Chapter 2156: Crossed Over Again
BOOM!
The ground shook and the four of them had to find a crack somewhere to get cover from falling granite rocks. No matter how hardy they were, getting hit by heavy rocks from a high place would definitely hurt.
The wind on this side was strong and soon the smoke cleared out. There was an explosion on the mountain, and it seemed to originate in the cold they used to pass over.
It was now just a bit bigger and deeper. The granite mountain was very, very sturdy, so even such a big explosion could only damage it to a degree.
Of course, a few meters of damage was still large, and they could tell that for a col of the current size to form, this bombing might’ve been going on for years, if not decades, depending on how often this bombing happened.
"It really is an artificial pass."
"Someone’s opening up the mountain," Althea said. It was a statement. Even if the actual opening of a pass would take another decade or so, the fact that someone was purposely doing this was a cause for concern.
...
With the two monster plants running alongside them, the monsters that approached them became much more manageable. The density of the mobs forced everyone to fight, but at least they were not too afraid of facing them head-on.
Slash!
Slam!
Pak!
This was a number that would’ve overwhelmed a large team of hunting orcs, but for them, thanks to the orcs and the wild roots, they were mere troublesome obstacles.
Buggy the dog orc was level 18, which was equivalent to about level 23 or level 24 human beings. He and the other orcs covered one side well, making sure that their journey to the wall was continuous.
Bable was great at throwing things. From his stats bar, Althea knew that his skill was something called [Weakness Spotter]. She had to check this because he wasn’t the most eloquent orc and couldn’t really describe his skills.
Basically, as long as this was activated, he could see the current weak spots of an enemy, and he could target that. It was a lot like her [Precision] skill, but much more targeted.
He targeted the weak monsters because he was a young orc only at level 14, so going against monsters near his level was far more efficient.
His passive was that his accuracy was higher than others, so after using the skill once or twice, he didn’t have to anymore. He just needed to target the predetermined weakness.
The Wild Roots (except for Lily) were also working overtime.
𝘧𝘳𝘦ℯ𝓌𝘦𝒷𝘯𝑜𝑣𝘦𝓁.𝒸𝘰𝓂
Ratatattatata!
Sol was using his sunflower seeds to barrage the mobs. They were quite penetrative and definitely went through the monsters’ hardy skin. However, some would’ve just buried in muscles and bones and might not necessarily kill them.
"Don’t use too much," she ordered Sol, who had gotten used to shooting indiscriminately. Well, to be more accurate, it only knew to shoot indiscriminately. If this was used during a war, there was no doubt allies would get shot, too.
Sol’s ’bullets’ regenerated significantly every day, though she reckoned that since they were outside the Hollow Forest now, this would slow down.
Anyway, indiscriminate shooting was not worth it.
Truffles, on the other hand, made traps everywhere when they were still on soil. It created pits right behind them, trapping or at least imbalancing the monsters going after them. This really decreased the number of beasts that they had to handle.
However, this would no longer work when they reached the granite mountains. Truffles bumping its body against that repeatedly would only injure it instead.
They eventually reached the wall itself. The wind was a bit more chaotic here, and even Althea’s hair—which she had tied into a bun beforehand—still got unruly after a short time.
The advantage was that the strong winds reduced the new monsters attracted to them, though they naturally still had to handle those they had attracted beforehand.
The col was still a hundred meters above ground at this time, lowered slightly by the earliest bomb. Althea summoned her vines to create ropes. Sol seemed like he had a vine, but that was his stalk. He needed it to move up before it could help carry others first.
To save energy, Althea only pulled herself up with the vine. She carried Sol with her, and Sol would pull the others up. Everyone had prepared tools for mountain climbing too, including some spikes and knives, so they could at least attach themselves to the rocks and not fall off carelessly.
It wasn’t that they couldn’t just climb over, but it was evergy consuming and they needed to save it when they could. There were plenty of dangers everywhere, including the wind itself.
After climbing a certain height, it was like they were at the wind’s mercy. The strong winds continuously slapped their bodies against the rocks. If there were protrusions or sharp unevenness, then just staying in a spot was painful.
They could only endure this, treating it as a trial (by wind). Adding a shield would just add surface area for the winds to push against them, so there was really nothing they could do but climb, climb, and climb.
Sol’s vines were sturdy, and since he had full control over their limbs, he could find spots to hang on for added support, which helped them out a lot.
The only annoying part was his petals. Hit by strong winds, it flapped wildly, and Althea had no choice but to tie it with one of her vines.
He looked like a pitiful unbloomed flower. Fortunately, Sol did not ’see’ through some nonexistent eye. No one knew how they could really see, but it was probably similar to bats.
Whenever they found a dead spot or a calm pocket, they hoped to use it to take a breather, but those were rare, and they did not have the fortune of finding one.
After some struggle, everyone managed to reach the col with gasping breaths. However, they were not allowed to catch their breaths yet.
This was, after all, a monstrous wind tunnel.
They waited until the wind changed direction a bit before rushing to the other side. It took them a few hours of tense waiting, but at least they had a surface to sit and lie on, just taking it as a break time.
They lunged forward, rushing to the other side, and it was then that the wind resumed and someone was almost pushed down the cliff. It was Bable who was practically blown away.
Fortunately, Althea managed to extend a vine for him to grab, and Garan immediately pulled him back.
When they finally—finally—got back to their side of the world, they finally breathed out a sigh of relief.
"Now what? Do we check who caused the bombing? We haven’t seen a trace of them in the col," Althea said, though she still had her guard up against external threat.
Sure enough, some climbing monsters found them, but the orcs were quick to handle them, making Althea thankful they took some orcs with them this time. She was really too exhausted to deal with monsters right now.
When Althea saw these monsters, she remembered something. She turned to her husband. "Do you remember that spot that let out a weird sound??" she asked, and Garan nodded.
How could he forget? It brought them so much trouble and ultimately separated them for a while.
"We should check."
She nodded. "I agree."
They were reminded of the bombs they dealt with in Hassen City. Seeing bombs exploding nearby, it was hard not to think they were connected somehow.
...
They still had to face a lot of monsters, and a lot of them on the col because of the chaos made earlier. The other side of the wall had calm winds, so there were also plenty of crawlers there.
Unlike the struggle the first time they went there, Althea and Garan’s battle was evidently much lighter. It wasn’t just because they had capable assistants, but also because Althea and Garan had grown significantly in this period.
Althea throwing and binding a few monsters at the same time or Garan creating a dozen ice spikes while controlling them now consumed much less mana and effort than before.
The orcs were pretty much monster hunters, even Bable, whose level wasn’t even that high, while Sol would use either its flexible stalk or its petals to swipe down a few crawlers every swing.
Truffles, on the other hand, was like Lily this time, chilling on Althea.
The group headed straight to where the weird elevator was, arriving there a couple of hours later.
The elevator track was just as it was when they first saw it. It was built on a depression, so even if monster mobs crawled by, it would be unlikely to be damaged too much. It was also a magic tool, so there should be some defense capabilities there as well.
They reached the large ledge where the elevator seemed to disappear to, but they did not rashly make any more moves.
Now what?