Chapter 402: Follow through

Chapter 402: Follow through

As I stop to endure another heatwave and wait for more Heatseekers to pop out, I stop to think.

The heatwaves have been occurring at regular intervals. Three times in the span of 5 minutes, a five-minute pause, another heatwave, a thirty-minute pause, another heatwave, 15 minutes, heatwave, 10 minutes, heatwave, one minute, heatwave, thirty minutes again, and then another 3 heatwaves in the span of 5 minutes.

That’s all I’ve grasped so far and I'm currently in the process of confirming and getting more exact timing with the help of the countdown timer in my status. And I’m already planning to use it to my advantage.

Finally, the Heatseekers appear bringing more heat with them. This time there are five of them.

I let a bit of thermal energy flood through the Flamebearer and take a step towards them.

I wonder how I should deal with them this time.

A day passes and my level goes up once.

Other than Heatseekers, weaker monsters are abundant here. These ones move in bigger groups, but nothing I can’t handle.

[Redistribution] has reached level 49 thanks to my constant use of thermal energy. Overall, it's not bad.

However, I am being presented with a problem, in that the closer I get to the center of the pyramid the slower I seem to be healing.

My passive uses heat and thermal energy to heal my body. However, something seems to be getting in the way. It’s even managed to bypass my mantle without me noticing and no matter how hard I try I fail to identify the source. I think it’s probably connected to the Champion who died here.

At this point, I'm sure that man, whose head Lissandra stole, once possessed primordial thermal energy.

Lissandra said it before but his body, well, what remains of it should be down there. I have a few theories but I won’t be able to confirm them until I get there.

Overall the slowing of my heat-based healing only adds to the difficulty and once again leaves me frustrated with my inability to learn any other form of healing.

As a result, I have only 1 evil orb over my shoulders and find myself forced to act with more caution. It’s also taking a lot more effort to deal with the heat which is rising with every moment. It's frustrating.

The current tired me prefers to take a minor blow if it provides an opportunity to deal more damage. It's tiring to be constantly avoiding them, and to be honest my mind isn't as fresh as it could be.

Still, I force myself to be a bit more careful and see results in the form of fewer and smaller wounds. Well, they could be lethal if It weren’t for my boosted stats but it'll probably be fine.

I pause again as the next heatwave hits. Right away I check the time and make a mental note.

Heatseekers like to come exactly 11 seconds after the heatwave starts. Lately, there tends to be at least five of them. Three of them will engage immediately while the other two will hold back for several seconds. Usually, one of them attacks from the ceiling, and two will strike from the walls.

In preparation, I place a few anchors in places I expect them to be and prepare five thermal orbs. Precisely calculating the amount of energy in each one.

The three Heatseekers appear right on time. This time two on the ceiling and one on the side wall.

Cheeky things, maybe they felt fancy and decided to change their strategy a bit.

I send two orbs through the anchor at the ceiling and one to the wall. The orbs explode in golden flames the moment the monsters reach them.

[You have defeated Heatseeker - lvl 299]

[You have defeated Heatseeker - lvl 299]

[You have defeated Heatseeker - lvl 299]

Then seven seconds later three more appear instead of the usual two.

Two of them die falling victim to the orbs I send through my anchors.

[You have defeated Heatseeker - lvl 299]

[You have defeated Heatseeker - lvl 299]

The third one stops on the spot. Turning his humanoid head towards my anchor and the monster hesitates.

I stand up and add another evil orb to the one floating over my shoulders.

Huh. Since when were there two of them?

Whatever, I add the third one there and head to the hallway leading to the center of the pyramid.

As I work on the last set of inscriptions the heatwave hits me and I take note of it.

With it, my theory is confirmed and the timing of heatwaves is deciphered. Another one will come in thirty minutes and this time seven Heatseekers should appear.

Without pausing my work I place anchors and attack, fully intending to kill all the monsters the moment they appear. I miss a few times and some of their attacks land dangerously close, but I continue with my strategy until they are dead. After the fight, I feel a new wound somewhere on my body but ignore it. What is one more added to the mix at this point?

My level doesn't change but at this point, I'm sure I'm getting close.

Then I check the timer.

One day and a bit remain until I return back to the 6th floor, my two weeks here coming to their conclusion. The past few days have turned into a blur as I fight, train, and intentionally move slower to reach the center so I can level up.

The cockroach is weirdly fair at times so she will wait until the last hour to go after me so I still have plenty of time. It’s all been planned out and I just need one more level and four skills to level 50.

For a moment I pause my work on the inscriptions and check the doors. Only now do I notice how huge they are, tall as a multi-floor building and about as wide. The metal they are made of is slightly different and they flaunt a number of decorative ornaments.

Things like these are one thing I’ve started to ignore lately, they don’t tend to matter much, but nevertheless, they are pleasing. I bet I would appreciate it a bit more after some sleep.

With a sigh, I reach for my bottles and stop.

Where is my left arm?

Checking closer I notice a clean, healed cut close to my shoulder.

The Voidsteel blade on my waist is nearly gone, just a piece as long as a dagger remains. All the water and food are gone too. Only Flamebearer remains, reliable as always, by my side, undamaged.

I have plenty of shards, should I buy an arcane weapon instead of saving for a passive?

Shaking my head I make an arm of mana to replace my missing one. I concentrate, improving on my design, most of the changes coming about as a result of my examinations of Miwa's arm back in the tournament and other bits of information I managed to acquire.

I even assign part of my [Focus] to keep it up.

[Mana Manipulation - lvl 50 > Mana Manipulation - lvl 51]

[Focus - lvl 49 > Focus - lvl 50]

The arm then flickers and with some annoyance, I check to see what’s taking so much of my mental capacity.

I identify the source right away, four evil mana orbs floating above me. Each one changing its frequency in an unpredictable manner, forcing my mind to work in overdrive. They also seem to constantly change the amount of mana required to maintain them which only adds to the strain.

What kind of dumbass decided to keep so many of these things running.

Shaking my head I deactivate all of them and for a short moment, I feel like losing consciousness as a wave of relief hits me. It's as if an immense pressure has been lifted from me, the constant annoying buzz in the back of my mind gone.

The arm made of mana instantly solidifies, turning dark blue with streaks of light blue, moving just like my normal arm would. I lift my mana arm to compare it to the right one and stop in surprise.

A second passes as I just stare at my arms.

The right arm is also made out of dark blue mana, this one severed just over the elbow.

I giggle, my laugh sounding weird even to me as it slips from my parched throat.

Not wasting my time on useless stuff I then turn back to the door and continue with my work.