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"How much do you need for the next summon?" Lucien asked.

"A bit more than 800 million," Elio responded. "I didn\'t have time to absorb more for various reasons."

Lucien nodded, understanding. Of the more than 2 Billion that Elio had entrusted him with, he still retained a considerable amount.

"I can give you what you\'re missing, I still have more than half of what you transferred last time," he offered. "The level 8 summon could be crucial."

"Are you sure?" Elio hesitated. "Those cores are for the city..."

"And you are our best chance," Lucien interrupted while opening his book to transfer the cores.

"Besides, I kept enough in reserve. This amount won\'t compromise our defense plans... and giving anything more than elephants to trusted soldiers isn\'t possible in the first place, the cost increase is enormous for the penguin or the eel..."

"...These cores are better used on you, in the end the information you gain reaching level 10 will benefit the city, we can obtain more cores when you return."

Faced with these arguments, he had to accept.

Elio watched as the counter finally reached one Billion and a new summon appeared.

The Roseline-shark.

It was time to jump. The Artromus maintained its surveillance pattern and at this moment was as far away as possible from here... they wouldn\'t have another opportunity like this soon.

"It\'s time," Elio murmured.

"Elio," Lucien approached, his voice laden with almost paternal concern. "Are you sure you don\'t want to visit your mother before leaving?"

Elio remained silent for a moment, his eyes fixed on the horizon.

"This time is different," he finally responded. "I\'m not fighting for the city, not even to protect my family."

He turned to Lucien, and there was something in his gaze that the Summoner had never seen before, a calculated coldness replacing his usual protective determination.

"My mother... She has a gift for helping me find peace, for giving closure to difficult situations." A bitter smile formed on his lips. "But I don\'t want closure, Lucien. I want blood."

Lucien nodded slowly, understanding. "What should I tell her?"

"The usual. That I\'m fine, that I\'m keeping in touch." Elio checked his preparations one last time. "She\'s strong... She\'ll wait for me."

Without further words, Elio moved toward the edge.

He launched himself into the void, his body cutting through the air as he fell toward the sea of monsters. Halfway down Elio opened his book. The world around him vanished as he entered what would be his most difficult challenge yet.

And according to his enemy...

The last one.

But this time he wasn\'t going as the city\'s protector, nor as the son seeking to honor his father\'s memory. This time he went as an avenger, and level 10 was just the first step on his path to obtaining the Artromus\'s blood.

♢♢♢♢

The warnings resonated in Elio\'s mind as he contemplated the tunnel\'s beginning.

Both God and the Artromus had emphasized the special danger of this level, the last one a human could aspire to reach.

But if he wanted a real chance against Micah\'s killer, he needed every possible advantage.

\'I have no choice,\' he thought while checking his preparations one last time. His mana and resistance were at maximum, his provisions complete.

The tunnel stretched before him, apparently similar to the previous ones.

The format\'s familiarity might have been comforting; the first five levels had maintained the same pattern, as had the next five.

But something felt different this time.

The first meters seemed normal, until he noticed the first protrusions. They emerged from the walls like tiny needles, barely visible at first. Elio studied them cautiously; they didn\'t glow or emit gas like other elements he had faced.

They simply... were there, growing from the surface like gray crystals.

Initially, they were easy to avoid, a simple dance between free spaces. But as he advanced, the formations became larger, more numerous. What started as pin-sized needles soon grew to finger length.

\'Reminds me of nickel,\' Elio thought while dodging. The sound they made when he accidentally brushed against them was similar. Metallic, but not like lithium or any other element he knew.

Eventually, the space between formations reduced so much it became impossible to avoid them. Elio was forced to step on them, and that\'s when he discovered their true nature.

Sharp pain shot through his feet.

His armor partially yielded to these formations. It wasn\'t complete penetration, but enough to feel each prick.

\'What kind of element is this?\' he wondered, studying the nearest formations. They were dark gray, and seemed to grow from the floor and walls.

Each step became a new exercise in pain resistance.

The formations not only grew in size and number, they seemed to become harder, sharper. Some now reached the length of his forearm, and their tips gleamed with threatening sharpness.

Elio tried creating a carbon layer under his feet, but the formations pierced through it like paper. Nickel resisted a bit more, but deformed quickly, becoming useless after a few steps.

\'There has to be a pattern,\' he thought while carefully advancing. He observed how the formations seemed to grow following certain directions, as if responding to some invisible force. Some curved slightly, others remained perfectly straight.

The sound was the most disturbing. Every time his weight made one of the formations yield, it produced a metallic tinkle that resonated through the tunnel. It was as if the path itself was singing a discordant melody with each of his steps.

Most concerning was that this seemed to be just the challenge\'s beginning.

The formations\' density kept increasing, and in the distance, Elio could distinguish areas where they seemed to form veritable curtains of metallic spikes.

♢♢♢♢

When the formations\' density became impenetrable, Elio stopped.

His armor\'s regeneration had resisted until now, but each step was a test of pain resistance against dozens of sharp points.

\'Time to test reactions,\' he thought, though the memory of previous explosions made him momentarily hesitate.

However, he had no choice… he needed to find a way to deal with these metallic formations.

He started with oxygen, maintaining a prudent distance.

To his surprise, the reaction was slow, almost imperceptible. The formations seemed to gradually change color, losing some of their metallic shine, but maintained their hardness.

Hydrogen produced no visible reaction. Elio waited for the usual explosion, but the formations remained unaltered.

Cautiously, he tried nickel. The two metallic substances seemed to recognize each other, but beyond a slight change in the contact surface and increased resistance of the spikes, nothing significant occurred.

Helium simply flowed around the formations without affecting them.

Carbon managed to form a layer over them, but some points became more lethal under the coverage.

When he tested nitrogen, the formations became more brittle from the cold, but remained strong enough to penetrate his armor depending on the angle he pushed them.

Although they could be destroyed more easily in a certain way... It was too costly to be a useful effect.

Lithium provoked a more interesting reaction; the formations seemed to respond more strongly to magnetism, vibrating heavily under Elio\'s control, but also too costly to be useful.

Neon, like helium, proved completely inert.

And finally, fluorine, his most recent and reactive element, barely achieved surface corrosion.

Elio observed the formations with renewed frustration. Each element had reacted uniquely, but none offered a clear solution to his problem.

\'What kind of element are you?\' he thought, studying one of the nearest points. The unknown metal seemed to mock his attempts, remaining firm and threatening.