Chapter 272: Witty Prometheus (3)

[Welcome to your System Factory][Access Time Remaining: 11:59:55]

"Phew... That was close." Adrian fell onto the lush grass of the Factory, letting himself catch a desperate breath. Jumping into his pocket dimension mid-combat was a risky gamble in terms of the rules, but it was the only way he could have survived that magma bomb. He didn’t regret it one bit.

’I just hope this move doesn’t disqualify me,’ he thought, his mind racing. According to the official Galactic Clash rulebook he had assimilated, a fighter was only disqualified if they forfeited, died, or left the arena boundaries for a prolonged period.

But ’disappearing from reality’ was a grey area. The only problem now lay in whether their system assumed he was still present.

Adrian monitored the situation via a small piece of invention he had left before departing. He heard the announcer’s voice crackle with clear intent.

<"REFEREE CONFIRMATION! PROJECT_PROMETHEUS HAS NOT LEFT THE ARENA BOUNDARIES! HIS SIGNAL IS STILL ACTIVE! THE MATCH IS NOT OVER! THE TIMER IS TICKING! HE HAS TEN MINUTES TO SHOW HIS FACE OR FORFEIT!">

Adrian breathed a heavy sigh of relief. "That means I can actually do it." It was cheating, undeniably. Using an external dimension to rest and strategize mid-fight was the ultimate unfair advantage.

But in a fight against a fifteen-meter-tall magma golem that could crush him like a bug, fairness was a luxury he couldn’t afford. As the old Earth saying went: If you ain’t cheating, you ain’t trying.

After being guaranteed that it wasn’t over, Adrian decided not to waste time. He first spent a chunk of TP to instantly repair his armor, the nanites swarming over the crushed plating and restoring it to pristine condition in seconds.

He then retrieved a high-grade recovery pill from his [Inventory], the very last of his stockpile. He swallowed it, and a wave of cool, healing energy washed over him. It only took a second for his broken ribs to knit and his body to feel whole again.

He was ready to continue. But he couldn’t just return to the Arena to be crushed again. The first and foremost reason for visiting the Factory was to come up with a plan.

With enough preparation, he could win any battle, and the Golem was not an exception. A mental thought took Adrian to his workshop.

"While he kept chasing me, I managed to map out his whole body," he muttered to himself. "Now is a good time to examine it."

Using the Holographic Design Studio, Adrian constructed a perfect, 3D wireframe model of STONEDESTROYER, detailing every little mark, vein of magma, and stony joint the Golem possessed. The process required intricate work for perfection, so it took him close to ten minutes of his precious time.

Adrian looked at the model. He had a simple yet effective plan to slay the giant. It was based on basic structural engineering.

The Golem wasn’t just magic; he was a physical construct. His joints worked together like a complex machine, a system of levers and pulleys powered by magma.

Each movement or disruption in one area could trigger an equal or opposite reaction on some other side. If he hit the right spot at the exact right moment with enough resonant force, he could create a cascading structural failure.

After several minutes of frantic analysis and calculations, identifying stress points and mana flow junctions, Adrian finally had a half-plan.

"Now, I test it."

***

Reappearing in the Simulation Chamber, Adrian replicated the arena in the white room. Every stone, every crater, every detail was recreated to the core.

He then projected a fully functional, AI-driven copy of STONEDESTROYER into the center. He placed himself in the rubble where he was before his disappearance and then Adrian began the simulation.

He tested out all his calculations. He employed mana grenades to destabilize footing, his mana gun to overheat specific magma veins, and his Resonant Fist to shatter critical joints.

Most of the simulations ended in his death, or inability to fight anymore. But a good number succeeded. Adrian wasn’t satisfied with "good enough."

He ran more iterations, accounting for other variables, including the Golem having hidden stone or molten-related abilities he hadn’t seen yet.

Hours passed within the chamber, which was only minutes in the real world due to the time dilation of the simulation. But finally, Adrian was done.

After destroying the simulated StoneDestroyer for the 24th time, finding the perfect sequence of attacks, he ended it, returning the room to its original state.

"Time to complete that Quest. Exit Factory."

***

The arena was silent. STONEDESTROYER remained still and alert, a statue of patience amidst the destruction.

The ten-minute timer was ticking down to its final seconds. Surprisingly, the viewer count hadn’t dropped; in fact, it had risen. Millions of beings were still streamed to the match. It was a big battle, a mystery, and they didn’t want to miss the moment the rookie either reappeared or was shamed.

Their wait paid off.

A blue light flickered into existence above the crater. A blue-black figure floated there, his armor gleaming, looking cleaner and stronger than before he had vanished.

<"HE’S BACK! WE ALL THOUGHT HE’D RUN FOR THE HILLS, BUT WE WERE WRONG! PROJECT_PROMETHEUS HAS RETURNED! AND LOOK AT THAT CONFIDENCE! HE’S READY TO GIVE US SOMETHING SPECIAL!">

STONEDESTROYER looked up, a slow, pleased smile cracking his stony face. "You finally returned. Good. I would have been disappointed if you fled. Now... let us continue where we stopped."

He didn’t give Adrian any time now. He closed his massive fist, forming a molten boulder the size of a house, and hauled it at blinding speed.

"Tch, predictable."

Adrian was ready. He didn’t try to dodge as that would be difficult against the homing rock. He simply disappeared once again, but this time he didn’t leave the arena.

[Translocation]

The moment that command left him, he vanished from the path of the boulder and reappeared instantly behind the Golem’s massive neck.

STONEDESTROYER sensed him and began to turn, but he was already too late. Adrian raised his Mana Gun and fired a point-blank, high-frequency blast directly into the junction where the Golem’s neck met his shoulder.

~ZZEEOW!~

The blast didn’t pierce; it overstimulated the magma vein, causing a momentary paralysis. STONEDESTROYER twitched, his movement arrested.

Adrian didn’t stop there. He dropped, activating his thrusters to accelerate downwards. He landed on the Golem’s back and delivered a Resonant Fist to the spine, shattering the stone plating. He bounced off, appearing at the back of the right knee, delivering another bone-jarring strike. Then the left elbow. Then the hip.

He was a blur of motion, striking each weak point he had practiced on in the simulation with flawless precision. His attacks immobilized the Golem, disrupting the flow of mana that allowed the giant to move.

STONEDESTROYER roared in frustration, trying to swat him, but his limbs wouldn’t obey. He could do nothing as Adrian chipped him down, bit by bit, a master sculptor destroying his own creation.

<"WHAT ARE WE WITNESSING?! IS THIS THE UPSET OF THE SEASON?! PROJECT_PROMETHEUS IS BULLYING THE DESTROYER! HE’S MAKING IT LOOK TOO EASY! HE’S SURGICALLY DISMANTLING A LIVING MOUNTAIN!">

Adrian kept going at astonishing speed. Only when he had achieved all his objectives, fracturing every major joint and destabilizing the Golem’s core, did he make his final move.

He leaped high into the air, tossing a cluster of high-explosive Mana Grenades he had prepped in the Factory. They adhered to the cracks he had made.

~BOOM-BOOM-BOOM-CRACK!~

The explosions rang out in a deafening chain reaction, blowing chunks of obsidian from the Golem’s body and severing the final connections holding him together.

STONEDESTROYER swayed. He tried to take a step, but his legs crumbled. With a final, low groan of defeat, the fifteen-meter titan fell.

~THOOOOOOM!~

The impact caused a massive dust cloud that swallowed the arena. When it cleared, STONEDESTROYER lay in pieces, his core dimming as he signaled his resignation.

<"THAT’S IT. HE’S DONE IT! PROJECT_PROMETHEUS HAS DONE THE IMPOSSIBLE! HE HAS STOPPED THE DESTROYER IN HIS TRACKS AND USED THE LEGEND AS A STEPPING STONE! ALIENS OF THE PLATINUM LEAGUE, FEAR THE NAME PROMETHEUS, FOR HE HAS ARRIVED!">