Climb time

Somehow, through some sheer stroke of luck, the leg of the gargantuan horror did not land directly on top of them.

Instead, it landed a few meters to the right of the group.

The ground trembled violently, knocking Kai off Umbra's back, making him fall onto the soft snow below.

Kai groaned in pain as he tried to get up. He felt hands grabbing at him, trying to help him rise quicker.

But it was then that he realised that... They were in no danger.

The titan above them was not paying them any attention, in fact, it was a pure coincidence that its leg nearly landed on them.

The horror just kept walking forward, towards the Royal Peak.

Suddenly, Kai's eyes lit up as an idea formed in his mind.

If the titan was able to cover the distance they covered in five days in a few hours...

Lifting his head to look up at the gargantuan leg, Kai began to analyse it.

It was a dark black, like it was cut from obsidian. The legs were rough, like they really had been cut from something.

There were different sections of the leg. Some areas were as thick as tree trunks, while some were about as thick as a lamppost, some were so thick that he had no idea what to compare them to. Kai wasn't sure of the physics behind it, but the horror was somehow able to support its weight with those kinds of legs.

Each time the width of the leg cut inward, there would be a ledge created. There were some that looked like they would have enough room to sit on...

Kai grinned darkly.

Hissing in pain, Kai began jogging back the way they just came.

"Follow me!"

Completetly confused, but having no other option, the rest of the group started following behind him.

Remy climbed up his armour, clinging onto Kai's hair for some good grip.

Seemingly understanding what was about to happen, Umbra dived into Kai's shadow, taking her rightful place inside.

Esurient was the safest as they were able to fly.

Petunia and Cecilia followed close behind. They probably would have been able to go quicker if they knew what was going on, considering that both of them were at peak health, but they had to follow behind Kai in this scenario.

Kai cursed as they approached the second set of the horror's eight legs. By now, it was in the process of moving its second leg.

The titan had a set walking pattern, it would move its front right leg, then it's front left, then it would move onto the second row of its legs and start on the right again.

Each leg took minutes to move, meaning they should have enough time.

But the second set of legs had no ledges that were down low enough to take advantage of. Kai didn't want to have to climb too high to get a good spot as he was near certain his body wouldn't be able to handle climbing it.

However, when they approached the third set of legs...

Kai grinned.

There was a rather sizable ledge where the circumference of the horror's leg suddenly switched from extremely thick to pretty thin, a perfect location for someone to sit.

It was kind of high up, but it was only about half as high as the ledge on the previous legs. It would definitely take a lot ouf of Kai to climb it, but still...

Gritting his teeth, Kai pushed himself to reach the base of the third set of legs.

Once they reached the large obsidian coloured spike, Kai placed his hands on it, getting a feel for it.

It was rough, like it really was made out of rock, but the material didn't matter.

Kai gave the hard material a few test tugs. Luckily, the material was not slippery or anything, just that climbing it would be hard becase of the lack of hand and footholds.

"Come on, we have to climb this!"

Cecilia stared at him, not fully comprehending the words coming out of his mouth. She had believed that him fighting Ezekial was the craziest thing he could have done, but it turns out that she was wrong.

Surprisingly, Petunia seemed rather excited to climb the leg of a gargantuan titan. She didn't need to be told twice as she began to scale the leg like an expert climber. Remy quickly scrambled away, clinging onto the white fur of the Tunic of Rememberance instead.

Still, Kai made Esurient dig its tip into the collar of her tunic, acting like a harness of sorts in case she fell while also helping her climb quicker.

It would have been much better if Esurient could have just carried them up, but the blade wouldn't have been able to hand all the weight, so all they could do was help them up.

"Sir..."

Cecilia gazed worriedly at Kai, but not for herself.

She had seen the condition that his body was in, so she was worried if he would even be able to reach the ledge.

Which was a fair thing to be worried about, but Kai knew that this was the best possible choice.

After all, if this went right, they would be able to cut a month long journey on foot to the Royal Peak down to a few days, maybe even a few hours.

"Just climb, I'll be fine."

Biting her lip softly, Cecilia sighed and relented, beginning to climb the leg of the titan.

Kai watched as the gloves on her hands and the boots on her feet changed ever so slightly. A set of claws appeared from the tips of her gloves, giving her an even better grip on the rough obsidian while a set of spikes appeared from the bottom of the boots, along with a spike in their tip to did into the rock.

Sadly, the material that created the legs of the titan was way, way too strong to get pierced by such mundane means, so she had to dismiss the spike in the tip of her boot. Still, the claws on her hands and spikes in the base of her boots let Cecilia climb a little easier.

Leaving only Kai on the ground.

Taking a deep breath, Kai made a promise to himself that he would thoroughly experiment with the transformative abilities of his bodysuit in the future. Cecilia had only had it for a couple of hours and she had already made more use of it than he did.

He then gripped onto the obsidian like material of the titan's legs.

At the same time, he activated Mana Surge.

He knew that he had said he would only use it for sudden bursts of power, but desparate times call for desparate measures.

Still, he did not subject his whole body to the skill, instead, he only empowered certain parts of his body using it.

His arms and legs, obviously, but he also used the skill on his heart, lungs and veins.

The description had said he could use the skill on any part of his body after all.

Kai felt his heart rate increase. It felt like he was taking in more oxygen with every breath. His bloodflow felt like it been unclogged and allowed to flow freely.

Of course, Kai knew he would be punished for using this skill for too long, so he had to try and reach the ledge as quickly as possible.

Just as he began to climb the leg, the ground trembled.

The second leg had landed, and the titan was about to move its third.

Kai focused. He had never really been one for climbing, but he could accept doing it in this sort of situation.

His fingertips desparately grasped at any outcrop of black rock he could reach. His sense of touch felt stronger. He wasn't sure if he was imagining it, but he could almost swear that he felt a small sense of heat from inside the leg.

Above him, Petunia was racing to the ledge with Esurient's help, Cecilia slowly getting there too.

Meanwhile, Kai was going the slowest.

His body was aching, but it was like he had been injected with a bunch of adrenaline, making it a little more bearable, but he was sure to feel even more pain once he reached the ledge.

Minutes passed excruciatingly slowly, in which the titan had already moved onto the descent process of its third leg.

But finally, Petunia reached the ledge. She sat down on it, looking downwards before shouting:

"I'm here!"

Kai mentally sighed, unable to speak because of how tired he was, so instead, he set up a telepathic link with Esurient.

"Help Cecilia."

The Ruby blade quickly descended, digging into the hood of the ex-Queen's winter coat, helping her climb quicker.

Kai felt his arms and legs tingling strangely, he felt his lungs tingling, his heart tingling, every part of his body was tingling, a warning that he was pushing himself, but he had to push through.

Another few minutes later, Cecilia reached the ledge, making Kai mentally exhale in relief.

By now, he was about three quarters of the way to the ledge, he was nearly there.

But the next moment, his blood, even while his veins were being empowered by Mana Surge, ran cold.

That... was the fourth tremor.

And it was then that Kai remembered he was climbing one of the titans right legs.

The next moment, Kai was forced to grip the obsidian leg even tighter as it was lifted into the air.