Ultimate Gamer System: Factory Must Grow!-Chapter 47: Melting through

"What the hell do I do now?" Theo wailed out loud... while maintaining a perfectly focused look on his face.

With the path between himself and the failed bunker now broken, Theo slumped down to the ground, giving himself just a moment to think things through while maintaining the construction overlay in case the beast not only broke through… but also figured out it could get to him by running in the other direction.

How would a beast be supposed to figure it out, Theo didn’t know, but after what he saw, he wasn’t going to take any chances.

’Am I really sure my crossbow won’t work on it?’

This was the first question, one that Theo merely assumed a negative answer to.

In essence, he relied on nothing more than his gut feeling, but…

’I saw how a single shot is enough to kill it. And sure, it might’ve been its weaker cousin from before it leveled up by killing the last member of its pack, but…’

Theo gritted his teeth before raising his hand and using his worn-down sleeve to wipe the sweat off his forehead.

Between the constantly heating-up air and the stress of the ongoing battle, his skin continued to grow hotter by the minute, now reaching the point where the heat was already starting to take a toll on his mind.

PSSSST!

The stone seal behind the makeshift barricade Theo just made grew so hot, not only did it start to hiss, but it also started to turn red, bits and pieces of it chipping away as the pockets of water inside its structure started to evaporate.

’Yeah, if it can melt through stone, the wooden bolt would just melt away before reaching it, not to mention the wild currents of air knocking its trajectory off…’

In a fit of powerlessness-powered rage, Theo slammed his hand down against the stone floor of his tunnel... Then, as if something finally clicked in his mind, a small smirk appeared on his lips, only for Theo to then wipe it away, fully commiting himself to the task that now clarified itself before him.

Then, as if to raise the stakes even further, the stone seal on the bunker’s entrance finally gave in, with the Wrathhound’s massive paw going through it like a hot knife would through warm butter.

"Looks like my time to think is now over," Theo muttered to himself, watching helplessly through the one block of free space he left while blocking the way as the beast slowly emerged through the melted-down seal, only to instantly lock its wrathful gaze back on him.

For a moment, the two simply stared at each other, either with a completely different set of emotions hidden behind their stare.

’Might as well try it, huh?’

Realizing that the opportunity to shoot was pretty much right there for the taking, Theo ripped out the makeshift bandage off his hand, using the smell of his blood to keep the Wrathhound in place for just a little longer…

The little longer he needed to raise his arbalest and point it straight at the one-block-wide and tall opening he left in the barricade.

Snap!

The sound of the string of his weapon recompressing as it shot the bolt out and the hellhound snapping its maw at the projectile merged together, leaving Theo to watch helplessly as the chips of wood left in the beast’s mouth burst into flames before, quite literally, melting away.

Then, with its eyes still locked on Theo’s face, the Wrathhound raised its paw before resting it down on the first block of stones blocking its way, staring Theo down as its overwhelmingly hot skin started to melt the stone under its paw.

"All that’s left for me to do is to run away, I guess?" Theo muttered in despair as he threw the arbalest down to the ground.

Its bolts were too slow, too small, too light, and way too easy to melt for them to achieve anything.

On the flip side, however… The rate at which the Wrathhound melted through the stone was several times slower than what Theo needed to mine the very same block of stone away himself.

"Well, just to be sure, then…" Taking a few steps back, Theo turned away and sealed the path behind him, just in case the beast would somehow smell the blood as he worked away at his escape route.

Then, just to keep the damned, fiery dog from staring him down as it crept closer and closer by melting the stone out of its way, Theo blocked the one remaining block of space with nothing but a block of dirt.

’Now, let’s get to work.’

The instant Theo broke the line of sight between the beast and himself, his despair, his anxiety, his fear…

They had all vanished as if by the touch of a magic wand.

’It’s intelligent enough to make itself grow stronger by killing its wounded packmate. It’s smart enough to figure out the best way to get to me. And most importantly of all, it’s patient enough to take its time to go through the stone rather than trying to find a different way to me.’

Theo smiled to his own thoughts as he whipped out his pickaxe, already knowing in his gut what was the right way forward, before still giving his new idea a try nonetheless.

With his vision now back into building mode, Theo unselected the block of stone and went ahead to pick one of the three siege ballistas he had left.

After all, while he crafted a whole six of them, he only used three to finish the construction of his towers!

"Just like I thought," Theo muttered to himself while infusing his voice with as much despair and fear as he could, banking on the fact that a single block of dirt wouldn’t be enough to filter his voice away from the keen ears of the beast.

While attempting to place the siege ballista down, not only did its projection appear fully in red, but it also clipped straight into the walls of his tunnel, making it quite obvious why he couldn’t place it down!

’You were smart enough to figure so much, so it’s best for me to keep you thinking it’s only a matter of time before you chomp me down,’ Theo thought as he now started to tap at the wall of his tunnels, gradually removing one block of stone after the other in a rush to make enough room for his new, oversized weapon.

Whether it would work or not was still a question…

But after Theo’s experiences with the Oilrat, relying on this oversized crossbow was by no means his last resort!

After all, he still had a total of six massive, heavy towers he could remove the foundations from, leaving just one block for the beast to melt away on its own, effectively collapsing the entire structure down on itself!

For now, however, Theo was determined to give his ballista a try before accepting the hefty loss of all the materials he used to erect those towers.

And so, bit by bit, he removed the walls and the floor… only to then start digging away at the dirt hidden behind the walls when he realized the arms of his siege crossbow were still too big to fit in the now widened tunnel.

In the end, however, the beast proved to be too focused on getting to Theo in the way it already found to be somewhat effective to realize it could just break the walls to its side to then rapidly dig through the ground and reach Theo’s unprotected flank.

By the time the last block of Theo’s barricade started to grow red, however…

The projection of his siege ballista finally turned from red to blue, allowing Theo to dash back to his temporary shelter before finally putting it down.

"Damn, now that I’m seeing it," he gulped his saliva down before wiping the sweat off his forehead and then rushing to the cranking mechanism at the stationary weapon’s back. "It really is quite big, isn’t it?"

As the temperature grew hotter, and the last stone blocking the monster’s way redder… The iron-weave string of Theo’s ballista finally locked in, allowing the young man to whip out a whole stack of the lances, throw most of them away, and insert just one of those human-long, extremely heavy bolts into its designated slot.

The final stone of the barricade melted away, leaving just the one additional block of stone Theo added to block the sound in the Wrathhound’s way.

Yet, rather than panicking, Theo quickly removed the stone seal to his back before standing at the back of his weapon and taking aim, his injured hand firmly resting at the release crank of the oversized crossbow.

Then…

"Just kill me already!"

Filling his voice with as much desperation, fear, and determination as he could, Theo locked his eyes on the one last remaining block of stone as it slowly melted away under the boiling-hot temperature of the beast’s paw.

And, the very moment the stone cracked and revealed the slightest bit of the monster’s body…

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Theo pulled the lever only to leap back with all the might in his legs and then quickly seal the way ahead just in case not even his ballista could kill that damned beast.