Chapter 129: Outheal

"You don’t have to do this," Eren said to her. "You can go along with Delia and the rest of our group. It’ll be slow, but it’ll be safe."

Celeste shook her head. "If you’re going, I’m going. I already told you before. We’re unlikely allies, whether you like it or not."

Seeing as there was no persuading her, Eren eventually let the matter settle down.

After taking a deep breath, he walked forwards and Reinforce his feet, allowing him to step vertically on the Second Cliffside.

His perspective changed. The wall became the ground. And the smoke covering the cliffside now became a heavy fog that obscured his way forwards.

The wall glowed with R?zoň symbols. The smoke seemed to have a mind of its own as it began to envelop them both even more.

Eren began to feel the effects of the smoke. His skin began to sting, like the sensation of putting your hand too close to a candle. Except, it was happening all over his body.

With his mind focusing on his feet, he executed his Primal Step with perfect accuracy. He needed nothing less if he wanted to climb up with a lot of speed.

Beside him, Celestia glowed with a red hazy aura.

Eren was astonished, making him pause for a second.

She was Reinforced her entire body. This allowed her to have protection on every inch of her skin, nullifying the effects of the smoke.

This was an advanced form of Reinforcement. One that not even Magnus or Dantes or any of the other elite examinees in the License Exam was capable of.

Most examinees could only Reinforce a single part of their body. After all, Reinforcing the entire body required a lot of practice, skill, and talent.

It was the kind of technique that needed years of practice. And apparently, Celeste had completed the requirement.

"You can ogle at me all you want later. For now, focus on running forwards as fast as you can," Celeste said to him.

She ran up the Cliffside, one foot at a time. Her Full Body Reinforcement wouldn’t last forever, and took a huge toll on her R?zoň reserves.

Eren shook his head and put his focus forwards.

Then, he sprinted. Negative Reinforcement kept him steady as he went through the vertical ascent.

And as the Burning Smoke enveloped his entire body, a strange sensation appeared around him. Flames of R?zoň manifested as a tiny sliver of film above his skin.

It didn’t protect him from the burning sensation of the smoke. However, it did increase Eren’s recovery to the point where he was healing much faster than whatever kind of damage that the Burning Smoke could do.

The Aspect!

He was surprised to learn that even now, he was underestimating the Aspect of the [Primordial Fire].

It healed his injuries extremely fast! Much faster than even the Martial Manuals that the Medical Sector examinees used earlier.

Now unaffected by the smoke, Eren continued to run up the Second Cliffside alongside Celeste.

...

...

...

Meanwhile, Paupre and his group stood at the precipice of the Third Cliffside.

They were cheering at their leader as he prepared his final ascent to the top of the volcano.

Paupre looked towards his secretary. "What about Delia and her group? Did we recruit them?"

The messenger from before shook his head. "Unfortunately not. They were adamant in keeping themselves tethered to that Eren guy."

"Hmmm... it’s a shame. Delia seemed to be extremely talented, much more than that Sav but it doesn’t matter.

It would have been nice if we had her expertise in this final ascent, but it is unneeded. If all goes well, we’ll get to the apex of the volcano in a few hours.

How about the other group?"

There was one other group here in the Volcanic Territory. They were also from the Hunter Sector, and they were the ones that were coming toe to toe with Paupre and his group.

They were the only ones who had a chance to get there faster than Paupre.

"Don’t worry," said the messenger. "They seemed to be flustered with our final ascent. They’ll need a few hours to get ready."

Paupre smiled. "Good. then, let’s start—"

It was at this point that someone from their group pointed at something in the distance.

"Look! Someone’s trying to climb up the Second Cliffside!"

They all turned backwards, including Paupre and his messenger.

And looking down at the slope, they saw a sliver of movement through the thick fog of the Second Cliffside.

"Who? Is it Sav?" Paupre asked.

The messenger shook his head. "No... that’s... that Eren guy from earlier."

This caught some mixed reactions from Paupre’s group. Some saw it as a threat, while others were laughing at how desperate they had become.

"They’re probably panicking once they saw us start the final ascent," someone said.

"But looking it them, it looks like they’re not even using healing Martial Manuals to help them."

"They might get here fast, but they’ll do so with burns on their skin. We don’t need to worry about them at that point. They’ll need at least a day to recover from those injuries."

Many from Paupre’s group decided that it wasn’t even worth it to look at them. But some did. And they soon realized something.

"They’re... moving pretty fast."

"Adequate use of Negative Reinforcement... but what are they using to protect themselves? They don’t look like they’re burning from the smoke."

Paupre frowned as he took a closer look at Eren and Celeste.

"Are they using some kind of Array Formation to get there that fast?" Paupre asked.

No one answered his question. After all, Eren’s appearance as he emerged out of the smoke of the Second Cliffside answered all inquiries.

Eren and Celeste emerged from the cliffside, completely unharmed from the Burning Smoke.

"How’s that possible?!"

"I didn’t see them use any healing salve as well!"

Even Paupre himself was shocked. After all, he wasn’t able to do that when he tried to climb up the Second Cliffside!