Page 671 of Heaven, Earth, Me

A few minutes later, the seventh stage approached, and Yasenia's energy began moving again, her golden eyes shining brightly.

By now, the pressure has become strong enough to start slowing her down, consuming her stamina gradually.

It was not a big problem for her, in any case. If there was one thing Yasenia was confident in, it was her stamina.

Yasenia looked back and saw a few people far behind. Then, she looked at the front and spotted Sarah, Evelyn, and Cecile going ahead of her. 'At this pace, they will never catch up, and I'll secure a fifth place. But...'

The reason for her falling behind Evelyn, Sarah, and Cecile was her burst speed skills effectiveness fading and the ability of the three at the front to keep a constantly high speed. Thus, the advantage she gained in the initial stages disappeared a while ago.

Of course, this didn't mean Yasenia was slow. The fact that she could still barely keep up even when those three at the front were going all out was a testament to her swiftness. Moreover, influenced by Tatyana, she also used her [War intent] to increase her body strength.

There was one thing that she had yet to use and had been reserving for the stages ahead of the sixth.

Even then, Yasenia was curious about Sarah. There was a sense of incongruity when looking at her. 'I haven't seen her slow down from the beginning... It's a bit strange. I can clearly see that Dear and Sweetheart's bodies are heavier just by looking at them, but Sarah still looks light.'

The dragoness tilted her head, looking at the person almost reaching the end of the seventh stage while she had yet to enter it. 'Is she really that strong?'

Shaking her head, Yasenia focused on the energy inside of her. 'Whatever, she won't be able to keep up that speed forever, right? If I've calculated this correctly, my following skill should last until the end or almost until the end, allowing me to end up second.' Her tongue licked over her sharp fangs, and she smiled. 'Let's accelerate.'

The three women ahead of her suddenly felt an oppressive aura behind them, making them feel as if a predator had locked on them.

Looking back, they saw Yasenia taking out her heavy [Draconic Heart], which slowed her down a bit more.

However, instead of feeling relaxed, their nerves tensed. There was no way that the clever dragoness would slow herself down just for the sake of it.

Cecile didn't peer into Yasenia's soul to see what she was doing or thinking. The phoenix loved competing fairly against her, so she was also curious and expectant. 'What will my love do?'

Evelyn finally reached the eighth area, about two minutes behind Sarah. The new pressure slammed onto her firmly, making her leg muscles tense and slowing her down about ten percent. 'I have a large advantage over Yasenia, so I shouldn't be worried, but...'

Evelyn's mind tingled as she looked at the dragoness that had yet to enter the seventh area. Her lips arched. '... I feel like I will lose.'

Her body was filled with chills. 'Is this how it feels to compete against her? To face her? She is really a monster.'

Attentively, they saw Yasenia getting closer and closer to the yellow-white plane, the seventh area, and they felt the oppressiveness coming from her increasing, even when she was so far away.

It was not a natural pressure but a feeling of being locked by a powerful competitor.

Finally, Yasenia's feet stepped on the white-yellow area.

At that moment, everything else seemed to stop as only Yasenia's actions registered in the minds of those ahead and behind her.

First, a massive explosion of aura inundated her surroundings while her feet firmly stepped into the white-yellow area.

As her other leg raised and approached the floor, the ground began to sink, and gold, silver, and white lights spiraled around her with enough might to make their hearts squeeze.

She had yet to take her second step, but the power that was about to burst from her already appeared endless.

In Yasenia's Dantian, all her treasures began spinning rapidly, feeding the body of the dragoness with endless energy.

Then, a few strands escaped from the Celestial Energy Star, entering the dragoness's meridians.

Her second step landed, and her aura wildly ballooned, her beautiful black hair lifting up while golden, silvery, and white lights combined.

Then, while using the Celestial Energy and controlling it with her [Celestial Intent], she combined her charge skills into one.

Cecile and Evelyn finally felt in their skins how being targeted by Yasenia's all-out energy felt. These sensations made their hearts pound with complex feelings that culminated into one instinctual thought.

'I can't win.'

Right when those thoughts were created in their minds, Yasenia pointed her sword forward, and massive energy jets burst from her backward.

"[Draconic Celestial Charge]."

Yasenia's field of vision stretched, and she finally pushed against the sinking ground below her.

Then, the seemingly slowed-down time started flowing normally again.

BAAANG!

The dragoness's became a galaxy-like spiral that rushed up the mountain with frightening speed.

Wherever she passed, a deep trench was created as the air around her rumbled.

Even when the pressure from the seventh step pressed on her, Yasenia's body was like an unstoppable comet streaking through the sky.

It didn't take long before Yasenia overcame Cecile and Evelyn, rushing through the seventh and eighth sections as if they were the first two.

Evelyn burst into laughter when the dragoness passed her like nothing and flew ahead. 'She is so awesome, I love her.'

Meanwhile, far ahead, in the limit of the ninth and longest section, Sarah frowned and looked back.

Her eyes widened when something was approaching her at high speeds. 'What's that, system?'

[Host. The energy signature is similar to Yasenia. However, there are energies I can't discern, making my signal lecture strange.]

Sarah's face hardened. 'At this pace, she will overcome me. Use the speed boost again.'

[Host. Are you sure? That's a reward from a complicated quest that could save your life in the future.]

Sarah frowned. 'If I lose to Yasenia, she won't look up to me. I need to impress her. So, use it.'

[Using Potential Burst, secondary effects will be negated by Spiritual Body. Increasing stats by 400% for three minutes.]

Sarah's body glowed with five colored lights as her strength multiplied several times; the aura around her was no less than the aura around Yasenia.

Of course, it was a temporary boost, while Yasenia's was her own energy, so they were essentially different. Yet, for the competition ahead, it was enough.

Sarah used her movement technique again with a few boost skills and streaked upward exceptionally swiftly.

When she entered the ninth section, a message popped up.

[Spiritual pressure increase detected. A living creature did not apply the spiritual pressure. Blocking spiritual pressure. Succes.]

Therefore, after entering the ninth section, Sarah's body accelerated instead of decelerating.

Yasenia continued upward, her energy pool burning at a high pace, and she arrived at the ninth section forty-five seconds later than Sarah. Her face hardened when she felt as if someone suddenly appeared above her and pushed her against the ground.

She quickly looked at the woman ahead of her, and deep determination flashed in her eyes. 'I'm not done yet!'

Her powerful muscles tensed, and with a powerful roar, she continued upward, barely slowing down.

Each step she took created a large depression on the ground, showing how much strength she was using.

Slowly but surely, she closed the distance with Sarah. Still, Yasenia was frowning deeper. 'Why isn't she slowing down? I can only maintain this charge for forty more seconds...'

Even now, her muscles were crying in pain, and her meridians were swollen as energy flowed too quickly.

Usually, "Celestial" tier skills were skills she could use for a short amount of time because of the heavy burden they applied to her.

However, in order to catch up to Sarah, she was forcing herself to continue pumping energy into the skills when even one step felt like something was electrocuting her.

Thirty seconds passed, and Yasenia finally caught up. They were at the end of the ninth step, approaching the last ten. 'I underestimated the test, but with this ten-second advantage, I should have enough.'

But deep down, she felt otherwise. Intuition told her that she was going to lose.

Sarah, in turn, was opening her eyes wide. 'She is surpassing me!? Will she go up to the top like this?'

The woman frowned and bit her lip, thinking of using more items. However, her system spoke.

[Host. It feels that she is running out of energy. Don't worry, it's your win.]

Sarah pondered and decided to trust the system.

Yasenia overcame her by a large margin in the last stretch of the ninth step and entered the tenth and last part.

Her eyes widened when the pressure increased by at least fourfold. Her already heavy body almost crumbled, and she swiftly stored [Draconic Sword], ending the [Draconic Celestial Charge] skill.

Sarah saw that, as the system said, Yasenia's speed suddenly slowed down tremendously.

[Heavenly Constellation Steps] and other strengthening skills were still running. But, the distance she gained with so much effort was quickly shortened because of the pressure and disappeared in ten seconds.

Yasenia sighed, feeling the other woman shortening the distance quickly and effortlessly. 'I couldn't do it in the end.'

When Sarah caught up, she smiled and slowed to match Yasenia's speed. "Yasenia, how are you doing? Your skill was awe-inspiring! To think that you caught up to me."

The dragoness looked at Sarah and blinked twice. 'She is ignoring even this amount of pressure? That's... Not likely, no? I'm leaving footprints with each stride while running. Am I being arrogant because I think that what I can't resist, others also can't?'

The dragoness pondered. 'Well, I will ask. After all, there is nothing to lose.'

Even if her body was in pain because of the pressure and the excessive usage of the Celestial skill, her tolerance to pain was extreme, so she didn't show anything in her expression. Moreover, her natural regeneration was already kicking in, healing her internally damaged body.

The dragoness looked at Sarah and answered. "The pressure has become so strong. How are you dealing with it? I can't see defensive auras around you."

Sarah blinked. 'Is that why she slowed down so much? Is it a lot of pressure? System?'

[Host. This system is blocking the pressure as it has deemed it to not be beneficial or harmful in any way.]

Sarah became curious and asked. 'Can you stop blocking for a few seconds?'

Then, the pressure gradually increased, 'Oh, this feels hard...' and slammed onto her. 'Huh?'

BANG!

Yasenia tilted her head when there was no answer, but suddenly, she saw Sarah's face changing to one of horror as her speed instantly dropped to a crawl. Not only that, Yasenia looked back without stopping and saw her stumbling and falling face-first onto the ground.

The sudden deceleration made Yasenia puzzled. 'What happened? Did she trip?'

Then, something clicked. 'That treasure... I see. Was that treasure blocking the pressure for her all the time? If so, why did it suddenly stop working? It stopped working right after I asked, so there are two options. One, it is a coincidence, and the thing lost effectiveness or couldn't resist this much pressure any longer, or Sarah deactivated it out of curiosity to feel the pressure I asked about.'

Her golden eyes became complicated. 'If it is the second option, am I losing to Sarah or the treasure?'

Yasenia shook her head. 'It doesn't matter. The treasure is Sarah's, so I'm losing to her. Placing excuses because the other person has better equipment is silly.' Her eyes flashed with determination. 'I'll become stronger than her even if she has the strongest treasure supporting her.'

Meanwhile, Sarah was screaming inside. 'She was talking leisurely while bearing this!? I feel like I'm being crushed! System, block it again!'

[Done.]

Sarah took a deep breath and stood up quickly, accelerating again. 'That was a bit embarrassing... Wow, I feel so much better. How can she run at that speed so leisurely? Is her body that strong?'

Sarah sighed and looked at Yasenia's back with some jealousy. 'Well, she is a native of this World and was born a dragon, so her having a better body than mine is normal. How many points will I need to increase my physique to her level?'

[Unknown.]

Sarah snorted. 'It was a rhetoric question. Anyway, let's go to the top, just in case she uses that powerful skill again.'

The dragoness felt her approach again at the initial speed and surpassing her. "Yasenia, I'll go ahead. We'll see each other at the top."

Yasenia nodded, looking at her back with unwavering eyes. "Sure."

Sarah reached the summit with a time margin of three minutes, landing her in second place in the race.

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Author: And that's the first event~.

Angel: Yasenia lost...

Yasenia: Don't be sad, baby.

Kali: The more we know about her, the more dangerous she feels. That system thing is too strange.

Yasenia: Hm. I agree.

Tatyana: Oh? I'll have three minutes to speak with her~. So fun, fufufu.

Author: ...

Author: Cough. I summon you!

WPOmega: Hey!

Angel: Hello~.

WPOmega: Can you summon Sarah?

Author: Sure.

Sarah: Hello.

WPOmega: Hey, Sarah.

Sarah: Yes?

WPOmega: Cough, this is not exactly a question, but... Sarah, I am just confirming my suspicion, but you weren't exactly the best at reading people before you transmigrated, were you?

Sarah: ...

Sarah: Does it matter?

WPOmega: No offense, I'm just curious.

Sarah: Hmph, even if I wasn't, what's wrong?

WPOmega: No, no. I was curious. That's all.

Sarah: Rude.

WPOmega: Cough, that's all.

Author: Hahaha. That's all for today, bye-bye~.

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p atr eon.com/posts/winter-wolf-92696915 Sierra's Illustration.