Chapter 1288 Crossing The Second Layer

Author's Note: Unedited Chapter

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"We just finished scaling the first layer," Gustav announced. 

"Oh sweet,"

"That was easier than I expected," 

The group faces shown with a bit of relief after hearing this.

"Once we move up ahead, we'll arrive at the bridge before the first and second layer and one person would have to stay at the entry point of the second layer for everyone else to get past," Gustav explained.

"Oh how do we get there now?" Teemee asked.

"We just do this i guess..." Gustav stated while stepping forward. 

Thrrrihhhh~

In the next moment the stairway before them completely flattened, turning steep. A rectangular opening appeared before them and the group proceeded to walk in.

Within this opening was a small space were smoothened out walls at the west and east corner.

Up ahead was a golden glowing pathway which led further forward. The group wasted no time in stepping forward and walked till they arrived at the end of the golden glowing pathway.

At what was presumed to be the end of the pathway was a cave like opening on the left and a glowing doorway on the right.

Two signs could be spotted on the right and left top corners. 

< Sacrifice >  < Access >

Gustav interpreted the meaning of the signs and everyone immediately understood that the cave like dark opening was the path that belonged to the teammate who was supposed to stay behind to provide access for the rest of the group.

Teemee reached out to touch the glowing doorway that had the access sign but couldn't get through. An invisible barrier stopped everyone from going through and as Handler One mentioned, they wouldn't get access till a teammate sacrificed themselves. 

"Abestos you're up," Gustav stated. 

Abestos nodded with any arguments and turned towards the left.

Everyone watched as he approached the dimly lit cave like opening and walked through a moment later.

ZZHRRRIUHH~

Reddish rays scanned across his body the moment he walked through and everyone waited.

"Its still sealed," Teemee stated after sticking his hand out to touch the glowing doorway up ahead.

[Mental Manipulation Has Been Activated]

Gustav decided to send Abestos a mind message after waiting for a couple of seconds more.

'Any issues?'

-'Yeah just a little but I took care of them already,'

-'Oh?'

-'I've gotten to the end, the barrier should be lifted for you guys soon,'

'Alright, good job,'

-'Thanks Captain,'

-'What caused the delay though...'

Gustav and Abestos ended communication after a few and now he was aware of a new information. 

"Handler One is pretty sneaky," Gustav chuckled. 

"What's that?" E.E questioned. 

"Let's go," Gustav voiced before stepping forward. 

Everyone had looks of surprise when he stepped through the glowing doorway undisturbed.

They didn't realise the barrier was already lifted. They wasted no time in following after Gustav. When the last person was about walking through, two groups were arriving behind.

When they noticed Gustav teammates moving into the glowing doorway they sped forward with intensity. 

"Huh?" Shirama noticed them and furrowed her eyebrows as they arrived at the doorway. 

Bam! Bam! Bam!

She didn't even bother attacking them. The groups slammed into a barrier before they could reach the doorway. 

"Looks like it's selective and knows who to keep out so long as the conditions have not been met," Shirama scoffed before stepping through the glowing doorway undisturbed. 

Gustav walked out of the light and noticed he had arrived at the base of next layer of the monolith. This place was more than forty thousand feet above the ground but it was leveled and rounded around the monolith like a floor.

Just like the bottom of the monolith, the beginning of two stairways could he spotted on the right and left. One couldn't go back because a barrier was set in place that prevented such.

If anyone fell off the stairs after climbing for a bit, they would only start from the base of the second layer again instead of the bottom of the monolith. 

"Arrrghhhhh!" A series of loud screams were heard from above as a massive mettalic looking ball came cascading down the left stairway.

Thrrroiuuuhhh~

It pushed an entire group of participants with Grasscutter like faces and thorny looking silver hairs that grew out of their back and spleen.

Bam!

Soon they arrived back at the base of the second layer as the massive mettalic ball rolled off the edge after achieving its objective.

The group cursed as they realised they had returned to the start of the second layer. It seemed like they triggered a trap like E.E did on the first layer.

"Right it is," Gustav voiced as he turned towards the right stairway.

The others who had appeared beside him, followed in line. They began making their way upwards with speed.

Swwoossshhhh~

"There are at least fifty groups ahead of us but we can't assume were safe since we don't what to expect yet," Gustav voiced as all nineteen participants ascended across the stairway.

At this point, they were starting to reach the upper atmosphere of Planet Ozious first disk.  The cold wind circulating across the area was a little intense but the group could handle it.

For reasons unknown to the rest, the gravitational force remained the same even though they were closing on space at this height. 

Gustav had God Eyes activated so could see that the reasons there were no changes to the gravitational state was due to the gigantic monolith. 

It seemed to be negating the effects space would usually have. 

As the group climbed further, the fog gathering around them increased. At this point, no one could see the lower parts of the monolith anymore since they had reached a height of neaely hundred feet.

The fog was becoming denser like its aim was to seperate teammates from each other. Fortunately, God Eyes made this impossible as Gustav could see his teammates easily and even without God Eyes his perception made it so no one was able to escape his range of detection. 

"Hmm?" Gustav sensed something the moment he scaled ninety three thousand steps.

Pah! 

He reached towards the left and pushed Angy away.

The moment he did so, Angy slipped and tumbled backwards for a couple of feet.

Endric who was a few steps behind caught her before she tumbled further. The moment her feet stabised she noticed Gustav up ahead gesturing for everyone to stop.

"Some footsteps dissapeared and some are all the way up there instead..." Gustav announced.

"Traps?" E.E inquired. 

"Most likely... probably got a couple of groups but not all were activated... some are still in place. You nearly triggered on Angy," Gustav responded.

It turned out that where you stepped on a particular stair mattered. Gustav didn't trigger any but if Angy had managed to step beside him, she would have.

Thankfully she watered down her speed from the start.

Gustav raised his arm and waved it around forcefully. 

Wwhossshhh~

A strong wind was generated from his arm which immediately cleared the fog covering a distance of more than two thousand feet.

"We'll go one after the other here... wait and follow after the next person exacts footsteps which should follow mine," Gustav instructed.

He proceeded to leap across three hundred steps in the next instant since this was the furthest they could go with it.

He carefully navigated his way forward as he leapt further again, arriving at the far right of the next three hundred stairs.

E.E immediately followed behind, pacing himself properly to Gustav's speed. Elevora followed behind E.E and Sheila followed behind her.

Going up one after the other was of course taking a bit of time but Gustav felt this was better than having to trigger any trap and he could tell there were traps all across the next three thousand steps so he was trying to be as careful as possible.

Aildris waited until everyone else had stepped forward before he did. However, since it had taken some time, a couple of groups were arriving from behind.

One of them sped forward with an unhinged condescending expression as they passed by Aildris side.

Aildris was going to warn the participant as well as the group behind him when...

THRRRAAAIHHHHH!

A massive stroke of lightning descended from above.

"Arrrghhhhh!" The participant screamed in agony as the smell of cooked flesh permeated the air.

Unfortunately this wasn't the end, as two more lightning streaks descended on this participant before they disappeared. 

A cloud above streaked with red lightning streaks and Aildris saw this as his cue to leave before he was mistaken for the teammate of the victimised participant.

Swwwooshhh~

He crossed three hundred steps in an instant but paused the next moment. 

"Where did they...? Oh mine..."

Aildris could sense that whoever left before him was long gone so he had no idea where exactly he was supposed to land next since he had been paying attention to the participant that was getting struck by lightning earlier.

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On the other side of the monolith stairs, the Draconets, made their way forward undisturbed. 

Pah! Pah! Pah! Pah! Pah!

The sound of their giant feet stamping heavily against the stairs reverberated across the vicinity.

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