I grow stronger by making my wife happy.

Chapter 357: 357:A scary...Fall

[Spatial Distortion & Barriers Lv1 Activated.]

The attack shifted but it wasn’t enough. The queen’s limb clipped Silver’s shoulder. He spun, nearly falling. Iron Bones prevented something from breaking his shoulder bones.

He stumbled forward, fortunately for him, the momentum helped.

Two meters.

The world outside filled his vision, then the stone beneath his boots ended.

Silver stopped.

The exit wasn’t an exit. It was exactly what Spatial Sense had warned him about.

A cliff.

The opening emerged high along the side of Death Row Valley, and beyond it the mountain dropped almost vertically. He couldn’t see the bottom immediately because the wall curved outward beneath him, but he could see treetops far below and another section of the valley stretching into the distance.

Wind struck his face. For one second, he forgot everything as he felt the smell of vegetation, sunlight and open sky.

After days surrounded by stone, darkness, blood and monsters, the outside world looked unreal.

Silver stepped onto the edge, behind him, the queen screamed clearly noticing that it had given him an opening. He looked over his shoulder.

The creature charged.

He looked down, then back at the queen. There wasn’t enough room to dodge.

He smiled tiredly.

”You’re not putting me back underground, you ugly bitch. Bye...”

Silver jumped.

The queen reached the opening a fraction of a second later. Its enormous frontal body burst through roots and loose stone.

The cliff shook from the sheer impact. Rocks fell around him as he started to fall.

For a horrifying moment, the queen continued after him, its upper body extending over the cliff.

Silver looked upward while falling. The creature’s mouth opened to screech, then it stopped.

Its enormous body wasn’t built for this. Underground, it could brace itself against walls and force its way through stone. On the sheer cliff face, its weight became a disadvantage.

The queen clawed at the edge. Stone cracked beneath it as it retreated slightly.

He continued falling regardless. Wind roared past his ears and his stomach rose into his chest. He looked down to find that it was significantly farther than he’d hoped.

”That was poorly planned.”

The cliff rushed past.

He activated Spatial Sense.

[Spatial Sense Lv2 Activated.]

The world around him became structure. He had a long way before he could reach group. Velocity wasn’t something Spatial Sense directly displayed, but Silver didn’t need the system to tell him he was accelerating far too quickly.

He needed to break the fall, not stop it all at once but his spatial reserves were almost gone.

[Spatial Reserves: 8%.]

Hr spotted a ledge roughly twenty meters below and several meters to the left.

[Short-Step Lv2 Activated.]

Space folded as he vanished.

Instead of continuing straight downward, he reappeared sideways and slightly above the ledge. The teleportation changed his position but it did not completely erase his momentum.

He slammed into the rock.

[Iron Bones Lv3 Activated.]

Pain exploded through his legs. He rolled on the rock almost falling over but his hand caught the edge. For half a second, he hung there, then the weakened stone broke.

”Of course.”

Silver fell again.

The broken section followed him. He twisted in the air as he tried to escape the falling projectiles. He found other projections but they were too small or thick, but then, he saw a sturdy protruding root.

He reached, missed and fell past it. His reserves continued recovering slightly between activations, but nowhere near quickly enough.

Six percent.

The cliff wall curved closer. Silver kicked against it, his boots scraping stone. The friction slowed him slightly and tore material from one sole.

He saw another ledge.

[Short-Step Lv2 Activated.]

He appeared above it.

This time he didn’t try to land standing. He hit shoulder-first, then he rolled. Primal Strength activated as he grabbed a root protruding from the wall.

[Primal Strength Lv3 Activated.]

His fingers closed. Thankfully, the root held. He swung violently against the cliff as he tried to stabilise himself. His ribs protested and his shoulder screamed but he stopped.

For three seconds, he simply hung there. He looked down,still far. He looked up, the queen remained visible at the opening but smaller now.

Silver smiled.

Before he could celebrate the root cracked. His smile disappeared.

”Don’t.”

The root tore free and he dropped again. He threw it away in anger. Spatial Sense remained active as he kept falling. He was getting closer to vegetation.

Small trees grew from sections of the valley wall and the slope below wasn’t completely vertical anymore, which was good for him. He needed to reach it without turning himself into a stain against the mountain.

He checked his reserves.

[Spatial Reserves: 4%.]

One more Short-Step, maybe two if he waited, but he didn’t have enough distance to wait as he fell.

Branches approached increasingly fast. He crossed his arms over his head. The first tree hit him, or rather, he hit it.

Branches snapped but they slowed him. Another branch caught his equipment and ripped part of it loose.

Thankfully the Emergency Survival Beacon remained attached. He noticed that with absurd relief.

He crashed through leaves, then emerged below the tree, still falling but much slower.

The slope approached. Silver twisted, he couldn’t afford to hit headfirst.

He activated Spatial Distortion.

[Spatial Distortion & Barriers Lv1 Activated.]

The space beneath him changed, not enough to stop the fall but enough to alter the remaining distance and give him a fraction more time.

He released the ability almost immediately.

[Spatial Reserves: 2%.]

The ground arrived faster than he anticipated. He hit it, and the impact wasn’t pretty.

[Iron Bones Lv3 Activated.]

His legs buckled and he rolled, downhill. There were a lot of obstacles that welcomed him: stone, grass, mud and a bush. He crashed through it all.

He continued rolling until his back struck a tree before everything stopped. For several seconds, Silver saw nothing, then the world slowly returned.

There was wind, leaves, birds somewhere in the distance, and his own breathing. He opened his eyes.

Green.

He stared at the leaves above him, at sunlight filtering between them.

His chest rose and fell, then rose again. He moved his fingers, they were working. His toes as working. He slowly lifted one arm, there was a lot of pain but movement.

He opened his status.

[Physical Condition: Heavily Injured ~ Stable.]

[Skeletal Integrity: Stable.]

[New Major Fractures: None.]

[Muscular Trauma: Moderate.]

[Soft Tissue Trauma: Moderate.]

[Internal Damage: Minor.]

[Mental Capacity: 64%.]

[Spatial Reserves: 2%.]

[Physical Fatigue: Extreme.]

Silver stared at the skeletal line.

”No fractures.”

Iron Bones Level Three had earned its place. He started laughing, this time he didn’t stop when his ribs hurt. The laugh became louder, nearly hysterical.

He covered his face with one hand.

”I’m out.”

The words sounded strange. He lowered his hand and looked around, at the valley wall towered behind him.

(I’m so relieved that he’s out. I was getting stressed while writing and editing it)