Chapter 35 - Gemstone

There was a person laying on the side of a mountain, looking off into the sun. He was trying to catch his breath and was bleeding from his various wounds.

That person was me.

There was only dirt at the top of the mountain. The snow in the sky seemed to avoid the top of this mountain and the mana was very thin.

As much as my body needed the healing spell, for now, my mind just needed a break.

There was a part of me that still did not believe what had transpired.

The memory of the meteors blotting out the sky came back to me. At that moment, there was a massive pillar rising in the village.

Though my mind tried to force the memory out of my head, it was clear as day. There was a speck on top of the pillar. My eyes could barely make it out, but deep down, there was a voice that confidently said it was a real person.

A person who single-handedly cast that spell.

It made me wonder if he had any experiences like climbing out of that canyon.

Regardless, time was not infinite.

My hands and knees crawled down the hill.

The ground gradually became more snow than dirt and the mana density was returning back to normal.

It was like taking a deep breath after being submerged in water.

Not waiting any longer, my mind started to cast the healing spell.

A few snowflakes fell down on my face. My eyes stared off into the distance.

There were many trees covered in snow and... they appeared to be tiny.

Wait... how high is this mountain?

Looking through my memories, this was a large hill that was by no means small, but it wouldn't take much walking to get up it.

The healing spell finished, and my burning wounds gently disappeared.

After standing up, my eyes scanned the mountain.

It was incredibly high, as in if my foot slipped, my body would tumble until everything broke.

My eyes scanned the rest of the forest, for the most part, there were trees, but far off in the distance was a village with walls that covered a large expanse.

It seems my goal was found.

My hand pulled the stake out of my coat and held it firmly.

When my feet started to traverse downwards, was when the realization of how steep this mountain was sunk in.

The corner of my lip twitched. Instead of walking, my legs crouched down so that my way down consisted of slow waddling while in the shape of a ball.

The process was painfully slow, but losing my balance at this point would be quite miserable.

...When would be the next time I ate?

If my speed really was this slow, in an ironic twist of fate, death would be by starvation.

My foot suddenly slipped, instead of hitting the ground it sunk deeply into the snow. My balance was lost and like a ball, rolled into the snow.

...Then the snow started to fall.

It seems the mountain was even steeper than it appeared, the snow made it look flatter.

The snow started from a little ripple to a huge wave, a wave that was carrying me down the mountain.

Both of my hands immediately stabbed the stake down, in hopes to slow my descent. Unfortunately, the stake never hit any ground, only snow.

A rumbling started to echo through the forest, like the thundering steps of giants.

My eyes could no longer see the sky, it was obscured by a cloud of snow. Despite the lack of effectiveness, my hands were still holding onto the stake, in hopes it could catch something to slow my fall.

...My fall was only getting faster. It was so exhilarating, it felt like flying.

The only problem was that there was also the looming presence of death hanging above me.

My face was being battered with snow, not only that, but the snow had snuck into every crevice of my clothing.

At some point, it simply felt like my body was levitating, emerging from the violent tides of snow.

There was a bitter smile on my face, it seemed that my death was imminent.

My eyes closed.

For a moment, everything was empty.

Something was squeezing me, it was like my body was submerged in water and the pressure was increasing.

There was no air, my lungs painfully contracted until...

My body was in the air. With a plop, my face landed right into the ground. There was a burning cold on my entire body.

With a gasp for breath, my next course of action was to grit my teeth

I shot up to my feet and began shaking my clothes, getting all the snow out.

Feeling the chill dissipate, my breaths calmed.

My head looked over my shoulder and there was a large hill or small mountain. After staring for a few more seconds, a mental note was imprinted into my head.

Things may not be what they seem.

Nonetheless, my mind began preparing some spells as my feet carried me forward.

...

My lips were smacking, still relishing in the taste of a nice rabbit. There was definitely a huge gap between the taste of a raw lizard and cooked rabbit. Not to mention how nice it felt to drink some real water for once.

I'm pretty confident I'm getting closer to the village, so far my eyes were able to spot two groups of one-horned demons.

My judgement of distance was not the best, but it seemed to be a matter of time before the village was in sight.

On the way, there was a two-horned demon. There was a theory that came to mind, and feeling ambitious I decided to test it out.

Like a ghost, my steps gradually approached the demon. Rather than striking, my mind had other ideas.

A wild wind was stirred up around me and my skin tore. My mind had already prepared Alyx's spell and threw it at the demon.

The demon started to convulse, shifting from black to red. My mind was casting Alyx's spell. The demon soon recovered and glared at me.

My figure stood there silently, just a few meters away.

The demon charged but before it got near, it started to convulse once again. Suddenly a stake had pierced the demon's head.

Once the demon regained consciousness once again, it saw my figure a few meters away. It charged once more, but like last time began convulsing. This time, the stake pierced the demon's neck.

The demon regained its bearings and let out a roar.

It raised its foot which began to glow with white light, then slammed it into the ground. Ice spread quickly and walls emerged which entrapped me with him.

The demon was in a frenzy and started wildly swinging with its saber as it approached me.

It once again started to convulse and a stake pierced its heart.

The demon's skin started to dull in color. It raised its saber with both hands and was about to swing down.

But, both of his elbows were covered in ice.

The demon glared at me with hatred, while my figure stood there, looking right back.

The demon's eyelids began to flutter. It was standing still as it bled out, but now it was slowly taking a step backward.

The demon's foot was trembling as it was set down. The demon slowly lifted its other foot and put it back too.

The demon did not move for a few seconds, then like a string holding it was cut, it fell back. The demon was falling on its back, but the saber pierced the demon's chest.

With that, the demon was dead in a pool of its own blood.

This time, I defeated the demon without sustaining any injuries from it. Though simply gathering mana caused quite a few on me.

Gentle magic wrapped around me and the tears in my skin receded.

My battle plan was based on the fact back in the cave. Since that three-horned demon was in such a horrible state from the prolonged absence of mana.

The first cast of Alyx's spell was to feel out the window of opportunity for me to stab it.

As for the encase spell, it simply had many applications before, so naturally, I took advantage of it.

My eyes were about to turn away from the demon's corpse, but something shiny was coming from inside its chest.

Taking a closer look, it seemed to be some sort of gemstone, it was mostly translucent and had a white tint. My thumb and index finger delicately plucked it out, while avoiding the blood.

After shaking off the blood, my fingers twirled it around. The gemstone seemed to be crafted and it was done with even and sharp cuts.

What could this be for?

Curious, my mind tried to force mana into the gemstone. Nothing happened. My hand scratched the side of my head.

My eyes closed and a sigh escaped from my lips.

...Did that three-horned demon have one of these as well?

If this was valuable then that would be unfortunate.

For a second, there was a consideration to go back in that cave to get it, but my head shook soon after.

After pocketing the gem and a jump, my hands grasped the top of the ice wall.

My figure melded with the trees.

It was time to get to that damn village.