Ensemble Leveling
Chapter 42: Leaning Nightmare
The group of four carved their way down the mountain with an urgency that matched the peril at their backs. The broken mountain path, steep vertical drops, and treacherous terrain that would have killed a normal skier in his world were rendered manageable with their stats by their combined magic. Fenrir's Ice Magic created a glistening, smooth path of snow, while Zorn’s Earth Magic smoothed out rocky obstacles and filled in hazardous crevices. Legolas manipulated the winds around them, softening their falls and stabilizing their airborne trajectories, allowing them to maintain control even as they seemed to spend more time in the air than on the snow.
Jihoon followed suit, riding the glowing flat of his greatsword of light like a snowboard, his balance enhanced by his sharpened focus and sheer willpower. Despite the chaotic descent, the teamwork allowed them to maintain remarkable speed.
The original mountain path has the length of a marathon and a major contributor to time sink that would sap many of its participants is how winding it is that one has to reduce their own speed to avoid running off its cliffs. The mountain itself isn’t that tall, and the hill length is still roughly 1/3 of the mountain path, a length which is far more manageable with them moving at effective speed far faster by bypassing the terrain entirely by snowboarding downhill.
And so with effective speed being 12 times peak human limit, they spent a lot more time in the air than actual snowboarding yet within half a minute, they have already left the broken mountain path entirely while still in the air. This kind of headstart is appreciated because they knew that by now, the lesser sentinels themselves are about to become as deadly as even boss sentinels in sheer stats.
Jihoon used his [Observant] at one of the aerial sentinels that were heading toward them, the one with humanoid appearance and what seems like bat wings. Seeing their confirmation of existence makes Jihoon wonder if he will encounter Vampires later in the journey. And as their description panel displayed, their average physical stats are now in the 300. This is in fact the same with all the lesser sentinels they come across now.
Without any boss sentinels on their way, it should have been a swift return if it weren’t for the sheer mass of lesser sentinels now on their own more deadly than any boss sentinels in their isolated encounter.
“Watch yourselves!” Jihoon shouted, his voice cutting through the roar of rushing wind. “These things are as tough as bosses now!”
As if on cue, the first wave of aerial sentinels descended upon them. Glinting like shadowed stars in the dim light, they moved with lethal precision, their swooping attacks and projectile barrages creating a deadly gauntlet. The group's headstart from their downhill slide was now crucial, as their speed gave them just enough momentum to keep ahead of the encroaching mass of enemies.
Jihoon used the practiced summoning of the Golden Hour formation as numerous weapons of light appeared but instead of using as intended in mid-air, he directed their aim toward the mass of sentinels before firing them, each splinter into Seven Color Swords and Rainbow Six Shades spears midflight, streaking toward the horde of flying sentinels in dense barrage. Yet it couldn’t entirely caught his foes entirely as some managed to weave through the assault.
Fenrir, leading the charge on her snowboard of ice, conjured razor-sharp icicles to intercept the closest sentinels, her own speed making her a hard target to pin down. Zorn shifted from shaping the earth to using his Vulcan Rotary Cannon, spraying explosive projectiles skyward while relying on Legolas to deflect any return fire with Whirling Tempest.
The sheer number of sentinels made the battle a fight for survival. Despite their combined efforts, the endless tide of mechanical constructs turned what should have been a swift return into a desperate, grueling race against overwhelming odds. Yet, no matter how impossible the situation seemed, Jihoon’s heart pounded with a singular resolve:
They couldn’t stop here.
All that rises must eventually fall, their long jump from the torn mountain path eventually loses momentum as their airtime is pushed to the limit. Not only that, the amount of aerial sentinels with such stats around them would pick them apart like a locust swarm.
Taken initiative, Zorn jumped from the makeshift sled as he divebombed from considerable height into the mass of sentinels below, seemingly pile up like piranhas smelling fresh blood. With Juggernaut Armor and Earth Magic on the ready, like a falling meteor that is crashing down into earth, a massive shockwave and tremor unleashed upon impact as chunks of earth jutted up around the crater, forming a temporary jagged barrier from all the ground-based sentinels.
Others quickly take action as they descent down upon the crater that Zorn, numerous aerial sentinels tried to pursue but Legolas’s Storm Shooter turns all of them into pincushions. Jihoon supported him, firing relentless salvos of chromatic weapons conjured. Every second counted as they scrambled to reorganize in the face of the overwhelming odds.
When surrounded by all sides, the best course of action is to manipulate the battlefield and minimize exposure to enemy as much as one can.
“Stick together!” Jihoon shouted. “Zorn, keep those walls up as we move—we’ll hold the skies!”
Zorn nodded, already manipulating the terrain around them. The earth churned and groaned under his command, rising into makeshift walls and barricades that boxed them in, blocking potential flanks. From the barricaded crater to the dirt trail, Zorn reshaped the battlefield with brutal efficiency, limiting the enemy’s avenues of attack.
With only the front and the back, Fenrir, taking her position at the front, charged headlong into the oncoming wave of ground-based sentinels. Her Devourer’s Claw shimmered with Glacial Fang, each strike cutting through the mechanical enemies with devastating precision and force. Frost coated the path ahead, slowing her enemies’ approach and giving her teammates precious seconds to adjust.
Above, the relentless aerial sentinels posed the greatest threat. Legolas and Jihoon took up the anti-air role, working together to clear the skies. Legolas’s Storm Shooter fired in rapid succession, his wind-imbued arrows creating shockwaves that knocked sentinels out of the air like falling debris. Jihoon, with his Seven Color Swords and Rainbow Six Shades, unleashed a barrage of chromatic weapons that locked onto the aerial constructs, ensuring none got through their defenses.
By comparison, Legolas was a machine gun and Jihoon is an autocannon. His attack might be powerful but much slower rate compare to the elf commando.
The tactic was effective, at least for now. The walls of earth gave them a controlled field of battle, and their coordinated roles minimized the overwhelming chaos. But they all knew this strategy wouldn’t last forever.
The dirt trail now stretched ahead, but Zorn’s Earth Magic would lose its utility the moment they reached the urban road. There would be no terrain to shape, no barricades to create—only an open road, forcing them to rely entirely on direct combat and raw endurance.
With their effective speed of about 15 times peak human limit due to sheer quantity of sentinels they must brute force, it will take them 4 minutes to cover the distance, headstart included. And the Thanatos will take at least 5 minutes just to descend the mountain again from near peak and by then, they would have reached the urban road thus the worry about Thanatos can be safely shelved.
Every step closer to the urban road however felt like an eternity, the sound of battle ringing in their ears and echoes beyond. Jihoon’s mind raced with calculations, keeping track of the encroaching aerial sentinels and the dwindling distance between them and the next stretch of terrain.
When the transition to the asphalt road was revealed, Jihoon felt his heart sink. He knew what awaited them ahead—a painful, last stretch that would test every ounce of their strength and resolve.
Yet before anyone could say any word before forsaking themselves into the road of torment. Fenrir stood up as she used her Ice Magic to take up Zorn’s role of defense instead. In place of the absence of earth, she conjured walls of ice side-by-side in place.
However, unlike Zorn’s Earth Magic having easy access to the earth and his Unique Racial Ability, Heart of Mountain. Fenrir would have to use her own magic to synthesize ice from nothing, which will ramp up the mana cost substantially. And to make the ice withstand the sentinels’ relentless onslaught, she pushed her magic further, hardening the walls into permafrost.
At temperatures of -160°C, the ice she conjured became virtually as hard as bedrock. But the sheer quantity required to defend against the swarm was staggering. Fenrir gritted her teeth, fully dedicating herself to this role. She could do nothing else but protect them from the sides, her reserve draining with every new wall erected.
“Don’t stop now,” Fenrir growled through clenched teeth. “I’ve got this. Just keep moving!”
Her unyielding resolve ignited the others. Zorn, now freed from defensive duty, shifted entirely to offense as he unleashes volleys from his Vulcan Rotary Cannon. Legolas and Jihoon maintained their roles as anti-air, their attacks clearing the skies of the swarming sentinels.
The team pressed onward, their roles now finely tuned to their new terrain. The unyielding barriers of permafrost shielded them from being flanked, giving them just enough control to carve their way forward through the relentless swarm.
Each step forward brought them closer to their goal, but it came at a cost. Fenrir’s mana reserves were dwindling rapidly, and the endless pressure on their defenses gave little room for error. Still, none of them faltered. They couldn’t afford to. The urban road was their final battlefield, and the finish line was within their reach.
Within the urban route, their effective speed is essentially slashed utterly apart with so many sentinels swarming at them. With effective speed of 5 times peak human and a length of marathon to cover, their time taken would be 12 minutes and that’s a death sentence with the Thanatos beckoning on their route moving 6 times faster than them currently.
“Screw this, if I am going to be disqualified after going this far, I am not fucking looking at my ancestors with grace anymore”. Zorn said as he seems to fiddle with some switches on the Vulcan Rotary Cannon. Seeing Zorn breaking his calm and stoic grace under immense pressure, Jihoon used his [Observant] on the gun itself after going so far into the trial thinking it was just a normal gun. Turns out, he had the wrong assumption to begin with.
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Vulcan Rotary Cannon
Classification: Firearm
Rarity: Heroic
ATK+: 133
Description:
A devastating multi-barrel firearm created through a combination
of dwarven craftsmanship and advanced Absence magi-technology.
The Vulcan Rotary Cannon is designed for sustained firepower,
boasting unparalleled rates of fire and durability.
Special Activation: Avenger Mode
When activated, the cannon undergoes a transformation,
adding additional rotary barrels and increasing its rate of fire exponentially.
This mode places immense strain on the wielder and is not intended for
sustained use without catastrophic recoil damage or stationary position.
Only those with immense physical strength and resilience,
like a battle-hardened dwarf, can wield it without immediate incapacitation.
------_____{\\\\////}_____------
Zorn grinned, though it was laced with pain, as the cannon in his hands began to shift. The gun’s barrel assembly expanded, revealing additional rotary chambers that hummed to life with a deafening mechanical roar.
“Avenger Mode, activated,” Zorn growled, his voice resonating with dwarven fury as the weapon fully unfurled.
The moment he pulled the trigger, it was as if the apocalypse had descended on the route before them. The already-impressive rate of fire became an unrelenting storm of lead, the sheer volume of bullets ripping through the sentinels like paper. In mere seconds, the densely packed swarm was reduced to shredded, sparking debris as if going through a literal steel grinder.
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The ground quaked under the pressure of the weapon’s recoil as Zorn pressed forward, refusing to remain stationary despite every logical instinct. His Juggernaut Armor absorbed some significant chunk of the shock, making clear of the synergy working in tandem, but even his dwarven physique was visibly straining. Each step forward seemed an act of defiance against the cannon’s raw power, his boots grinding into the asphalt to keep himself steady.
The sound of the Vulcan Rotary Cannon in Avenger Mode was deafening, drowning out even the chaotic screeches of the sentinels as they fell in droves. One second of sustained fire blew entire sections of the route clear, carving a path that no sentinel could hope to cross unscathed.
But Jihoon’s eyes weren’t just on the devastation ahead—they were on Zorn himself. Despite his stoic exterior, Zorn’s winces and gritted teeth betrayed the toll the cannon was taking on him. His hands shook slightly as the recoil fought against his grip, and beads of sweat ran down his face even in the midst of his dwarven fury.
“Zorn!” Fenrir shouted, a mix of admiration and concern in her voice. “You’re going to tear yourself apart at this rate!”
“Keep moving!” Zorn barked back, his voice hoarse but resolute. “I’ll hold them off. This damn trial isn’t claiming me today!”
The group pressed onward, Jihoon, Fenrir, and Legolas staying close behind Zorn as he cleared the path with unrelenting firepower. Yet Jihoon couldn’t shake the growing concern in his chest. For all Zorn’s immense strength and resilience, how much longer could he keep this up before even he reached his limit?
Despite the weapon’s incredible power, it was evident that Avenger Mode wasn’t designed for prolonged use. Zorn’s legs dug into the ground with each step, his sheer willpower driving him forward. The recoil threatened to knock him off balance, but the dwarf refused to be stationary. He moved as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders—and in some ways, it did.
This puts their effective speed at 10 times peak human limit, and halves the time required. They move fast when the path is clear and stop briefly to blow a way open when required. Rinse and repeat.
Jihoon made his mental calculations on their current speed again. The Thanatos has probably just done descent down the mountain and is now pursuing them at full speed. With their current speed and distance, including the 1-minute headstart, they will arrive at the finish line in 6 minutes. With the Thanatos’s moving speed in the estimated 30 times peak human, the entirety of the dirt trail and urban road will be…
4 minutes and a half…
They still don’t have enough time…
But how could he even suggest pushing harder? Fenrir’s movements were growing sluggish, her reserves nearly tapped from conjuring her permafrost walls. Zorn’s grimace deepened with each recoil of the Vulcan Rotary Cannon. Breaking the news to them, especially in their current state, felt like asking them to cross a line of no return.
Jihoon turned toward Legolas instead. Among them, the elven commando seemed the most composed—if anyone could handle this level of pressure and adapt, it had to be him.
Quietly, Jihoon moved closer. “Legolas,” he said, his voice low but urgent, “I’ve run the numbers. At this speed… we won’t make it. The Thanatos will catch up.”
The elf’s sharp green eyes flicked toward Jihoon. There was no surprise in his gaze—only a grim acknowledgment of the reality they faced. He didn’t respond immediately, instead continuing to fire precise, rapid bolts from his Storm Shooter. Jihoon waited, the tension thick enough to suffocate.
After a few moments, Legolas spoke. “So we need to move faster. That’s all there is to it.”
“It’s not that simple,” Jihoon replied, lowering his voice further to keep Fenrir and Zorn from overhearing. “Everyone’s already running on fumes. If I push them any harder…”
“They’ll break,” Legolas finished the thought, his tone neutral but understanding. His mind seemed to churn, weighing the possibilities. After a beat, he made his decision.
“I’ll put in my chips in the gamble with you, Jihoon.”
Without hesitation, Legolas called upon his Wind Magic. “Everyone, stay close! I’m activating Windborne Speed—for all of us.”
With the activation of the Expert-class spell, the sudden surge of wind enveloped the group, lifting them subtly and reducing the resistance against their movements. Their pace immediately increased, but the strain on Legolas was evident. Controlling such a spell for one person was already taxing yet doing so for four people while continuing to fire the Storm Shooter was an extraordinary feat in itself.
Legolas’s sharp features tightened in concentration, his rapid-fire attacks from the Storm Shooter never ceasing even as he maintained the Windborne Speed. Jihoon could only behold at the sheer discipline it took to multitask at this level.
“It’s going to drain you,” Jihoon said, his voice almost lost in the cacophony of battle.
“I know,” Legolas replied, his voice clipped but steady. “But I don’t intend to lose here. Not when we’ve come this far.”
The group surged in speed once more as the wind carried them along the urban road. Yet, a fatal problem occurs. Fenrir and Zorn can’t keep up with the pace after having their own wind expended already. And thus, they can’t make full use of Windborne Speed as they started to lag behind. In the end, they ended up have to slow down just for them to catch up.
Jihoon recognized the problem at its core, not everyone gonna move at the same fastest speed and they still have to fall back for the slowest thus he added a makeshift solution. Manifesting a rope cable of light, Intermediate-class Light Magic - Prominance Brilliance, and extend it to Zorn, Fenrir and Legolas, with everyone binding it to their waist and Jihoon moving into frontmost position, then he accelerates as the rope of light pulls everyone's weary self forward like a locomotive pulling its cabins.
Thus, instead of having to apply Windborne Speed on everyone, Legolas only has to apply it on Jihoon and keep everyone else levitating with own Wind Magic. Jihoon thought of it as similar to a maglev system which modern trains in his world operate on.
The group surged forward in a makeshift formation, Jihoon now at the helm like a locomotive pulling its cars, the Prominence Brilliance glowing as a taut, radiant lifeline tethering the group together. The rope of light shimmered as Jihoon poured his obsession-fueled strength into accelerating, his muscles straining with every step. He was pulling not just three fully grown adults, but their combined fatigue and mana-drained states as well.
With each stride, Jihoon felt the strain in his body deepen, but he refused to falter. Instead of four separate individuals struggling against the overwhelming tide of sentinels, they moved instead as a singular unit, with Jihoon driving them forward at a relentless pace. His eyes burned with a focused intensity, an embodiment of his determination to pull them through, no matter the cost to himself.
Ahead of them, waves of lesser sentinels appeared, surging toward them like an unyielding tide. Jihoon conjured Seven Color Swords and Rainbow Six Shades, firing the luminous weapons toward the sentinels in rhythmic bursts. Greatswords and spears shattered into chromatic fragments mid-flight and dismantling their targets with precision.
But with limited maneuverability of trying to pull everyone else along. Instead of carefully navigating the road, Jihoon bulldozed through obstacles, creating their path by sheer force. Each sentinel that evaded the weapons of light was met with Jihoon’s charging momentum, his relentless power sending them crashing away like debris. The description of a train pulling its weight feel appropriate as he was barreling through the horde with destruction ensued.
Jihoon’s mind raced with calculations, adjusting their trajectory as though he were navigating a train off its rails. Every instinct screamed at him to slow down, to let his battered body rest, but he shoved the thought aside. His singular focus burned brighter than the pain gnawing at his limbs.
With their speed boosted to an additional half of their previous pace, the group surged forward. The added acceleration brought a glimmer of hope—Jihoon’s calculations showed that this would be enough to outrun the Thanatos. They would reach the finish line in just under five minutes, a razor-thin margin but one that could spell survival at last.
“Hold on!” Jihoon growled, his voice cutting through the chaos as they hurtled forward. Behind him, Fenrir clutched the glowing rope tightly, her breath ragged but steady, while Zorn grunted under the strain, his Juggernaut Armor gleaming with dents and battle wear.
Jihoon’s mind embodied sheer determination as he cut through the endless wave of obstacles. This will work, he thought with conviction. This has to work.
After an unthinkable amount of time lost to their perception. Finally, the checkpoint of Cicones which is now the finishing line is in their reach. All they need to do is to cross it to end this waking nightmare they have willingly thrown themselves into. There’s nothing stopping them from crossing it and finally confirming their completion of Lap 3.
Jihoon veered to the side as he forcefully fought his previous momentum. Scorch mark burns into the asphalt as he slows himself to a grinding halt. His heart thundered in his chest, vision blurred with exhaustion, body screaming endlessly for reprieve. Yet, just as his companions crossed the threshold, he veered to the side, the cable of light dissipating into scattered embers around him. Steam rose off his body like a smoldering furnace as he stood there, utterly motionless.
“Move! Now!” He said with urgency in his utter limit, unable to move even a muscle as his body emanates visible steam, something in which no one paid any deeper attention or critical thinking after being pushed to their own respective limit. Fenrir with her nearly exhausted mana reserve, unable to see herself going for another lap. Zorn’s body after being pushed to the limit by the Vulcan Rotary Cannon’s Avenger Mode. And Legolas at the utter wit’s end, unable to utilize his insight immediately.
But then they turned back.
But only then did they realize something didn’t add up. Why did Jihoon just stop right before the finish line instead of going across it? If first place was what he wanted, then no one would deny him that. Because after all, he did fight the hardest out of them all to claim it.
They gazed back at him across the finish line, and looked at the eyes that seemingly behold death so many times already. Jihoon stood alone, his silhouette framed by the fading light of the setting sun and the oppressive shadow of the Thanatos in the distance. The fire in his eyes had dimmed into something darker, something almost haunting.
It was the eyes of a broken man who confronted death so many times, had endured so much lost, and it consumed him.
That… was his ‘betrayal’.
F- Ab C~|
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Deadly Obsession
Classification: Innate Passive Skill
Status: (Lv. 2)
Effect:
-Lv. 1: Reduce the effect of injury on physical performance by 75%.
Can perform 150% of maximum physical limit.
-Lv. 2: Reduce the effect of injury on physical performance by 90%.
Can perform 200% of maximum physical limit.
+Obliterate the boundary of self-preservation in pursuit of one’s obsession.
Physical and mental endurance limits are nullified and bypassed until
completion of one’s goal or imminent failure.
Consequences to physical and mental well-being are magnified once the effect subsides.
-Lv. 3: ???
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G Bb Db~|
Jihoon’s thoughts swirled, fragmented, and sharp as broken glass. As he stood just before the finish line, his body shuddering with exhaustion and the residual burn of his own obsession, his mind raced backward through his memories. Scenes flashed like fractured images from a film reel.
He saw Alvorna’s face. Her voice echoed in his ears, trembling with unspoken fears when they first connected. She was far different from him yet strikingly similar—someone who didn’t belong to the world around them. Like him, she had fought silently against her own despair, existing in a space where she could only half live, unable to grasp the full potential of her dreams.
Their bond wasn’t forged in the fire of action but in the quiet, harrowing understanding of shared pain. The moment they shared their melodies together, Jihoon knew he could never turn away from her. He saw too much of himself in her, and that connection became his anchor, his resolve.
They had both been trapped, bound by circumstances beyond their control.
E- Gb Bb~|
He saw himself first arriving in Absence, a stranger in a world where his music was all he had left of home. He remembered the System's indifferent message:
"Final Evaluation: SSS
Whether or not you have the fortitude and unshaken spirit to navigate such a mythic, all-consuming path remains to be witnessed. But always remember - by the solemn vow spoken before all Absence this eve, you have opened the doorway to an journey possessing transformative scope beyond your wildest imagination, with Alvorna as your fated celestial consort.
The challenge to bring Alvorna to your world will exceed measurable parameters."
He had laughed mentally at the absurdity of it then. But now, standing here, he understood the truth. The System wasn’t cruel. It was honest. To forge a path for her would demand everything of him and more.
How could he face her if he couldn’t even surpass himself? If he couldn’t rise above his own breaking point? If he failed here, he would fail her.
The memories burned through him as he turned away from the finishing line, his fists trembling with raw determination.
His only opponent that he must surpass, is only himself.
G Bb Db~
The world outside faded, reduced to the rhythm of his racing heartbeat and the raw, pulsating resolve that now guided his steps. Jihoon’s companions could only watch in stunned silence as he began to run again—away from the finishing line and into the depths of the trial he had just barely survived.
This wasn’t about the rankings anymore. It never was. Jihoon wasn’t chasing glory or renown in this fleeting stay, nor the title of first place of a competition that is only just one in his endless pursuit of the dream.
“Alvorna...” he muttered under his breath as his battered body surged forward, propelled by sheer force of will.
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+Physical Attributes:
-STR: 13 (+216) {x2.0}
-END: {∞}
-AGI: 14 (+228) {x2.0}
-DEX: 13 (+216)
+Non-physical Attributes:
-MAG: 60
+Physical Status: Dangerously Injured (-90%)
+Mental Status: Exhausted
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He turned, his back now to the finish line, his gaze locking onto the broken path ahead. The remnants of shattered trails, ruined mountain slopes, and sentinel-infested roads stretched before him.
G Bb Db~|
The commentators fell silent, their excitement replaced by complete shock.
"Is he… Is Jihoon turning back?"
Bb Db F~|
Karim, watching from the entertainment district, closed his eyes and exhaled deeply. "That idiot… Of course, he would."
On the helicopter, Rosa gripped the edge of her seat, her face pale with a mixture of awe and fear. "Jihoon… what are you doing?"
Jihoon stepped forward, each movement measured as though he were stepping onto a stage. His battered body screamed in protest, but he silenced it with sheer will.
Lap 4.
A lap no one in the history of the Odyssey had attempted.
F~~~|
The absurdity of it seemed to dawn on everyone simultaneously. There was no Lap 4. Not officially. The organizers hadn’t even considered the possibility. Yet Jihoon had already made up his mind.