A Pyro Abyss Mage confidently walked inside the main hall. It did not raise a shield or his staff.
While Sai fled from the remaining, just as deadly as before, hydro slimes, he noticed the peculiarities of this certain mage.
'Is that a… m-m-mullet?!'
It had something similar to a tope above its head, although he didn't know if that was actually hair.
The mage looked Sai in the eyes and started laughing with mockery.
"Hohohohoh!"
As if struggling to contain itself, the mage curled from the amount of laughter.
"Hyahyahyah!! Hyiiiee Yaahyahyahya!!!"
'This punk! Is he a teen or something?'
That was all Sai could think before having to focus on dodging the smile cannon balls. The desperation that had started to take place was substituted by anger and frustration.
A slime grasped his right arm, and it sizzled slightly. Sai gritted his teeth and jumped away again.
The mage finally stopped laughing, then simply observed the fight, or whatever that ridiculous show was. It was wondering why such a weak being entered this place alone.
Meanwhile, Sai tried formulating a plan, but the artifact set muddled his mind like a fog. The only thing keeping him alive was the occasional and instinctual rush of adrenaline that symbolized an immediate threat to his life. Nevertheless, Sai kept running, somehow drawing endless strength from the cursed artifacts.
At last, the mage ran out of patience.
Suddenly, Sai saw a red light form somewhere to his left. He widened his eyes and jumped away from the terrible heat source as fast as he could, having decided to throw himself to the ground even if that meant being ganged upon by the slimes later. Miraculously, that had proved to be the correct choice.
*BOOOM!*
A loud blast reached him, almost at the same time as the heat wave. Sai was thrown even further away from his falling position, at the edge of the battle square. On the ground, he struggled to regain his conscience. His ears rang and his sight was blurred.
It was unknown how long had passed, but Sai finally came back to his senses due to the artifact set. He instantly felt pain all over his body, and for the first time in a while, he even forgot about his stomach and dried mouth.
'It burns!'
He was on fire! Sai quickly turned his head to his left arm, sprawled on the floor. But he didn't see any flames. In fact, if not for the black marks on his skin, he would have thought that the previous explosion had not even happened. Instead, the culprit of this unbelievable pain was hanging on to his wrist like a parasyte, slowly gnawing through his skin.
"Fu-!!!"
Sai tried standing up, only to find that he didn't have enough strength. He only managed to push his upper body off the ground and breath raggedly. However, his instincts screamed at him, telling him to move.
But he couldn't. The weight of the slime on his left arm seemed superior to the pain of having it being eaten through.
Sai felt that he had finally reached his end. He was so tired…
'I can just… lie down, right?'
He was already closing his eyes when another wave of strength rushed through him. The hourglass in his right hand was telling him to stand up. To stand up and survive!
Recognition briefly shone in his eyes, and Sai moved quickly but clumsily. He rolled to his right while swinging his left fist up. He felt it connect with something, but he had no time to check as he completed his turn and jumped to his feet. Somehow, the weight on his hand was gone.
Together with most of his hand.
A wave of exhaustion and fear hit him.
'My hand!!!'
It bled profusely. It was held weakly by a thin bleeding wrist. Sai swore he could see the bones in several of his fingers!
'That's not possible!'
And the pain! It hurt so much! But… not enough. In fact, for the state his hand was in, it should have been unbearable by now!
"Kuk!"
At some point, he had either dropped the left hourglass or it was destroyed by the slimes.
Fear grew in his heart with astonishing speed. He was going to die here!
Somehow, Sai managed to look around. He saw the laughing mage, a dozen slimes bouncing towards him, and… the popped remains of several slimes around an area of charred ground.
In that instant, Sai realized two things.
Firstly, his mind seemed to have gone back to normal. The effect of the artifact was mostly gone. That carried a few risks by itself, but Sai was thankful to be able to think somewhat properly again. Of course, with the help of the ridiculous amount of hormones that were being released in his body.
Secondly, he saw a path to survival. He could predict the path of the mage's fireballs to some extent, as he had done even under the effect of the set. He just hoped that the remaining artifacts granted him enough strength to be able to jump away on time. Otherwise, he would be obliterated by the thousand-degree fire sphere.
It was an insane plan, and he knew it. But time was short, his strength was small, and his situation was the worst that could be. And so, Sai traced the best possible route for him, taking advantage of the number of slimes to block the mage's sight while hoping he could stay away from all the threats.
However, he had overestimated his new strength. Although his mind was clearer, he was weaker, his previous determination and willpower nowhere to be seen. He could only rely on his rationality now. But his legs didn't run on rationality, he wasn't quick enough to avoid all the surrounding slimes.
Prioritizing his still good right arm, Sai tried swatting away a jumping slime with his left. He hit it with all his strength, and so expected it to burst open, but the being was simply thrown away. Others came in its place.
He weaved through the bouncing maze of deadly slimes with all his might. Dodging, jumping, rolling, punching, bleeding. His legs burned with strain, and even breathing took considerable effort.
Just like that, Sai fended off the corroding slimes at the cost of his left arm. With each hit, he felt it hurt more and become even weaker. The muscle on his arms could be seen contracting and expanding, but he didn't dare to look at them.
And finally, the domain lit up in red light once again.
*BOOOM!*
"Hyahyahyahyah!!"