'The real challenge,' Elio understood, 'is just beginning.'
Previous challenges had taught him that strategic retreat was usually the right decision. Stop, analyze, find a better way.
But as he watched the metallic teeth moving like a hungry tide around him, something within him rebelled against that caution.
Was it the hatred burning in his chest?
Or perhaps the Artromus's words resonating in his mind, calling him indecisive?
It didn't really matter... Elio had made his decision.
Elio Mana: 83
Quick Charge: 7
He concentrated his mana ready to advance, but something changed. The explosion he created was different from the previous ones. More powerful.
This time, he allowed his Roseline-shark to extract another 2 mana points on its own.
Elio Mana: 74
He couldn't fully control the power... but enough for the detonation to illuminate the tunnel with blinding radiance. The force pushed him backward despite his summon's efforts.
His level nine enhanced muscles tensed to their maximum as he launched himself forward.
Just in time.
The metallic teeth twisted and snapped behind him, seeking his flesh, trying to turn him into bloody strips.
Time measured in fractions of a second under Elio's enhanced perception and high concentration, he barely managed to cover the cleared distance when the tunnel was already beginning to regenerate behind him.
But it wasn't enough, he felt he could do more.
'All or nothing,' he thought while accumulating not the seven mana points he had grown accustomed to, but eight.
Elio Mana: 74
Quick Charge: 8
It was one point more than he could control with certainty. Could he control it well? He wasn't sure, but safety had been left behind along with the option to retreat.
Not eight.
Nine complete points is what someone level 9 should be able to control.
The power swirled inside him, more variables than he had ever tried to control simultaneously. The energy threatened to escape his control, like a wild animal fighting against its chains. Every fiber of his being screamed that it was too much, that he would lose control, that the explosion would tear him apart.
But Micah's image burned brighter than ever in his mind. His will hardened like the metal surrounding him, bending the power to his will through pure determination.
Elio Mana: 32
Quick Charge: 9
The explosion that followed made the previous ones seem like child's play. The tunnel itself seemed to shudder, and for one glorious instant, the regenerated spikes couldn't keep pace with his advance.
And there, through the smoke and metallic dust, Elio saw it: a different glow, the light at the end of the tunnel.
The main chamber waited for him, with all its dangers and promises.
The smile that formed on his face had a wild edge to it. But not all was good news.
The nine-point explosion proved to be a double-edged sword. While Elio fought against the recoil, the tunnel seemed to take on new life, its metallic formations regenerating faster than ever.
The pattern repeated itself. The tunnel's end was always the most difficult.
The recoil from the nine-point explosion hit him like a sledgehammer, stealing his breath. In that precise instant, the tunnel came alive with renewed fury, as if it had been waiting for this moment of weakness. The metallic formations sprouted faster than ever, a forest of deadly spikes emerging from every surface.
The seconds stretched thanks to his enhanced perception, allowing him to see every horrible detail with perfect clarity. The opening to the chamber closed inexorably, the spikes interlacing like eager metallic fingers trying to trap their prey.
'Twenty-two mana points.' The number shone in his mind like a warning. One more explosion, even a small one, would leave him too poorly prepared against whatever waited for him in the chamber.
Sweat ran down his face while options ran out. A voice in his mind screamed to use another explosion, that it was the only way...
No.
The answer was there, although every survival instinct in his body rebelled against it... Against pain.
He still had to do it. Embrace pain.
The Artromus's words resonated in his mind: "indecisive". The memory ignited something inside him.
'I AM NOT INDECISIVE!'