It feels like the harder I focus on staying conscious, the more my mind is forced to concentrate on less and less around me.
At the same time, the pure physical pressure of the air high up in this sky here forces my aura to shrink down the higher I climb.
My whole body inside my greater form is sweating and shaking to push onward, and I can see Ember's wing movements are severely slowing as well.
The pure gravity alone that pushes down on me feels almost 50 times heavier than it did in the atmosphere down near the top of the tree.
It's causing pain to move even a single meter forward.
However, we do, for multiple hours longer, nearly making it a few more kilometers and hitting a mental wall once we make it to roughly two dozen kilometers away.
The force pressing down on us is so great that even my telepathic link with Ember is taking longer than usual to bounce back and forth.
I continue to consume yellow fragments and fruits on our way up too, as it gives me an extra few seconds of less intense mental and physical attacks, but it just comes back even harder once the effects wear off.
It gets to the point where it feels like I'm making more progress by not eating extra gems because I have to constantly get used to the extra pressure once they wear off. Bearing the constant stress and pushing through feels more doable, and fewer excess fragments are wasted too.
Ember's voice comes through our link, giving his thoughts.
"This may be our limit. With less than a week remaining inside this construct, I don't believe it's possible for us to make it any further..."
I stare up at the unmoving expression of the green serpent and let out a frustrated yell just to make the pain on my mind and body lessen for a moment so I can concentrate to calmly reply back to Ember.
"We only have one chance to make it to the top, don't we? You said it yourself, opportunities like this are not common."
Even now, staring up at the eyes of a higher lifeform, there are seemingly infinite tendrils of purple energy even higher in the sky that make up this entire construct.
Before, I felt like its curious gaze was pointed right at me, but the longer I stare into the snake's enormous eyes, I realize it is just looking down at the entire construct as a whole. I'm as interesting to it as any of the other lizards in the forest, insects jumping on chains, or birds flying up cliffs in this small world.
I'm positive that this serpent isn't the end, but just a gatekeeper to hold back weaker beings like us.
Ember grins at my remark, takes a moment to pause and think, then replies again.
"I do have an idea that may get its attention... However, I cannot predict how it will react afterward."
I want to turn my head to look toward him, but the air pressure and strength used to do so would not be worth the hassle. So, I respond through our link again while airstepping forward another meter while absorbing the MP from handfuls of mana crystals.
"What is it? We either try it or give up... And I really don't want to have come all this way to just turn back now."
He responds as the pink gems dissolve in an instant and he flaps his wings again to match my air-step's travel distance.
"I'll have to use energy from my immortal core."
My eyes widen as all the vague images of him using silver and golden energy these last few weeks come rushing back to me.
Even now, as I try to expand my perception, Ember is within my aura but whenever my mind tries to comprehend what's in the center of his core, my attention floats away from it like an unknown invisible hand is pushing me away.
However, the fact that Ember verbally brought it to my attention keeps me focused on the topic for far longer.
I don't respond, but Ember continues.
"It's the same energy I used to create our limiters before entering the exams. Building up my new body's core from scratch these past few weeks has given me more of my power back, but to use enough to part the mental pressure of a higher lifeform in this body will not be an easy feat... I'll need to rest again afterward. It may take weeks or months, I'm not sure how long, but I do know I won't be able to continue fighting with you in this construct if we try to pull this off."
I airstep upward again, eating another yellow fragment to temporarily relieve the mental and physical pressure on myself to respond.
"Are you sure about this? It's safe?"
The edges of his lips turn up, and I watch him give a slight shrug of his wings even though it's horribly wasteful to be using movements like that at these pressures.
"It will be safe, sure. I'll enter your item storage until we get back to a safe place to rest. And for you? Well, if a higher lifeform tries to kill you, there's nothing you can do about it. We'll be kicked from the construct if you die. If it decides not to kill you, the rewards will be worth the risk. The worst-case scenario here is you fail the B-Class exams for exiting the construct early. I wanted to talk with the creator myself, but it seems my wishes were a bit far-fetched."
As he finishes this remark, the effects of the gem I just ate already begin to wear off and the full force of this serpent's mental energy hits me again.
I grit my teeth and reply.
"Let's do it..."
Over the next few minutes, Ember outlines a concise plan while we stand in place in the sky.
He moves to position himself in front of me, and we start to travel upward again while consuming as many yellow fragments and fruits as we can handle.
While before, they were just being used as a mental and physical break, now we use them to continuously supercharge our auras, not letting the effects wear off at all before taking another one.
My mind starts to clear up and be less filled with pressure and fog, while my airsteps are getting quicker, and my aura is able to expand slightly too.
However, we've moved so much closer inward that the moment I stop eating fragments, the pressure all around me will collapse and I'm certain I won't be able to withstand it in my natural state.
Ember leads the charge, and we close the distance between us again, now floating less than 10km away from the serpent's nose.
Its gaze is unchanged, and the pressure that beats down on me now is unbearable.
Even while being boosted by a new yellow fragment every 30 to 60 seconds, it's even worse than it was before because we're at even closer range. It feels like I'm swimming upward in a pool of thick hardening cement.
It's difficult to even breathe, and the pressure now is making my ears ring and bleed.
Finally, Ember's voice echoes in my inner ear.
"We're close enough. It's happening now."
I pull my sword from my item storage and eat another yellow stone while focusing straight ahead to watch a burst of silver and golden light come from Ember's chest.
My vision is fuzzy, and it's hard to even perceive what is beyond my small aura because of the thickness of the green divine energy that surrounds me on all sides.
However, there is a burst of energy that erupts from Ember's mouth and in the same moment, I watch him revert to his human form after the energy is expelled.
I open my item storage to have him fall into my white spatial magic as he falls from the sky at rapid speeds being pushed by the green pressure.
Once he disappears into my storage, I continue pushing forward as instructed and begin to charge up my blade with all of the soul energy I have left in me.
I focus on the feeling I learned while putting up the barrier around the Crimson City to empty my entire body of energy, and every bit that is funneled through my arms into my greater form's blade is intertwined with the golden yellow threads that burst out of my core from being repeatedly oversaturated while we fly higher.
I finally airstep into the position where Ember was just moments ago and gasp for a breath as the pressure around me completely vanishes.
I can't believe what I'm feeling. My body feels light again, and my vision comes back to me.
There is a thin circular tunnel carved out into the green aura where Ember's attack from before was shot out.
It was too far away for me to perceive in the moment, but now that I'm looking at its aftermath, my eyes are open in awe.
A clean shot is open to me through the green divine aura.
It's not very wide, but it makes its way all the way to the nose of the serpent in the sky.
Every millisecond I wait admiring this pathway, the outer edges of the green threads are moving back together to meet each other to become one again.
I have a single shot at this, so without thinking about it any further, I release every drop of energy I can into a crescent of Soul Energy intertwined with the Divine energy excess of dozens of yellow fragments.
I let out a yell that echoes through the small tunnel in space that reaches the serpent.
The instant the attack and a mythic-grade screech-empowered scream leave my body, I feel a rush of cold Qi, mana, and Divine Energy withdrawal hit me all at once.
My Qi stores have hit 0 again, my mana is dangerously low, and the excess divine energy has all been expelled too.
The crescent rockets through the open air, untouched by the green aura that slowly collapses toward it.
The yellow crescent grows in size as it rockets upward far faster than I can airstep.
In the back of my mind, I already feel the green aura closing in behind me.
I've done my job.
That was the strongest attack I could have thrown, and the loudest yell I had in my lungs.
Ember created the opening, and now the attack is set to hit its target.
If I turn back to try and re-enter the green energy around me, it will simply be too strong for me to withstand.
I'll either be crushed, torn to shreds by the pressure, or thrown downward into the endless sky.
Whatever the case may be, I don't want it to happen until I see if the monster reacts to my strike.
The faster I airstep into the sky, the quicker it seems to be collapsing in on itself behind me and the sides too.
I have to retract my aura more and more because the portions of it that touch the green walls that close in on me are being absorbed and destroyed on contact.
I even have to revert back into my human form as the tunnel of open air gets too small.
I cover my body in the thickest condensed aura of yellow divine energy I can muster just around my core, head, and heart.
Then, finally, I watch the attack I threw make contact with the tip of the creature's nose.
My eyes widen as it passes right through like it's hitting nothing, and dissolves into the enormous massive energy form of the overseer.
It doesn't make a sound or disrupt the creature's endless curious gaze at all.
I'm swallowed by the dense green divine threads on all sides in the next second, disappearing into its aura just like my attack.
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Author's Note:
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