Chapter 141 - Vertical limit

While Karan and the others fought Garosso.

“Uwaaaah!?”

Nick fell down the mountain after being kicked. He instinctively reached out with his right hand, and almost reached the rock wall.

Nick was kicked down an incline of over seventy degrees, which meant it would be near impossible to climb it without driving wedges into the wall and hooking a rope.

If he was to be saved, he would have to hit the mountain rock slope a little further down. At least he would not be hitting the ground at an altitude of close to a thousand meters and dying instantly.

If Nick’s angle was not perpendicular and there was overhang, he would be thrown completely in the air.

But even if he did hit a slope on the way down, the impact would surely destroy bones and organs. And then he would continue falling, and by the second or third time, he would certainly die. Even if he somehow managed to hang on, he would be in bad shape.

This was all very clear to Nick, who became ready to face death, but was unable to resign himself to his fate.

He had no intention to let himself be crushed like a bug after being betrayed by his former partner and kicked down.

Still, fate was uncaring.

He could feel his entrails rising, the air pressure made his ears hurt, and he was losing sense of what was up or down, left or right.

A sharp wall of rock rapidly approached, meaning he would die in about ten seconds.

“N-no way…!”

He twisted his body and focused all his nerves on stretching his arm, before using Light Body and sticking a knife into the wall.”

“Y-yes…! Yes!”

The knife just happened to hit a soft surface, and slid down while sticking to the wall.

What saved Nick was the fact that the knife hit soft soil. This combined with Light Body making him less heavy, meant his own weight would not break or rip off his arm. He did not stop right away, but this did act as brakes, slowing down his descent.

Nick felt ecstatic about being saved, but his hopes were soon betrayed.

The knife hit hard bedrock and broke, leaving Nick falling once again.

“Geh!?”

The speed of his descent was heavily reduced, but he did not expect the misfortune that would fall on him next.

His body was now rotating like a chess piece. It was like a ball that had bounced off the ground.

(Dammit… What now…? What do I do…)

Nick’s vision became blurry, and he was unable to control his body.

Since Light Body was making his body spin, should he reverse it and use Heavy Body?

Nick knew this was a bad idea.

Making his body heavier would only make the impact that much greater when he hit a surface. He was falling much slower than before, and he did not want to lose this advantage. If he did nothing but continue maintaining Light Body and hit the ground, he still had a small chance to survive.

He would have to make a decision soon.

“I have… To stop spinning…”

All he could do was twist his body, but stopping his body from spinning without any sort of footing would be impossible.

His vision gradually got darker. The centrifugal force was damaging his blood flow and semicircular canals.

It would not be long before he lost consciousness.

“If… I can’t move… Then magic…”

Nick acted on what was basically animal instincts.

He activated both Light Body and Heavy Body at the same time and shifted his center of gravity.

His body rotated sharply in the opposite direction.

“Guh…!”

While bearing the pressure that felt as though it was ripping him apart, Nick stopped rotation and got complete control of his position. He was still falling, but at least he could control his limbs and the direction he was facing.

And then, he kicked the wall.

“U-uoooh!”

He kicked himself upwards, and kicked the wall again.

Like a deer climbing a cliff, Nick lightly jumped up.

“What is this… How is this so stable…?”

If his balance was off by a little bit, he would plummet, but Nick stopped thinking too deeply.

He could not afford to, and left it all up to his body and instincts. Ten more kicks and he would reach a gentler slope.

If he hesitated for a second, death would be waiting.

If he could not gain enough height to reach the next place he could jump from, or if he stepped on a brittle spot, he would fall again.

He was still in a precarious state.

“Alright…”

After the fifth or sixth jump, Nick was getting close.

That conviction proved to be fatal however, as he stepped through brittle ground on the next jump and found himself falling again.

He figured he could start jumping again, but the worst possible thing happened.

Rocks started falling.

“Ah…”

There was no way out of it this time.

As he was facing death, Nick spent more energy than he would normally. This added to the exhaustion that came with using Union, meant Nick was left with no energy or stamina left.

He resigned himself in as he fell.

“…Well, I did well. I really struggled with all I had.”

“No! it’s not over.”

A clear voice reached Nick’s ears, and he was suddenly carried by an intense force on his side.

“Wha… Ah…!?”

Nick was being carried by a woman who stood perpendicular to the wall and ran on its side with incredible speed.

“Alright. Ah, wait. Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

The woman stopped on a rock surface large enough for them to stand on, and gently put Nick down.

“A-Alice?”

Nick was saved by a beautiful woman with short blue hair.

She was the commander of one of the Order of the Sun’s units, who started investigating Nick after the incident with White Mask.

“That was close. You better be thankful.”

“O-of course…”

Nick was at a loss for words as he nodded at Alice.

“Did no one ever tell you not to stare at an adult woman’s face?”

Said Alice with an awkward smile, but Nick simply continued staring.

“H-hey, are you really entranced or something?”

“S….”

“S?”

“Sorry… Alice… I’m at… My limit.”

“Eh? Are you actually serious?”

“Oeh…”

All the pressure that was placed on Nick’s body caught up with him now that the tension was gone. The intense fatigue, the pain on his joints, all the small wounds all over his body, and all the shaking his semicircular canals and brain had gone through…

It all resulted in him vomiting profusely.

“Ukyah!? Don’t do that in this tight space! Ah, no! My mantle!”