in his ear.

That was when Theron began to slowly master a new ability.

By using his Blue Pufferfish Echo to change the density of the water in his inner ear, he could change the structural properties of his ear. Meaning…

Sounds that humans would never be able to pick up on because they were outside their frequency ranges…

He could.

Not only could he, but he could shift the refractive index of the water in his ear to trap sounds that would otherwise be too far away or too low in volume to pick up on. Or, he could do the exact opposite…

Making loud and abrasive sounds worthless in front of him.

'If I can do that…'

Theron realized that this had a lot of potential. The trouble was that it took a lot of refinement and practice. He wasn't a Sound Mancer, so his feel for Sound Mana was limited. He had been able to dial in a defense against these tunnels because the challenge was consistent. But could he easily do the same in the middle of a battle?

Unlikely.

That said, he had the thought anyway. If he could do this for his ears, there was no reason why he couldn't shift the water content of his nose around to pick up on scents with greater ease as well.

But ironically enough, that would probably be even more difficult precisely because it would be less exact.

Maybe he'd be able to make smells more obvious to him, but that didn't mean that he'd have the same ability as hounds to decipher between them and pick out exactly what he needed to follow.

Theron slotted these thoughts into the back of his mind. For now, the tweaks to his olfactory senses could be set aside. As for his hearing… this just might save his life very soon.

'Here.'

Theron came to a stop and then peeked around a corner. A clashing wave of sounds assaulted his ears, but he was more than ready, the density in his ears having already adjusted.

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'If I make it any heavier, I'll rupture my own ears…'

It was a good thing that this should be the last push.

Theron slipped forward, pushing past the last abrasive echo to set sights on the scene below.

It was absolute chaos.

Finally, without the distortions, Theron could see the scene, and it was well and truly as he described.

It didn't feel like a normal battle at all, but an all-out war, and at the center of it all, there was an Earth Mancer Theron was sure was the core reason behind these extensive tunnels, and the Alpha.

The Alpha, ironically enough, looked broken and weak as though it might collapse at any moment. Yet, rather than going in for the kill, the Earth Mancer seemed to be especially wary.

'There really is something wrong with the Alpha.'

Theron had realized this earlier, but he hadn't taken advantage mostly because it was more convenient to him to make use of the pack. The Core of a Quasi Gold Mana Beast entirely unrelated to his Mancy Path was worthless to him at this point. He didn't need the money, he would just extort any one of the powers vying for his attention if he needed something.

Now, it seemed that that decision on his part was quite smart. If the Alpha was hiding something that could make even a Gold Mancer too wary to deal a death blow, then it would surely kill Theron too.

Theron laid low, continuing to scan the scene of the battle. He noticed that there were a few other entrances to this place that hung high above like his current position, but everyone seemed to have already joined the battle.

'This is another flaw. To make sure the sound travels well in the tunnels, they had to form these many "vents"… but what are they fighting over?'

Even after several seconds of scanning, Theron couldn't see anything special. All he noticed was…

'They're still digging… is what they want underground?'

"So it really is you."

The voice came from nowhere and yet everywhere at once, surrounding Theron's head like a pocket of air in the depths of the ocean.