Chapter 481.

Chapter 481.

Chapter 481. Heading to the Peak: The Ascent. (4/5)

“Jeez, stop spacing out.” A set of clothes suddenly landed on my chest when Rosa said that. She’d pinched them between her toes and tossed them over to me.

“Hurry up and get dressed unless you plan to climb the mountain naked.” Rosa continued as she poked my cheek with her big toe. Looking up at her from below, she was already fully clothed.

“Aren’t you a bit too excited?”

“Of course I’m excited. I can’t wait to get to the top. It’ll definitely be very memorable.”

“Didn’t it rain last night though? Won’t it be a lot more dangerous to climb now?”

I stood up and started to get dressed

“Don’t worry. Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. If we’re lucky, the rain might keep people away and we might end up with the peak all to ourselves thanks to it.”

“I doubt it. Did you forget what day it is?”

“Oh yeah. I forgot about that. You think there’ll be a good show tonight?”

“How would I know? It’d be nice if there is.”

“Yeah. I hope so, considering how I missed out last time.”

“Missing out was your own fault for pulling that stunt.”

“You’re just mad because I won that time.”

While we bickered back and forth we had something to eat before we packed up our things. An hour after we woke up, we embarked on our journey to the peak.

The sun was high in the sky.

Clear blue skies as far as the eye could see.

We traveled for twenty minutes along the side of the lake heading in the direction of the mountain we’d set our eyes on.

On our right, the water. Our left, a dense population of colorful trees and vegetation. We were walking along a trail. There were many small twigs that would snap whenever we stepped over them. Small pebbles we kicked up while we walked would roll forward along the path.

“Hey, Rosa.”

“What is it?”

“I only now realized it, but where’d you get that second backpack from?”

“You’re only now noticing it?”

“Yeah.”

“Were you too busy staring at my ass or something?”

While we mindlessly walked taking in all these sights we came across a greedy snake in the middle of its meal swallowing a pitiful toad who succumbed to its poison whole. It definitely wasn’t something we expected to see along the way.

Rosa was rude enough to pull out her phone and stand there for five minutes recording a video of it.

“Seriously, how would you feel if some stranger walked into your house and started recording you eating?” I couldn’t stop myself from berating her.

“Hahaha!” Rosa burst out into laughter when she imagined it. “That’d like totally suck when you put it that way.”

“Right?”

“Well, I guess I recorded enough.”

“Shouldn’t girls be more grossed out by these sorts of things?”

She tilted her head to one side and tapped her lip with one finger as she questioned back, “Really?”

“Yeah.”

“I don’t get why. I think it’s an interesting sight to see.”

Tatatatatata!

Startled by the rapid tapping from the tree directly to my side, I flinched away.

Rosa looked up at me and burst out into laughter, “Pfft hahahah! So laaaame. What’re you getting so scared for? It’s just a woodpecker.”

“That little bastard scared the crap out of me.”

“Aww, did your heart skip a beat for a bird? It must be love at first peck~ hehehehe.”

Rosa continued to poke and nudge me playfully as we proceeded on our way along the trail through the trees.

About an hour walk later, the trees gradually grew more sparse until we finally made it to a clear opening and I stopped in my tracks. We had a clear view of the mountain up close now.

It was... huge. Imposing. Daunting. Looking up at it from here it was far more intimidating than when viewed at a distance. It really made you feel tiny. Insignificant like an ant. We were a speck of sand on a hill compared to it.

We were... going to climb this? We’d already been walking for so long, my body was sore to begin with, but there was still this much left? This is... hell.

“What’re you standing around looking dumbfounded for! Let’s go!”

When my eyes lowered, Rosa was fifty meters away looking back and calling out to me.

With shoulders slumped forward, I picked up the pace and caught up to her. My feet, back, and shoulders were killing me.

We trudged up the mountain slope as it gradually grew steeper. What was once twenty turned into a forty-five-degree angle incline. Needless to say, every step forward became a laborious task and drained significantly more stamina.

I couldn’t help thinking about how nice it would be to just lay down and roll back down the mountain. However, when I looked behind us and saw the distance that tumble would be, it became apparent only death awaited you should you try that.

There were jagged rocks sticking out from the ground, rolling over some of those would no doubt easily cut through flesh.