Chapter 123: Overtaking everyone! No help given?
Chapter 123
A few hours later
“Pant… Pant…”
Evelyn was heavily panting, her cheeks flushed red as beads of sweat rolled down her forehead, drenching her youthful face.
She staggered and almost fell on the stair she was currently on.
It had been hours since then, and they had all climbed quite far and high by now.
She was not sure where they were right now, but they had climbed a considerable distance.
It had been a long time since she had been using her espera to strengthen her body internally to help counter the increasing pressure.
At this moment, the pressure on her shoulders was at least ten times stronger than it was initially. It was extremely difficult for her to even take another step upwards.
She knew that if she fell now, she would lose all her strength and would not be able to climb any higher.
Glancing back, she could see almost all of them had broken down in exhaustion on their respective steps.
Alphonso, Daniel, Amber… all of them had stopped climbing further and were lying weakly on their respective stairs, not moving an inch.
She gritted her teeth and thought, ‘I cannot move more… I feel like falling down.’
The help that Elder Sigfor had promised at the beginning of the climb was not here. She could not help but feel a bit concerned for them. The pressure was still pressing onto them, rendering them unable to move up or down.
‘No, they should be fine. This is not a trial of death. I am sure they will intervene if things become excessive for any of them.’
She calmed down as she thought about this and looked upwards.
Her eyes narrowed as she tried to see the figures above.
The figures of her sister and Naida were now visible to her clearly. Their speed had slowed down significantly, and they were taking one step at a time.
It was clear from their posture that the pressure above was becoming harder for them.
However, a lone figure was still climbing non-stop…
Her heart fiercely started to beat in excitement as she watched him reach close to the two girls who were above.
Tap Tap Tap
He was climbing up like there was no pressure on him, moving up as if he was climbing a casual stairway.
Slowly, she saw him pass the two girls who were equally surprised as she was when they saw him overtaking them.
Evelyn smiled, gritted her teeth, and took another step.
Boom!
The pressure on her shoulders increased significantly, and she could not help but sit down.
‘So this is my limit currently…’
She thought to herself as she felt the dense pressure. Even using espera was now becoming tougher. A sense of suffocation was evident in the air.
She leaned against a rock and watched as Nadia also paused at one point.
Soon enough, she was followed by Bella, who was just a few steps above her and fell down on that step as well.
But…
Oliver… He was still moving upwards.
She could not believe how this guy was doing it.
Was the pressure not affecting him at all?
Even if it was, he did not seem to be affected much by it for some reason.
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Oliver kept moving upwards, one stair after another. He went on non-stop. He could feel the immense pressure descending on him.
He was using his turbulent espera to reinforce his body and move upwards. Coupled with his super strength and on top of that, the reinforcement from espera, he was able to keep climbing non-stop.
While the pressure was overbearing, there was a strange sensation in his body as he kept moving upwards, his espera although subtly was becoming more concentrated. This was probably due to the gravitational force pressing them.
He noticed Bella and Nadia on his way but still kept moving upwards.
Being the person with tenfold the talent of someone like Nadia, he was naturally able to overtake them.
He wanted to know what his limit was compared to others.
It was fine if they were suspicious of his strength. He was here to train, so they might as well see his true strength later.
It was not like they would become jealous and try to kill him as soon as possible to eliminate some growing threat. Although they were not developed deeply in the novel, he knew they did not have that sort of personality.
It was not like he could do much about it, considering he was about to spend months or maybe even years with them.
It was better to be like this if they were supposed to be working together as a team in the future at some point.
As he kept stepping up, his legs started to wobble slowly.
“This is…” he panted slightly as he strained himself, “…getting tough.”
He could still spot the mountain top through the fog and knew that it was still far from their location. In fact, he was not even close to covering half the surface.
The track of time was now blurry to everyone; he did not know how much time had passed since the start of all this.
He had been taking breaks from time to time while climbing; however, for the past few hours, he had been going up non-stop.
He felt that if he dared to rest for a moment, his body would truly fall down, and he would not be able to continue any longer—both mentally and physically.
Looking back, he could not help but narrow his eyes, and now even the figures of Nadia and Bella were distant from where he was. Had it not been for his extraordinary senses and their relative distance, he might have not been able to see their shadows at all either.
‘It seems this is as far as I go?’
He thought to himself internally, wondering how strong he would have to be to even close half the distance.
In the end, he decided to climb one more step, a last step, and then stop. That was as far as he could muster up his will.
Click!
He placed his foot on the next stair and instantly felt an even stronger pressure than before raining down on him, threatening him to stop climbing. The sound of rocky stairs grinding against his feet was as clear as day in his ears.
He persisted, slowly climbed over, and instantly crashed to the ground. He reacted in time and quickly leaned against the rock to prevent any damage to himself.
He had reached his limit too. He sighed as he looked at the dense white fog surrounding him.
He could not keep using [Cosmic Void Gaze]; they were extremely draining. Not to mention, he was already mentally exhausted—unable to even try using it.
All he could see was white fog filling his vision.
“Now, who will get us out of here?”
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“Hey! Is anyone there!?”
Daniel yelled at the white fog around him. He had been here for some significant amount of time now.
He could no longer spot Nadia, Oliver, Evelyn, Bella at all. It was either that they had gone way above, or the fog had become dense with time.
“Ugh! I am getting annoyed by all this!”
Suddenly, another voice came out, resonating in his ears.