Chapter 355:A ran to the light.

Chapter 355: 355:A ran to the light.

He appeared near the queen’s flank and ran towards the light the moment he touched ground. The queen turned frighteningly fast, one frontal limb sweeping toward him.

Silver raised a barrier.

[Spatial Distortion Lv1 Activated.]

The limb struck the barrier. His vision shook from the sheer intensity of it.

[Warning: Extreme External Force Detected.]

[Barrier Integrity: 61%.]

The queen pushed.

Silver’s boots slid backward. His arms shook despite the barrier being spatial rather than physical. Maintaining the structure against that much force placed enormous strain on both his mind and his control.

[Barrier Integrity: 43%.]

He clenched his teeth as the queen pushed harder.

[Primal Strength Lv2 Activated.]

He didn’t need physical strength to maintain the barrier itself, but he needed it to keep his body positioned properly while the distorted space buckled around him.

His muscles tightened as the queen drove forward again. He slid another meter.

[Primal Strength Lv2 proficiency increased.]

Silver glanced at the notification.

[Primal Strength Lv2 Proficiency: 100%.]

The next message appeared instantly.

[Skill Advancement Conditions Fulfilled.]

His eyes widened.

[Primal Strength Lv2 has advanced.]

[Primal Strength Lv3 Acquired.]

The change hit immediately. Heat spread through Silver’s muscles, his entire body tightening.

The exhaustion remained, but suddenly his muscles responded differently. Every movement felt more controlled and the strength he’d previously needed to consciously pull from the skill settled deeper into his body.

He grinned despite the queen trying to crush him.

"Perfect timing."

He dropped the barrier as the queen’s limb surged forward. Silver moved with it instead of against it.

[Primal Strength Lv3 Activated.]

He grabbed the edge of the armored limb. For perhaps half a second, the queen’s strength nearly overwhelmed him... then he twisted.

He couldn’t stop the attack or overpower the queen but he could redirect himself around it. Silver used the creature’s momentum to swing his body sideways.

He released, landed and ran towards the opening. It was closer at most sixty meters.

The queen screeched figuring out what he was planning to it. A Sky-Borer dropped from above.

Silver raised his handgun.

[Phantom Draw Lv3 Activated.]

Pfft!

The bullet struck its head. The creature crashed, another attacked immediately afterwards. He slashed with his sword, its wing separating. The queen came from behind.

Spatial Sense screamed at her rapid approach.

Silver Short-Stepped.

[Short-Step Lv2 Activated.]

He appeared twelve meters farther. His spatial reserves dropped.

[Spatial Reserves: 39%.]

He ignored it.

He only had forty-eight meters. The queen smashed into the ground behind him. Stone fragments flew and one struck Silver’s shoulder.

He stumbled.

The queen’s body swept sideways but he saw it too late. The impact sent him into the air, pain exploding through his side. His body struck the wall, the sound sickening.

For a moment, everything became white, then he fell. His sword slid away.

The system erupted.

[Iron Bones Lv2 Activated.]

[Severe Blunt Impact Detected.]

[Skeletal Damage Mitigation Successful.]

Silver coughed.

Blood touched his tongue but he forced himself upright. Nothing felt broken, that was almost unbelievable.

The queen attacked again. He rolled before a limb smashed into the wall.

Silver grabbed his sword and stood.

[Iron Bones Lv2 proficiency increased.]

The queen struck.

He couldn’t avoid everything so he raised his forearm. The armored limb collided with him and he was thrown again.

[Iron Bones Lv2 proficiency increased.]

His arm screamed with pain but still, not broken. He landed upright this time.

The queen turned towards him.

"You’re really helping my skills today."

He didn’t expect gratitude.

The creature charged.

Silver activated Spatial Distortion. The queen’s trajectory shifted slightly when it noticed it clearly adapting to his skill. He stepped aside but a limb caught his shoulder.

[Iron Bones Lv2 proficiency: 99%.]

Hesaw that he only had one percent to go, but didn’t intentionally get hit again, he wasn’t insane.

Unfortunately for him, the queen made the decision for him. Its tail slammed into his back. He flew forward and rolled across stone.

[Iron Bones Lv2 proficiency increased.]

[Iron Bones Lv2 proficiency: 100%.]

[Skill Advancement Conditions Fulfilled.]ℯℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

[Iron Bones Lv2 has advanced.]

[Iron Bones Lv3 Acquired.]

A strange pressure moved through Silver’s skeleton. The sensation lasted less than a second, then everything felt denser and more stable.

He pushed himself up. His entire body hurt but nothing had broken. He laughed breathlessly.

"Two upgrades in one fight."

The queen screamed. Silver raised the sword while looking at it.

"Still not worth it."

He only had thirty-five meters, that was all that separated him from the opening.

The queen stood between them again while the worms began entering the chamber. He noticed them through Spatial Sense.

There were also sky-Borers appearing overhead. He was running out of time.

He checked his reserves.

[Mental Capacity: 42%.]

[Spatial Reserves: 31%.]

’This is very bad.’

He only needed to cross the queen through the space it controlled, but knowing what to do and doing it were two different things.

Silver activated Spatial Sense.

[Spatial Sense Lv2 Activated.]

He expanded it farther than normal and the chamber became clear.

Silver pushed farther. Pain struck behind his eyes.

[Warning: Mental Strain Increasing.]

He ignored it.

The queen shifted as though sensing what he was doing. He mapped the movement; its frontal limbs, body, tail, the gaps between attacks, and the route beyond it.

[Warning: Mental Capacity below recommended threshold.]

His nose began bleeding. He wiped it away.

The queen charged sensing his weakness.

He Short-Stepped.

[Short-Step Lv2 Activated.]

He appeared to the left. The queen turned, exactly as expected. Silver ran right to the light.

A Sky-Borer intercepted to interact.

[Space Slash Lv2 Activated.]

The creature split.

He continued.

Twenty-eight meters to go. The queen’s tail swept and heducked. A worm lunged but he grabbed it.

[Primal Strength Lv3 Activated.]

He threw the worm directly into another and both crashed.

Silver ran faster than his body could imagine.

The queen moved sideways and blocked him at twenty-three meters.

Silver stopped, is breathing ragged.

The opening looked impossibly close. Wind even touched his face. He could see trees on the opposite side of the valley.

He wasn’t going back, not when he was this close.

The queen attacked. He raised both hands.

[Spatial Distortion & Barriers Lv1 Activated.]

Impact.

[Barrier Integrity: 48%.]

He pushed but the queen also pushed harder.

[Barrier Integrity: 27%.]

His vision blurred.

[Mental Capacity: 29%.]

[Spatial Reserves: 18%.]

Silver’s jaw tightened.

’It’s not enough.’

He released the barrier and Short-Stepped.

[Short-Step Lv2 Activated.]

He appeared behind one of the queen’s frontal limbs. It twisted almost immediately.

Silver ran beneath part of its enormous body. He was almost out of it’s trajectory but a leg slammed down. He threw himself sideways as stone cracked where his head had been.

He rolled out of the way..

The queen shifted, blocking the opening again. He stared at it in resignation.

The creature was learning. Every time he moved toward the exit, it repositioned. Maybe it understood what he wanted. Maybe it simply knew the human was trying to escape.

Either way, Silver needed something more. Spatial Sense remained active but his head felt as if someone were driving a nail through it.

The system warned him again.

[Mental Capacity: 21%.]

He deactivated Spatial Sense. The chamber became smaller immediately and normal sight returned.

He reached into storage and his fingers closed around a small container. He’d carried it for days, nearly used it after the Cave Stalker fight and considered using it during the endless climb.

Every time, he’d decided his condition wasn’t desperate enough but it was desperate enough now.