Only Wisdom Awakened - Chapter 52

Scorching fight

The next morning.

The weather was as cold as ever and the chilly wind blew strong against the towering skyscrapers of Chicago while the naked trees made the air whistle as it passed between their branches.

In this weather, Hans slowly walked alongside the river.

However, he wasn’t dressed elegantly or formally. Instead, he just wore his chestplate made out of blue scales under a simple t-shirt, paired with cargo pants.

The beautiful orange sunrise cast half of his face in warm light, while the other half remained shrouded in darkness until a bright light emerged ahead, illuminating both sides of his face with a bright, blue reflection.

Raising his head, Hans took a look at the B-Rank gate before him, one which he was set to raid that day.

In case something went wrong, he had hoped to bring Kenta with him for a backup, but the latter refused, saying he was already caught up in too much work.

And so, there he was, once again, raiding a gate alone.

However, this wasn’t an entirely negative thing. Hans had discovered that the fewer participants entered the gate, the greater would be the rewards. Consequently, despite being a tier-4 mage, he already possessed more skills than an average A-Rank, even though normally he would be classified between C-Rank and B-Rank.

Mages were already rare and more powerful than warriors, but Hans defied all such expectations. Nonetheless, he sought more, not because he was greedy for power or because he was greedy for fame or money.

He just wanted one thing, his family.

And to do that…

“Eighth circle, I suppose… that’s probably the level I will need to reach in order to battle that overgrown snake. If I calculate, that would require my wisdom to exceed three thousand, and obtaining so much wisdom would take about…

…ah forget it, let’s just start.”

Hans shook his head, not wanting to think much about numbers.

With that, Hans entered the gate alone.

A blinding light that couldn’t be compared to the feeble morning sun that was shining before him a while ago enveloped him, and the reflections surrounded him from all directions.

Amidst the heat and the crumbling sensation of the sand shifting under his feet, it didn’t take long for Hans to realize that he now stood in the middle of the desert. And sure enough just as he suspected, the system’s message soon appeared:

[You have entered the B-Rank gate: Scorching Desert.]

From atop a dune, no matter which direction he looked, all he could see was desert, prompting him to wonder if any monsters were lurking.

The only things that stood on the sand in that desolate landscape were bones, which emerged like small pillars from the sand.

To the naked eye, these simply seemed to be the remains of some strong monster, but the reality was quite different, and thanks to his mystic insight, Hans managed to discover it before suffering anything from it.

As he analyzed one of the countless bones with his skill, the description window read:

[Race: Bone-Tailed Scorpion

Name: None

Lvl: 189

Strength: 131

Dexterity: 147

Endurance: 232

Wisdom: 62

Blessings:

{One with the sand (Currently Active)

When beneath the desert’s sand, the user’s presence will be greatly reduced, rendering them effectively undetectable to anyone below A-Rank.]

Skills:

{Seismic Pulse (E-Rank)

Description: Resonates with the earth, causing it to tremble instead of being carved out.

Effect: Makes the earth tremble with the user’s power, however, it won’t allow them to destroy it.}

Description: A common species that inhabits the scorching deserts.

They usually hunt by hiding underground for extended periods, remaining in a hibernation-like state to conserve energy.

They possess seismic sensors above their shell, allowing them to detect incoming prey and wake them up if triggered.

When cornered, these creatures do not fight alone.

Evaluation: (low) B-rank]

Hans’s skill allowed him to observe the movement of mana beneath the sand, and even if it was faint, he could still sense a bit of energy right below the tip of the white bone.

{Lighten}

Reducing his weight, Hans leaped high into the air to avoid triggering the enemy’s sensors.

While airborne, he encased both his arms in {Ice Armor} before slamming them onto the ground, right beside the bone tail.

The impact stirred up a lot of dust and sand, shrouding his body in a dense fog.

“Screeeech.”

Startled and hurt by the pressure applied on the sand, the monster emitted an ear-piercing scream before revealing its entire body.

The giant orange body of the creature rose up from the terrain while the sand on its back slowly flowed down like water.

Meanwhile, its large form loomed over Hans casting a shadow that dwarfed him in comparison and made him realize the difference.

As Hans gazed up at the towering monster, beads of sweat streamed down his forehead.

“Damm it, useless skill, why didn’t you tell me… that this scorpion was seven meters long?” Hans muttered in frustration.

Since the bone wasn’t as big as others around the area, Hans expected it to be a smaller scorpion, perhaps the size of a big dog, but it turned out to be just the tip of the iceberg.

His blow seemed to have been taken really well, but despite putting his all into that attack, the sturdy exoskeleton of the scorpion managed to block most of the impact.

Initially, he intended to attack with a piercing spell, but reconsidering the monster’s high endurance, he thought that he wouldn’t even be able to scratch its body since his highest spell capable of piercing was the tier-1 {Ice Spear}

But now, it seemed like even a direct approach was futile.

‘Well, I had hoped to get to the boss with most of my mana, but I guess I need to put in some effort even when fighting with this small fry,’ Hans mused, the aura around his body intensifying as he prepared for the battle.

But before he could even cast a spell, the scorpion acted, slamming its massive pincers into the sand.

‘Uh, what is this monster doing? Does it really think that’ll be enough to-‘

However, a realization about the crucial characteristic of the bone-tailed scorpion soon dawned on him.

When cornered, these creatures don’t fight alone…

Soon, clouds of sand billowed from every direction and the earth started trembling and rumbling as numerous scorpions converged towards his location.

‘As if one wasn’t enough,’ Hans thought wryly while the horde of monsters charged at him.

Swallowing nervously, he boldly declared, “Hahaha, let’s see how much it’ll take for me to kill all of these bugs, I’ll be sure to accept all the levels that deliver themself to me.”

The fierce fight started as all the scorpions took turns trying to stab Hans with their tales and fangs relentlessly.

{Blizzard}

{Ice Armor}

{Ice Armor}

{Blizzard}

{Blizzard}

Despite having otherworldly control over mana, as time went by, Hans found himself depleting his resources.

Yet there was not a single monster that died.

While {Blizzard} could restrain them for a period of time and his {Ice Armor} could take a few hits before breaking, he didn’t have the necessary spell and time to counterattack.

He even tried the {Fire Javelin} a couple of times, however, after growing in such a scorching heat all their lives, it seemed that these creatures had gained some kind of fire resistance, bolstering their insane endurance even more difficult to penetrate.

For over twenty minutes, Hans dodged and parried the incoming attacks without finding any opportunity to counterattack.

In a fit of rage and desperation, Hans completely froze the five scorpions with a huge {Blizzard} as they tried to attack him.

And then, to satisfy his desire to see the demise of those arachnids, he sacrificed a couple of precious seconds that could’ve been useful for his recovery.

He then cast a {Fire Javelin} in his palms before physically stabbing one of the frozen monsters with all his strength.

To his surprise, instead of putting on a thought resistance, the body of the monster shattered into thousands of pieces, facing the same end as Logan.

While still breathing heavily, Hans managed to find some time to taunt, “So you do have a weak spot huh… PANT …PANT… come if you dare, I’ll slaughter you all.”

One after the other, the monsters fell, but the cycle seemed never-ending.

As soon as Hans killed one, another replaced it.

Even Hans’ bottomless pit of mana had almost been brought to its limits.

‘How much time has passed? Twenty minutes, one or two hours maybe, it feels like months. My hands hurt so badly and my legs are trembling. When, when is this going to end, when… will I be allowed to stop.’

Akin to a machine, his body moved on its own without any thought, every single action of his was done with a sole objective in mind: to kill.

With the constant wielding of {Ice Armor} and {Fire Javelin}, his hands had become red and the skin on his palms had almost been peeled off.

When the onslaught of those monsters finally came to an end, Hans finally collapsed on his back, staying in the same position for the next few minutes.

The once golden yellow sand had now been painted purple by the disgusting blood of those monsters.

“I… PANT… PANT… definitely deserve a break,” Hans panted, his body battered and weary.