Dimensional Descent

Leonel's lip curled into a smile, but he didn't chase after Aina. She was right, his body really was in no condition to deal with such pressure. Though the other youths couldn't sense it by standing where he was now, Leonel's senses were too sharp not to.

Those pillars made Brave City look like nothing more than a joke. And, Leonel was absolutely certain that this was only a fraction of the strength these pillars could display.

It seemed like nothing more than a coincidence that the elders were standing before them like that… But Leonel had a feeling that if they were to move away, let alone traveling up so far as those four had already done, they might not even make it 10% of the way through.

That said, as long as those elders kept nerfing the mountain pass's oppression… Leonel had the utmost confidence in Aina.

As though blazing a trail, Aina shot up the mountain, making it from Leonel's side to the 300 meter mark in the blink of an eye.

She seemed to embody the perfect form of a sprinter with her every movement. There was no wasted energy, no unnecessary movements, she almost felt no different from a machine designed to kill.

Though Leonel could replicate this feat by undergoing several calculations before deciding just which form of running suited him best, Aina was different. She needed to rely on nothing other than her talent and intuition, leaving her in a realm all to her own.

The elders thought that Aina was clearly overestimating herself. To have little to no regard for the mountain pass in such a way, even sprinting up as though it was a race rather than what it truly was – a fight to the death – they could only conclude that much.

Even Ingkath had slowly crossed this line of demarcation before slowly building up momentum. But, Aina didn't even take a deep breath before crossing over the line.

Of course, one reason for this was because Aina's senses were considerably dulled due to her curse. In fact, if it wasn't for her sight and hearing being so abnormal, her sensory perception would be no better than a normal human's. So, truthfully, she didn't sense the line of division as clearly as everyone else did.

But, on the other hand…

It hardly mattered.

Aina shot through the line. Her first step sunk her body so low that it seemed as though she might trip over and fall, the pressure bearing down on her shoulders relentlessly.

But, she recovered quickly, her thigh bulging with strength as she sprung upward.

As though a blade cutting through a curtain of falling water, she sliced through, leaping forward ten meters in a single bound.

Leonel's lip curled more prominently. One would have thought that it was him accomplishing such a feat rather than Aina. But, in his mind, there was little difference between the two.

The elder's eyes widened.

To recover so quickly after a change in gravity without faltering, and even more importantly, without hurting oneself, was… Well, the elder could only say that it should have been impossible.

In that instant, he was certain that Aina should have, at least, broken her planting leg. But, her muscles recovered and protected the bones they surrounded as though they had a mind of their own.

The time they had to react? It was none other than the split moment between Aina raising her foot and it landing on the ground. It simply didn't make sense for a young girl at the beginning stages of the Fourth Dimension to have such fast reaction time, and it was even more impossible for her to have honed such instincts so quickly.

But, even as the elder was lost in his shock, Aina had already barreled through another 40 meters, crossing the 50 meter mark with no sign of slowing down.

Her body crackled and popped, her bones threatening to fracture and break. But, to Aina, this sort of trial was nothing.

She was a woman who trained herself by breaking her own bones, rending her inner organs, and sweating until what came out was nothing less than streams of her own blood.

Such tortures, such horrors, they meant nothing.

She faced the howling beasts in her mind as though she had something to prove, as though there was nothing more important to her at this very moment than to face them boldly and confidently.

The fear she felt when facing the Puppet Master was a blemish she had long since seared into her heart. It wasn't a humiliation in the way a man might feel it. Aina just felt as though she had let herself down.

That was the first time she had ever faced true death, the first time she had realized that her talent wasn't enough to leap over the final hurdle.

While Leonel had to deal with such a feeling upon entering his first Zone, Aina most definitely did not. She had been training ever since she was a youth. To her, her first Zone was nothing more than a formality.

It could be said that this was the first time she had had to face the fear of not being strong enough, of being inadequate. It was quite the feeling indeed.

Because she had lost control of her body and had been unable to move, she had no way of telling herself that she had faced the trial bravely. As such, the feeling of helplessness and self-blame only seemed to cycle and grow.

Leonel watched Aina tear her way up the mountain, a light smile still on his face.

He knew well that the scared little girl he saw that day wasn't his Aina. Unfortunately, unable to move, she hadn't been able to prove that clearly to herself.

This time, Leonel was content to take a backseat and allow the limelight to shine on her.

His smile suddenly spread into a grin.

'If my girlfriend is so amazing, doesn't that mean I get bonus points?'