"Why is he climbing like that?" The question echoed through the minds of the rest of the fallen geniuses as they all found themselves catching up to Ryuk.
While Ryuk was climbing the rope, they were all running on it, easily surpassing him, and they wondered why Ryuk wasn’t running on the rope instead of climbing it.
Quickly, the blue energy manifested itself, slowing them all down as their speed drastically reduced. But Ryuk kept the same pace, climbing with all of his speed and power.
Sweat trailed down his face from the burning lava heat below him, but his eyes remained deeply focused.
Ryuk’s reason for choosing not to cover his skin in Apex Energy was simple: He wanted to feel the heat of the lava. It was supposed to be one of the difficulties of the Infernal Rope Walk—the terrible heatwaves from the lava.
While the others were shielding themselves from it with their Apex Energy, Ryuk wanted to use his physical body to bear the full brunt of it.
Yesterday, the heatwaves were almost melting his skin off his body, yet right now, Ryuk only felt like he was placed on a stove.
Did it burn? Yes. But not on the level where he felt he was melting.
This lava was one of the best ways to measure his physical strength.
Eventually, Ryuk knew that one day, he would walk over this Infernal Rope and find out that he could no longer feel the burning.
Then, it would be a testament to how much his physical strength had improved.
Ryuk’s idea led to many of the fallen geniuses surpassing him eventually, but he was still able to make his way forward toward the last phase of the test fairly quickly, disappearing into the shadow gate where the Shadow Run trial would begin.
Placing his hand on the wall, Ryuk sped forward with haste. This time, the darkness seemed to no longer be as dark.
Easily, Ryuk sped through the dark hall. The sound of swiping claws could be heard, yet he dodged them effortlessly.
Smashing a punch to the side, Ryuk’s hand blasted through the head of a shadow beast, turning it into nothing more than a shadow. He suddenly ducked his head to the side, swerving past another shadow claw before his palm shot forward, clasping onto the beast and flattening its head against the wall.
Without stopping, he continued to race forward. Fists occasionally blasted forth, reducing the shadow beasts to nothing but shadows. However, they gathered faster with even more vigor as Ryuk sped forward, doing his best to find his way.
Quickly, he tracked down the indicator of the door’s exit: a strange moonlight from the distance. Ryuk sped forth with determination toward it.
In the next instant, a wall of shadow began forming at the exit as shadow beasts gathered, but Ryuk didn’t stop at all.
"Activate Frost Veil!" he ordered as he sped forward, frost emanating from his legs and surrounding the area.
Suddenly, Ryuk faded away into the mist as all the shadow beasts felt it slam into them, straining their eyes to catch their prey. But then...
STEP
STEP
The sound of dripping resounded, and all the shadow beasts instantly turned behind them, only to find Ryuk crouched down and walking out into the light.
They had almost blocked the entire airspace, but they couldn’t block the roofing. Ryuk had simply reduced their vision, blocking their sight, and then he had jumped up, passing right above their heads and landing behind them.
With nothing stopping him anymore, he casually walked into the light.
Still, the exhaustion was intense, and Ryuk collapsed onto his knees, breathing heavily. A few drops of blood trailed down his face and hands. His battle in the Shadow Run and the mountain climb hadn’t left him unscathed.
"You completed the quest in exactly 5 hours and 30 minutes, and you’re the 8th earliest one to arrive..." Sir Kierna’s voice rang out as Ryuk raised his head, finding the man standing above him with pitch-black eyes staring at him in faint amusement.
"This result is a lot better than yesterday. Seems like you’re not completely hopeless after all," he said as he stretched his hand forward, wanting to help him up.
Ryuk grasped it, only for his expression to change as he felt the cold hands lifting his entire body weight from the ground and then...
SPLASH
A figure crashed straight into the Rejuvenating Pool as Sir Kierna dusted his hands as if he had just finished an important task.
"Class is done for today. You all can leave after getting healed of your injuries," Sir Kierna said before walking away from the place.
Some students immediately decided to leave, though not without giving Ryuk a heated glance.
Yesterday, he had arrived close to an hour after they had already arrived. Today, he arrived as the 8th person, earlier than two of the fallen. Such a change was monumental, and even their pompous egos felt a small hint of threat from Ryuk.
Eventually, some of the geniuses left, leaving only two people in the bath: Ryuk and Quinn.
Ryuk was the 8th earliest person, and Quinn had ended up as the 10th. Both were equally battered.
"It’s surprising. You went out for one night, and your speed increased so massively!" Quinn said as Ryuk’s face bobbed up from the rejuvenating pool, spitting out liquid that had entered his mouth and nodding slightly at Quinn.
"But aren’t you afraid your sudden increase in strength will alert the other students? You might get yourself in danger, you know," Quinn said as Ryuk, who was preparing to swim across the pool, stopped mid-motion and turned his head to him with a raised eyebrow.
"What?"
"I mean, you just finished 8th, and you were so fast, you gapped almost all of the students so quickly. The majority of them now have eyes on you. That might not necessarily lead to a good thing. In fact, I bet there are some students that will look to gravely injure you to prevent you from being a threat to the Top 10 Ultimate Geniuses."
"Aren’t you scared of that?" Quinn asked as Ryuk’s eyes narrowed before he suddenly asked a question that shook Quinn.
------
A/N:
If you’re enjoying the novel, consider voting the novel with Golden Tickets and Powerstones. It helps I, the author, with visibility on the NovelFire app.
In and Out_SnowySmoos.