Chapter 365

Chapter 365

He didn’t have time to pick up his bag, nor the leeway to reload his gun as he ran with everything he had, pushing beyond his limits to get to Yuzu, the girl firmly cornered by the false golems surrounding her before it was too late.

From the potions he’d already downed and the bands on his arms he could already feel his mana regenerating as he forced his legs to move faster with each step, pushing past his limits while reaching to his vest for the only things he could grab as he took advantage of the single benefit he had. The section wasn’t meant to be challenged by two people at once.

With none of them looking at him he threw more of his space bombs, aiming to take out what he still viewed as the greatest threat, the lava golems as each one hit, the adrenaline flowing through him as his minds reached a level of absolute clarity, seeing his goal and bring his aim to a laser focus as he ran past, feeling drops of the molten lava explode outwards and burn into the only exposed skin he had while he ignored the fire and pain it brought to his face.

He threw two more from there, getting two of the stone golems by the time he’d entered the crowd and risked throwing one more to get the last of the lava ones, immediately feeling the effect as space collapsed too close to him, the edge of his arm being caught by the effect. it being pulled one way as he insisted on continuing another, the act ripping the limb from its socket as he didn’t bother to suppress a scream, letting it hang limp from his side as he kept going forwards.

It all happened fast, but the other golems started to pick up on the fact that something was wrong by the time Yuzu noticed him, her eyes locking on Ben in shock as he slipped past the closest stone golem, slapping its leg with his good hand and pouring every bit of his destruction into it with the little mana he had, separating it from the limb as it crashed to the ground while Ben kept pushing forward, finally standing before the soul mage and turning to face the remaining eight golems as he activated the barriers in his shoes while he took stock of the situation.

Even if he had made it, their position was terrible. They were backed against a wall and even if he was blocking Yuzu the best he could, he couldn’t bring her into the enchantment with him, meaning if anything got around him she was screwed again. Worse, he was running low on his collapsing space bombs.

Still, better to put them to use now, right? He thought to himself, a manic smile stretched across his face despite the severity of the situation as he reached down and grabbed them, throwing them out one by one as he felt the effect of each enchantment drag him forward, his barrier being too close to the golems to go unaffected by the blasts but not to the point of dragging his body in like his arm had while he watched one mud and two stone ones get destroyed, leaving him with no more bombs or any sort on hand.The debut release of this chapter happened at Ñøv€l-B1n.

Okay, so my vest is now empty and my bag is basically a distant memory with how far off it is. Great. Definitely should have squeezed a few more pockets onto this.

With that particular weapon used up, he needed more options, and just as importantly he needed two functional arms. During the same time he fumbled about, trying to force it back into place, two golems came forward and struck, their fists smashing into the barrier that didn’t give.

“Looks like I’ve got time then, love it when something actually works in my favour,” Ben smiled, only briefly getting to enjoy that moment of confidence before he got to suffer through the pain of forcing a bone back into place. Still, he had a lot of experience ignoring pain by then, as well as what felt like very good news. If his barrier would hold against their fists then he could reload his gun and he reached into his pocket to do just that, only for his heart to freeze in his chest.

Not there.

No matter how he fumbled around, he couldn’t feel it or the bullets that should have been there, the only option being that it had fallen out in his desperate sprint, leaving him limited choices as the golems in front of him kept pounding on his barrier. It was only a matter of time before something got around him to Yuzu

And I don’t even have my bag to help. Oh joy, He thought dryly. In that case, what option can I pull? What do I have in my skills, my person, or...

His thoughts drifted off as his teeth clenched, a single option springing to his memories as he considered one more thing he had available to him. His company.

“Hey Yuzu, on three I’m going to bring the barrier down and in that instant I need you to give me the most powerful, body-destroying buffs you can. I’ll also need you to keep healing whatever damage it’s doing to me so I can fight longer.”

His time with Greed had cemented his memories of what it meant for too much power to flow through a person, but desperate times called for desperate measures. All he could do was hope that whatever a soul mage could pull off wouldn’t kill him on the spot.

“Wait don’t, that’s crazy!” She yelled at him, having only a partial understanding of what he’d go through if she did that with it still being enough to make it a horrible idea. “You’ll-”

“I told you this was a terrible idea!” She screamed at him while he was unable to respond. “I think you were technically dead for a bit of that! I had to actively keep your soul from leaving your body while I was fixing it!”

Huh, neat, hope there aren’t any crazy side effects to that.

He didn’t care one way or another if he’d almost died or technically died or anything along those lines. What mattered was that he wasn’t dead then, and as Yuzu kept running with him, buffing herself farther than she’d normally be willing to since Ben had shown his own determination in that regard, they were able to stay away from the golem as he was healed, albeit slowly, all while Yuzu complained along the way.

“I barely know how to fix some of the damage that I just did to you. You want to know how fast I can usually treat wounds, Ben? Instantly! I can help regrow limbs in seconds as long as the person missing them has the spare body fat to convert! You, I basically have to repair cell by cell right now!”

“And you’re doing great,” He said as encouragingly as he could the moment he could talk. “I’m a real big fan of how you’re keeping me from dying right now.”

The last sentence was accompanied by blood rising up his throat while Yuzu yelled for him to keep quiet while she kept running, doing everything in her power to keep his body alive to heal and repair as it all just wanted to shut down until he was finally out of danger, even if he still needed a lot more work to get to top shape again.

“Alright, that means we just need to take care of the last one now,” He mumbled. Yuzu was going to try and tell him off there, to convince him that they could think of another option before he needed to be buffed like that again, or at the very least to wait till he had been healed more, but before she could bring up any of that she watched as he wiggled around in her arms, facing where the others were helplessly stuck watching. “We need to grab my bag please.”

Seeing he had an idea that didn’t end with him destroying everything she’d just worked so hard to heal she rushed over, bending down to scoop up his bag and letting him pull out something he hadn’t yet used, his sticky pads.

They were similar to the space bombs he’d used, only meant to act as traps to hold something in place instead of destroying it, but Ben had access to all of the rings on his fingers and he was happy to modify them on the fly, a large part of him wishing he’d had his tools in hand before he’d been forced to resort to such an extreme method as he changed them to more space bombs.

It would technically be a bit weaker, the item not made to deal with the space affinity the same way the others were, but it would be enough. He directed Yuzu to run at the golem the moment he was done and watched it collapse into a dense ball before their eyes, with Yuzu falling to the ground with him the moment they were sure it was destroyed.

For a second they both laid there, hearts pounding as they caught every bit of breath they could, but it didn’t take long for Ben to pick up on something that was very, very wrong. They’d destroyed every golem there, he knew they did, but no announcement went up to congratulate them like it had for the prior ones, and worse than that, he saw the dust of the destroyed pieces start to move.

...Right, okay, I get it. If we’re following patterns there really should have been a fifteenth for Yuzu too, and having another type of golem would fit how the third and fourth rounds went...

“But come on, even the gods need to admit this is pretty damn fucked up,” Ben muttered under his breath as they both stared up at what was forming before them, an outrageously giant golem held together from the sand and stone of the ones he’d already destroyed, as well as swirling vortex’s of air, creating what seemed like a living sandstorm before their eyes.

Yuzu felt all but defeated by what they were seeing. It was outrageous, the thought that one person would be forced to fight against it ignored any bit of fairness or decency, but before it began to move Ben reached into the bag he was grasping so tightly, grabbing three of the same item to be on the safe side before tossing them in the wind.

“Version two space bombs, go,” He called out half-heartedly as he and everyone else watched their more niche effect taking place, doing the opposite of the first version as they expanded the space they hit instead of contracting it, pulling the last challenge of that section apart while everyone watched with an announcement ringing out seconds later.

“With victory comes well earned pride! Would all competitors move on to the next section?”

He let himself fall back while the bar sealing the door fell away as he heaved a deep, painful breath, happy despite everything that they’d both managed to live.