Chapter 424 - A Test of Endurance (Patreon)

For a few minutes, Zeke lay on the cold ground, letting [Cambion’s Awakening] flow through him. However, the lack of acid falling from the sky was probably even more soothing. His skill was powerful, though, especially when he used a bit of demonic corruption to boost it. In addition, the acid burns were new enough that they hadn’t begun to scar, which was a boon. Zeke wasn’t a particularly vain person, but he certainly didn’t wish to walk around looking like a burn victim.

So, even as his flesh mended, Zeke focused his attention inward. The test of strength had been far more difficult than he’d imagined it would be, largely because, of all his attributes or characteristics, he’d always depended most on his physical power. However, it had very nearly come up short, which didn’t bode well for the additional trials he would have to brave before he completed the dungeon.

And yet, he was invigorated by it as well.

If one thing could be said about Zeke, it was that he enjoyed a challenge. Certainly, the process of being melted by acid was not a pleasant one, and in the moment, it’d felt like he’d returned to the succubus’ torture chamber when he’d first arrived in Hell. But after he’d managed to overcome the trial, there was an undeniable sense of accomplishment that made it all worth it.

“You have issues,” Eveline said.

“Oh, come on. You feel it, too. Don’t even try to say otherwise. I can read your thoughts too, you know,” Zeke muttered.

Indeed, he and Eveline were similar, and in more than one way. Sure – she was a mind spirit who’d once been a demoness, but she had spent much of her life driven to overcome and conquer. And she had succeeded, too.

“Until I didn’t,” she pointed out.

“Everyone fails,” Zeke responded. “But you kept going, and you’re still here. That says more about you than a hundred successes.”

“How sweet.”

“That’s me. Everyone says how sweet I am,” he responded dryly.

After that, the short conversation came to an end, and Zeke concentrated on healing his body. Every now and then, he used demonic mana to fuel a more powerful pulse of [Cambion’s Awakening], but for the most part, he employed his own unattuned mana. Like that, he could heal at a much accelerated pace, but without doing too much damage to his soul. And even the bit of corrosion he had to deal with was taken care of by his unattuned mana.

So, his body mended at a visible pace until, less than an hour later, he was as good as new. During that time, he’d taken stock of his surroundings, and unlike in the previous scenario, it was not natural. However, there were some similarities, like the sheer walls rising high on either side. Instead of a pile of boulders ahead of him, though, there was an intersection.

“Think it’s a maze?” he asked, noting that there were two ways to go.

“I have just as much information as you do,” Eveline stated aloud, having manifested in her visible form. As always, she wore a tight black dress that, on any other woman, probably would have sent Zeke’s thoughts into a decidedly lewd territory. However, with Eveline, his mind just didn’t go in that direction. She paced back and forth beside him, clearly irritated and impatient. “You’re going to have to get up and explore it if you want to know more. I’m still using your senses, if you’ll recall.”

Zeke picked himself up, then stretched.

“That’s a nice look,” Eveline said.

He shook his head, then retrieved some clothes from his spatial storage to replace the ones that had been dissolved by the acid. Eveline didn’t look away while he dressed, but considering she was with him at all times, he couldn’t bring himself to care about modesty in her company.

Still, it was a little more awkward when she had manifested a visible form. Or maybe it was the way she pointedly refused to look away.

“You’re absolutely zero fun, by the way. Just putting that out there,” Eveline huffed when she didn’t get a reaction.

Zeke shrugged. “Never really claimed to be fun.”

Indeed, even on Earth, he’d been accused of being too serious on enough occasions that he’d internalized to a certain degree. Sure, he had a sense of humor, but –

“Debatable.”

He sighed, then said, “I can appreciate humor. I’m just not going to run around like a clown.”

“I feel like if I approach this honestly, you’re just going to get frustrated, so I’m just going to abandon the subject, if you don’t mind.”

“Fine by me.”

With that, Zeke finished dressing then looked around. The first thing he did was try to use [Shifting Sands], just as a test. However, the skill wouldn’t even activate. He also tried to climb the walls, but he encountered a similar barrier to the one that had contained the ravine. So, his only option was to walk.

After adopting his unattuned colossal form, he used [Cambion’s Awakening] to soothe whatever damage lingered. There wasn’t much, but his soul had still been scorched. That kind of harm wouldn’t be quick to heal.

He quickly found his way to the intersection, where he was once again confronted by the mushroom man.

“You have two choices before you,” he said. “To your right, you will find a reward commensurate with your efforts. In addition, you will be allowed to leave the dungeon. However, if you choose the left path, you will be once again tested. Make your choice.”

A reward certainly sounded good, and he wasn’t the masochist his actions sometimes made him out to be. He didn’t like pain any more than the next person. But he knew that he could never choose the right path. Not only would it go against his competitive spirit, but it would negate the entire point of his challenging the dungeon in the first place. He still needed the centaurs on his side for the coming war, and he suspected that they would refuse even an alliance if he failed the trials they’d set for him.

With that in mind, Zeke picked his path.

“On your head be it,” the mushroom man muttered.

Zeke didn’t respond. Instead, he strode forward confidently. However, after only a step, he felt the familiar weight of increased gravity pressing down on him. He’d felt the same every time he used [Center of Gravity] or increased his weight via his racial gift. When he tried to use the latter to compensate, he was unsurprised that it didn’t work at all. After another step, he felt [Triune Colossus] as well as [Cambion’s Awakening] forcefully deactivate.

Next came [Bulwark of the Triumvirate], exposing his mind.

He stumbled a bit, but he quickly adjusted his gait. Meanwhile, Eveline retreated further into his mind, likely to avoid being exposed. Zeke wasn’t certain if she was more vulnerable when she showed her visible form, but he suspected that that was the case, so her actions seemed reasonable.

With every subsequent step, the weight increased until he could barely keep his shoulders from hunching.

Unfortunately, that was when that first attack came. Zeke tried to react, but his reflexes were sluggish. As a result, he couldn’t avoid the scorpion’s descending stinger. It easily pierced his flesh, sending an influx of venom to burn a path through his flesh. Fortunately, Zeke adjusted quickly and reached out to grasp the thing’s segmented tail. He ripped it free before trying to summon his hammer.

Unsurprisingly, given everything else that had happened, the weapon did not come to his call.

Rather than let himself get wrapped up in what he couldn’t do, Zeke adjusted quickly by leaping upon the arachnid’s back, wrapping his arms around its tail, and yanking with all his might. At first, nothing happened except for the scorpion’s panicked skittering and screeches. But soon enough, the sound of cracking chitin filled the air as Zeke ripped the tail from the monster’s body.

Then, without skipping a beat, he reversed his grip, wheeled around, then drove the stinger deep into the scorpion’s head. It let out one last defiant screech, but then it went limp. Zeke rolled free, panting from exertion.

His strength had been unaffected, but the weight of increased gravity was still pressing down on him. Yet, he’d made his choice, and for good reasons, so there was precisely zero chance that he was going to turn back.

Even if the poison continued to ravage his body and sap his strength.

“What is it with this place and poison?” he growled, yanking the scorpion’s stinger out. It had proved a decent weapon, and since he didn’t relish the possibility of ripping monsters apart with his bare hands, he decided to keep it.

“Have to stay on theme,” Eveline remarked, though her mental voice seemed far away.

“Are you okay?”

“No.”

“Anything I can do to help?”

“Finish this dungeon quickly.”

After that, Zeke pushed forward, pushing himself to move more quickly. When yet another scorpion attacked, his reactions proved up to the task of avoiding another injection of venom. However, it did open him up to the monster’s claws, which had no issue tearing into the muscle of one of his legs. Still, Zeke managed to kill it a moment later, and in much the same way as he’d slain the first.

The next few attacks were not so easily endured, and Zeke picked up a handful of stings along the way. The problem wasn’t that the scorpions were faster or more powerful. They weren’t. Instead, they were simply unaffected by the increased gravity that wore Zeke’s strength down, so they seemed far quicker than they really were. For his part, Zeke struggled to endure the ever-increasing pressure until he could barely stand.

That’s when he encountered the first real threat.

The scorpion was much larger than the others, and instead of one tail, it had two. The two appendages moved independently, and when Zeke stepped forward to fight it, he found out that the venom the administered was predictably stronger. Still, Zeke was experienced enough to deal with the monster, and he ended up killing it only a few moments later.

The fight left him absolutely exhausted, though.

He contemplated resting for a bit, but he suspected that if he let himself stop, it would be that much more difficult to force himself to move on. So, moving on sheer momentum, he continued forward. Each step thudded against the ground with enough force that, when Zeke looked back, he was surprised to find that he hadn’t left footprints in the stone ground.

The next few miles felt like they took an eternity, but in reality, he covered the ground in mere hours. Every hundred yards or so, he encountered another of the smaller scorpions, and eventually, it got to the point that he didn’t even bother trying to dodge their attacks. Instead, he used the couple of seconds when their stingers were embedded in his flesh as an opportunity to wrestle them to the ground, then kill them with his pilfered stinger.

That strategy netted him quite a bit more pain, and he was weakened with every injection of venom. But it was the only viable way to ensure he ended the fights as quickly as possible. So, as was his habit – and the theme of the trial – he endured, but not without significant difficulty.

Over the course of the next few hours, he fought countless small scorpions as well as a handful of the larger, two-tailed creatures. As he went, Zeke’s conscious mind retreated, and the more savage tendencies that had been born in the troll caves resurfaced. That left little room for anything else, but that part of his mind was very good at two things: killing and surviving.

Which was precisely what Zeke needed at the moment.

So, he survived.

And he killed.

And above all, he endured. One step after another, he progressed down the path he had chosen, and after some interminable amount of time, he finally reached the final challenge.

The scorpion before him was the size of an elephant, but far more agile. Its nine tails hovered over its insectile body like snakes, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. Zeke didn’t care about that. Nor would he allow himself to acknowledge how much the increased gravity had slowed him.

He used his Will on instinct, and even as the destruction it wrought on its body was added to the burn of the scorpion venom, Zeke felt power surge through him. He used it to great effect, unleashing his fury on the giant, nine-tailed scorpion.

It never stood a chance.

The stinger he’d been using as a weapon only lasted for a few seconds, but when it broke, Zeke merely tossed it aside, replacing it with his bare hands. He pummeled the monster with his fists, cracking its carapace with every blow. However, Zeke didn’t escape the creature’s retaliation, and he was quickly skewered more times than he could count.

Yet he refused to be moved.

He refused to relent.

And he refused to die.

His Will supported him even as it subjected him to unmitigated destruction. In his primal state, Zeke gave himself over to it, and the results were explosive. He tore through the monster’s chitinous exoskeleton like it was paper, then plunged headfirst into its meaty thorax. The creature screeched and bucked, but it couldn’t do much else against such a determined and demented foe.

With his bare hands, Zeke ripped through the scorpion’s soft interior, tearing apart flesh and organs alike as he sought to conquer the obstacle that had made the mistake of standing in his path.

Finally, after longer than a rational person would have suspected, the scorpion finally succumbed to the copious damage Zeke had inflicted. But he didn’t stop. Instead, he kept ripping and tearing until, at last, Eveline’s screams cut through his savage psyche. When it did, he used every ounce of his willpower to regain control.

That’s when he realized how much damage he’d inflicted upon himself.

The only positive was that the Path of Arcane Destruction had been just as detrimental to the venom as it had been to his own body and soul. So, while it had ravaged him, it had completely obliterated the venom.

“Silver linings,” he croaked, dragging himself from within the scorpion’s carapace. He rolled free, flopping to the ground. With his Will surging through him, the effect of the increased gravity hadn’t seemed so important. But now, it had returned in full force, weighing down on him with enormous pressure.

Zeke pushed himself to his feet, then stumbled past the enormous monster’s corpse. He couldn’t even loot it, as that ability had been deactivated by the dungeon as well.

His continued progress was slow, but he seemed to have killed all the scorpions, because he wasn’t forced to endure any further attacks. However, the intensity of the gravity continued to increase until, at last, he could stand no longer. He collapsed to his hands and knees, but continued along at a crawl. Soon enough, he couldn’t even manage that much because he was forced to drag himself along on his stomach.

But he would not stop.

Even when every inch felt like a mile, Zeke continued to move forward.

Then, a subjective eternity later, he felt the pressure lift. Suddenly, he could breathe. He could think. He could move.

Looking up, he saw the mushroom man standing over him.

“Congratulations,” he said. “Few could have endured this task. I commend you. But you are not finished. One more task lay before you. Proceed.”

Zeke’s eyes went past the mushroom man, and he saw yet another doorway. After spending a couple of minutes slowly climbing to his feet, he staggered forward. As he passed through, he spared a thought to hope that the next trial would be less painful.

“You’re probably going to be disappointed, then,” Eveline said, her first contribution for what felt like an eternity.

Zeke didn’t respond. Instead, he stepped through the door and was whisked away to another challenge.