Path to Transcendence

Julius had been attempting to break the barrier with his mana and ruinous aura, but sadly, it hadn’t been effective yet. He could see that his ruinous aura was doing something, but the barrier was so tough that it wasn’t enough.
Not only that, but the barrier seemed to gain strength as more time went by. What had been a relatively invisible barrier was slowly changing into a curtain of gray shadows, encapsulating all of them.
Whatever damage he caused was fixed by the barrier's self-repair function. It was annoying, and he was running out of ideas. He banged his head against the edge of the barrier in frustration.
However, it would appear that hitting his head was a good idea because he had a sudden thought.
He looked around at the people around them and noticed they were too occupied watching the chimera stomping around. Furthermore, his suspicion about Isaac was correct. It would seem that getting hit by that beam of light wasn’t enough to keep Isaac down for good. He was already healed and was attacking the chimera once more.
With the added help from Eren and his falling swords, the chimera was quite pinned down for the moment. It was too busy dealing with the two powerful Tier 3s. Riven hadn’t flown over to join them. The mage was nearby, also trying to break open the barrier just like Julius was.
He was having the same issue as Julius. The barrier would open momentarily, but would close too quickly for anyone to get through. Teleportation didn’t seem to work while inside the barrier, either; therefore, people couldn’t go through the small hole.
It was a good thing that he had an idea he wanted to try.
He looked down at his fist with a grin and started to manipulate his Space Concept into it. [Void Strike] layered over his hand, pulsing with dangerous and volatile waves of energy. He didn’t get many opportunities to use the skill. It was too powerful and dangerous for most applications.
He saw Riven pause and look over at Julius with surprise evident in his eyes.
Julius focused on his own actions for the time being. He thought he had a good chance of damaging the barrier with [Void Strike]. The barrier clearly had a spatial aspect to it. If he could use [Void Strike] and his ruinous aura in conjunction, he might be able to create a large enough hole to have his friends escape.
With a grunt of exertion, he let the mana build up, and when it reached a precipice, he unleashed all of it on the barrier. A loud crash rocked the barrier, and to his delight, he saw the barrier crack ever so slightly. He used some of his aura to try to break it open, but the barrier healed itself once again.
However, he wasn’t deterred. He kept on trying, charging another one of his fists with mana. This time around, he also created a gauntlet, using the construct to take most of the pressure off [Void Strike]. This enabled him to push even more power through the skill.
He briefly glanced backward and was interrupted when he sensed some debris from the chimera’s fight heading his way. He was about to create a barrier, but his friends were already there to protect him.
They must have realized what he was doing and had used all of the attention to create a defensive shield around him. He nodded his thanks to them and continued his work.
He let some of his fire mana feed into his crown, allowing the ruinous flames to feed into his fist. He could feel the fire eating away at his flesh. The destructive energy was hard to contain, even with the gauntlet taking the brunt of the weight from the skill.
However, once he was ready, he unleashed his strike on the barrier. An absolutely massive shockwave exploded out from where he attacked the barrier. His eardrums were blown out from being so close to the impact zone. The accumulated kinetic energy, fire mana, and aura were enough to blow his arm to pieces regardless of his preparations.
It was one of the strongest attacks he could manage at this time, and it showed. The barrier, which had previously only been cracked, now sported a hole large enough for a human to walk through.
He could already feel the barrier trying to repair itself. However, thanks to his infusion of ruinous flames and aura, he was able to stall this mending feature. He also made sure to force even more ruinous aura into the barrier, doing his best to hold it back.
The weight from the barrier was unimaginably intense, and he could feel his soul struggling as he pushed his willpower to the limit. However, the stress it placed on his mind was far greater than the one on his soul.
He groaned loudly when he felt his mind slowly collapsing. His will could somewhat handle it, but his mind was another story.
Blood was dripping from his nose and eyes as he struggled to keep them open. He tried to yell at his friends to get through, but the words wouldn't come out.
Thankfully, they knew what he was asking of them and, without questioning him, heeded his desires. They dashed over to the small opening of the barrier he had forced open, but it was already closing slowly.
He gasped as he pushed his mind even further. It had only been mere seconds since he opened the crack, but it felt like he had been keeping it open for over minutes.
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He didn’t know if he could keep it open for much longer, but he owed it to his friends to keep trying. He let his healing skill continuously heal his melting brain. Drasil was doing all he could to support Julius as well. But the constant cycle of damage and healing was taking a toll on his thoughts. They were getting muddied.
Just when he thought he was unable to hold it any longer, he felt someone join him. He looked over to the side and saw Riven right next to him. He didn’t know how, but the mage had somewhat piggybacked off his work supporting Julius.
The strain immediately lessened, and with the two of them, they were able to keep it open long enough for his friends to pass through. Julius was worried that there was another layer of enchantments, but let out a sigh of relief when he saw they were okay.
He slowly stumbled his way to the barrier. The strain was lessened, but his brain was still a bit muddled and required some time to reset. Burning one’s mind would do that to a person.
“Go on through. I will follow after,” he said to Riven, shaking his head to clear the fogginess.
Riven groaned and shook his head. It was clear that the mage was struggling to hold on as well.
“Seriously, stop being stubborn and get in there. The more time we waste, the more dangerous it will become,” Julius said impatiently.
“Not until everyone else gets through,” Riven said stubbornly, puking out a mouthful of blood.
“Who cares about the rest of them? My friends are safe, so it’s not my problem,” Julius said and looked at Riven like he was an idiot.
“So what? You are just going to leave them at the mercy of that monster?” Riven asked in disbelief.
“Damn right,” he said shamelessly. All he cared about was his friends. That was his only priority.
Riven stared at him and twisted his bloody mouth. Then he looked at where the other participants were panicking.
“Get over here! We created an exit!” Riven suddenly shouted out, using wind magic to enhance his voice.
It was like a crowd of children hearing someone shout that free candy was being given out. Over a hundred desperate stares latched onto Riven, and before Julius could say anything, they were already sprinting toward them like a pack of wild animals.
Riven then turned to Julius with a victorious smile. However, the smile looked a bit deranged since the mage’s mouth was flooded with blood from the strain of holding the barrier open.
“Okay, so now you can either hold this open with me. Or you can always jump through on your own. I will keep it open so you can do that if you want,” Riven said to him, displaying his bloody teeth.
Julius rolled his eyes but didn’t make a move to go through the hole. “What are you? Some kind of hero or something?”
Riven’s eyes flickered with sadness for the briefest of moments.
“I’m trying to be,” he said with a serious look.
Julius frowned, wondering if there was a story behind that.
“Fine,” he said defeatedly and watched as a horde of people all desperately tried to escape through the hole they created. He believed there would have been far fewer people trying to run away or fight the monster, but Isaac and Eren’s failed attempt must have convinced them they couldn't win.
To be fair, he agreed with their assessment. The chimera was ridiculously strong, and it showed when Isaac’s continued efforts didn’t do anything. Julius watched as the guy was slammed by the creature’s tail, getting pummeled into the dirt once again.
Eren had already given up and was heading over to them on a flying sword. There was a look of reluctance on his face, but he must have realized that there wasn’t a point in fighting with an exit secured.
Julius gave Garrett a dark glare when he saw the guy frantically making his way over. He was one of the first to arrive. The guy was actually really fast and had impressive control over his mana from what Julius could sense.
However, the panic in his face convinced Julius that this wasn’t a part of the teen’s plan and that the teen was just trying to run away.
Nobody, other than a scant few, even bothered to say thank you to Julius or Riven. They just moved as quickly as possible through the hole, worried it might close suddenly. Which, to be fair, was a real risk.
A few errant attacks from the chimera had already gotten pretty close, and it was only thanks to several proactive people that Julius didn’t have to create any defenses of his own. He and Riven were able to solely focus on keeping the barrier open.
Yet, even this wasn’t enough.
Isaac’s distractions were slowly becoming ineffective, and eventually the chimera’s gaze locked onto Julius and Riven.
The spikes along its spine started to glow with the dangerous red light once more. It was as if all of the mana around the creature was being sucked into its lungs.
“Hurry up,” Julius said urgently to one of the last few people trying to get through while he created several barriers in front of him. These last people were the ones who had stayed behind to help protect him, so he didn’t want to close the hole on them. They were one of the few who deserved to escape after all.
But the light was growing brighter, and just as the last person stepped through, a piercing beam of red light cut through the air and slammed into his barriers.
The first few shattered like glass, which somewhat surprised him. He knew that the attack contained a lot of mana, but the ease with which they were able to break his aura-woven barriers was scary.
The other barriers held up a little bit better, but they still weren’t enough.
Thankfully, they gave him enough time to react, and with a shove of aura, he attempted to send Riven through the hole before it closed. The mage tried to fight him for some reason, but since he was already tired from holding the barrier open, Julius overpowered him.
Then, before Riven could do anything, he closed the hole as the beam of light slammed into Julius.
He had just enough time to make some last-second protections, but even then, it wasn’t enough. The beam of light tore through everything he placed in front of himself, and he could feel his skin burning away.
He wasn’t able to move because it felt like he was being blasted by a firehose the size of a building. However, he was able to use [Void Step] and get out of the way.
When he teleported away, the beam had nowhere else to go, but slammed into the barrier that had been behind him. Surprisingly, it didn’t do as much damage as he expected.
He didn’t have much time to think about that. He had a feeling that he was about to become extremely busy.
He let his flesh regenerate and looked at the chimera with an enthusiastic grin.
Some might have thought he would be in trouble because he was stuck in here with the powerful beast. But what they didn’t know was that it was the other way around. The chimera was stuck inside with him.