Chapter 260: Antagonist of Earth (5)

Words : 1160 Updated : Oct 7th, 2025

Chapter 260: Antagonist of Earth (5) [Floor 31] The Thirty-First Floor Objective was swiftly cleared, but that didn’t mean the end for the land of extreme sun――Or should I say, that which had momentarily become a land of winter. Nevertheless, that was but part one. On the Sixth Floor, I departed for a while due to the Objective requiring you to survive for three full days. During that time, you could either wait it out for one, or eliminate all enemies on the field to cut that waiting time short. Here, seeing as there was no time limit, I figured simply taking the latter route of wiping out all enemies was the premium choice. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some unspecified time limit where you could simply wait it out like before to proceed, similar even to the Hidden Objective of the Tenth Floor, but regardless, that wasn’t a theory I needed to test out. Once the second part of the Objective revealed itself, I confirmed the presence of a specified time limit before immediately returning to the Library. My body was already screaming from the moment I expended every last drop of my divine energy, meaning urgent recovery was required. Fortunately, it didn’t take too long, and I was able to make it back before the time limit was up with plenty left to spare. Or well, enough to clear it, that is――eliminating the Floor Boss, a colossal Sandwyrm. The rest was no challenge at all. [Floor 32] The second Floor into the thirties took place in the same desert as before, at least on the surface. Unfortunately, the sea of sand that had been thoroughly frozen before, was now back to its regular state of sizzling orange, and even without that, the vast dunes also differed in their layouts, indicating I had been transported to a separate area within the region. For a short while, I contemplated whether it would be possible to travel here through the Thirty-First Floor directly, considering they were likely within the same general place, but when I thought about it, I figured there were probably countermeasures installed to prevent such obvious cheating. In any case, the Objective here also didn’t appear of much concern. Particularly, after having rested for over a full day to recover to the maximum extent, I felt exceptionally sharp mentally, not to mention having no need to worry about exhausting my divine energy so long as I kept the Holy Sword in Storage, although, to be completely candid, I was tempted to use it against that boss on the previous Floor. The Thirty-Second Floor’s First Objective was to find a place stated as an ‘Oasis’. Naturally, I had used my previous “time off” to research some about these Floors in the thirties, and honestly, I thought they were the most interesting thus far. Rather than simple environments one might find in nature on Earth, or even see in an ordinary fantasy world as I had done in some cases, the general theme here appeared to be centered around ‘extreme environments’. And so, the reappearance of this desert certainly made sense in my eyes. Anyway, as I travelled, I gradually noticed the wind subtly beginning to pick up. Despite the fact I was fine regardless thanks to my divine energy, that didn’t make the heat any more bearable―actually, the opposite. The already ridiculously hot air was only being blown and pushed around by the wind and into your face, or well, it would if you weren’t wearing a mask like me. It didn’t even feel like a pleasant breeze, but more like a hair dryer. Naturally, that also included tons of irritating sand somehow ending up in every nook and cranny imaginable. Needless to say, that wasn’t even close to the worst of it. ‘Seriously...’ Before I knew it, a wild sandstorm had begun rampaging, rendering sight pretty much useless more than a few feet ahead of me, and attempting to push me around with such forceful winds that I couldn’t afford to be careless with every step, lest I wanted to risk being blown back or into a different direction. Fortunately, thanks to Mana Corruption naturally having magic energy flow around my body, it enhanced my eyes to be able to see even the raw mana in the surroundings if I concentrated, allowing me to ensure I was keeping more or less on track. Furthermore, because I already knew this would happen in advance, I made sure to copy what Cassano had done for our party all the way up to the Thirtieth Floor and print off a map, letting it lead me to the destination even if I couldn’t really see anything. With each step, I subconsciously dug my feet into the hot sand to act as pillars of support for the rest of my body, ensuring the raging gusts had no power to push me off course. At the same time as letting my body be repeatedly cooled by my divine energy, I also wrapped a cloth around my face to act as a secondary mask to filter out all the sand from reaching my mouth. I wasn’t sure if the Villain’s Vizard had some other magical property not mentioned in the item description, but it didn’t seem like any sand was getting into my eyes despite the blatant pair of small holes in the mask at those areas, prompting me to believe it was some kind of inherent ability. When I thought about it, it probably also should have been difficult to breathe with the Vizard equipped, but after recalling, I never experienced any such inconvenience. It did feel a little hard to breathe, but that was only a present problem because of the constant barrage of wind assaulting me, which of course wasn’t helped by the secondary mask I hurriedly fashioned. In any case, honing all of my attention on making it to the destination, I never stopped moving, advancing through the seemingly endless desert without halt. I moved my legs unceasingly, travelling until the world behind the blanket of orange and beige turned dark, its hue instead painted over with shadow as the eternal sandstorm seemed to only take it as a sign to ramp up ever further. Eventually, I succeeded. Before I knew it, the environmental mana before me transformed in a way that was truly unnatural, and just inches away from my feet, water clearer than crystal appeared like an illusion, seemingly detached from the rest of the chaotic, blinded world. [Objective Complete] [New Objective: Traverse the Shifting Sands and light all of the Desert Beacons] Perhaps as a matter of course, the sandstorm did not conclude its raging there, and so neither did I give pause. Raising my head, a single, ever-so-faint light ignited in the distance, behind the curtain of violent sand and wind and shadow, and high up in the sky, a flickering flame.

Chapter 260: Antagonist of Earth (5)

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