Chapter 49 Going Down

He stared at the quest board flashing above him and a feeling of uselessness befall him.

What he felt, was a sense of inferiority towards the quest board above him.

For sure he wanted to become stronger and he has made up his mind to do anything to achieve that, but he just couldn't help feeling this way.

Here is someone who achieved strength with his own hands, and here is he who has come hoping to be a successor to a left behind legacy.

The difference between the two is as clear as day itself.

He did come here of his own will,

His resolve was firm and he knew he had to grab at whatever straws came his way if he wanted to survive.

but this, wasn't what he truly wanted deep down in his heart.

What he truly wanted, was to be the giver and not the receiver.

Through his own efforts, he wanted to attain the right to count himself as a strong.

But now, if he did become the successor and indeed attain a strength that can guarantee his survival,

Can he truly feel proud of his achievement?.

He felt ashamed of himself, and even more ashamed at the reality that forced him into this position.

***

He raises his head and saw the vast volcanic mountain and lava spread out all over.

Everything looks the same to him, so how in the hell is he expected to find a temple of successor in this look alike surroundings?.

Where is he supposed to start from?...

Below him is the lava and in front of him is the rumbling of volcanoes.

He activates his thorn manipulation skill and produces a thorn from the upper part of his hand.

He would have produced it from his palm like he usually does, but he had cut both of it off to escape and replaced it with thorns shaped like blades.

Afte he escaped back to the floor he was from, he hunted for monsters in hopes that he would evolve and have his limbs returned to normal,

But that did not come to be.

No matter how many monsters he killed, they were no longer enough for him to evolve.

He could keep on killing them until he eventually evolves, but that will risk him being caught by any pursuers the king has sent after him.

he had to give up the idea of evolving and moved straight to the gate.

He grabs the thorn he had produced from the upper part of his hand with his mouth and throws It into the lava.

He did this so he could check how far the distance is from the ground and also how effective the lava is in burning stuff up.

The thorn kept falling for a while and was eventually on fire and burnt away before even getting into the lava.

"that was fast".

He thought as he retreated his head back.

He has to find the legacy when he is unable to even so much as go downwards without getting lighted up by the heat.

He has doubts if his fire resistance is enough to protect him from the lava.

Whatever the case may be, he starts to make his way down the lava.

Staying on the cliff will not get him anywhere or magically bring the temple of successor to him.

He knows he has to take risks to get what he wants,

and this, this is just another risk he needs to go through if he wants a better shot at surviving.

With his thorn like hands, he starts to crawl on the floor and got to the edge.

He thrust his legs downward first and used his thorned hands to hang on.

just like that, he starts to slowly climb down the cliff.

Rather than just sliding down in a fast pace, he chose to take it slowly so he can discern when he reaches the limit of his fire resistance skill against the lava.

His thorn like hands attached to the wall and using it to hang on, he slowly removes the left hand and goes lower to attach it to the wall below as he does the same to the other hand.

Going at a slow and steady pace.

He stopped in his tracks as he noticed that there was something blocking his way.

Poking his head down, he saw that the wall below his feet was an edgy and smooth wall.

He had a feeling that it would be very sloppy and too thick for his thorn to get attached to it.

He checks his sideways to see if he could go around it, but there was no way as the edginess is covering the entire space below him.

He is left with no other choice but to risk going down the edgy wall.

He changed the shape of his thorned feet smallest toe to be more pointy and poked the smooth wall with it.

As he thought,

the thorn did not properly attach to it, instead it bounced off.

He takes another shot at it but this time, he altered the tip of the thorn to be as thin as it can get.

The result?, it caught on fire and burned away.

He tried it once again but with the thorn being as robust as making a fist with his hand.

The result?,

the thorn was able to break through the smooth wall.

He never knew the wall was so weak it could break by just applying that amount of force to it.

He activated his Meta Strength skill and started making his way down the smooth wall by bashing through it with his thorned feet.

***

A lot of time has passed by since he has started climbing, yet he has not even gotten to half the distance needed to get to the lava or an unbearable boiling point.

Earlier when he looked at the lava from the cliff, the distance felt so short.

now that he has started climbing, there was nothing short about it.

The more he kept climbing down, the farther he felt the distance between he and the lava kept growing.

There is also the accumulated physical fatigue starting to slow down his body.

"kee-eeeee-arr"

"!!"

Turning his head in several directions to see what had made that sound.

left, right. There was nothing.

He felt a gust of wind blow at him from above,

he raised his head up and his instincts were right.

Hovering above him is a winged shape figure similar to hawks and eagles.

This monster only had the shape of hawks and eagles for its body structure.

it's wings however were natural burning fire.