Less than 10 seconds remained until the already frightening bridge began losing its integrity. The more unstable the passageway grew, the higher the chances of death for each party member that attempted to cross. Right now, Alice was the only one to make it across safely.
However, Alice was by no means enough of a force to clear the rest of this Secret Dungeon. The fact their prior experience only amounted to the Difficult standard told Kieran that what awaited them was much more challenging.
Thus, Kieran slowly began to grasp the gravity of their current situation. 'Even if I have them cross according to the directions given, loss of integrity is inevitable. Having them cross as quickly as possible will only reduce the loss to a minimum. In a situation like this, that's all I can ask for.'
After considering his options for a few seconds, Kieran pointed to Bastion, followed by Sithik. "You two need to cross as soon as possible. This is no longer a debate—get across, now!"
"W-... what? But we can't go at the same time," Sithik voiced.
"Precisely. That's why I pointed at you two in order. Bastion is to go first, followed by you. We've already established that two people can't walk the path simultaneously. You must wait until the moment he reaches the other side, then you go," Kieran directed.
Both Bastion and Sithik gulped while looking at each other but eventually nodded. They understood this was something they had to do; otherwise, Kieran's opinion of them would take a substantial hit. And, since no one's spot on his team was cemented, they were all replaceable when all was said and done.
As per Kieran's instructions, Bastion was the first to step onto the Walk of the Valiant. When his feet made contact, the ten-second timer froze. After freezing, it remained that way. Like Kieran expected, the numbers didn't reset. It was likely that a reset was only triggered when someone successfully made it to the other side.
With trembling feet, Bastion shifted one foot forward while foolishly glancing down to his left. The huge pit of darkness filled his vision as he looked down and began hyperventilating while lifting his head and shaking. The tremble made him freeze in fear as a different timer appeared.
As the notifications revealed earlier, stopping would start a timer that inevitably decreased the bridge's integrity by a vast degree. Once Kieran and the rest of the party saw that timer, they paled.
"You frightened bear, what the hell are you doing? Go across! I dare; you won't! Are you letting a girl beat you? Oh, come on, you can't be serious, you oversize wimp," Nemean jeered to the side.
"Yeah, you won't," Kieran joined in with a deep voice.
Bastion's right eye twitched as he heard the comments behind him. But, knowing that he couldn't retreat to give them a piece of his mind, he could only glare.
"Meh, he won't. We've already established that. A flimsy little path is taking out our big ol' tank; how hilarious," Altair chuckled.
"God damn it! Do you think I won't? I'll crush this shit right here; watch me!" Bastion roared in frustration. Tenacity and drive to prove the others wrong glimmered in Bastion's eyes as the others sounded behind him.
"You won't," Kieran, Altair and Nemean said simultaneously.
Off to the side, Luna gazed at everyone while trying to recover her wits. Her fear of heights had gotten the better of her for a moment, but after experiencing how Kieran and the others used negative pressure to incentivize Bastion, she felt that was something she didn't want to subject herself to. After all, she wasn't sure if it was something she could withstand currently.
Finally, just as the timer was two seconds away from bottoming out, Bastion took a step forward and steadied himself before repeating the action. His pace gradually increased as he breathed heavily with each step but in an established rhythm.
More than one thousand steps later, Bastion jumped off the bridge and successfully made it to the other side. He clutched his chest in relief as he soon stood up and pointed at the others in uproarious laughter. "I told you, you sonnuva guns! Suck it!"
"Yeah, yeah. I bet you Bastion almost pooed his pants," Nemean whispered.
Kieran smiled faintly but ultimately turned towards Sithik. It was his turn now. With all the looks directed at him, Sithik could only reluctantly drag himself up to the bridge and cross the bridge sideways with shuffling steps as well. It was the only way he could ignore his surroundings.
After he crossed, a loud rumble reverberated throughout the area. A few rocks fell from the bottom of the rocky bridge as faint cracks spread across its surface.
"Oh… that isn't good at all," Nemean muttered while staring in horror.
"Altair," Kieran announced without looking. A light breeze brushed past his cheeks as Altair zipped past in his black leather gear. Even after stepping onto the bridge, his momentum didn't decrease. After all, he had received proper training, some of which included balancing on thin surfaces similar to tight ropes or fragile tree branches.
For him, this was no different than another exercise. Naturally, this led to Altair having the fastest clearing time thus far. Even Kieran wondered if he could do any better since, under normal circumstances, Altair's base Agility was higher than his own.
Nevertheless, Kieran didn't worry about this for too long as he pointed at the following individual. "Sera, you're up next. Make Alice proud."
"Mm," Sera nodded while exhaling. Once she gathered herself, Sera moved forward at a pace similar to Alice and did so without stopping. Of course, because of this, Nemean mocked Bastion on the other side with a smug expression.
"Cygnus," Kieran uttered next.
While clutching her staff, Cygnus moved while looking at Sithik on the other side, who gave her a cheeky thumbs up. She looked down to avert her gaze out of slight embarrassment but kept moving. Once she neared the other side, Kieran glanced at the person who would go next.
"Cyr," Kieran announced.
"You've got it, boss!" Cyr exclaimed. However, his excitement soon vanished once another terrifying rumble passed through. The bridge crumbled further, with some areas losing their support altogether.
Since Cyr was the 7th person to go, it was time for the complementary damage to occur. The bridge seemed to rock as Cyr dropped down and hugged the bridge for support. "Oh dear momma, don't let me die! I don't want those nightmares everyone keeps talking about."
Only once the rumbling passed did Cyr get on his hands and knees to scurry across like a rat. Bastion and Altair snickered at the sight but looked away when they saw Kieran's harsh gaze. It was evident that Kieran abided by the "get it done by any means necessary mindset." Even if it was amusing or unsightly, if it yielded results, Kieran had nothing against it.
'That's the seventh one,' Kieran thought. Judging by how much of the bridge was damaged with every three people that passed, it was safe to assume that it lost at least 25% of its integrity per cycle. Thus, for this particular stretch, the order wasn't essential.
However, Kieran made sure to consider Luna's earlier state.
"Luna, it's your turn. You can do it," Kieran said. He attempted to reinforce Luna's confidence because he could see that while she tried to act strong, she was struggling with a few things.
"O-okay," Luna nodded with somewhat rigid breaths.
Kieran then looked towards Nemean, who seemed antsy. While he appeared relatively normal earlier, he didn't like that he was going so late when the bridge threatened to give way. In the end, he was one of the party's heaviest. "Once she finishes, you'll go right after."
"You don't have to tell me twice. I just want to get it done and over with," Nemean remarked.
Luna staggered up to the bridge and exhaled while briefly closing her eyes. She attempted to rid herself of her negative thoughts but couldn't do so completely. When he realized this, Kieran stepped forward and whispered to her.
"If you get past this, you'll be able to get past anything. It takes courage to be a fine leader. So, tell me, do you have that courage slumbering within, Luna?"
Once she heard this question, Luna's eyes opened. She knew very well that actions spoke louder than words. Therefore, while she could answer with words, she chose not to. She shuddered and then became stoic as she took a step forward.
'I'll prove them all wrong,' Luna thought to herself as her gaze became steely and almost frigid. To psyche herself out and take her mind off her present circumstances, she thought of another matter, one that drove her to become the lady she was today.
Out of habit, she touched her chest, but when she realized the item wasn't there, she was reminded that this wasn't the real world. Luna focused on her destination and began to move.
While she wasn't the fastest in the group, she wasn't the slowest. When she realized it wasn't as bad as she assumed, her pace accelerated, and she rapidly left the bridge.
When the water-like restriction lifted, Nemean dashed forward without another thought, "See ya, Aatrox!"
Clearly, Nemean had no intention of letting the bridge become even more dangerous.
Despite his relatively low Agility, Nemean moved quickly, gaining the 4th fastest clear time.
Regrettably, once he finished, the bridge took another devastating blow. In its current state, there were extensive gaps in some of the bridge's segments. The width of the gaps undoubtedly left the realm of what an average human could accomplish.
"Well, that certainly makes this more difficult, doesn't it?" Kieran said to himself. Nevertheless, as the timer counted down, Kieran took a few steps back while faintly smiling at the others. 'Fear? Nah, I've been through worse in my life.'
Whoosh!
Although the broken weapon in his hand caused a weight imbalance, Kieran blitzed forward, casually shifting his steps when a piece of the bridge gave way. Within seconds, he arrived at the first wide gap.
Kieran focused his Strength on his legs but not so much as to destroy the already weakened bridge before he could jump.
Bang!
Kieran soared through the air, landing safely. Despite his somewhat unsteady landing, he continued and repeated the action with the next gap.
Still, the others balled up their fists in worry and anticipation because the bridge deteriorated with each passing second.
Once Kieran neared the final jump, the bridge before him turned as soft as sand and broke apart nonstop.
"Curse my rotten luck," Kieran muttered before using all of his Strength and Agility to explode with a frightening momentum. The others stepped back after witnessing this.
Just as it looked like he wasn't going to make it, Kieran flung out his left hand and stabbed it into the ledge's side. Unlike the bridge, it was pretty sturdy, which allowed Kieran to swing back and forth until he could flip and land safely.
"Next time, I'm going first," Kieran joked. Afterward, he placed the sword over his shoulder and led the others to the cave opposite the entrance.
