Everything zoomed out, growing ten times larger than before, but thankfully there was no strange pressure tearing me down. It was just the intimidating sight of these few nagas now swirling off of their peaks and extending their heads towards me, each and every single crimson eye digging into my flesh. Still, there was no pressure, but the intimidation factor might as well have served as one.
"If you manage to climb to the top of these stairs, you will pass the test. Do not mind the nagas, as they are only here to push away the weak and funnel the ambitious and courageous inwards… mostly. But I will say this now, you will struggle, and you will fail. It took me exactly seven tries over the course of one hundred thousand years to climb to the top… so do as you will, but remember not to give up otherwise, those nagas will devour you. Now, as long as you fail but keep the urge to continue on, then you will not get attacked by them."
"What encouraging words you're enlightening me with," I smiled with a drop of sweat nearly sliding down into my eye. "So, I just take a step up… is there anything else I need to be wary of? I mean, isn't the emperor gonna come out and greet me or something?"
"He would never do such a thing. And there are exactly one hundred steps, but every tenth step, you will encounter a challenge. It won't be the same as mine, so I can't give you much advice besides… don't die from shock. That's all you need to be aware of. Just don't die out of shock, got it?"
I nodded lightly before lifting up my foot and placing it on the first step. Instantly, I felt a pressure press down on me, although it was nowhere near as harsh as the mana-filled demons I encountered in that city. But as I took my next step, I soon came to regret even managing to think those silly words.
"Huff… huff… huff… what the fuck…" I muttered as I watched my lower leg snap in half. Just attempting to reach the second step was torturous, but placing my entire body on it caused my left leg to snap completely in half, broken and destroyed.
FWOOSH
I was sent flying off of the steps, Satan quickly catching me and surprisingly helping me to my feet. His small act of kindness was confusing, but I didn't think much of it soon as I watched my leg snap back into place, my regeneration practically carrying me through this entire experience.
"How arrogant of you to think that you could resist the forces of this staircase without even using any of your buffs."
"Shut up… I doubt any of them will even help anyway."
[Five Layered Divine Enhancements] [Breath of the Snowy Underworld]
But I still activated them anyway, as any little boost would be useful. So, as I brushed the dust off of my cloak and gritted my teeth, I stepped onto the first step once again. And as per usual, the pressure was immense, my enhancements doing practically nothing for me.
Maybe [Breath of the Snowy Underworld] helped me focus just a bit more, but that was basically it, so instead of going to the next step and repeating the process, I sat down on the step in a lotus position. With my legs crossed, hands relaxed in my lap, and my eyes completely shut closed, I attempted to temper and adjust my body with the help of this step's pressure.
For what seemed to be days, I felt nothing. Absolutely nothing. Not even hunger or dehydration could reach me under the pressure of these steps, but I could absolutely tell my body was going to collapse at any moment.
Yet, the further I went on, the more I felt like I was beginning to grasp something. Something foreign. Something new. The way my mana veins throbbed with each passing second. The way my vision peered deeper and deeper into my supply of mana. The way every ounce of mana in my body restarted at some place, filtered by some kind of organ… or was it something else?
Another week passed, and I dug deeper into my body, slowly but surely making my way to my chest cavity. But all I could sense was my heart. It's thumping over and over like a melodic rhythm soothed my mind on the edge of insanity as I attempted to dive deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper.
"Ssssssss…."
And then, after one more week, I found it. Something new. Something even more powerful than before. It was always in my body from the very beginning. It was always in the body of everybody, in fact, as it was untainted by miasma or aether. It wasn't just a feature of an evolution of mine but a feature of life itself. An undiscovered organ mandating the mana veins.
…
(Satan POV)
"Greetings, Your Highness. It is good to see you again," I lowered my entire body into a kneeling position. I almost looked like I was begging for forgiveness, just for existing in this man's presence, but if that's what it took to grow stronger… I didn't care.
As he lay on his throne, I felt absolutely nothing from him. He emitted absolutely no pressure, but that wasn't because he was weak, but that was because I was weak. I was too weak for my existence to even comprehend his power.
As his darkened silhouette opened its jaws wider than any humanoid could go, the silhouette of a single woman with long deer-like antlers fed him a stock of grapes. The other female silhouette on the throne, fanning him with some leaf and cuddling up next to him, had long and jagged demonic goat-like horns.
Finishing up that batch of grapes, his tongue flickered out of his mouth, with his face finally turning towards me, meekly acknowledging my presence. But even as the shadows of the palace darkened out his body, they could hide the piercing reptilian green eyes with pupils as slim as toothpicks. They widened upon focusing on me but then slimmed down once again upon seeing who I was.
"Have you come to warn me of the end of this reality once again?" A crazy white smile faced me. "Because if you have, I will eradicate you."
