Chapter 122
TL/Editor: raei
Schedule: 5/week
Illustrations: None
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Ian and his party quickly attempted to descend the mountain.
Now that they had confirmed that the Mountain King was hostile towards humans, staying on the holy mountain was dangerous.
The Phoenix would surely understand the situation.
'... It seems better to summon it quickly.'
Ian thought while stroking Winnie.
The Phoenix's spirit had babbled something only it understood in front of Ian.
What? There is an evil presence?
There was an ominous atmosphere around the mountain?
If the Phoenix had resurrected after destroying Winnie's body, its curiosity would have been satisfied.
But Ian was the one who postponed the Phoenix's resurrection...
For now, he had to set aside that curiosity.Nnêw n0vel chapters are published at novelhall.com
[Ian, I think I understand the meaning of the warning. The Mountain King... is anxious.]
"Anxious? About what?"
[That...]
Winnie fell silent.
Ian sheepishly patted Winnie.
He didn't intend to keep it in suspense just to make it suffer.
"Sorry. I wanted to show you a great view."
[No, it's fine. As I said before, I'm very happy to spend time with you and Kira like this.]
Ian's party steadily descended the mountain.
Meanwhile, Pyra was tearing at his hair in agony.
"Ugh... The Grendels will come back. We should have wiped them all out earlier!"
"That was physically impossible."
Ian consoled Pyra.
Even if everyone here took up swords and charged, it would take ages to kill the Grendel horde.
Theoretically, yes, but in practice, it was even more impossible.
From the beginning, it was impossible to annihilate the Grendels.
"Soon we'll reach a narrow path. If we get attacked there, it will be really dangerous!"
"But there's no other way, right?"
"... The problem was coming in too deep from the start!"
Pyra hastily drew cards, eyes wide with desperation.
He wailed to himself.
"Ah...! This is ominous, very ominous!"
"..."
Ian began to understand why Ragnar didn't like Pyra much.
This guy had severe mood swings.
He also had a tendency to overly rely on divination.
"Shaman! Can you be quiet for a moment?!"
Even Takarion scolded him.
Ian was genuinely impressed.
Wow... it must be bad if Takarion spoke up!
"God watches over us, but humans create their destiny! Acting without shame according to the will of God! That is the role of a clergyman!"
"Oh."
Ian clapped his hands.
As expected from a writer, Takarion had a way with words.
More importantly, Takarion's words were true.
And it's hard to argue against the truth.
So, Pyra couldn't say anything and just hung his head.
"Yes... I must pull myself together."
Ian sighed as they approached the steep narrow path.
It was a path they had crossed slowly without much issue before.
But now, with enemies on their tails, it made his skin crawl.
However, there was no other option.
Whether they liked it or not, they had to cross the narrow path.
"Let's go."
But as Ian was halfway across the path, the silhouette of a monster appeared from the cliff above.
"... Damn it."
Ian immediately cursed the monster.
Such cunning bastards!
"Ambush!"
It was the Grendels, followers of the Mountain King.
The Grendels, having been wounded by Ian before, did not approach recklessly.
Instead, they used the terrain to their advantage.
"Screee!"
[Die, monster!]
"No, who's calling who a monster...!"
Ian was baffled by the Grendel's determination, but there was no time for idle thoughts.
But Pyra was the only one flustered.
Belenka and Kira were calmly preparing to jump onto the avalanche.
"Don't try to understand Ian, shaman. Just accept it."
While Pyra was bewildered, Ian leaped onto the avalanche.
Belenka and Kira followed Ian, jumping onto the avalanche.
"Damn it!"
Despite his words, Pyra moved his body.
Ian's party lightly climbed onto the oncoming avalanche as if stepping onto a cushion.
The snow's mystery accepted the humans.
It was the result of Arcana magic.
"Screeee! Screeee!"
[Boss! Look at those guys!]
"Screeee!"
[Aren't they crazy?!]
Pyra was also flustered, suddenly snowboarding out of nowhere.
But the Grendels watching from above were even more bewildered.
No, they sent the avalanche to crush them!
And they just rode on top of it!
"Screeee!"
[We failed again... What now?]
"Screeee..."
[I don't know. I want to die.]
The Grendels slumped their shoulders and moved to come up with the next plan.
---
---
Ian thought he had lost consciousness for a moment.
But it was a misconception.
‘... It's dazzling.’
The brilliantly shining sun hurt Ian's eyes.
He rubbed his eyes and looked ahead.
What he saw was a clear blue sky.
The cold wind whipped against Ian's cheeks.
Ian was now standing on top of the avalanche.
Rumble...!
Together with his companions, Ian was riding the avalanche down the mountain as if on the back of a giant beast!
‘This feels amazing.’
All complicated thoughts vanished from his mind.
It felt like being on the world's greatest ride, filled with thrilling excitement.
Ian couldn't help but shout out loud.
Wow!
His voice was drowned out by the noise of the avalanche.
Swish...
As the snow piled up and came to a stop, Ian carefully stepped onto the ground.
"Pyra! Where are we?"
"... I don't know. It seems we've come deeper in..."
Ian frowned.
So, they had slid further into the mountain rather than out.
To return to the village, they would have to make a wide detour to escape...
‘What a pain.’
Ian and his companions were all safe.
Everyone started to assess the situation.
"Ian. Over here for a moment."
The purpose of their search was, of course, to find a way out.
But as Belenka was surveying the surroundings, she spotted something strange and called Ian over.
"Do you know what this is?"
"..."
Ian couldn't say anything.
He had no idea what it was.
"A grave...?"
A massive valley.
At its bottom, countless beast corpses were piled up.
These were the creatures known to the northerners as 'Yagon.'
"A grave..."
Belenka didn't agree with Ian's thought.
In fact, Ian didn't think it was a grave either.
It looked more like a dumping ground than a grave.
"Oh, Hrundal..."
Even Pyra sighed upon seeing the eerie site.
This was clearly the cause of the Great Hunt's failure.
The prey that the Northerners were supposed to hunt had frozen solid, piled up in the deep ravines of the holy mountain.