Monster Integration

The temporary boost vanished, and the fatigue set in, and it became stronger than before. That it instantly made several of the Grimms and humans fall to their knees.

Even for me, the pressure was so much that I just wanted to give up, but that was not an option for me; I could not give up, no matter what.

So, I moved, taking one small step after another, while sweat flowed like a river from my body.

The huge stone gate looked far but also looked quite closely; if there weren't a suppression, then it wouldn't have taken me more than five minutes to reach it, even when I walked, but now, seeing the way this mountainous pressure-pressing against my will, it going to take much longer than that.

Thud!

Another Grimm fell, not far away from me, that I did not even look at it for a few seconds till everyone looked. I still did not understand the reason for them looking till I noticed the things I should have at the first instant, especially me, a healer.

'Dead,' I said in my mind; while the most Grimms have fallen unconscious, this one had died, which is quite rare; I felt lucky to witness it and even happy seeing it was not the Grimm with a bloodline.

Like others, I did not waste more than a few seconds on the dead Grimm before pushing forward, but this time, there was little caution in my pace. I had somehow forgotten that this pressure is dangerous; if one had pressed themselves too hard, they would die.

Ten minutes passed, and there seemed to be no change in the distance between the door and me; though it was not true, my clone was giving me the details of the actual progress I had made, and it was pretty good.

Still, as many people had said, I am quite competitive, and seeing the people in front of me, I begin to push myself harder and harder, forgetting the caution of which I had reminded myself.

There is no other way; seven people are in front of me, three Grimms and four humans. I would not have pushed myself if t had been only two or three humans and no Grimms, but there are Grimms, and I would not have them entered the gates before me, no matter the risk I need to take.

I looked at Sophia; she was matching her pace to mine, and she was just a step behind me; sometimes she gets, but she is a step behind me.

I teased her about that with my expression and, in return, got the familiar glare.

These are the moments that made the pressure bearable. If she had not been here, I don't think I would have been able to maintain this pace.

Sometimes having friends makes difficult things bearable, and I am glad I had very good friends.

Twenty more minutes passed, and I had crossed half a distance to the gate when I had first seen it, but that did not make me happy, as I was not able to take the lead on even a single person ahead of me; there is even one added to the list of people ahead of me.

Sofia had taken the lead once again; it was the lead of just one step but felt insurmountable considering I was nearly dragging my feet; I did not seem to have the will to lift my legs fully to walk.

All my will is focused on fighting this pressure, while a tiny fraction of it is being used as other things such as walking, things that used to require no thoughts now need a focus.

Another half an hour passed, and now their good news, I was again ahead of Sophia, not just Sophia, but one Grimm and two humans. It had taken me immense effort to do that, but I was able to do it, and now, my target is four people ahead of me, which again will be quite difficult.

The four people ahead of me are not easy; all of them are old bastards with a will strong as steel, not to mention the gate is barely three hundred meters ahead, which Grimm could finish off in just a few strikes with its huge size.

Thankfully, this is not a place that will give it the advantage due to its size; if I were to say then its size is a great disadvantage to it, considering how fast the pressure increase on it.

I continued to drag my feet, crossing inches every time I moved forward; the speed was slow as a snail but was everything I could manage; I could not go faster, but if I did somehow, then I would either fall unconscious or die.

Some more time passed, and now, there was only a fifty-meters distance between me and the gate; there were now only three people ahead of me, two humans and one Grimm.

We all are moving fast as we can; the exhilarating emotions seem to come back as we reach the shadow of the gate, that we are moving faster than we had in the past mile.

I forgot everything else, my competition and the boost that is waiting for me on the other side; the only thing I have in my mind is the gate that I have to cross.

It is this extreme focus that helped me bear this immense pressure that seemed to be increasing at a much faster rate than before that I felt the people behind me falling to their knees, some even fell unconscious, but I do not care for any of that, the only thing I care is the gate.

I don't know how long it passed, but as I reached it, I could see the deep brown color that reminded me of the soil.

It was plain but felt beautiful, and I wish I could spend some time admiring it, but I had already taken a step into the gate, and my vision of it had already disappeared as everything turned dark.