Chapter 130: Chaos

Eren emerged from the Burning Smoke with a smile on his face. Even he, himself, wasn’t confident that he’d be able to go through this obstacle with such ease.

But thanks to his Aspect of the Primordial Fire, he was able to out-sustain the burning sensation of the smoke.

What he was more surprised about was Celeste. She was a lot more skilled than he gave her credit for.

Though from what it looked like, she was the one who was more surprised than he was.

"Do you have some kind of healing Martial Manual that allows you to do that?" she asked him.

Eren shrugged. "Something like that."

She took his answer straight up and didn’t question it. Then, she looked towards the horizon, where the slope had slightly lessened to a degree. But near the horizon, they saw Paupre and his group standing at the very precipice of the Third Cliffside.

They were all looking at them with shocked looks on their faces.

"They’ll be surprised. But they won’t be treating us as a threat just yet," he told her.

And just as he suspected, Paupre eventually turned his attention away from them and focused back on his task at hand. He looked up at the steep, near-vertical wall right in front of him, where at the very end, he saw the flag at the tip of the volcano, just waiting for him to take it.

Eren was without his group. He was essentially useless, they thought.

But of course, Eren was confident of his group being able to solve the Burning Smoke problem easily. They were just delayed for a little bit.

And so, this gave Eren just enough time to go up and make a break for the peak of the volcano.

"Are you really going to go up there?" Celeste asked him.

The Third Cliffside was a very challenging problem. So much so that Paupre and the rest of the other groups hadn’t figured out a way to solve it as of yet.

It basically combined every single problem from the First and Second Cliffside and basically upped them to the third degree.

Lava spewed from its crater, making it incredibly hot and literally making some spots unclimbable. And if that wasn’t bad enough, there was a thick, gray smoke that completely obscured vision everywhere on the Third Cliffside, making the dangers of stepping onto lava even bigger than before.

And from what Eren heard from Pang Cai, it seemed that the Cliffside was also frequented by earthquakes that affected only the top part. It would shake so strongly that anyone who dared to climb it would inevitably find themselves falling back into the ground.

Paupre had already fallen multiples times before. But it seemed that this time, he was ready to climb it for the final time.

Beside him, there was a woman with pink hair.

She talked with him, before putting her hands on his shoulders and leaving behind a red symbol mark on his body.

Eren noticed this and immediately knew that the girl was the Medical Sector leader that Paupre had allied himself with.

And it looked like right now, she was going to be helping him by imbuing some kind of protective Array Formation that would shield him from the harsh effects of the dark grey smoke, while also heal him from any injuries.

Eren didn’t care if Paupre had found a solution to the Third Cliffside. All he wanted to do was go up there and get the flag faster than he did.

And it looked like he wasn’t the only one who had that thought.

On Eren’s side, he saw an entirely new group charge forwards, led by a burly man with really hairy arms. He rightly guessed that this was the final group leader that had been trying to conquer this Volcano Territory along with Paupre, the pink-haired girl, and Sav.

They sprinted up towards the base of the Third Cliffside, prompting Paupre’s group to burst into action.

Both sides clashed. Martial Manuals were thrown everywhere. R?zoň sparks inundated the battlefield as they began to go all out in a battle against each other.

And in the midst of all this chaos, Eren slipped in amongst them.

Beside him, Celeste was surprised. Eren had timed his appearance perfectly to when the other group had arrived. Did he plan all of this perfectly?

Otherwise, he would have been the subject of battle with Paupre’s group.

Now, they were way too distracted to mind him.

At least, for the first few steps.

Paupre’s messenger, his right hand-man, noticed Eren and came to intercept him. He had been looking at Eren this entire time.

Both of them stood face to face, with the battle raging on all around them.

"A smart play," the messenger said. "But also stupid. Once we defeat this pesky other group, we would quickly pivot towards you. You wouldn’t be able to protect yourself. You have no other group members besides this girl."

Eren turned towards Celeste and nodded at her. She knew what to do and immediately stepped away, allowing Eren to have the duel with the messenger.

The messenger snorted, but looked at his hands with the light from the campfire nearby. Reinforcement was imbued all over his hands, creating the illusion of ice seeemiingly forming around his fists.

[Crushing Fists of the Arctic]. A 7-star Martial Manual that focuses on dealing massive blows.

That ice on the messenger’s fist would explode upon contact, sending shards of ice towards his opponent, slowing them. Then, the messenger could simply Reinforce his fists again and deal a second blow.

Eren entered into his Mind Palace. And in an instant, he found himself at the Cultivation Spire, with the [Crushing Fists of the Arctic] Martial Manual in his hands.

Within less than a second, all of its contents were downloaded into his mind.

He knew all of its techniques, strengths, and weaknesses.

Just as he thought that, a searing hotness appeared in his chest, pulling his consciousness back onto reality just as the messenger was about to unleash his attack.