Chapter 1372 As Long As There Is A Will, There Is A Way Part 1

「Oboboboahahahah!!!」

「T-Tschinoko-san!!??」

Unsurprising to no one, I was burned to death by magma while trying to gather it.

A dozen of seconds later, I crawled out of the makeshift tent that I happened to have set on the outer edge of the “Golden Fountain” location located at the back of the Holvalkin Grand Shrine, and while I can see that Midas-dono is looking at me with a stunned expression plastered onto his face, I can only let out a small laugh in reaction to that.

「I guess that this is what happens when you make a jump into the lava pool all of a sudden like that…… But you know what? It is said that only the brave Heroes can overcome the fountain, so a certain amount of bravado is indeed expected here.」

「I personally think that this was a wonderful dive.」

「What was your plan there? Did you perhaps wanted to take a swim in the magma or something like that?」

Yes, that’s right. I know that this might have looked as if I have gone crazy, but I did not, There was just something that I wanted to know, so I just went ahead and verified it right here and there.

「Hehehe…… Naïve, way too naïve, Midas-kun! Things such as impossibility and despair…… they might be here, but they are not forever! There will always be a day when their reign is going to come to an end!」

And it just so happens that this day is going to be today.

The overall structure of this Golden Fountain is relatively simple: there is a center of the Fountain which is filled with “Ordinary Magma” that is about one hundred meters in diameter, and there is a place where the magma springs out and shines in golden color, about one meter in diameter.

Despite being in the center of a normal magma field that heats up tremendously and emits light, the gold magma that shines in an entirely different way, indicating that the golden magma is not just of a different color scheme. This is your indicator that it is different from all the rest.

So, in other words, what does that tell us? Well, you can get the golden magma as long as you are able to reach that point where it springs forth…… The problem is probably the normal magma zone, which is about forty nine meters wide, of not more.

In the first place, human beings are just way too fragile. We are not meant to swim in the magma, so the moment we jump in there, we are set ablaze and die in a split of a second. By the way, even if you were to try and fly really low over the magma for about fifty meters, the increasingly high temperature is going to kill you, but not nearly as fast as the direct dive into it.

But in that case, whatever am I supposed to do in here?

「Incidentally, Midas-kun, I have already come up with a suitable strategy in order to get my hands on what I want. But I’m wondering…… do you have any idea what that strategy might be, hmm?」

「Huh? What are you ––––––」

「Basically the time between the Player being set ablaze and them dying is about five seconds long. Once the process of ignition starts, you can basically have no stops in things that you will do next. Because there will be damage over time applied to you, even if you don’t touch the magma directly. Next, thanks to the effect of the Reversed Arcana of the “Fool”, all sources of damage over time for me are cut in half. So we get about ten percent more time to that five seconds, which is not all that much, but it’s not nothing……」

And the conclusion here is as follows:

「One must arrive at the center of the pool within fifty seconds, and then secure the golden magma in a suitable container with the next five seconds……! And something like this, I could easily do with my eyes closed!!」

GOON–––!!!

Activating my skills! Come on! Activate! Activate! All of you!

“Sanraku” might be a physical damage warrior, but he’s not your plain and ordinary warrior! After all, he is the holder of the “Maximum Speed” title, a warrior who can run through the skies with the help of his skills alone, without using magic! This is the kind of being that this iteration of “Sanraku” is!

I am the kind of man who is going to keep on running forward, even if the world all around me is going to be collapsing and crumbling to pieces! If you really want to stop me from advancing forward, then instead of placing a damaged floor right in front of me you’d better employ the moving floor tiles! That would be way more effective!!

「Huh, HAAAAAAHHH!!!!!!」

I know that I said that it is annoying as all hell, but after coming here to this place, I can see that the effects of the Reversed Arcana of the “Fool” are actually working in my favor. My body runs through the hot air, having the pool of hot magma right under my feet, but thanks to my Maximum Speed, I managed to not touch it. However, my whole body is still being exposed to the high temperatures, but thanks to the Reversed Arcana of the “Fool”, the damage I am suffering from that is lesser than what it would normally be.

「There! I can see it!」

A golden droplet springing from the magma pool! Deploying the Golden Bucket! Bucket on standby!!!

The heat here is so high that it makes my legs go numb and my HP is constantly being reduced, but it is all within the range that I can still dismiss it as a slight inconvenience rather than anything life-threatening! The real game starts from here on out, as I need to naturally slow down to the very limit and fall to the very center of the fountain’s spring.

And right now my feet are about to start sinking into the magma! But with the use of the Orbit Movement I am able to reverse the up and down directions with only the bare minimum of movements!

This is all thanks to the effect of the skill “Aste Runner”, a newly obtained skill that allows me to change the direction of gravity while leaving me in the same position. And for as long as this skill is activated, I will not be affected by the rotation of the semicircular canals, no matter how great it might become.

And with the help of the effect of Hermes Boot’s natural evolution, “Dione’s Assistance”, I can even stand on the spot without moving further if I want to!

「In other words, this is it! This is the right moment to act─── !!」

Thanks to the all of the above skills, I can safely swing the bucket while remaining in a stable standing position! A heavy water-like noise is then heard and the bucket sinks into the golden magma with ease. And at the same time that was my cue to pull it out as fast as I possibly could!