Both Uses of

climax
in
The Count of Monte Cristo

But what raised public astonishment to a climax, and set all conjecture at defiance, was the knowledge that the same stranger who had in the morning visited the Allees de Meillan had been seen in the evening walking in the little village of the Catalans, and afterwards observed to enter a poor fisherman's hut, and to pass more than an hour in inquiring after persons who had either been dead or gone away for more than fifteen or sixteen years.†
Chpt 25-26

I am, in your opinion, a Lara, a Manfred, a Lord Ruthven; then, just as I am arriving at the climax, you defeat your own end, and seek to make an ordinary man of me.†
Chpt 87-88 *

Definitions:

(1) (climax as in: climax of the story)
the most exciting or important part of a story, musical piece, or other thing that has a series of events
(2) (meaning too rare to warrant focus)
meaning too rare to warrant focus:

A comprehensive dictionary will describe other or more specific senses of climax.