“Ah! FUCKING ASSHOLES!” Kyle shouted as he jumped back, holding his left eye.
Blood was coming out of his eye, and it hurt like a motherfucker.
‘Seriously, when will I stop getting cocky?! Whenever I get cocky, some shit happens! I really gotta repair my brain damage. Maybe more of those drugs- eh, stones will help.’
Kyle gritted his teeth as he glared at the golems with his healthy eye.
He grabbed his hammer in one hand and charged forward, protecting his eyes with his left forearm.
Several strikes hit him in the face, including his teeth, which also hurt a lot.
BOOOOM!
Kyle swung his hammer, and the three golems at the front were splattered across the cave.
He continued swinging his hammer, spinning once.
BANG!
But several swords poked him at the same spot in his back.
Kyle lost his balance and fell over.
Before the golems could follow up with more attacks, he scrambled away.
‘Stop it! No spins! No fancy maneuvers! Just strike them!’ Kyle shouted at himself in his mind.
Something deep inside of Kyle complained.
‘But that’s boring.’
‘No! Bad brain!’ Kyle shouted at the intrusive thought.
Then, he charged forward again.
Several swords poked him, but this time, he just swung his hammer back and forth.
BANG!
Three golems exploded into pieces before another four exploded.
BOOOM!
The last five golems were picked up by Kyle’s hammer and thrown across the room, their bodies exploding when they hit one of the walls.
Kyle quickly looked around and found a couple of partially assembled golems trying to stand up.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
He destroyed the golems, and finally, there was silence.
Kyle took a deep breath in frustration.
‘Seriously, if I didn’t have such a powerful body, I would have died. The only reason why I’m still alive is because it’s almost impossible for them to hurt me.’
Kyle hit his head a couple of times. ‘Stupid idiot! Be smarter! Stop playing with your life all the time!’
A moment later, one of the walls opened, but before Kyle continued, he grabbed some of the Golem Cores and consumed them.
His eye had already regrown, but Kyle wanted to get as much energy as he could.
“Alright!” he shouted, cleaning his mouth with his sleeve. “Let’s move on!”
Kyle ran through the next tunnel, and yet again, he was put before a choice.
He saw more Spirit Spring Ore in one tunnel and immediately ruled that tunnel out.
The other one was covered with Sole Flame Ore.
‘Sole Flame Ore mostly grows in hot areas that are adjacent to lava or natural gas.’
‘Well, I don’t really have a choice.’
Kyle walked down the tunnel with the Sole Flame Ore, and yet again, the wall behind him closed.
Instead of continuing, Kyle rammed his hammer into the Sole Flame Ore.
The Ether inside the ore vanished, and Kyle continued to the next one.
After absorbing all the Sole Flame Ore, his hammer had become a bit heavier.
‘I can still swing it with one hand, but it’s not as easy anymore. But that’s a good thing. I want it to be heavy enough that I have to use both hands! A good hammer must have some oomph to it!’
As he continued going down the tunnel, he reached a hot lake made of magma.
‘That looks… hot,’ Kyle thought, looking at the brightly shining lake.
On the other side of the lake was another tunnel.
‘Probably the exit. So, you’re saying I have to get over there somehow.’
‘Bit far, innit?’ he thought, looking at the other side, which was about twenty meters away.
‘I could try jumping, but I’m not sure if I can jump that far. Also, if I slip, I’m just fucked.’
Kyle scratched his head before crouching down and extending his hand towards the magma.
Maybe it wasn’t that hot?
As Kyle’s hand came closer, it warmed quite a bit.
Just being near the magma was already hotter than being inside the flame of the fourth trial.
When Kyle’s finger touched the magma, he immediately pulled it back.
“Ouch! Fuck, that’s hot!” he shouted, quickly rubbing his hand against his clothing.
BANG!
While Kyle was dealing with his finger, a big hand made of magma stretched out of the lake!
The hand grabbed Kyle’s left arm, which started to burst into flames.
In a panic, Kyle just swung his hammer at the arm.
CRK!
The pick of the hammer rammed into the arm as it tried to pull him into the magma.
Kyle fought against the pull as well as he could, but the pull was strong!
However, a moment later, his hammer began to shine, and the pull weakened.
The next moment, a maw filled with magma teeth appeared in the lake of magma.
It released a voiceless scream.
And then… it dispersed.
Kyle quickly pulled his hand out of the grip and jumped back.
“Whoa, whoa!” he shouted as his hammer pulled him further back.
Kyle used both of his arms to steady the hammer and looked at it with surprise.
Then, he looked back at the quiet lake of magma.
‘Was that some kind of ore or ore creature?’ he thought.
He looked back at his heavy hammer.
‘My hammer absorbed a lot of Ether just now and became quite heavy. I don’t think I can swing it with one hand anymore.’
‘Also, what the fuck was that thing?!’
The burns on Kyle’s wrist had already healed by now, and he just looked wearily at the lake.
“Wait a second,” he said.
‘Did the magma become dimmer?’
Kyle watched for a minute, and sure enough, he saw the magma slowly darkening.
He carefully moved his arm to the magma and touched it.
It was still quite hot, but it wasn’t as hot as earlier.
‘Huh, guess it was that weird ore creature that made this magma lake.’
Kyle waited for around ten minutes.
The magma was still way too hot for any normal human to withstand, but Kyle was not a normal human.
He carefully stepped onto the surface and didn’t sink.
His feet felt like they were barefoot in the desert, but as long as he walked quickly, it would be fine for a while.
The next moment, he quickly tip-toed over the magma lake and reached the other side without any incidents.
He threw one last glance at the dark lake of magma.
‘Well, time to continue.’