The God Virus

The moment it was gone, having not entered the corner side of the one paneled staircase, a pressure, unlike anything he had felt so far hit Virus at once! 

As it pushed him back, Virus immediately rolled back to the area of the two-paneled staircase!

Then, the third paneled staircase!

"Hahaha, that's what happens when you overestimate yourself and get greedy. Now he's not going to be able to get his hands on even an ordinary book." The academician cried in laughter and happiness. Seeing others fail at what he could not possibly hope to achieve only made him feel happy.

On the other side, both cloaked individuals heaved pronounced sighs of relief while a concerned look materialized on Hellarose's expression. 

Meanwhile, as Virus had been pushed back to the area of the five paneled staircases, he suddenly landed on his feet before crying out loud, "AHHHHHHHHHH!" 

He was putting so much pressure on himself that the bloodshot vessels inside his eyes were dumbfoundingly about to explode!

And indeed, the next moment, many of those veins within his eyes did indeed burst apart as blood started covering the whites of his eyes!

It was indeed a shocking sight to look at as the whites of his eyeballs became entirely red and bloody as a demonic countenance exhibited itself on his face.

And yet, even that kind of forceful resistance proved to be futile soon as Virus was about to be pushed back even harder next!

All that struggle had resulted in was a brief period of stillness that lasted for less than a single split-second!

By now, Virus had long felt something tear apart within his eyes as a stinging pain overwhelmed them.

Then, in that bloody world of redness, an even more horrifying and unstoppable force descended upon him.

HUAAA~

It was at this moment when the other tattoo which had the mark of a tree suddenly seemed to have been awakened out of its slumber as it began to shine in clear green!

This was the tree mark he had received at the Bridge to Heaven from the living root that was the bridge itself.

At the same time, a green aura covered Virus' entire body, instantly healing his wounded eyes and even pushing away all the pressure!

Seeing the coercive pressure of willpower unable to do anything to him or even affect him in the slightest unlike before, a strange gleam of eagerness began to burn in Virus' pupils as he charged forward to the fourth panel at once!

Almost instantaneously, Virus was upon the fourth-panel stair as he shot toward the third!!!

Up to this point, Virus could sense that nearly fifty percent of the mark of the tree was gone. However, that made him realize he needed to rush even faster as he stormed at the second-panel staircase while the mark was gone by eighty percent!

Subsequently, victoriously reaching the first-panel area for the second time, which was the peak height he had been at before, Virus had no intentions of wanting to stop at all as he pushed forward to the highest peak! 

To the dais that had never once seen a visitor!

92%

95%

97%

Promptly, only the last three percent of the green aura was covering Virus' corporeal body now as it was doomed to disappear the following instant.

'Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form – Impulse!'

'Unnamed Virus Technique, Second Form – Friction!'

As lightning and wind surrounded Virus' figure, he pushed forward one last time as he put one foot on the highest summit perceivable!

1%

Alas, by now, the last spark of the tree mark was about to die out!

"AHHHHH!"

Gathering every ounce of strength all over his muscles, body, and the core of his being, at lightning speed, Virus thrusted his other leg ahead as well!

Shockingly, Virus realized he was now standing on the same level as the dais itself!

Unfortunately, it was at this point when the tree mark hit zero percent and was gone completely!

With that, the indomitable expulsion pressure was about to just descend upon Virus again when two lines went through his mind since he wasn't willing to give up just yet.

'Unnamed Virus Technique, First Form – Impulse!'

'Unnamed Virus Technique, Second Form – Friction!'

Simultaneously, he threw his body to the corner side as he dived toward the dais!

Boom!

The compulsive force had just descended and hit Virus' stomach when he ingeniously utilized the force of coercion to barely propel himself to the dais even faster as he landed in front of the dais at last!

All coercive force was gone swiftly while to his utter shock and stupefaction, Virus realized he had made it to the summit that was the dais!

"YESSSSS!" Releasing a roar of joy, Virus celebrated his victory!

In the meantime, the eyes of all the participants had long gone so big and wide that they had even forgotten to breathe!

One second, Virus was being expelled from the staircase completely!

But the next instant, he was already charging to the front again and mind-blowingly reached the furthest dais! 

'W-what the fuck! How is that even possible?!' That was the first line of deliberation that materialized within the participants' minds when they started feeling their own existence again.

Pfffft!

Meanwhile, amongst the clouds, the unidentified figure spat out all of the tea it was just about to swallow.

That sudden one hundred and eighty degrees change and development had taken it so off-guard that even with its strong mentality, the shock made the individual lose control of its actions shortly.

"H-how is this possible?!"

…

Down below, beside the ancient dais, the wheezing Virus gradually regained his breath as his attention was fully drawn to the book above the dais.

Right there, in front of him, there was an ancient-looking book, which despite all the years it had been left to eat dust, was still shining as brilliantly as the day it had been put over the dais. The cover of the book seemed to have been made out of some kind of metal as beautiful carvings of gold circulated all around it!