A little more bouncing later, and Ackster confirmed his suspicions.
For some reason, the ants had made a tube running almost straight down, like an elevator shaft.
It was certainly an efficient pathway if they wanted to move quickly up and down.
'But why?'
Ackster couldn't understand why they had made it go like that all the way to one of the tunnels at the bottom of the ant nest.
Ackster face-palmed again. He really should stop thinking about nonsense when he could be celebrating.
Even if it would be straining and potentially difficult, Ackster had found a path hopefully leading straight to the surface. And it was as direct as it could get, to boot. Yet, here he was, thinking about the meaning behind the ants' architectural designs.
Ackster wasn't an expert on building ant nests. If anyone were, it would be the ants. What right did he have to criticize them? Ackster shook his head slightly and sighed.
"Hold on, Mio."
Since the wall was almost straight up and not designed with a built-in ladder, Ackster would have to put one of the few good things about him, his physique, to good use. He wasn't sure how far up the shaft would lead him. He hoped all the way, but even if it didn't go that far, Ackster would, more than likely, still have to climb pretty far.
That would take a whole bunch of effort.
But Ackster wasn't going to get any stronger by waiting, so he bent his knees, took one deep breath, and leaped up. Thanks to feeling around with his earlier bouncing up and down, he hit the tunnel on the first try.
And, before he could lose the momentum of his jump, Ackster put his feet against the wall and pushed off upward.
It was a little unsteady at first, to the point Ackster was happy it was so dark since it would be impossible to see him. But as he continued running up the wall, occasionally jumping from side to side to stop himself from losing traction or angle, he got more used to it. His body's balance became more at ease with running at such a steep angle.
It felt like he was running up a wall perpendicular to the ground, but he knew that the slight angle it had was enough to make a difference and was the only reason he could sprint full speed without pushing himself away from the wall. However, running practically vertically was no less draining than running completely vertically.
It didn't take long before Ackster's legs began burning from the exertion.
After being in the ant nest's darkness for so long, Ackster had completely lost his sense of time. Combined with how he was putting all his mind to running and keeping his balance, Ackster had no idea how much time had passed when he started feeling the effects of his efforts. He hoped he had climbed high. It felt like he had. It was just that he had no idea how deep underground he had been.
Ackster also had trouble estimating how long he had run since he was running in such an impractical way. He knew that it would have taken him hours upon hours and leagues upon leagues of sprinting to tire his legs to such a degree that he felt like resting. He ignored that feeling, of course. But running in circles up what he could only liken to a primitive and misaligned tubular elevator shaft drained Ackster's energy much quicker than running horizontally.
Ackster completely understood why. And it was good training for his agility and stamina, so he didn't exactly mind it. He just hoped he would reach the surface before his legs gave out and sent him tumbling through the tube to his death.
Just imagining the sight and feeling of falling through an unreasonably long tunnel, bouncing and crashing against the slightly sloped and rocky sides until finally coming to a dead stop at the bottom, was enough to spur Ackster on. He couldn't afford to lose speed.
He could take a short break and hold himself up by putting his feet and hand against the sides. But doing that would kill all his momentum, so Ackster didn't even entertain the thought.
He did, however, entertain the thought of activating Limit Breaker.
Limit Breaker would let him go on for a little longer at max speed. He could even surpass it if he wanted. But if he didn't reach the surface using the burst it could give him, he would have just killed himself, so he held off on that until the absolute last minute. Only when he began losing too much speed and momentum to continue running up the wall would he consider using Limit Breaker again.
Fortunately, Ackster could feel himself growing in real-time. Strong Body was becoming more acquainted with the sense of balance and the foot usage necessary to maintain his sprint. Sprint, the skill, also seemed to be advancing.
But most importantly, almost as if responding to Ackster's wish to not give in, Stubborn Well-Being healed the leg muscle tissue Ackster had torn by engaging in such a demanding endeavor.
Feeling relatively at ease now that his body had grown more accustomed to the task at hand, Ackster decided to look at the wall around him. The tunnel walls at the depths of the ant nest had been practically impossible to damage, even when using the ants' mandibles for some reason. And they had felt like solid stone of some really sturdy kind. It wasn't comparable to the Alchemaze, which had seemed indestructible. But the material at the bottom of the ant nest was still very hard.
However, where he was now looked and felt like a softer variant mixed with ordinary dirt.
'Wait a damn minute!'
***
In the lonely tomb, robbed of its contents, everything had returned to deathly stillness, quiet, and darkness following the absence of the ants and Ackster. Truly befitting of a storage room of the dead.
However, sensing something moving, the tomb's magic relit the torch, still hanging at an angle due to Ackster's failed attempt at opening the secret passage. Or maybe it didn't fail?
After a series of faltering mechanical clanking and whirring sounds, the door slid open just enough for something dark, thin, and heavy to crash into the torch, forever damning it to the darkness it was created to chase away.