Owen’s plan went off without any problems. As the entire group rushed in together, besides the first person to enter no one else was bothered by the effects of the ripples. The Pathwalkers were all thinking how amazing Owen was to lead such a thing but on the other hand there were still a few people who were skeptical. However they didn’t voice anything when they noticed that Owen and Rauf seemed to be in the lead every time they entered the next 10 metre mark.

Only Rauf and Owen were able to tell that just at that moment they would slow down their speed just enough to not be first. The only person who was able to notice these actions was Balan.

‘These two are quite sly. They knew that if people didn’t unite it would be extremely difficult to reach the 500 meter mark. After all there was guaranteed to be around 50 people who would be knocked out. However they didn’t take one thing into account. I would like to see what they have planned next.’

Balan smirked as the group of Pathwalkers reached the 100 meter mark. This was the first triple digit point and also a 100 meter mark. Although Balan was right in that Owen didn’t know what exactly would happen, he did at the very least think something was going to happen. However if he stopped now the effort he put in earlier would amount to nothing. The only thing he did was rub his arms lightly as if they were bothering him. Rauf catching on looked and fished out some herbs applying them to Owen’s wounds.

Even though all the Pathwalkers were rushing, they were still in waist deep level of water. The speed they could rush it was still only slightly slower than jogging. And this was only because of their increased body strengths from breaking into the Low Opal stage. When people saw that Owen was applying medicine to his wounds they never thought anything of it, it wasn’t much for Owen to not be in the front when he had already been injured once. Thus many people passed the 100 meter mark before Rauf and Owen.

However, there wasn’t a slight ripple this time. Instead Owen watched as the ice pillar finally moved for the first time since entering the lake. As the ice pillar lifted itself up from the water, at the same time revealing a larger portion of ice underneath, it gathered massive amounts of ice Essence. As the Essence reached a peak the ice pillar no longer rose and fell down crashing into the lake below. Although it wasn’t the entire body of the ice pillar it was still enough to cause waves to appear. As the now 1 meter high waves started to ripple down towards the Pathwalkers, they all started to wear a grim expression.

They had no idea that the 100 meter mark would be such an immense change. And it wasn’t like they could blame Owen either, because his idea was on the basis of already gained experiences. So the Pathwalkers did what they could only do, and gathered their Essence to block the oncoming wave. Owen on the other hand wasn’t too worried, although it looked frightening it still was within reason. Naturally that was besides the first person that entered the 100 meter mark. This was where Rauf spat out the truth.

“Well that person is fucked.”

Owen ignored Rauf’s bluntness and casual watched as the blue colour crashed into them. The wave itself was quite strong only slightly stronger than the ripple that Owen felt by himself. So he held on, but for a few others they screamed out in pain. Owen looked towards the people who had blue Essence forming onto their bodies.

‘...5….9…. 14…. It would seem that the 100 meter mark hits the first 10 people. As for the other 4, they are simply unable to continue at this point. Hmm this might be harder than I thought.’

Owen looked around as he saw the first 10 people struck, had the ice Essence continue to crawl over their bodies. It was no longer simply shrinking of the water droplets but the ice was spreading out instead. As the ice continued to spread the Pathwalkers screamed in pain. However it was too late for them as soon after they turned into ice sculptures. The remaining 4 were only slightly more injured than the previous ripples but they were still in no condition to continue even if they wanted too.

With still over 1000 people it was easy to say that they had a lot of people. But if every time the ripples increased, and at the 100 meter mark would be a giant wave, than the rate at which people died or stopped moving forward would rise exponentially. But this didn’t stop anyone. Their plan was already set and there was no need to change it now. As long as they were strong they would lose maximum 100 people excluding the ones who managed to keep going like Owen.

Owen was inwardly impressed with all of the Pathwalker’s resolve. Although he knew that he was manipulating it so he would never be hit again. The others did not, but even still people were dying and none of them were afraid. Maybe because it was confidence, maybe they liked to gamble, at this point it was hard to tell. But none the less the group easily crossed the next few 100 meter marks. They had already arrived to the 400 meter mark but this was the point at which everyone stopped.

If one didn’t include the ice pillar being the 500 meter mark, this was the last point at which there would be a giant wave. As they passed the 200, and 300 meter marks the amount of people lost was 20 and 30 respectively. They had all turned into ice sculptures without failure but there were still over 100 others that turned from being too weak as well. Now, all the Pathwalkers knew that death was the only result at the 100 meter mark points. As for the 10 meter, if one was strong enough and their control was precise, they could still survive. But they would be unable to continue in this test. Reluctantly those people could only return. However they were only reluctant and didn’t have any bad feelings towards the rest after all it was a gamble, and they agreed to it.

“So what now. Although we got this far because of your plan. But it won’t work now.”

Owen’s expression started to become serious as he looked around with his Blind Motion technique.

‘Only now do I realize that everyone meant nothing compared to this last 100 meters.’

Before Owen was too far and the concentration of Essence was too thick to see under the water where the ice pillar was. But as he got closer the pillar became easier to see. It was only now did he realize at the 400 meter point the depth of was no longer waist level, but infact was infinitely deep or at least Owen couldn’t see the bottom. But what Owen could see was the massive iceberg portion that was hidden under the surface. It was easily 150 meters diameter, and at least triple that in length. It would appear that the real test was about to begin.