"Urghhh..."
Ieros groaned as he desperately pushed himself toward the massive branch. His hand slipped against its rough bark, a branch so enormous it could easily be mistaken for an ancient tree on its own.
His teeth ground together.
Qi continuously poured from his body in vast quantities, and the tree greedily devoured every strand it could reach.
Left with no better option, he turned toward the elf.
Elle sat leisurely atop the branch, swinging her legs back and forth while watching his struggle with unmistakable amusement.
He had already attempted to climb above the branch once.
The moment he tried, an invisible barrier had stopped him. Worse still, every instinct in his body screamed at him to retreat, warning him that crossing it would mean certain death.
Unable to continue upward, he had settled for climbing onto the branch itself.
Unfortunately...
That had proven just as difficult.
The branch was simply too wide.
His arms couldn't wrap around it.
His legs couldn't secure a grip.
Every second his fingers slid lower.
"How can you be so cruel?" Ieros said through clenched teeth. "You won't even pull me up?"
Giving up on the branch for the moment, he quickly latched back onto the tree trunk before gravity claimed him.
Elle merely puffed out her cheeks.
"I don't know how you expect me to help when I'm this small."
She spread her tiny arms dramatically before giving him an innocent smile.
Ieros shuddered.
The expression was strangely terrifying coming from someone who could probably flatten mountains with a flick of her finger.
He sighed.
There was no point expecting sympathy from her.
Instead, he focused on the technique.
Nearly a year had passed since he began climbing the Tree.
His control over Qi had improved tremendously.
Yet...
It wasn't enough.
His strength had increased.
His techniques had evolved.
But they still weren't sufficient for this monstrous tree.
Closing his eyes briefly, he replayed every detail of the wall-climbing technique inside his mind.
Finding flaws within it was extraordinarily difficult.
The creator had almost certainly been an expert of unimaginable caliber.
Unless...
The technique had been invented specifically for climbing trees like this one.
He quickly dismissed the thought.
If trees of this magnitude weren't common, then creating such a specialized technique would make little sense.
Which meant...
The technique was already close to perfection.
His brows furrowed.
He briefly considered increasing the number of Qi threads anchoring him to the bark.
A moment later, he discarded the idea.
The additional Qi consumption would be catastrophic.
If his body ran dry while his dormant core refused to respond...
The pressure alone would crush him into paste before he could react.
Unconsciously, he bit his lower lip.
A nervous habit he had developed over the past several months.
Then—
A spark flashed through his eyes.
"Suction..."
He whispered.
Why hadn't he thought of that sooner?
The technique already relied on adhesion.
All he had to do was alter its principle.
Instead of using thorn-like Qi to hook into the bark...
He could create compressed pockets of Qi that generated suction.
The concept was nearly identical.
A smile slowly formed on his face.
Immediately, he began restructuring the technique.
One problem remained.
The pressure.
Maintaining suction under such overwhelming force would consume enormous amounts of Qi.
For now...
He ignored it.
Half an hour passed in complete silence.
Finally...
Ieros decided to test it.
Instead of relying solely on his hands, he spread the technique across his entire body.
Slowly, he reached toward the branch.
His fingers attached themselves firmly.
Then—
He released the tree trunk.
His entire body dangled beneath the colossal branch using only one hand.
Elle had been watching him the entire time.
Even the giant ape had awakened from its slumber.
The enormous creature quietly observed the tiny human hanging beneath the branch like a strange little ornament.
Its gaze drifted toward Elle.
The elf never allowed it to climb the tree.
She wouldn't even let it play on the lower branches.
For reasons it couldn't explain...
The ape suddenly felt jealous.
Meanwhile...
Ieros' body swung beneath the branch.
His hand still slipped.
But...
Far slower than before.
Without hesitation, he reached up with his other hand.
Both palms adhered firmly.
"It worked..."
He breathed.
A sigh of relief escaped him.
Carefully, he began swinging his body toward the opposite side of the branch.
Jumping over it was impossible.
The invisible barrier would kill him long before he landed.
So he had only one option.
Swing.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Each swing carried him slightly higher.
The pressure intensified with every passing second.
His veins bulged.
Qi exploded from his body as he desperately reinforced the suction holding his hands in place.
One final swing.
His feet finally touched the opposite side of the branch.
Only for a brief moment.
Then gravity tore him away.
He swung once more.
Harder.
This time one foot landed.
Then the other.
Panting heavily, he clung to the side of the branch before slowly wriggling upward like an exhausted worm.
The instant his body rose above the branch—
The full pressure descended.
BOOM!
His vision blurred.
Blood rushed violently through his ears.
Prepared for exactly this moment, Ieros released a torrent of Qi.
The violent aura pressing upon him weakened just enough for him to survive.
With one final effort...
He rolled onto the branch.
Then immediately crossed his legs.
Without wasting a single breath, he entered cultivation.
Before he could fully settle—
Poke.
A small finger pressed against his cheek.
"You made it."
Elle smiled brightly, sounding far happier than he expected.
Ieros merely grunted.
Every ounce of his concentration remained fixed on resisting the crushing pressure while stabilizing his Qi.
"I'll..."
He forced the words out through gritted teeth.
"...get you down..."
He inhaled sharply.
"...in about a week."
Elle tilted her head.
"That's too long."
She pouted before smiling again.
"You just focus on what you're doing."
"I'll go down first."
Ieros' eyes snapped open.
Just in time to watch her cheerfully hop off the branch.
His pupils shrank.
"WAIT—"
Before the word could leave his mouth—
She disappeared.
Leaping from the colossal tree as though gravity simply didn't exist.
A vein bulged across Ieros' forehead.
His jaw twitched.
He had spent nearly a year climbing to this branch...
And she had simply...
Jumped.
Before he could dwell on it—
BOOM!
The pressure doubled.
No...
It hadn't merely doubled.
It was as though the colossal tree had been holding itself back all this time.
The moment Elle's presence vanished from its branches, the invisible restraint disappeared as well.
The aura that had once descended in waves now crashed down in its entirety, like the heavens themselves had fallen upon him.
Ieros' eyes widened.
"So it was because of her..."
He finally understood.
The pressure he had endured for nearly a year...
Hadn't been the tree's true pressure.
It had been a greatly suppressed version, as though the ancient tree had consciously restrained itself out of respect—or perhaps fear—for the little elf who had been idly sitting on its branch all this time.
The realization nearly made him curse aloud.
That damned elf...
She had known.
She had known exactly what would happen the moment she left.
Before another thought could form—
Pffft!
A mouthful of blood burst from his lips.
His vision blurred as every bone in his body groaned under the overwhelming force.
Without hesitation, Qi exploded from every pore of his body, desperately resisting the pressure that threatened to crush him flat against the branch.
His veins bulged violently.
His muscles trembled.
Yet he refused to bow.
Inside his mind, only a single sentence echoed over and over.
Damned elf.