I grow stronger by making my wife happy.

Chapter 356: 356:A boost to freedom?

Silver pulled out the Mental Restoration Capsule.

The queen advanced, worms moved behind him and sky-Borers circled overhead.

He looked at the capsule.

”You’re one expensive investment.”

He swallowed it.

The effect was immediate.

[Mental Restoration Capsule Consumed.]

Silver inhaled sharply. Cold spread through his head and the pain behind his eyes disappeared. The exhaustion clouding his thoughts lifted so quickly that the change was almost disorienting.

His senses sharpened and thoughts accelerated. The trembling in his hands stopped.

Notifications appeared.

[Mental Fatigue rapidly reduced.]

[Ability-related cognitive strain stabilized.]

[Temporary Mental Overload Resistance applied.]

[Mental Capacity restoration accelerated.]

He looked toward the queen, then activated Spatial Sense.

[Spatial Sense Lv2 Activated.]

Everything exploded into clarity, even beyond. Silver’s perception pushed through and found that, there was nothing beneath the opening.

His expression changed.

It wasn’t a tunnel leading gently outside, it was a cliff. The mountain dropped almost vertically beyond the exit.

He mapped as much of it as he could. There were rock formations, small ledges, roots and trees farther below. The drop exceeded his detection range.

That complicated things but it didn’t change his decision.

He looked at the queen. It also looked toward him with senses that didn’t need good eyesight to recognize its prey.

The opening remained behind it, approximately twenty meters.

He lowered his stance. He checked his spatial reserves, they were far too low for what he was considering but he didn’t need enough power to fight the queen.

He only needed enough to get past it once. Primal Strength Level Three responded through his body, iron Bones Level Three reinforced him against whatever went wrong, mental Restoration kept his mind clear, and spatial Sense mapped the battlefield.

Short-Step, space slash and spatial distortion waited. Every ability he’d developed since awakening seemed to come together inside his head at once.

Silver smiled.

”All right, let’s see if I’m dying today.”

The queen charged but he didn’t retreat. For the first time since it appeared, he ran directly toward it.

He had one route left, one chance to cross the creature before his spatial reserves collapsed, and beyond the queen, waited the first open sky Silver had seen in almost six days.

.

.

.

Running directly toward a Rank Six queen was easily among the worst decisions Silver had made since arriving in this world, but with worms closing behind him, Sky-Borers circling above and the only opening to the outside blocked by several tons of enraged armored parasite, he had finally run out of sensible options.

The queen charged at the same moment.

He didn’t look directly at its enormous body anymore. Spatial Sense gave him far more useful information than his eyes could.

The Mental Restoration Capsule had cleared the crushing pressure from his mind, allowing him to perceive the chamber with a sharpness he’d almost forgotten was possible after days of exhaustion.

Every movement registered around him; the smaller worms advancing from behind, three Sky-Borers changing direction overhead, pieces of loose stone kicked aside by the queen and, most importantly, the narrow spaces that appeared and disappeared around its enormous body as it moved.

The opening remained twenty meters beyond it, twenty meters between Silver and the light.

He accelerated.

The queen’s frontal limb came down. He twisted left. The limb smashed into stone beside him, fragments exploding upward. One struck Silver across the cheek but he ignored it.

The queen turned its head, its enormous mouth opened. He changed direction again but the creature lunged at him immediately afterwards.

Now.

[Spatial Distortion Lv1 Activated.]

Space twisted between them. The queen’s jaws crossed what should have been the correct distance and closed on empty air.

Silver had stretched the space by only a fraction and that fraction was enough. He moved alongside its head.

A Sky-Borer descended.

He didn’t have time to draw his handgun.

[Space Slash Lv2 Activated.]

The spatial blade tore through one wing and continued across the creature’s body. It crashed behind him but he kept moving without glancing anywhere else.

He only had fifteen meters.

The queen twisted immediately after recovering. Spatial Sense warned him before the tail moved.

Silver jumped.

[Primal Strength Lv3 Activated.]

The newly advanced skill responded immediately. His legs exploded against the ground with enough force to crack loose stone beneath his boots.

He launched himself upward.

The queen’s tail swept beneath him. For a moment, Silver was airborne beside its enormous body. He could even fully see beyond the exit, then another frontal limb came toward him.

There was no ground beneath his feet or direction to dodge.

He Short-Stepped.

[Short-Step Lv2 Activated.]

Space folded and Silver vanished. He reappeared eight meters closer to the opening. His boots struck stone, stumbled, recovered and he continued running.

[Spatial Reserves: 11%.]

He saw the warning and knew it was terrible. He needed to have enough left for the cliff. He couldn’t keep using Short-Step.

The queen screamed behind him. He only had ten meters. Silver could feel outside air rushing against his face.

His headlamp suddenly seemed pointless. He ripped it off and threw it aside as natural light filled the passage. The sensation was almost overwhelming.

He could see green, actual clouds. Silver nearly laughed, but then, something struck his back at that moment. Pain exploded through him as he flew forward.

Iron Bones activated automatically.

[Iron Bones Lv3 Activated.]

His body hit the ground. He rolled, his sword slipping from his hand. Silver stopped several meters from the opening. He coughed, blood filling his mouth as it dripped onto the stone.

The queen advanced.

He looked toward his sword, it was too far. He looked toward the exit, it was closer. The decision was immediate, leave it.

He pushed himself up.

A worm lunged from the side. He caught it, primal Strength surging through his arms.

[Primal Strength Lv3 Activated.]

Silver redirected the creature rather than trying to overpower it completely. He threw it toward the queen. It smashed through its own offspring without hesitation.

He ran the throw barely stopping the queen but thay fraction of time was all he needed.

At six meters, a Sky-Borer dropped in front of him. He drew his handgun.

[Phantom Draw Lv3 Activated.]

Pfft! Pfft!

The first bullet struck its chest and the second entered through its head. Silver shoulder-checked the falling body as he ran.

Four meters.

The queen attacked again, as it speed increased faster that he had anticipated.

Spatial Sense mapped the strike. Silver couldn’t outrun it and couldn’t afford another Short-Step at the moment. He activated Spatial Distortion one final time inside the chamber.

[Spatial Distortion & Barriers Lv1 Activated.]