Chapter 390: Harsh Winds [Bonus]
Harsh winds buffeted against Sylas' body, pulling against his torn up clothing and sinking into his flesh. It lashed out like whips, the stinging pain drawing a fine line continuously. It felt almost like he was being burned from the outside, in.
The pain made Sylas frown slightly. Wasn't this supposed to be a test of Will? So why was there so much physical pain involved?
Sylas still wasn't used to the idea that Will could be a measured stat in the first place. But this aside, if the pain was so physical, the test felt a bit... meaningless. That was because personal stats wouldn't be able to be isolated from one's Will stat.
The stronger a person was, the easier it would be to deal with these winds, and thus the lower their Will would have to be to withstand this.
Plus, according to Lolaleen, these challenges would even be withstood by an entire group at the same time. That made it even less of a Will challenge.
'Unless it's stat-adjusted?'
Sylas thought for a moment, then remembering that Lolaleen said that the stair challenges weren't recorded, his skin began to flash with black scales.
Lolaleen was taken aback again, a strong lurch of fear turning her stomach over. How much strength was Sylas still hiding?
'Hm... it really doesn't feel any different. So it is stat adjusted.'
Sylas' scales faded. 'But in that case, how is it that they can work together?'
He looked back toward Lolaleen was still following after him.
'I see... so these winds only target the person at the head of the group. So, presumably, they take turns taking the brunt of it.'
Sylas looked up, finding that he still had quite a distance to climb. Sometimes, being correct was a burden.
He had already realized earlier that the first challenge was a stroke of luck. Not every challenge would be so easy, and it seemed that he had stumbled into exactly that truth now.
Taking a breath, he continued upward. Now that he understood what was happening, there was nothing to do but to trudge forward.
Sylas' jaw set as he took one step after another. His pace wasn't fast, but it was steady.
At some unknown time, a blazing green flame had lit in his eye and it only burned fiercer as he continued forward.
Sylas had never seen this green flame before, but he could feel it quite clearly. That was when The seemed to realize something...
His telekinesis flickered and formed a deflective shield before him. At first, he was using Basic Aetherflow, but he quickly realized that that wasn't working.
Aether wasn't the way.
This was a path that tested his Will, so...
Sylas pushed, a forcefield of telekinesis spreading out from him.
For a brief moment, there was a subtle relief, but this forcefield dissipated quickly and then dispersed entirely.
'It works... but my telekinesis seems too intangible...'
Sylas pulled on his Gluttony Seed and then acted again.
WHOOSH! WHOOSH!
The sound felt so familiar, as though wind was buffeting a glass door in the middle of a raging storm. The icy winds sliced into his barrier, but this time, it withstood the onslaught for much longer.
However, all good things come to an end. Even with his Gluttony Seed, the barrier was soon shredded apart, and the pain he suffered increased exponentially.
Luckily, it didn't seem to be out of retaliation. Unluckily, it was a natural progression of the stairs. It would only get more painful from here on out, especially without anyone to swap out for him.
Although he could use Lolaleen, he needed her in top condition and... he could feel something odd about this place.
Sylas took another step forward and his heart shuddered. There was a wavering in his mind that reminded him of the assault his Will suffered in the Slithering Madness Dungeon. If this continued, his Will would actually begin to plummet.
'Slithering Madness... that was when my telekinesis first awakened...'
There was too much about his telekinesis he didn't understand. Why did it have such weight limitations, why couldn't it stack properly, what about the Gluttony Seed allowed it to increase in strength, what changes in himself increased the weight it could carry...
The questions were endless, and this wasn't the first time he had thought of them.
'Don't use the Gluttony Seed...'
Sylas came to a decision, forming another forcefield to fight against the winds, but this time, he did so continuously, forming forcefield after forcefield of telekinesis.
His strength was dispersed over a large area, and the blazing green flames in his eyes seemed like a weakly struggling ember in the middle of an endless tundra.
'No, there's definitely something special here...'
Sylas clenched his teeth as he continued forward, contradictory beads of sweat falling down his brow.
BANG!
Sylas struck out with a palm, guiding it with his telekinesis. He coated the strike in his Will, trying to lend it more power.
But ultimately, the power of his arm overwhelmed it, making his telekinesis insignificant. This happened all too often. No matter how powerful his telekinesis, he couldn't properly stack it to his attacks, at least not without Basic Aetherflow.
But even when he used Basic Aetherflow, the stack wasn't perfect and it ended up in an average of his Physical stats and his telekinesis. This weakened it greatly.
As though this wasn't enough of a waste, he had to be cautious with how he used it in battle or
else the lack of weight behind his telekinesis would severely hamper the damage.
By now, his telekinesis should be so far beyond his Physical stats, and yet it could still be mostly used as a support.
A grunt came from Sylas' lips as a line of blood dribbled down the corner of his lips.
His fighting intent flared as he took another step, and then another.
He began raining down a series of palms, trying to trigger a change, something, anything...
But all he received in return were harsher winds.