"Oh no!" The moment he appeared in the new world, Greyson realized his mistake. His battle with that girl was really strenuous. In his distraction from her death, he walked straight through the portal without any preparation or recovery. Facing these 100 opponents with such limited levels of mana would be dangerous."I"m such an idiot..." Looking at the Fire Devils in front of him, Greyson sighed to himself. This stage should have been completed quickly and easily as normally those at the same level and stage as him were not his opponents. Surveying his surroundings, Greyson felt suffocated by the heat from the volcanoes. The ground was made from hard black rock with cracks filled with magma flowing around. Knowing he would not be given a break to meditate, he readied himself and began to think through some strategy. Right now, he merely had around 25% of his mana left which meant he would have to rely on smaller attacks. Even his dragon bloodline was out of commission as he activated it for such a long time earlier. Able to estimate the heat of the magma, Greyson did not believe he could survive landing in the lava. Therefore, he would have to avoid the cracks while fighting. Earlier, Aeos briefed him that the defense of these creatures was lower than the Earth Beasts so the small attacks should still produce a significant effect. The sole problems were that these Devils were faster and their attacks were more powerful. These Devils were made purely from flames with a humanoid structure. All of them stood encircling Greyson, but did not make a move to attack first. As if finally deciding their tactic, one of the Fire Devils broke the circle and dove in to strike Greyson. Realizing this was a probe for his strength, Greyson also took advantage of this chance to observe the difference between the Fire Devils and Earth Beasts.
Gripping onto Genesis, Greyson slashed down with a decent amount of mana aiding him. His first attack missed as the Devil fluidly dodged and sent a flaming punch towards Greyson in retaliation. Barely managing to s.h.i.+ft his body away, Greyson flinched slightly after feeling the waves of heat and force behind that fist. It would definitely not be a pleasant sight to be hit by that fist. The flames gave each Devil more explosive power, unlike the Earth Beasts who only used brute force. a.s.sisted with the wind element, Genesis flashed over to the Devil and cut it apart. The flames morphed back together again, however, Greyson could feel the Devil"s power was weaker than before. Grimacing, he perceived that although he could slash them apart with one hit unlike the Earth Beasts, he would nonetheless have to weaken them multiple times before they would actually be defeated. After two more hits, the Fire Devil finally did not reform and the flames dissipated. Exhaling with relief, Greyson thought that three hits per Devil was still doable for him.
Sore body screaming in refusal, he still stood at the ready. Flipping his hand, Genesis disappeared while his bow a.s.sumed its place. At this point, trying to fight all the Fire Devils at close quarters would be tiring and inefficient. Taking his aim, Greyson allowed his wind element to flow quietly into the bow as three green arrows appeared. Earlier, after noting the speed of the Devils, he decided to predominantly use the wind element during this fight. This way he could swiftly dodge and strike. Usually, the wind element did not contain enough power behind the attacks, however, it was enough to get rid of the Fire Devils. Each time the tw.a.n.g of a bowstring being released rang out, one Devil disappeared with a cry. Around the first half were easy to get rid of, but fatigue was beginning to set in. Greyson could detect his movements grow sluggish and his body was not reacting as fast as before. Clenching his fists, his nails dug in hard enough to puncture the skin as he tried to keep himself focused through the pain. Noticing Greyson"s slowing body movements, the Fire Devils started fiercer attacks and ganged up on him. Losing track of how many attacks he dodged, Greyson felt dizzy watching the barrage of fireb.a.l.l.s, punches, and kicks. Occasionally, a few would get in and scald his skin or fracture his bones. Grunting in pain, he tried his best to ignore the pain.
Enduring for a little while longer, only a fourth of his opponents remained. Feeling how much mana he had left, Greyson decided he would give one full out attack with a powerful multi-element spell. Lightning crackled in the sky, harsh winds blew through, and fire mixed in with the other two. Pulling all three together into a vortex, he directed it spinning into all of the remaining Fire Devils spread out in the area. Letting out their final screeches, all of them dissipated under the attack. Overdrawing his mana for the spell, Greyson spit blood after suffering the backlash.
Vision blurring, Greyson felt his body tipping over in weakness. Unable to catch himself, he landed on the ground with a dull thud and blacked out. An unknown number of days pa.s.sed by before Greyson finally regained consciousness. Gradually opening his eyes, he did not feel refreshed at all. Burns and bruises wracked his body while his mana had only just incrementally recovered on its own. Pus.h.i.+ng himself up with much effort, Greyson crossed his legs and began to first absorb the elements. His mana was dangerously low, and he could suffer negative effects if he stayed in this state any longer. A familiar warmth and comfort spread throughout his body as he felt the mana travel throughout his body and restore his strength. It was akin to drinking cold water when dehydrated or the first breath of fresh air after feeling suffocated. Sweet relief. Just basking in the refres.h.i.+ng feeling, Greyson relaxed his body. The higher his level, the more he realized the elements were becoming an integral part of his body and that he felt empty and incomplete without it. After finis.h.i.+ng his meditation, he then noticed the actual physical damage that needed healing. Casting his light magic, Greyson soon watched as the cuts quickly closed up and the bruises faded to nothing.
All healed up, he stood up and stretched. A couple of quick warm-ups later, he felt as good as new. Glancing over to the portal, this time he was thoroughly prepared for the subsequent challenge. Almost running over, he wanted to rapidly get to the sixth level as he ended up wasting a lot more time on the third and fourth level than he initially antic.i.p.ated. He likely fell considerably behind his companions and some of them might already be outside waiting.
...
The next two levels ended up around the same as the Earth Altar. He still struggled on the sixth level, but eventually wore himself out at the end and pulled through. Such consecutive instances of pus.h.i.+ng past his limits actually helped him break through to the next stage making him a magister level fourth stage magician. Ecstatic by his relatively quick advancement, Greyson was grinning ear to ear as he stepped through the portal to the seventh level. Even if there was no reward this time to match the key, he felt that coming to the altar was completely worth it.
However, it seemed that he was destined to experience double the joy.
"Congratulations, you have collected the second key. You shall be accorded the mark of the Dark Phoenix. It will preserve your life once. Continue on..." The same deep voice spoke to him, except with more information.
"Mark?" Greyson questioned. Needless to say, he received no answer. Instead, a light burst out and shot towards him. Grasping it, Greyson spread his palm to reveal a matching red key to his brown key that he received from the Earth Altar. The moment he brought out his other key to confirm, he experienced a scalding heat on his chest over his heart. An exquisite black tattoo in the shape of Phoenix wings slowly carved into his skin like a brand. Hissing in pain, Greyson cursed the ancestor in his mind. Well, a little more warning couldn"t hurt, right? Was there really a need to be so vague and mysterious? Once the mark was finished, he was once again shot out from the seventh level. Flipping through the air, Greyson took a couple of minutes to steady himself. Suddenly, he had a feeling that this kind of exit was a running joke with those ancient people who had nothing better to do. The dungeon"s exit was in mid-air hoping they would drop right out while the altars would literally catapult the challengers straight out. What ever happened to just letting people walk out peacefully...