Jonathan rested for a moment on the rocky outcropping, trying to recover enough of his mental acumen to plot a course across the lake. Using his advanced Intelligence, he was able to not only see the optimal route, but also begin to understand the behavior of the monsters. It seemed that the monsters within this area were more like props than anything else, and they moved on a predetermined timer around the lake, as shown by the occasional flash of color that breached the lava every few seconds or so. They were always in the same place, and Jonathan assumed that it was intended to be so that any challenger could accurately plot a course to safety. After all, this entire exercise would have been ridiculously unfair if not for that minor concession. Most people of his level would not have been able to survive the lava at all, and he suspected that pure mage builds would have succumbed to the heat already without some sort of magical aid. He was certainly finding this to be easier than he had expected, given his innate fear of lava from his time back on Earth. Lava on Earth was one of the greatest destructive forces of nature that there was, an inexorable tide of superheated rock that could not be stopped by any force available within the world.
Jonathan banished these distracting thoughts, and reminded himself of who he was. If he was back on Earth right now, he could have been akin to a god. He could survive most weapons by now, short of a nuclear explosion, which to be fair, was far beyond the normal level of power for a species such as humanity. It was really interesting comparing the abilities of this universe to his own, and they had taken quite different routes to power. Humanity could bring incredible power to bear, but they were individually pathetic. Meanwhile, a single fighter from this world was far more capable than any human, but lacked the advanced weaponry. Then again, there wasn't really any need for bombs or guns in a world where a mere bow could launch an arrow at the speed of a bullet.
As Jonathan pondered this dichotomy, he prepared to jump for the next island, which was a little further away. He took a few steps back and leapt with a running start, propelling him high into the air. More of the monsters leaped up to snap at him, but he sent his Void aspected man to his hands creating balls of pure anathema. The monsters sensed this somehow, and they tried to jerk away, but they were in midair, and the attacks connected regardless of their struggles. The attacks burned straight through them, eating away at their bodies like acid. The creatures died there and then, with Jonathan’s fists planted deep in their brains. He had lost most of his momentum however, and he was forced to use the monsters as a springboard before gravity could take hold of them once more.
Landing on the next outcropping, he grinned. He had found quite an effective strategy. Jonathan vaulted across the next few gaps like a monkey, using the same strategy of taking the monster corpses and using them as stepping stones. He even gained a level this way, and with his new stat bonus, he really felt the added power from it.
However, the monsters began to grow stronger and bigger as he neared the center, and soon he was unable to kill them with a single strike anymore. Even worse, many of them began to use their own forms of elemental mastery, and they were able to stop his Void power from damaging them as much as it would have normally. He still was able to hurt them, as the Void was superior to all other elements, but it was hard going.
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Soon he began to take damage regularly, first in the form of bruises and then cracked bones. His armor really did wonders in keeping his blood within his body, but it did little for blunt force damage. He took the pain as it came however. He had felt worse. The real problem was how the damage inhibited his movements, which could potentially lead to him taking unnecessary damage from the leviathans of the magmatic deep.
Jonathan had to take a long break at the center of the lake however, on an island that was barely more than a boulder sitting in the middle of the lava. The other problem was that the islands were growing smaller and smaller, and at this rate, he would eventually have to take a dip into the lava, which would necessitate his usage of his free stat points to bolster his abilities. He would try to keep that away as long as possible however.
Jonathan sized up the next rocky outcropping, which was about a hundred feet away, and waited until a few monsters had lined up in his path. As he jumped, the first one leaped up towards him, a monster that looked slightly like a whale, if a whale was made out of black rock run through with stripes of glowing red. The monster opened its mouth wide and vomited a spray of red hot rock at him, rock that actually burnt his skin when it hit, even through his armor.
Jonathan hissed and landed on the creature’s head, using it as a springboard for him to reach the next one. Leaping off the lava whale, the next monster emerged from the seething lava, a worm-like creature that was quite a bit more difficult to grab onto. It snapped out at Jonathan at high speeds, almost catching his left arm in its fanged maw. He punched it away as it came near however and swung off its head towards the final monster that he could see just below the surface.
Another of the lava whales, this time even bigger than the first one, broke the surface of the lava, inhaling in preparation to cook him with its fiery vomit. Jonathan summoned his mana orbs to his hands instead, not compressing them at all. Violet flame exploded out of his hands, and as the monster vomited molten rock at Jonathan, he pointed his hands towards it. It ate up the rock like it was nothing, and Jonathan drove his fists into the shocked monster’s face, vaulting over it and onto the safety of the next island.
Jonathan was burnt all over from the previous attacks, and he had no levels up with which to heal himself. He would have to look into a healing ability soon after this, if such a thing was even possible to gain. He suspected that his new affinity might cause such an endeavor to be problematic. In any case, as his durability increased, his natural healing speed naturally went up as well, and eventually he would be able to heal quite quickly indeed. At this current moment however, he would need at least a couple of minutes until he was in fighting form again.
He was a bit past the halfway mark by now, but the end seemed to be ever further away than ever before. The monsters seemed to just keep getting larger and larger, and Jonathan started to wonder if this was even possible. The last challenge, with the troglodytes, had been quite hard, especially towards the end, but this was on another level. At least the lava was not immediately threatening, or else this would have been a death trap.