Chapter 871: The Place atop The Tallest Pillar (1/2)
”This rock pillar is quite hard,” Krune expressed his shock, knocking the base of the rock pillar. It seemed to be completely made out of a type of rock that was so hard that he wasn't even able to dent it by using all his strength.
The case was the same for everyone else. The rock pillar spanned at least a couple of kilometers in radius. So, calling it a rock pillar was definitely not correct. It was a hill or even a mountain based on what the standards one used to differentiate between the two of them were. Its height surpassed a kilometer, so it was definitely a massive structure.
The walls were almost smooth, save for small indents at discrete locations that existed for namesake. They weren't big enough to be used as footholds to climb up, though. It was a big area that they were confident of scaling around to find a better path. Nevertheless, they were still running out of time.
”Say, Yulian.” Krune looked at Yulian and asked, ”How long does it take for our cultivation to be completely suppressed?”
”I'm not so sure,” Yulian shook his head as he replied. ”The time when it happens is always different for every individual. It's one of the reasons why this region is mysterious. Then again, there's one thing I can say for sure.”
His expression turned solemn as he continued, ”When your suppression becomes permanent, you would be able to feel it. For bandits, it's a cause for celebration. But for normal cultivators like us, it's a cause for despair.”
”If we try to climb normally, we might waste a lot of time,” Krune frowned as he said.
”I don't plan on being here until that happens,” Xula scowled, sighing a second later. ”But, how do we know our way out without being able to see far away?”
”We can't. Climbing up is our only option,” Vardin said as he gazed up, feeling the surface of the rock pillar with his hands. ”It would be difficult, but I can still move upwards using the small indents. My wings aren't big enough to take flight, but they would stabilize my climb and prevent me from losing my grip. And, in the case I fall, I can use them to reduce the speed of descent to a fair extent and survive the impact.”
”Do the two of you have any ideas?” Krune looked at Xula and Yulian as he asked.
”I'm human,” Yulian replied. ”I cannot climb up fast or even reach the top in my state.”
”My demon beast form is big and heavy. I cannot climb up in that form. As for my human form, I'm no different from Yulian,” Xula replied after Yulian was finished talking.
”Then, we only have one option.” Krune stuffed his pockets with Rank Two God stones, gazing at Vardin and Diana before asking, ”How quickly can the two of you scale up the pillar?”
”Let me check.” Diana soon turned into her demon beast form before starting to scale up the rock pillar. Although she was still able to traverse it using the tiny indents, it took her a lot of time. She was also getting exhausted with every step, making her wonder if she would even have enough stamina to reach the top. After all, she and Vardin had constantly been digging through the ground for more than 20 hours straight.
”Alright, then.” Krune nodded, taking out five shields as he laid them on the ground in a straight line. He then motioned for the others to look at him as he jumped on the shield at the center. The shield then radiated with a rainbow color as his legs spewed out Godly Energy.
He changed the structure of his Godly Energy to that of a foreign entity before his feet landed on the shield. Krune then accumulated strength in his legs as he crouched, feeling a powerful force push him as he also jumped using it as the foothold, speeding high up in the air.
He traveled for 20 meters before the momentum fuelling him vanished. As Krune began to fall, he took out another shield, stepping on it at times to reduce his momentum, using the same tactic that sent him into the air in the first place.
Krune soon landed on the ground, feeling his heart thump intensely at the action as he wiped the sweat off his forehead. ”We can use this method to travel to the top. Descending is also easy.”
As he spoke, Godly Energy gushed out from the Rank Two God Stones and replenished his reserves, keeping it at the maximum. Krune then calculated the energy expenditure he would need to traverse to the top of the rock pillar. He also calculated the time of flight and the intervals at which he would need to activate his Balance Laws.
He was still only able to sustain his Balance Laws for a couple of seconds at most. Also, he needed some time between each activation. So, Krune had to time his activation and calculate the concentration of the Balance Laws he had to layer over the shields. On top of that, he also had to calculate the amount of Godly Energy he had to expel out of his feet.
He also had to calculate the amount of Godly Energy the other four would have to emit to ensure that all of them traveled the same height. Otherwise, he wouldn't be able to match the pace of everyone while they were scaling upward. After all, each had different body weights.
”When I say jump, condense some Godly Energy on your feet as you jump on the shields,” Krune said, watching the other four nod in response.
He then layered a decent amount of the Balance Laws on the shields before shouting, ”Now!”
Krune observed with focus, taking into account the amount of Godly Energy everyone was expelling, watching them all shoot up into the air with tremendous speeds. It seemed that Yulian had expelled the greatest amount, judging by his faster speed than the rest.