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Elio wasted no time.

He propelled himself upward, his body cutting through the air like an arrow.

The next boost took him dangerously close to a Locus. The monster whipped its head towards him, mandibles clicking menacingly. Elio\'s instincts kicked in, and he created a small helium gust to propel himself, narrowly avoiding the creature\'s grasp.

Mana: 31. Meters: 45.

The abrupt movement saved him from the Locus\'s jaws, but left him spinning in the air. For a heart-stopping moment, Elio lost all orientation, the world a blur of monstrous shapes and shifting shadows.

"Focus," he commanded himself, fighting against the vertigo that threatened to overwhelm him. "You can\'t afford mistakes. Not now."

He managed to stabilize just in time to see another Locus approaching rapidly, its claws reaching for him. With a grunt of effort, Elio propelled himself again, his muscles straining with the exertion.

Mana: 30. Meters: 48.

This jump took him beyond the threatening Locus, but also put him in the path of several more falling ones. Elio found himself in the midst of a rain of Locus, each one a potential death sentence.

The momentum lifted him, but soon he began to lose speed, gravity reasserting its pull. Elio\'s eyes darted around frantically, searching for something, anything, to grab onto. In the gloom, he distinguished the shape of a Locus falling near him, its legs flailing wildly.

Without hesitation, Elio extended his hand and grabbed one of the monster\'s legs, the rough exoskeleton scraping against his palm.

Using the Locus as a pivot point, he channeled the swift\'s power once more. "Come on, swift!" he shouted, his voice barely audible over the chaos around him.

Mana: 28. Meters: 58.

The swift responded instantly. A gust of helium propelled him upward while another burst through the wall of monsters ahead, the wind whistling past his ears. In the blink of an eye, Elio covered ten meters, his heart pounding with a mixture of fear and exhilaration.

And then, suddenly, fresh air. Blinding light. Elio emerged from the cone like a rocket, leaving the suffocating sea of Locus behind. For a brief, glorious moment, he floated in the air, tens of meters above the ground. The wall loomed nearby, an oasis of civilization amidst the monstrous chaos.

Elio seized the opportunity to look up, his eyes straining to discern any sign of the wall\'s edge. But what he saw to the side was what got him. The realization of his situation hit him like a physical blow.

"It\'s almost like the hole at home," Elio murmured, awe coloring his voice. "The book created a huge inverted cone by absorbing the cores..."

Understanding dawned on him. This was why he wasn\'t crushed, why so few fell on top of him. He was in the center of a colossal void, surrounded by a slope of monsters and cores. And if he could reach the top of that slope, on the side adjacent to the wall, it might be possible to reach the safety of the parapet.

This revelation changed everything. Defending and pushing all the way would have been impossible, a fool\'s errand.

With his remaining mana, the rate at which he used it, the boost distance (which Elio calculated was about 10 meters) and the remaining distance of roughly 80-90% based on his perception... He knew he couldn\'t reach the top through sheer force.

But if he could climb the cone\'s slope, he could use it to ascend, conserving mana in the process... As long as the monsters didn\'t catch him. It was a desperate plan, but it was all he had.

Elio understood that this was his only chance. A macabre staircase of monsters that could take him back to the top of the wall, his path to survival. But one mistake, one misstep, and it would all be over.

"Alright, swift," Elio murmured, steeling himself for what was to come. "It\'s time for the final act."

Elio created the most powerful helium gust he could manage. The impulse catapulted him towards the slope, not a vertical displacement, but an inversion for his subsequent height gain.

Mana: 27. Meters: 65.

The "monster staircase" was in constant motion, Locus struggling to return to the surface, climbing over each other in a frenzied mass.

The sight of their multiple appendages moving disorderly, by the thousands, was nightmarish, an entomophobe\'s worst fear come to life. Yet for Elio, in this moment, it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

With a grunt of effort, Elio propelled himself upward, using the bodies of the Locus as footholds. He gained three meters in an instant, but the constant movement of the monsters threatened to make him slip at any moment.

A Locus writhed beneath his feet, its mandibles snapping dangerously close. Elio reacted on pure instinct, his body moving before his mind could catch up.

Mana: 26. Meters: 80.

A helium gust sent the monster flying, providing Elio with an additional boost and eight meters of height. He seized the moment to jump, gaining another four meters of elevation.

Suddenly, a group of Locus turned, attracted by his presence and the magic. They formed a living barrier just above him, their bodies intertwining in a wall of chitin and claws.

Elio was forced to use two more helium gusts to break through, each burst draining his precious mana reserves.

Mana: 24. Meters: 88.

The impulse took him beyond the Locus barrier, but also left him in a precarious position. Elio found himself in the middle of an ascending cascade of monsters, each one fighting to climb upward.

With a dexterity born of desperation, Elio leaped from one Locus to another, gaining another three meters of height with each movement. His muscles burned with the constant effort, every motion a battle against encroaching exhaustion.

With each meter he climbed, Elio gasped for air, his lungs straining to extract the necessary oxygen from the rarefied atmosphere. Sweat ran down his forehead, blurring his vision and stinging his eyes.

A Locus suddenly turned, its four arms extended towards Elio, claws glinting in the dim light. There was no time to think, only to act.

Mana: 23. Meters: 110.

Another helium gust saved him from the monster\'s grasp, propelling him upward. Elio seized the moment to jump again, gaining another four meters and putting some distance between himself and the grasping claws below.

But, after all that… He had only cleared a fifth of the wall\'s height.