Chapter 337 - Day MCLII, Part II

I quickly scanned around to look for the closest enemy, that would also be alone. I found my target and started to jog his way, as my shadows were still descending down the stairs.

The temperature was really high, and the light coming out of lava pools was bright to the point it was hard to look at it. I ran on the road made of those obsidian plates to the right. They were even hotter than the air.

Giant spotted me, before I was close enough to shorten the distance with shadow walk, and land a blow. He turned towards me, shouted something extending his hand. In a burst of flames burning claymore appeared in his hand.

- Maybe Will could learn that - I mumbled to myself, as the enemy charged.

We clashed soon, creating loud noise as our blades clashed. Even with all my might I barely was able to stop that blow. The plates under my feet cracked to pieces. Giant pulled his hand back, to swing again, but I evaded using shadow walk and attacked his legs.

I managed to cut him quite deep, but not deep enough, as he kicked backward, sending me flying. My body was too hard and too light, so there was practically no damage, but I had to shadow walking in the middle of the air, to not land in the lava river.

I had to overwhelm that asshole, to land multiple hits, and eventually take him down. I had no better plan, as my mana was pretty limited, because of the previous usage, and also most of my magic wouldn't probably work anyway, since that thing was used to fire.

I did just that, rushing forward, and shadow walking few times to reposition, gain tempo and confuse my opponent. I avoided his initial hit and then managed to cut his legs few times, just to reposition, and aim at the feet, eventually forcing the giant to kneel down, which gave me access to his neck.

Several more swings finally allowed me to take him down. The difficulty increased significantly, to the point I started to worry if I will be able to clear this place and reach the boss. Wherever that thing was hiding, I had still a long way to go.

I spent hours in that place, eventually reaching an iron citadel, resting on the wall ending the underground space, with walls filled with sharp, rusty spikes. Gates so big, that I could easily just walk past through the cracks. With towers vanishing in the darkness above and patrolling guards, that didn't even notice me.

I went inside to find a complex of buildings made out of iron, covered in the same thorns, with befitting doors and windows. The guards noticed me shortly after, and I was forced to spend hours clearing the perimeter, before finally being able to set my foot inside.

I actually squeezed under the main door and got myself few minor burns from the hot metal.

The temperature was terrific. I could see inside thanks to enormous torches bolted to the wals. This made me notice how the air was constantly vibrating from the heat.

I started slowly clearing the cambers, eventually reaching the main hall, where a real brawl started. The battle was long and nasty, since I got hit several times, and taking down each of those giants wasn't easy.

Actually, they were helping me a lot by trying to hit me all at once and damaging each other. Even though that damage was insufficient to take down any of them, so I had to do all the heavy work.

By the end of the fight, I was devastated. Mainly because of the heat inside, and lack of water. I really, really needed something to drink... I had a bit, but nowhere near enough. I needed at least a bucket, not a single bottle. 

I squeezed my but cheeks after drinking what I had, send my shadows to work, and started looking for a boss chamber. There was a door leading past the large hall, I opened it after a solid moment of struggling, and revealed a staircase, leading up, probably through the roots of the mountains above.

I decided to look there, before returning to the city. That involved climbing, a lot of climbing. The steps were way too big for me, so struggled a lot with each of those, eventually giving up.

For that place, I needed to be better prepared. The last time I found myself in such a state was my first time fighting with Leshy. 

I returned to the city with an astonishing number of crystals 1252 crystals. Most of those got returned to Hatta. A thousand to be exact, which allowed me to reach the promised number. I sold the remaining 252.

Then I did a bit of shopping since I needed new clothes - again. Not to mention water, since I was really thirsty.

I ended up unlocking 'Ice elementalist' class since I really needed it. This gave me access to the following skills: 'Control Ice', 'Create Ice', 'Mana'. I bought all five levels of all of those, gaining an access to the second tier of the class 'Initiate of ice'.

After that, on a whim, I went also for 'Water elementalist', which had a very similar set of skills: 'Control water', 'Create water', 'Mana'. I upgraded all of those to the max, gaining an access to yet another second tier.

Now I could spray water straight into my mouth, which I immediately did. Then gave myself a little shower.

I would happily go for some second-tier classes, but I didn't have enough class points, so instead, I just went, soaking wet, to take a bath. The morning was slowly approaching, so there was no time to take even a quick nap. I spend some relaxing in the tub and then went straight to eat, to soon start another hunt.

The day came to an end with 61 878 629 points remaining on my account, and seventy-seven class points.