Chapter 284

Acting fast, Ben stripped off his armour as he figured out what to do. He quickly and carefully placed Greed on the ground before taking the glove he’d made to use in place of a staff and putting it on, running his mana through it to alter the shape of the helmet he’d been wearing, ever so carefully modifying it to act as a sealed container that he could put his companion in and applying the strongest time enchantment he could on it, blending it with his other magic rings to enhance the effect to get it as close to a standstill as possible, giving him time to think.“Okay, that should do for now. Now I just need to…” There was too much for him to do. He couldn’t heal Greed and Greed couldn’t heal himself when he was in such a state, not to mention that without the crab’s buffs he wouldn’t be able to use the armour for the last section, the part where he wanted it the most. Not to mention that Greed's life was on the line. He might have a couple days at the very best, something that Ben didn’t want to bet on. The only way he could be sure that the person who’d gone through all of that with him survived was if they both made it out, and soon.

He took a deep breath, trying to calm himself as he understood what he’d need to do. His entire body hurt and he quickly washed it off, understanding that if Greed was filled with bacteria then any on his flesh where still there too, and after that he ate some of the bread the trial provided and added enchantments to his jacket, giving it light and life buffs along with one to speed up his time, even if he knew it wouldn’t be anywhere as useful as what Greed had been giving him.

As a final act, he took the box Greed was stored in, placing it in the spatial bag left in the trial and stood at the entrance to what he hoped was the final section.

A part of him didn’t want to step through. He wanted to take a few days to prepare more, to try and do anything he could to get a better chance, but then the odds of Greed dying would explode beyond what they already were at. He couldn’t just tell himself it would be fine and he couldn’t abandon the person who’d been dragged in there with him, so without any more hesitation he ignored the pain he was in to walk through the doorway, into whatever the trial was about to throw at them.

As with all but the early sections, Ben found himself in another empty expanse, the exit off in the distance. Unlike the later sections though, he immediately felt an effect on it. One he didn’t understand. One that by all accounts seemed helpful.

As soon as he entered the doorway he found he was no longer seeing with just his eyes. His mind was filled with the surroundings in no particular order and he got to work trying to figure out just what he was seeing, all the while trying to understand why it was happening.

Along with what his eyes could see, he was seeing himself from a top-down view, a third-person perspective, and multiple places off in the distance, along with a number of empty viewpoints and some putting him at various distances from the exits, with one even having him right beside it.

With no other landmarks than himself and the glowing doorway that was his goal, at least so far, he didn’t immediately understand the point. This was something that could only be a benefit. Sure, if the number of perspectives he saw started to grow it could eventually give him some trouble, but-

He thought happily, understanding what was going on.

The fact he had any good news he could take was already great and it became all the more so as he went on his way. The multiple points of view let him see anything coming his way, or at least he thought.

It was only a brief glimmer, but the moment he’d spotted it he was thrown through the air, having seconds to try to land without major injuries, his coat taking much of the damage but still ending with a broken finger in the process.

“Fuck, okay that’s what I get for feeling confident for a second. That’s on me,” He muttered to himself as he got up and ran, doing his best to pay more attention to his mana sense as he went.

Since every magic he had was of the non-affinity variety, that was where it was strongly geared to, meaning he should be able to see anything that was thrown at him, but it all came down to his reaction speed. Something like that last attack could only be dealt with by responding immediately, and he was still only at the starting line. Without the buffs he’d been relying on the entire time, there was a very real chance it would take him a day to get to the exit. Maybe even more.

Despite his altogether average agility, he pushed every point of stamina he had despite the pain throughout his body to keep going, all of his minds busy keeping track of the surrounding trial to look for any changes while at the same time throwing himself out of the way of any attack he saw. It was only as he was on the ground from dodging one, struggling to get up, that the clairvoyance forced on his mind was showing him something he didn’t know how to deal with. An attack coming on all sides.

It seemed like the trial had decided to kill him then and there, at least that was the only way he could interpret it. All around at every distance he could see, what looked like crystals made of pure mana were popping into existence in the air, with the second after they appeared they seemed to lock onto his direction, rocketing through space towards him.

Even though it was pointless, the speed they were moving being too great, he ran as hard as he could, mentally watching everything around him as the first attack arrived, aimed at his feet.

In that split second, he jumped and avoided it, only for the next one to hit his back as he did, throwing him through the air as the enchantments on his jacket took most of the damage but leaving him with a broken rib as he landed on his feet and continued to run.

He felt a migraine forming on top of all of the other aches and pains his body was going through as he pushed his minds to see every little thing, jumping and dodging to get out of the way, taking the hits he couldn’t avoid but doing his best to ensure they were both hitting the jacket and pushing him forward each time, getting him a little closer towards his goal off in the distance.

Eventually, dodging became less of a conscious effort. His body moved before he realised he needed to, with the priority being on always protecting his legs. If he couldn’t run he couldn’t dodge, couldn’t make it to the exit. A death sentence if it was allowed.

He saw the occasional shimmer in the air and kept on guard. Avoiding it if it got too close and keeping aware of anything off in the distance if it looked like trouble as the attacks on him only got more frequent and worse.

The mana constructs being fired at him had changed from a blunt shape to violent spikes, thankfully nothing that could get through the enchantments on his jacket to skewer him but an even greater danger for his exposed flesh than anything else, and it was as he was dodging one of those that he ended up in a trap.

He couldn’t even call it a misstep. It was a trade-off to keep a leg from being cut off where he’d mistaken what he’d have to deal with. It was as he dodged one of the oncoming attacks that he found himself with two choices and not much time to decide. Either avoiding it by moving into the path of multiple mana blades or else jumping to a faint glow of mana on the ground, thinking he’d be violently tossed forward again as he did.

It was only as he hit that glow and walls of mana closed in around him that he realised his mistake. He was thoroughly trapped in tight quarters, enough room to move but only barely, and every mana blade in the area seemed to pick up on that fact, all of them changing directions in the air to fly right at him.

Time seemed to slow down as Ben reacted. He didn’t move with any level of conscious thought, his body only instinctively doing what it could to try to survive as he curled into a ball, doing his best to cover his head and legs with his jacket as he did three different things with his mana. Using the effects of both his crafting and material user he strengthened the jacket itself as much as he could to take the impact, while the third was him acting at each impact site.

The moment the walls trapping him came down the first attack struck, with Ben directing the power of his destruction skill at it in the instant it made contact. He had no clue if it would work, no clue if it would do anything at all given that he was rationing just how much mana he put into that bit of defense to prepare for the other coming blows, but given that the skill could break enchantments as well, he was more than willing to bet it could affect mana in general, with that gamble being just enough to save his life.

It didn’t immediately break the blade of mana, but it weakened it enough that it shattered as it impacted his strengthened coat, with each one that followed doing the same.

His defense felt like walking on a knife's edge. He couldn’t see what was happening with his eyes as he protected his head, instead needing to rely on the clairvoyance of the trial to hold out for him, and he needed to handle each strike precisely. He didn’t have the mana to spare to be wasteful with it, which meant the instant any attack made contact he needed to hit it with as much destruction as he could afford, feeling his body get all the more battered as he did, the few broken bones he had screaming at him as he was sure he also gained a few more sprains.

Unfortunately for him, it seemed it was feeling less generous than when he’d gained his resistance and healing enhancements as no notifications went off in his head. His entire body felt like a bruise, but eventually the bombardment slowed enough that he could move, getting out and back to his desperate escape.

He could tell he’d slowed down, not due to any trial effect but solely as a result of the effect all of the accumulated damage had on his body. He hadn’t even been able to let himself heal from the previous section and now here he was, already getting pummeled even more.

Despite the pain, despite the damage though he was almost free. The exit was growing closer and closer before his eyes as he went until he was minutes away. He had no clue how many hours he’d endured, pushing himself beyond his limits, but he felt just a touch of hope as it threw one final thing his way.

The moment he got close enough, something changed. His mana sense screamed at him as the entire area lit up, as if a switch had been flicked, and he was forced to the ground. Not by any barrier or push of mana, but from an increase in the trial’s overall gravity.

Gravity control. He hadn’t known such a thing was possible, he’d never heard of any non-affinitied magic that ruled over it, but it was just more evidence to his growing belief that non-affinitied magic could do anything if a person had the correct understanding of it. Evidence that was in the middle of crushing him, knocking the air from his lungs and holding him against the ground as another volley of attacks came his way.

He tried to move, but even just getting into the sitting position was a struggle as he felt his bones straining under the weight of his own body. He couldn’t get more than small gasps of air and even exhaling was proving to be a challenge, the air he took in sitting heavy in his lungs and not wanting to leave. His freedom was so close yet so far away, what would have taken him moments to get to now felt like an unsurpassable gulf, with only one option available to him as he saw the closest projectile coming his way.

With all the force he could manage he brought one leg up and pressed it firmly into the ground, waiting for the strike he knew would come as the blade of mana grew ever closer. He forced as much mana into his jacket as he could, strengthening it to prepare for the strike and the moment it made contact with him he didn’t try to weaken it with his destruction the way he had last time, instead kicking off the ground as it threw him, trying to direct the way he went and feeling one final problem as he was thrown to the exit.

That last strike was the strongest yet, beating out the powerful enchantments he’d made as it broke through the enhanced barrier that reacted to it, slipping through the leather and mythril lining of it and plunging into his gut.

With no healer to help the pain was nauseating, but as he reacted to the blow, using his destruction to destroy the mana blade before it could get too deep in him, that final act of desperation did its job. His body was tossed through the air and slid across the ground until he was at the edge of the exit, and with a feeling of even more fingers breaking under the strain of the raised gravity he pulled himself through, finally free of the trial.