Arthur drowned himself in his thoughts, desperate to distract himself from the human torch he was slowly turning into.
His entire body felt hot—extremely hot. While the raw pain was still manageable at the moment, the sheer discomfort was suffocating.
"Dammit, Telmear, you said it's just a little pain... this shit hurts like hell!!!" It seemed Telmear had somehow anticipated something like this would happen to him, given the warning he had whispered before parting ways.
Arthur gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes shut, refusing to look at that infuriating, smiling face. The longer he stared at it, the stronger his urge became to smash his fists right through it.
"Take your time... The longest anyone has lasted before telling me what I needed to know was two hours."
"Let's see how long a Cross can hold out." The haunting voice echoed in his ear, testing his resolve.
Arthur forced himself to remain calm, then snapped his reddened eyes open. With his disheveled, snow-white hair clinging to his damp forehead, he looked borderline psychotic as he stared daggers right back at the smiling man opposite him.
"Take your time... hehe," the Transcendent taunted again, chuckling softly as he produced an ornate hourglass, letting it float midair beside himself.
That was the breaking point. Fueled by a sudden spike of anger—and the raging heat burning through his veins—Arthur snapped. "Y... you!! I swear I'll make you regret this!!!"
Ha!
The stranger's smile faltered for a fraction of a second before breaking into a sharp, mocking laugh. "I can't believe this... I'm being threatened by a newly awakened Transcendent. I suppose the Cross family really is as crazy as the rumors say."
"As long as you don't value your life, you can come after my head; you won't be the first anyway... I might not be able to kill you within the Academy because of your surname, but do not mistake this for my weakness."
He slowly leaned closer to Arthur's face, close enough to feel the intense heat his body was radiating under the torture of the poison in his system. "Out there, in foreign planes. The death of a Cross won't be as suspicious. So, please-."
"-Do come prepared, as long as you can find me. I've always wanted to add the skull of a Cross to my collection."
Arthur shivered furiously as he spasmed from the heat wave assaulting his consciousness.
The pain was driving him crazy as he struggled to breathe through the hot air his lungs were pumping. "I swear if I find you, your death won't be pretty!!"
Arthur snarled as he convulsed uncomfortably; the heat within his body just cranked up another level. "Telmear... Where the hell are you!!" Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
Of course he kept this thought to himself, hoping not to complicate matters for himself by alerting the Transcendent before him.
Arthur wasn't able to think straight anymore. His vision was growing increasingly blurry, his fair skin turning a blistering red as he thrashed around in pain. Each breath felt like he was about to exhale actual fire. His limit was approaching, and fast.
The text here was copied from the author's official publication without consent; readers support the writer at the published chapter.
Arghh!!!!
"Take your time..." The stranger spoke once more, making Arthur snap at him with boiling rage, but his efforts were in vain. "It's only been twenty minutes so far.... There's still time."
"What- just twenty minutes?"
Arthur's fury slowly turned to sheer desperation as he thrashed around in severe pain, biting down hard on his lip to keep himself from screaming.
Aaghhh! Stop... S... stop!
Unable to silently endure the sudden, massive spike in heat, Arthur screamed out, drenched in sweat and what looked like tears pouring from both eyes.
He even began questioning the worth of the information against his life. The hope that Telmear was gonna find him kept his willpower strong, but with each passing moment and no sign of Telmear, his furious eyes began losing their focus.
Leaving him with a blank expression, spasming from the heat raging within his body continuously.
"Telmear... Telmear..." Arthur began muttering his elder brother's name as a desperate final-ditch effort to stay sane. He had already blown past his pain threshold.
"Heh... You're making good time. Three more minutes and you'd have endured the flame poison for thirty minutes total," the stranger remarked calmly, watching the sand trickle to the bottom of the hourglass.
"No way..."
Suddenly, following the stranger's voice, his head snapped to the left; his smile vanished from his face.
"Lucky bastard... What happened to keeping them busy while I get the information?" The stranger muttered to himself as he looked at Arthur, who was almost ready to give up with a slight hesitation.
But without warning, he vanished into the shadows beneath his feet.
Arthur couldn't feel it since his authority was sealed at the moment, but there was a terrifying presence with a dense aura approaching his location.
Crack! Crash!!!
The wall to Arthur's left fractured violently before a massive hole was blasted straight through it. Even the protective runes carved into the room couldn't withstand the raw force punching through the wall.
Telmear's towering figure stepped through the wreckage, ducking his head slightly to fit his hulking figure through the hole he created.
Arthur couldn't even look in his direction, his mind completely blanked out by the agony. He kept his unfocused eyes pinned to the floor, barely able to twitch from the sheer intensity of the pain.
"Hey, kid, sorry I'm a little late." Telmear's hoarse voice came along with his huge figure as he gently placed his hand on Arthur's burning skin. "I told you they wouldn't dare kill you."
A deep frown etched itself across Telmear's face the moment he felt the scorching temperature radiating off Arthur. With a casual wave of his hand, he shattered the heavy bindings holding Arthur in place.
He carefully hoisted Arthur up using his aura, quickly examining his blistering skin. "Flame poison!"
Telmear immediately recognized the symptoms he was witnessing as those of the flame-poison carapace. The beetle was a rare, mutated variant of the cold-poison beetle, which was a well-known resource native to the Qosio Plane.
Its poison wasn't at all lethal, but even a veteran Transcendent would break down from the sheer pain it caused in no more than three hours.
Telmear glanced at the empty spot where the stranger had just vanished, clicking his tongue in irritation. "Tsk, I can't trace the aura energy... It seems he didn't use amateurs."
"Not bad... any less and I'd think someone was looking down on the Cross family."A faint, provoked smile touched the corners of Telmear's mouth, though it was the full extent of his reaction.
He quickly turned toward the gaping hole he had blasted into the wall. Manipulating his aura to cushion Arthur's floating body beside him, he muttered, "Youngest, just a few more minutes, alright? Hang in there... Terria should have an antidote in her tower."
"You won't die from the flame poison; it just hurts, that's all." Despite his carefree phrasing, Telmear wore a grave expression. He knew full well that the pain was far worse than he was letting on.
Boom!!
With a concussive boom, he shattered the sound barrier, moving at blinding speed toward the Northern District where Terria's tower was located.