Ricard and his group reached the mid section of the mountain as the front runners.

No rocks were falling anymore, but powerful gusts of wind blew in every direction at specific intervals.

Both Knights and Mages had to hold on for dear life if they wanted to get through.

After a short communication between each other, Ricard, Alfred and Max came up with a strategy and got into formation.

Soon after, the three of them started climbing, with Ricard in the middle, protected by Max and Alfred at his sides.

When the wind stopped blowing, they started climbing up and when it started blowing again, they gripped the rocky mountainside and protected themselves using their spells.

"It seems like this stage is proving a challenge even for our front runners."

Pewterschmidt announced, looking at the screen displaying the three boys getting battered and swung left and right by intense winds as they held on with all their strength.

The previous stages weren't easy, but they were definitely less challenging, specially since they teamed up for half of them.

However, even teaming up wasn't gonna get them through easily this time.

Just like Osric said, getting past the fifth stage required strength, and not just in a sense of physical or magical power, but one's own mentality.

"Oh no, what if Ricard falls?"

"Stop being negative girl, he'll definitely make it, Ricard is the strongest after all."

The girls had only one worry, and it was Ricard losing.

Meanwhile, the boys grinned From ear to ear, almost ripping their mouths apart in the process.

"Go Ricard, Go Ricard, Go Ricard!"

The girls cheered.

"Fall Ricard, fall Ricard, fall Ricard."

The boys muttered under their breaths, their grins still on their faces.

The bastard was finally gonna lose, they couldn't wait to see it.

When Alfred's feet slipped and their formation was almost destroyed, the girls started panicking, at the same time the boys got excited.

At this exact moment though, Max, whose dagger was embedded into the cliffside, grabbed Ricard's attention.

"There's something here."

Without further ado, he punched the spot where his dagger was penetrated, only for a hole go reveal itself.

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The inside of the cliffside was empty!

With one more punch, the hole expanded to reveal a secret pathway within.

The three gave each other glances before wriggling their way inside.

Looking up, they could see a narrow path wide enough for one person leading straight to the mountain top.

The other participants too, soon became aware of the secret passages.

There wasn't just one, there were many of them across the entire cliffside.

The fifth stage was unreasonably difficult, for a reason.

As long as you showed enough tenacity and held on, chances were you could find a passageway up to the sixth stage.

The only problem was the holding on part.

You needed both luck and skill to find the passageways. those who had skills but no luck could only succumb to the wind before finding a passageway. while those who had luck but no skills, had no choice but to fall trying to make it inside.

Eric was someone who had both luck and skills, as he was able to discover and make it in a passageway after climbing about half of the way.

The fifth stage was arguably the most difficult one, with the highest fatality rate.

Approximately 80% of the remaining participants were wiped out, leaving only a dozen people competing for the title of number one.

Emil made made it to the windy cliffside at this point.

Looking at the harsh winds tearing people apart and flinging them away left and right, his expression grew dark.

"I'm fucked for real this time, there's no getting out of it..."

He muttered under his breath.

Despite his discouraging words, he still started climbing just like everyone else.

He knew that more likely than not, there was no secret way of getting past this stage unlike the previous stages.

If there was one, then it'd be passageways people discovered.

There was no point in wasting time, nor feeling down or complaining.

All he could do was start climbing and remain hopeful.

The first gust of wind came as Emil embedded Emerald Reflection into the cliffside as hard as he could.

One hand holding the sword and another gripping a crack as a handhold, he braced hismelf for the oncoming wind.

Emil's breathing stopped and his hands stretched to their maximum capacity as the gust hit his body.

He closed his eyes and put all his strength into his grip, waiting for the adversary to pass.

After ten excruciating seconds, the wind stopped and Emil could breath again.

With no time to waste, he took his sword out and got climbing again.

After scaling a few meters, he stabbed his sword into the cliffside again, this time even deeper than before for extra security.

The next gust was gonna be even more powerful, it was better to be safe than sorry.

Just like last time, the wind came and lashed at Emil's body, sending his lower half flying like a ragdoll while both his hands held on to his sword.

Just as his fingers were about to let go, the wind stopped and he could climb again.

"Emil Ashdown is in trouble again."

Pewterschmidt said while looking at the screen.

Emil's sword wasn't coming out no matter how hard he was pulling.

The next gust of wind was gonna come soon, and it was gonna sweep him away more likely than not.

"Is this the end for him? Is this where his streak of luck, wits, and perseverance end?"

Emil, frustrated, kicked the sides of the the cliff and pulled at the sword with full force.

One kick, two kicks, three kicks.

A hole appeared on the spot he was kicking after doing it for the fourth time.

Pewterschmidt, all the judges, every spectators, and even Emil himself took a second to comprehend the scene before them.

That hole, it was a passageway. Yet Emil was just at the beginning of the fifth stage. Everyone else had discovered their passageways either halfway through or in the latter parts of the stage.

Only Emil found his so early.

"The madman does it agaiiiiiiin!"

Pewterschmidt's voice shook with excitement, the man almost jumping in his spot.

The spectators started clamoring.

"What the fuck?"

"There's no way he can get this lucky!"

"It's rigged, I'm telling you this match is rigged!"

The girl with the pink hair whom Emil saved at the fourth stage looked on in annoyance.

"Look at this guy, getting all lucky after making me fail the fourth stage."

She hissed to the person next to her who looked an awful lot like herself, most likely her sister.

Her sister patted her shoulder.

"It's alright, his time will come too."

A cold look was in her eyes. Evidently, she wasn't too fond of Emil.