Chapter 245 (1/2)
Randidly hopped down to the next level of the rings. There were 10 in total, and Randidly needed to get down to the 8th, the third innermost ring. And the innermost ring was already beginning to turn into a red color…
But immediately upon hopping down, the temperature shot up to something that was quite uncomfortable. Sweating profusely, Randidly jumped down to the next one, hoping to get the whole ordeal over with as soon as possible. This was one of the rare moments that Randidly regretted not wearing shoes-
Blink.
“Randidly, what are you doing?” Tessa asked, rubbing her eyes as she leaned upwards, the covers slipping down to reveal her shoulder and the white skin of her breasts. Randidly winced, he was hoping that she wouldn’t have noticed him coming home… But then he started to get distracted by a profound sense of wrongness.
It was like… he had forgotten something…
“Were you meeting with Sydney again?” Tessa asked, her voice carefully neutral.
Randidly frowned. Sydney was probably dead, and Tessa-
His eyes snapped open, and Randidly once more found himself standing in the slowly heating up circles of stone. He was now standing on the 2nd circle, and based on the fact that the bottoms of his feet were starting to get uncomfortable he must have been standing there for several minutes.
Randidly turned and glared up at the Patron of Ash, whose smile only spread wider, the craggy rocks grinding against each other as its grin spread.
“You should also know… because this is a trial related to the System… only a short amount of time is passing in the real world. Feel free to take your time overcoming the illusions…”
Randidly’s smile was vicious. Without hesitating, Randidly tossed himself down into the next ring of heating rock. The distance was only about 2 meters or so, but Randidly felt strangely light as he dropped down toward the next level, almost as though he was floating through the air, drifting-
Blink.
“Oh! OH! Oh! OH OH OH Yess right there Derek, fuck me!”
Randidly sat in the darkness of his bedroom, hiding in the closet. He had ripped out the stuffing from the teddy bears and animals his mother had given him, and had made a bed of sorts out of their innards, where he curled up. He clenched his eyes shut.
If it was going to be another long night like this…
For a second, he wished for his father. But then he crushed that feeling. That asshole didn’t care about him. When he was a burden, he left, breaking his mom and turning her into this… thing….
“OH, OH GOD!”
“It’s fine…There is nothing wrong with a sad woman seeking out sex.” Randidly whispered out loud, his eyes regaining clarity. “She was just grieving in her own way. It’s that right…?”
At his words, the world twisted, and a phantom floated forward, half human, half skeleton, bearing his mother’s hopeless face.
Randidly stepped forward on the 3rd ring, only pausing for a few seconds before he continued. He was prepared now, and knew what was coming, so it was a rather simple thing to brute force his way through it with his Battle Intent. Randidly also saw notifications that his Fire and Pain Resistance, as well as his Mental Strength, were increasing, so it seemed that this would be a valuable experience. Which was just what he needed.
Before the next round, Randidly hoped to sharpen his Willpower to a sharp point, ready to strike at his opponent. Best to continue quickly though, before the heat continued to build. Even as he stayed on this same platform, Randidly could feel how the temperature was rushing upwards. He shuddered to think how bad the temperature would be at the 7th circle. It looked like the stone was starting to turn the red of cherries.
Randidly leapt to the next platform.
Blink.