Divinity

--- [Alex’s perspective]

When we arrived back at the entrance, the door vanished just like last time.

Only the door on the left remains…

In the first room we had to cross a sea of fire so hot our skin would melt in seconds, then defeat an infernal demon.

In the second room we had to swim to the bottom of an almost endlessly deep pool of water, where the only way to get back up was to defeat the kraken at the bottom.

What will we have to go through this time…?

We enter and walk through the long and familiar hall.

When we step into the main room, the hall yet again closes behind us, forcing us to complete the challenge before moving on.

It looks like we’re outside, but I know we’re not.

There’s a forest, a mountain range, and even what appears to be the sky.

The thing that stands out the most is that one mountain over there…

It’s so big the clouds obfuscate its real size.

On top of that, it’s so steep it almost resembles a wall.

There’s nothing to hold on to.

I guess we’re supposed to climb up to the top…

For most people, including me, it would be difficult…

But with Lett’s ability, it would be all too easy.

I think she’ll have to be the one to complete the trial again.

“How is your stamina looking? Do you think you have enough to teleport all the way to the top?” – Alex

“Of course.” – Lett

“You sure?” – Alex

“Absolutely.” – Lett

She might be putting on a tough face, but I have to trust her.

If she says she can do it, I believe her.

She starts repeatedly teleporting straight upwards, completely ignoring the difficult-to-climb terrain.

--- A few minutes later

Oh, she’s back!

Wait, but…

The corridor hasn’t opened back up yet, were we not supposed to climb to the top?

“What’s going on? Did we get it wrong?” – Alex

Wait, what happened to her hands?

They’re covered in bruises…

“What happened?!” – Alex

“There… There was a thing up there… Probably the thing we’re supposed to defeat to move on, but I couldn’t do it… No matter how hard I hit it, it would shrug off all my attacks. When it comes to brute force, you have a lot more of it than me. I think you’ll have to climb up there yourself…” – Lett

“I see…” – Alex

I’m glad she didn’t push herself too far and instead decided to rely on me.

I’m here for a reason; there’s no need to do it all by yourself.

As I start climbing the mountain, it dawns on me how difficult it’ll really be.

There is nothing to hold on to…

No crevasses, no ledges, no holds.

To get up, I have to force my fingers into the mountain itself, but that is no easy task…

This place isn’t natural; nothing about dungeons is.

The ‘stone’ the mountain is made of is significantly harder than normal.

Even for me, it takes a considerable amount of force to get my fingers in there.

But it’s my only option.

One hand after the other; I slowly but surely climb higher and higher.

100 meters.

200 meters.

300 meters.

It feels like it goes on forever.

After roughly one kilometer, something unusual happens…

The mountain itself starts shaking.

Keeping my fingers lodged in becomes harder and harder as the shaking gets more and more violent.

It’s an earthquake, but it’s contained within the mountain.

The higher I get, the more intense it gets.

Every time I pull my fingers out to move them up, the shaking almost makes the fingers on my other hand slip out.

On top of that, I’m getting dizzy from all the shaking…

At the two-kilometer mark, another strange phenomenon starts occurring…

Large boulders made of the same hard rock come tumbling down the side.

They only seem to fall near me…

When they get too close, I’m forced to let go of one hand to deflect it.

If they were to hit me head-on, I wouldn’t be able to hold on.

Especially not with all this shaking…

The further up I get, the more frequent the boulders become.

At the same time, the air is getting thinner and thinner too.

By itself it’s not too bad, but not being able to breathe properly on top of all the other stuff I have to deal with?!

This climb is horrible, and it’s getting worse the higher I get, but I’m holding on…

Another couple of kilometers go by, and this hellish mountain starts throwing more challenges at me.

As if not having anything to hold on to, having to push my fingers through hard rock, the intense shaking and the dizziness that follows, the falling boulders, and the thin air wasn’t enough, the mountain is now starting to curve…

It’s not even something Lett could have warned me about, the mountain itself is bending…

Before, I was climbing up a straight line.

That was hard enough, but now I’m slowly getting to the point where I’ll have to climb upside down…

After a few close calls, and what seems like an eternity, I finally make it to the top…

The shaking stops, the falling boulders are no more; there is even flat ground to stand on!

I have no idea how tall the mountain was; I lost count after the first nine or so kilometers…

On foot, that would be nothing, but under conditions like these, it was one of the most grueling tasks I’ve ever done…

Like Lett promised, there’s a creature here.

It’s a clear golem with a slight tint of blue, like it’s made of diamond.

Knowing this place, I doubt its regular diamond…

It isn’t aggressive like most monsters either; it’s just standing there, waiting…

I walk up to it and hit it with about as much power as I’d expect Lett could produce with a charged attack.

Just like she explained, it shrugs it off…

I guess I’ll just have to hit it harder then.

Can I destroy it in a single non-charged attack?

I hit it with almost everything I’ve got, and a large crack forms in its body.

I guess not…

Finally having experienced something that could hurt it, it stops being so passive.

I hop away from it, and it slowly walks toward me.

It might be sturdy, but it’s slower than even most F-rankers…

I could probably take it out with a couple more regular punches, but where’s the fun in that?

Just climbing the damn mountain was so insanely difficult I felt like I was about to lose my mind at least a dozen times…

I want to obliterate it…!

As it makes it way over to me, I charge up a massive attack.

Just when it gets within attack range, I launch the attack, instantly shattering it into a million pieces.

Just like how the fire was extinguished after the demon was killed, and the water disappeared after the sea monster was killed, the mountain itself suddenly disappears the moment the golem dies.

I start freefalling from God knows how high up…

I have to brace for impact!

As I quickly pierce through the air, I orient myself so that I’ll land on my feet.

When the moment comes, I make sure to focus on BDM to make myself tougher.

With one loud bang, I make it…

A perfect landing.