Aether forced himself to keep on moving. He had to keep on going no matter what. Stefan was left on the ground. His brain was a complete mess right now. For the first time in his life, he had been defeated by someone of his own age. He couldn’t process it.
Everyone who had survived up to this stage could use their bodies normally now. Stefan snapped out of his disbelief and looked around but Aether had already left. “AH!” he smashed his fist into the ground to lessen his frustration. “That damned gas!” he said and blamed his defeat on it.
When Aether was beyond the wall, he saw 9 other entrances around him. People rushed from all 9 of these entrances. “It’s the other groups.” The pig said.
The path which they were travelling in had gotten larger. There were probably 1000 people in the path he was running in. “It’s getting crowded.” He said. He ran as fast as he could since his legs were fine. He saw a cliff ahead. Vapours of heat kept coming from it.
“I’m starting to hate the heat a little bit,” Aether said. As he got closer, he noticed that it was not a cliff but a large pit which was filled with lava. There were long pillars with a flat top that stood in the lava.
“How did they even get the lava here?” Aether wondered. “No one cares about how the lava got here, just cross this pit and don’t fall into the lava while you’re at it.” The pig said. You could use the pillars and hop to the other side of the pit.
At first glance, this obstacle seemed very easy. Just keep a calm head and jump properly, one could get across it but the pillars were thin and only about five people could stand on a pillar at once.
“Easier said than done. My whole body is paining. All you have to do is relax inside my body. I’m the one doing all the hard work.” Aether said.
“Whatever, stop complaining like an old man and cross it already.” The pig said.
Only the first 600 people would get selected. The more time Aether wasted; the more people would cross it before him. He saw many people fall off the pillars as they were trying to jump over. The officers threw a rope-like object and caught all of the people before they could take a dip and die.
There were so many people trying to cross that if Aether would try, he would just get pushed down and disqualify. “Hey pig, do you think that pillar is made of a strong material?”
“How should I know? Ask the system.” The pig said.
“You’re right. Wrong animal to ask. Guess I got hit in the head too. Asking a pig something… *sigh*” Aether said.
“Why you little!” the pig said.
“System can that thing be damaged?” Aether asked.
Calculating dexterity of pillar……
The Master cannot damage the pillar at your current level.
Aether was disappointed but he expected it. He took out his dagger. “What about this?”
The pillar can be pierced with the dagger Master. According to the calculations, the master must not do what he is thinking, it has a high risk to…
“Fuck it,” Aether said as he cut the system off before it could finish what it was about to say. “HAAAH!” He jumped to the nearest pillar and inserted his dagger into it with both his hands.
Everyone was shocked seeing this. “Shit!” Aether said. “This is scarier than what I had expected”. As he hung from the pillar, he saw the lava from down below. It was boiling out bubbles. He hugged the pillar with his body and took his dagger out. “Phew”.
The pillars were quite close to each other and were quite slim or Aether’s plan would have gone down the drains. He drove mana into his legs and let go of the pillar. He kicked the pillar with both his legs, twisted his body in mid-air and struck his dagger into the next pillar. “Two of these daggers would have really helped me out right now.”
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“Be thankful you at least have one.” The pig said.
Siarchas’s eyebrows furrowed after seeing this spectacle. “Hmm…” he thought. “Were the pillars that weak?” he asked.
“No sir, it appears the boy is using a special dagger,” Vince answered.
Aether left many people shocked. Another guy tried to copy Aether. He jumped and struck his sword on the pillar. Instead of going through the pillar, the sword created a sharp sound. “SHHIINNG” as it bounced off the pillar. “WWWAAAAAHH!” and the guy fell down towards the lava. An officer threw his rope at him and caught him but his misfortune hadn’t ended yet as he went on to crash into the walls of the large pit. Nobody tried Aether’s method after that.
“Do you think he is alive?” An officer asked. “Doesn’t look like it.” the officer who caught him said while tugging on the rope to see if he would react. “Let’s hope he is.” Another said. “Pull him up,” an officer said. “No, I think he pissed his pants, let the lava dry it off.” The officer who caught him said.
Aether, on the other hand, had jumped on to 20 pillars. A lot of people had crossed the pit and many had been disqualified. Stefan was on the pillar 20th pillar as well right now. Aether was catching his breath and his throat was parched. He swallowed his saliva to make it better but it just became drier.
While he was jumping from one pillar to another, he was getting lower and lower the pillars and closer to the lava. He couldn’t see who was on top of the pillar. “It’s too hot here, need to go higher,” he said.
“C’ mon kid, you got this! Three more jumps, a little bit of climbing and we can be on the other side.” The pig said, encouraging Aether.
Aether’s palms were sweating profusely but even his sweat was getting evaporated. “It’s too hot here, I need to get higher” Aether said. He slowly climbed upwards.
Stefan looked at him with hate in his eyes. “You peasant, I can't kill you yet but I’ll make sure to destroy your arm at least.” He said.
He aimed his arms at Aether as a magic circle appeared. “Fire …” a small fireball appeared and slowly increased in size. But before he could finish his spell, he got punched in his face and was blown away to another pillar. The ball of fire dissipated.
“What dirty tricks are you planning now Stefan?” the person who struck him asked.
Stefan got up and activated fire fist in both his arms. “AAAH!” he said as punched everyone off the 21st pillar. “Amon, you piece of trash, what are you doing here,” Stefan asked.
Everyone stopped on the pillars before the 20th one. Anyone who tried to get past would get blown away by Amon. Amon activated fire fist on both his arms as well. “Maybe I didn’t punch you hard enough you little bitch.”
“Hmph, don’t get cocky, you got lucky. Just as your mother did that night.” Stefan said.
“Do you ever have something new to say to me?” Amon said
“It always gets you riled up though, right?” Stefan laughed. Amon’s veins on his head popped. He let out a battle cry and jumped onto the 21st pillar. “Let’s test out if it was just luck.” He said and punched towards Stefan.
Everyone who was standing on the 19th pillar tried to get past both of them but they didn’t give them any chance as they blew them away with their lit-up fists.
Amon had higher skill than Stefan did but he was only lvl 29 while Stefan was lvl 35. Stefan also could use his fire fist continuously while Amon was starting to lose mana and could only use fire fist occasionally. Slowly but surely Amon was losing.
“You’re nothing but talk!” Stefan said as he punched Amon. He kicked Amon’s legs and made him fall. Amon tried to get up but he got punched in the face and was forced to the ground again. “Just die, you weren’t supposed to be born anyway,” Stefan said as he punched towards his head.
“Excuse me, coming through!” Aether had jumped on top of the 16th pillar. “Lightning fist!”, he smacked Stefan on his side, taking him by surprise and threw him off the pillar. Amon didn’t let him fall into the lava and caught him before throwing him onto the pillar. Aether then continued to kick Stefan in the balls. “OH!” Stefan shrieked. “Just in case.” He said.
“I didn’t need your help,” Amon said. “You’re welcome,” Aether said. “You can do whatever you want with him. Thanks for helping me out earlier.”
“I didn’t do it for you,” Amon said.
“I know, I just don’t like owing people favours,” Aether said and jumped to the next pillar.
Amon looked at Stefan who was still grovelling on the ground hopelessly. He spit his saliva mixed with the blood from his mouth on Stefan’s face. He got down and whispered into his ear “I won’t let you get disqualified. I'll let you pass and the next time I fight you, I’ll make you wish you were dead.”
After saying that Amon followed after Aether. “Those bastards!” Stefan said. He couldn’t curse anymore as the people who were waiting on the previous pillars jumped on his pillar.
“AAHH!!” Stefan screamed as they trampled all over him. Some of them wanted to push him off the pillar and disqualify him but after seeing his balls get hit and get spit on his face, even they felt a little pity for him.
Aether ran forward as he saw a dark entrance. He felt almost no energy left in his body. After the lava pit was just a large stretch. People had to sprint all the way. He was going to blackout. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him.
What was behind that entrance he wondered. He got closer and closer to it. He couldn’t get to see it and fell down just as he had made his way in. The pig was shouting and the system was telling him something. The last thing he saw was an officer in front of him. ‘Did I get disqualified? Fuck….’ He thought. He ran out of stamina and closed his eyes as he entered a deep sleep.