I Died and Received an SSS-Rank Unique Ability-Chapter 67: End In Sight

The boar-like creature charged with startling speed. Vale summoned his weapon, but before he could even lift it, Dain—eager to test his new artifact—lunged forward. His axe struck the beast with a chilling burst of frost, the impact powerful enough to send the creature tumbling over the edge of the narrow path and down the steep slope.

The group watched in silence as the monster plummeted into the fog-shrouded abyss.

"Tsk. I didn’t even get to test it properly," Dain muttered, shaking his head in disappointment as he stared after it.

"Most people would be happy to finish it that quickly," Vale remarked, raising an eyebrow at the student’s erratic enthusiasm. Then he shook the thought away. "Let’s get moving."

With no clear direction, the group chose the path that curved upward. Their goal was to find the source of the light they had seen, and heading down would only take them further from it.

Not long after, a sharp turn around the mountain revealed a sight that stopped them midstep.

The mountain they stood on had a twin—another peak across a deep chasm. On the far slope, clinging to the mountainside, loomed a colossal structure. Its blackened stone pierced through the white snow and thick fog like a scar across purity. It was a castle, dark and towering. Its presence alone cast a weight across the mountainscape.

But that wasn’t what stole their breath.

Beside the castle, stretching almost as high, stood a tree. So pale it nearly vanished into the snowy backdrop, made entirely of crystal shimmering light. White branches reached toward the sky like frozen lightning.

A Tree of Life.

Their eyes widened, and they struggled to process what they saw. It was real, tangible, and almost within reach.

They were actually going to make it. They were going to survive the trial.

"Are you guys seeing it too?" Klein asked, his voice small against the heavy wind.

No one answered. They were still frozen, each of them locked in their own whirlwind of disbelief and awe.

After a long moment, Vale finally tore his gaze from the tree. He scanned the terrain until he found a way toward it—a long, swaying wooden bridge suspended between the two peaks. It rocked in the wind, the planks groaning, ropes straining with each gust.

It wasn’t far. Maybe less than an hour away.

Vale took a step forward. "Let’s go."

The others didn’t need convincing. Not now. The end was within reach—and none of them were willing to let it slip away.

Before long, the group stood before the bridge. It stretched across the chasm, swaying violently in the wind, its aged wooden planks creaking under the strain.

They stared at the trembling structure, doubt flickering across their faces.

"It’s gonna hold... right?" Klein asked, fear threading his voice.

"Sure," Vale replied, ignoring his own unease. "It has to. We’ll go in intervals, keep the weight spread."

The others nodded, mentally bracing for the challenge ahead.

Ayla went first. With her unique ability to manipulate weight, her steps barely stirred the planks, and before long, she was little more than a silhouette in the thick fog above the abyss.

Klein followed, his legs trembling and his eyes fixed forward, refusing to look down.

Once Klein was far enough, Dain stepped on. The bridge groaned beneath his weight, a deep, echoing creak protesting his presence. He gripped the rope rails tightly, each of his steps drawing winces from the structure as it wobbled beneath him.

Finally, Vale stepped on.

"Pretty high," he muttered, moving forward with care. The bridge rocked hard from side to side, as if trying to shake them off, but each of them persisted.

Suddenly...

Snap!

A loud snap echoed behind them. Vale turned, but the fog veiled everything. Before he could shift his gaze forward again, another snap echoed from behind, and the rope gave up.

One side of the bridge tore loose from the mountain.

The students shouted as the structure lurched, the last rope jerking violently. They clung to it for dear life.

"Keep moving!" Ayla shouted from ahead, but her voice was drowned by another sharp snap.

The final rope at the far end snapped.

The bridge collapsed, swinging hard like a pendulum and slamming into the mountainside.

Everything went dark.

Moments later, Vale regained his consciousness, dazed and gasping. He was instinctively gripping the remnants of the bridge, now clinging to the cliff face. His fingers throbbed. His head rang from the impact.

He looked up—miraculously, his companions were still alive, hanging on, scattered across the slanted wreckage.

Ayla, light as a feather, had already begun to climb.

The others followed, pushing through the pain, hands scraped raw, fighting the weight of their own bodies and the bitter cold biting at their fingers.

Klein struggled—his progress was slow and shaky. But when Dain caught up, his presence alone seemed to anchor Klein’s panic.

Vale watched the silhouettes above him rise one by one as he climbed, hand over hand, each movement measured and precise.

Ayla reached the top first. With a swift motion, she swung herself up and reached back to help the others.

Klein and Dain weren’t far behind. But just as they neared the edge, another snap thundered across the cliffs.

The students jerked sideways—one of the bridge’s last ropes had snapped. Only the left side remained.

Klein and Dain clung onto it desperately, the world tipping beneath them.

Now they had only a single rope to climb.

Just a few more pulls.

Klein scrambled up first. Moments later, Dain managed to haul himself over—but not before a final, ominous creak echoed from the rope still supporting Vale.

"Just a bit longer," Vale whispered, frozen mid-climb.

Dain’s gaze snapped to the rope. He reached down, unwilling to let it go.

Tiny fibres unravelled with soft pings, one after another.

Vale kept climbing, but unknown to him, chaos had erupted up above him.

A sudden roar.

A horde of ice boars burst through the fog, slamming into the group at the summit. Ayla and Klein fought back with everything they had.

But one of them slipped through.

Its large horns rammed into Dain’s side with brutal force. His grip failed upon the impact.

"No!" Ayla screamed, catching it all from the corner of her eye.

Dain’s fingers slipped, and the final rope snapped just as they did.

Vale’s eyes widened—then he, along with the bridge, vanished into the abyss below.