The temporary boost vanished, and the fatigue set in, and it became stronger than before. That it instantly made several of the Grimms and humans fall to their knees.????????????????????????????????.????????????
Even for me, the pressure was so much that I just wanted to give up, but that was not an option for me; I could not give up, no matter what.
So, I moved, taking one small step after another, while sweat flowed like a river from my body.
The huge stone gate looked far but also looked quite closely; if there weren't a suppression, then it wouldn't have taken me more than five minutes to reach it, even when I walked, but now, seeing the way this mountainous pressure-pressing against my will, it going to take much longer than that.
Thud!
Another Grimm fell, not far away from me, that I did not even look at it for a few seconds till everyone looked. I still did not understand the reason for them looking till I noticed the things I should have at the first instant, especially me, a healer.
'Dead,' I said in my mind; while the most Grimms have fallen unconscious, this one had died, which is quite rare; I felt lucky to witness it and even happy seeing it was not the Grimm with a bloodline.
Like others, I did not waste more than a few seconds on the dead Grimm before pushing forward, but this time, there was little caution in my pace. I had somehow forgotten that this pressure is dangerous; if one had pressed themselves too hard, they would die.
Ten minutes passed, and there seemed to be no change in the distance between the door and me; though it was not true, my clone was giving me the details of the actual progress I had made, and it was pretty good.
Still, as many people had said, I am quite competitive, and seeing the people in front of me, I begin to push myself harder and harder, forgetting the caution of which I had reminded myself.
There is no other way; seven people are in front of me, three Grimms and four humans. I would not have pushed myself if t had been only two or three humans and no Grimms, but there are Grimms, and I would not have them entered the gates before me, no matter the risk I need to take.
I looked at Sophia; she was matching her pace to mine, and she was just a step behind me; sometimes she gets, but she is a step behind me.
I teased her about that with my expression and, in return, got the familiar glare.
These are the moments that made the pressure bearable. If she had not been here, I don't think I would have been able to maintain this pace.
Sometimes having friends makes difficult things bearable, and I am glad I had very good friends.
Twenty more minutes passed, and I had crossed half a distance to the gate when I had first seen it, but that did not make me happy, as I was not able to take the lead on even a single person ahead of me; there is even one added to the list of people ahead of me.
Sofia had taken the lead once again; it was the lead of just one step but felt insurmountable considering I was nearly dragging my feet; I did not seem to have the will to lift my legs fully to walk.
All my will is focused on fighting this pressure, while a tiny fraction of it is being used as other things such as walking, things that used to require no thoughts now need a focus.
Another half an hour passed, and now their good news, I was again ahead of Sophia, not just Sophia, but one Grimm and two humans. It had taken me immense effort to do that, but I was able to do it, and now, my target is four people ahead of me, which again will be quite difficult.
The four people ahead of me are not easy; all of them are old bastards with a will strong as steel, not to mention the gate is barely three hundred meters ahead, which Grimm could finish off in just a few strikes with its huge size.
Thankfully, this is not a place that will give it the advantage due to its size; if I were to say then its size is a great disadvantage to it, considering how fast the pressure increase on it.
I continued to drag my feet, crossing inches every time I moved forward; the speed was slow as a snail but was everything I could manage; I could not go faster, but if I did somehow, then I would either fall unconscious or die.
Some more time passed, and now, there was only a fifty-meters distance between me and the gate; there were now only three people ahead of me, two humans and one Grimm.
We all are moving fast as we can; the exhilarating emotions seem to come back as we reach the shadow of the gate, that we are moving faster than we had in the past mile.
I forgot everything else, my competition and the boost that is waiting for me on the other side; the only thing I have in my mind is the gate that I have to cross.
It is this extreme focus that helped me bear this immense pressure that seemed to be increasing at a much faster rate than before that I felt the people behind me falling to their knees, some even fell unconscious, but I do not care for any of that, the only thing I care is the gate.
I don't know how long it passed, but as I reached it, I could see the deep brown color that reminded me of the soil.
It was plain but felt beautiful, and I wish I could spend some time admiring it, but I had already taken a step into the gate, and my vision of it had already disappeared as everything turned dark.