Chapter 217: Chapter 217
Chapter 180: Star Underground
The ground around me became my enemy and continued to shoot small stones at me. These blasts were thankfully less than what I feared, but there was a threat. I refocused my shields and energy filled my form to strengthen this body.
Besides everything being a weapon part of this cave, the only other thing I could say was it was sure a cave. Stone walls, ceiling, and floor.
“What a lovely place. Who am I kidding? Your insides are boring, Espr!” I hated being underground so much, but it was also the only place I could go if I wanted victory. I swung the sword I created before and tore through this underground cave. My enemies swapped from monsters to the walls.
The hole above me was slowly closing, but I could hear the sound of monsters trying to claw their way down the gap. Stupid things that might get squished before that happened.
The darkness was lit up by my flaming body, and I used the light I generated to search through the cave with my [Star Mapping]. Looking through the cracks to find the weakest points to break so I could keep moving deeper.
Dealing with monsters and walls. I don’t know which is more annoying.
“Come on, Espr, are you still going to be silent? Those watchers should no longer be watching down here.”
(“ That didn’t matter ”)
“But you are speaking again.”
(“ Because you managed to break through to this point ”)
(“ And you are breaking ”)
“Really? I couldn’t tell.”
(“ After exerting your energy in your previous conflict, even while dealing with Existence restrictions, has caused your current form to fundamentally weaken. You can no longer keep up this power forever ”)
“I appreciate the update. Thank you.”
Espr’s lovely comments were something I needed to worry about. I mean, I knew the state of my body, and it was going great! Perfectly operational, and it would continue to do what I needed it to do until I burned up.
I had part of my focus track the walls, floors, and any material lying on the ground in case it suddenly created more projectiles. The lack of space felt more concentrated on only the small things, as there wasn’t a whole world where danger could come from. The area that could harm me was now condensed into this cave.
Ergh! The pelting of rocks never did seem to stop for even a moment.
Finally, I found the trace of Espr’s natural mana flowing in a stream. It was a possible lead to my destination. Starlight around my body twirled into a drill as I ran through the wall into a deeper opening within the ground after travelling through another hundred metres of hard rock.
Upon landing on the new section of Espr.
Monsters of stone began to emerge from the ground. Their form was just rocks stuck together, not clearly mimicking any other creatures. These tumbleweeds of stone crashed towards me as I simply tried to deflect their attacks and keep moving forward. My blade melted through their bodies but then got trapped as they suddenly hardened.
Trying to make me waste more energy, dammit!
I rapidly reabsorbed energy from the sword and had the core of it explode with the monster's body. The rocks melted away from the explosion and continued to chase after the mana stream below the ground.
Espr’s world had mana flow through it. It was a more efficient way to transport the enormous amounts of energy around, and I was trying to use that flow to get an idea of where I needed to go; however, I couldn’t sense it above ground.
I did feel the presence of one of Espr’s thousands of mana cores in the area, which was a danger as they could release far more power from it onto the surroundings. It didn’t really matter where I broke through, as I would be dealing with them eventually, and there was a strong chance that Espr could move them. They were also a risky opportunity.
(“ Why do you do it?”)
(“ You don’t belong here ”)
“Oh, you are absolutely right! Blood sucks down here.” I shattered through more of Espr’s newest creations. “No offence."
(“ Then why are you here? ”)
“You really have nothing to talk about if you ask that, or you are trying to distract me. Which, to be fair, good job; you have learned the ways of mentally screwing the enemy. Congrats.” I almost wanted to clap.
My body began to slow down energy production, and I felt the small amount of energy I was getting from my surface flames weakening. I couldn’t see them anymore, but I could only assume Espr had done something to extinguish my flames; maybe Ms Ice Dragon came back to do its original job.
All my sources of power were slowing down, so I did the correct thing and increased my speed. The constant cycle of breaking through this ever-stronger rock. I rapidly increased my heat to weaken the rock I came into contact with.
“Let me know if you ever want tips about brightening this place up.”
(“ Are you trying to distract me now? ”)
“Ah, shucks, you caught on. Though with the level of thinking our minds can do, a little fight chatter wouldn’t really hurt.”
(“ Unless you were already damaged ”)
“Got to be pretty damaged for that to become a problem.”
There is the next weak point!
I charged through the stone floor below me. I continued to dig until I reached the opening I spotted through the sliver of cracks within the ground. Upon seeing the other side. The mana within the walls surged as I broke through the ground, and I felt the danger coming from all directions. I used a burst of energy to fly forward as metallic material shattered through the ground and shot towards me.
The rocks encircled my body, and as I tried to move past, the surge of them broke through my defences and swallowed my earth in a metal snap.
My hand was torn off by the cluster of metallic rocks. The Starlight shattered and exploded as the armour above the rest of the arm splintered as the damage spread into it.
What a mighty fine day this has been!
I pulled the heat from the core of my body into my arm as I incinerated the area around me. Starlight rapidly formed to create the new shape of the missing hand. The process to properly recover it would be slow, and it wasn’t exactly the perfect time to sit down and recover a hand.