The area never stopped trembling during the time Noah used to clear the path before him. He however felt shocked to find that with every boulder he destroyed and moved forward, magical circles expanded to replace them.
'I guess it makes it fair,' Noah thought wiping the sweat off his face. He honestly wondered how sweat could even last in that temperature. Maybe his sweat had evolved.
A soft sigh escaped his mouth when he saw the clear path before him. Although everything remained on fire, the mountain path was clear for many meters.
He took a moment to take a breather, before sprinting forward. Although he had destroyed every boulder, it seemed he had done nothing since they had all been replaced. That scene further caused the others who would get there to believe he had never reached there.
Noah continued to sprint until he reached a lower elevation. He had barely spent up to five minutes so far, and he strived to move even faster. Unfortunately, the obstacle that lay before him could prove difficult to face.
Before him, stood many humanoid figures. They were clearly dummies and were made of a silver alloy that stood strong against the heat of the environment.
Noah counted nothing less than twenty of those dummies and felt certain that more rid that area.
Notwithstanding, in the face of such threats he never stopped running. Heck, he increased his sprinting speed until he hit his max. Which was already faster than the speed of sound.
His mind had been quick to provide a solution to the dummies, and that was to of course not fight them. Instead, he would simply run past them.
Noah would have caused a mighty gust of wind with his movements, but the bracelet wouldn't allow that. He could still kick dust or snow with his movements, but there weren't any there.
Nevertheless, when his figure streaked past the many dummies, most of them found their figures knocked off of the mountain's path and into the air. Plunging to their demise.
His figure turned into a messy streak zooming down the spiral path of the mountain.
In less than five seconds Noah found himself reaching a lower elevation.
By this point, he could almost see the foot of the mountain, even if a jump from that height would normally be able to kill him.
Unfortunately, he had to return his focus to the dummies before him and had to halt his movements due to the gap in the path.
His figure appeared amid the flames after the commotion died down, and the dummies seemed to come alive since their eyes blazed with deep orange light.
On both sides of the path were dummies preparing to attack him.
Noah clicked his tongue before taking a few steps back and accelerating to his top speed, successfully crossing the gap and even knocking down some dummies.
However, immediately he stopped moving, he had to retrieve and raise his sword to parry the silver fist coming his way.
The blade bounced off the dummies arm but also managed to shift its trajectory, allowing Noah successfully dodge the crunching attack.
Furrowing his brows, he performed a powerful upward slash that struck the dummy's chin, before successfully dividing its head into two halves.
Noah rejoiced at that victory but danger exploded in his mind as he watched the dummy begin to glow dangerously an instant later.
The heat it also emitted skyrocketed and Noah had to leap forward, but the explosion that followed had been a tad too quick.
With a shaking boom, the dummy detonated, sending a dense wave of flames flying everywhere. Within the waves were chucks of its figure. This caused that area to begin to experience cracks and soon began to break off.
Noah who had only been able to move a few three meters from the dummy, but had been caught in the wave of flames.
His clothes disappeared, but his skin was left okay. Nevertheless, he found himself almost being knocked off the path as he flew to its edge but managed to hold onto something.
Panic, however, spread in his mind when he noticed the massive cracks that had opened on the path causing it gradually break off.
The dummy's detonation had taken out more than half its kind in a distance of about 15m.
The sound of huge rocks experiencing dividing cracks reached Noah's ears as he pulled himself to his feet.
The ground beneath him gave way before he could move, however, and he found himself falling. Thankfully he managed to retrieve his daggers quick enough to stab them into the burning terrain even if it was beginning to crumble.
Noah grunted as panic tried to take control of his mind. Rocks never stopped falling and he had to narrow his eyelids to reduce the amount of debris that reached his eyes. His legs were hanging in the air and he couldn't help but experience a bit of despair when he realized that he would fall if he didn't act soon.
With a burst of determination, he unearthed his dagger and stabbed it higher, but more cracks appeared; almost rendering his action useless.
Almost.
Noah took a deep breath before pulling himself up then relaxed to suddenly leap upwards.
His figure shot upwards and he managed to get another spot to stab his daggers into. He had found a solution to his problem, but it required him to jump with his arms, a surprisingly difficult task, one that was even more difficult considering the fact that the mountain was still on fire, and his chest and belly were exposed.
Performing the same actions twice in less than four seconds, Noah arrived on top of the path again, but he had to move quickly.
Glad about his overcoming, he was about to take a big step forward, when everything crashed, and he plunged downwards.
Intense panic filled his mind in that instant, but his consciousness looked to find a solution if there was any. And there was.
Noah found that although he was falling he was still close to the mountain itself, meaning another path existed below him, he would only need to not miss it.
Looking downwards for signs of a path, he saw that he and the huge chunks of burning rocks drew nearer to it, but they were also gliding farther from the mountain.
Noah's focus reached its peak in those moments as he raised his dagger before him ready to stab them into the burning mountain when the time was ready.
'Now!' Noah screamed inwardly as he pushed all his force into his dagger and felt them pierce the mountain's rocky material, but gravity wouldn't let go easily. Unfortunately for the natural force, he had just as much determination.
His figure slid down the mountain while his daggers remained embedded in it, holding him up. He had succeeded in remaining on the mountain, but he had to choose between hiking downwards to the path below or reaching for the path above him.
Noah went for the latter option, and after a few leaps he was on stable ground, but this time golem-like dummies roamed the area, and there weren't just fire types, ice types were present also! Causing a spectacular scene of flames burning on solid ice without melting it.