“Captain Wang, we… Both of us are just ordinary people! W-we’re afraid of dying too, you know…?!” stammered Kaleb as he lowered his head, not even daring to look into Patrick’s eyes. “You…!” growled Quest, growing more infuriated by the second. “So… Let me get this straight. Both of you are trying to secretly escape just because you’re afraid of dying?” said Gerald as he added more fuel to the fire. After all, he didn’t really have much of a good impression on the duo. Regardless, upon hearing Gerald’s words, Kaleb and Malcolm were so embarrassed that they could only further lower their heads. Boiling mad, Quest then suggested, “People like these two… They should be captured, Captain Wang!” Upon hearing that, Patrick paused for a moment. Turning back to look at Quest, he then casually said, “…Just… forget it... It’s not a crime to fear death!” Capturing them was a bit unnecessary. After all, the duo hadn’t really done anything illegal to warrant Quest’s suggestion. Either
“I apologize for my earlier bad attitude. With that said, I hope we can cooperate throughout this rescue mission!” said Quest. Not one to fuss over such small matters, Gerald was starting to feel that Quest was actually a rather nice person. What more, Quest was a professional adventurer with great courage and an adventurous spirit. With that in mind, Gerald found himself smiling as he returned Quest’s handshake while saying, “Likewise. Regardless, allow me to formally introduce myself. Gerald Crawford!” “Quest Leane!” replied Quest with his own smile. Following that, both of them then began chatting rather cheerfully till they eventually drifted off to sleep at around three in the morning… By seven the next morning, all fifteen of the rescue team members had already assembled and were ready to set off for the holy mountain. Being the pioneer of the group, Quest was the first in line, followed by Gerald, Patrick, then the other members of the team. Fortunately, the weathe
Naturally, scaling the cliff wasn’t an issue for Gerald either. After taking a few steps back, Gerald dashed forward before making a giant leap! Seconds later, the youth then landed right beside Quest! Upon seeing that, Quest and the others all felt their jaws drop. What immense jumping capabilities! He truly was a person who was training to attain spiritual enlightenment! Eventually shaking their shock off, the others then quickly began climbing up the rope as well… It was when most of them had already made their way up the cliff when a sudden roar of thunder could be heard! Following that, the weather began changing rather rapidly, and soon enough, dark clouds had covered every inch of the sky… Understanding that the weather was only going to get nastier, Patrick—who was adamant about getting up the cliff last—anxiously instructed, “Everyone, hurry!” Once everyone had made it to the top, Patrick quickly began climbing the rope as well… Of course, trouble always came u
After squatting to inspect the pile of burnt charcoal for a brief moment, Patrick then said, “…This is still relatively new. The ones who lit the fire should have stayed here around two days ago!” Hearing that, Gerald and Quest turned to look at each other. This was good news! After all, it at least proved that the adventure team was still alive two days ago! “…Alright, let’s just take refuge here for the moment. We’ll continue our journey once the snowstorm is over!” said Quest as he laid down his backpack before sitting to conserve energy. While the rest did the same, Gerald chose to continue inspecting the surrounding cliff area instead. After a while, Gerald called Quest and Patrick over. “Mr. Leane and Captain Wang, I’ve scouted the surrounding area for a bit and I’ve found that there aren’t any other paths to proceed to. The only way to ascend the mountain from this point on is by climbing. To support that statement, just have a look there. If you squint a little, you can
After bidding farewell to Patrick and the others, Gerald and Quest then began scaling the rest of the holy mountain. Though it was still snowing rather heavily—with occasional freezing gusts of wind—Gerald and Quest managed to find a cliffside to proceed under. In other words, they had minimal contact with the actual snowstorm. As they walked on, Quest found himself asking, “What would you say are the survival odds of the adventure team, Gerald?” “I can’t say for sure, but I think they should still be alive. I’m assuming they’re currently trapped someplace on this mountain!” replied Gerald with a hopeful tone. Gerald, for one, certainly hoped that they were still alive. He couldn’t bear the thought of Nori dying in this snowstorm. Shaking the thoughts off, Gerald then asked, “Regardless, how much progress have we made, Mr. Leane?” “From what I can gather, we should now be at an altitude of seven thousand and five hundred feet. If that’s the case, then we should be two thous
Hearing that, Gerald simply closed his eyes in silence, spreading his divine sense out to scan through the rest of the mountain top… Sadly, the range of his divine sense was rather limited, so he was only able to scan up to a few hundred feet. Though that wasn’t a small range by any means, Gerald still wasn’t able to find any traces of the adventure team after quite some time. Eventually, Quest found himself asking, “…Say… Do you think that the adventure team isn’t here because… they’ve headed further up the mountain…?” Upon hearing that, Gerald turned to look at Quest. Though the suggestion sounded rather preposterous, it wasn’t completely out of the question either. After all, since there were zero traces of the adventure team here, the only other way they could’ve headed to—without bumping into the rescue team on their way up—was further up the mountain… “…That could be the case. Since we’re already here anyway, let’s proceed further up the mountain to check!” replied Gerald
Upon hearing that, Nori was instantly overjoyed. After all, the fact that Gerald had come all the way here just to save her meant that he still cared about her. Still, she truly hadn’t expected him to come here in the first place since Nori was sure that she had never even mentioned her trip to the holy mountain to him. With that in mind, Nori then curiously asked, “…Speaking of which, how did you even know I was here?” “Well, I found out when I headed to your manor and your father told me about it,” replied Gerald. “I see… But hold on, doesn’t the fact that you came here mean that your talisman crafting training with Master Hunt got disrupted?” asked Nori in a slightly worried tone. After all, it wasn’t easy for Gerald to get accepted to be his disciple in the first place. With that in mind, Nori truly hoped that she wouldn’t be the reason Gerald lost his chance to continue being Master Hunt’s disciple. To her surprise, however, Gerald simply chuckled before gently pattin
“That’s great to hear! And I agree, the sooner we leave, the better!” replied Gerald. Now that they had found the adventure team in one piece, they needed to begin hiking down the same way they had come up with in order to reunite with the rest of the rescue team. Once that was done, they’d begin descending the mountain… While Gerald was still rather curious about the thousand-year-old panax ginseng, he didn’t want to risk everyone’s lives just to look for it. Besides, it wasn’t even a proven fact that it was really able to revive the dead. With that in mind, the adventure team then began making their way down the mountain. As the saying went, descending a mountain was always easier than ascending one. Adding that to the fact that Gerald and Quest were providing their aid, the journey downward became much easier to bear. With that in mind, it took the group only half an hour to descend halfway down the mountain. Ten minutes before they could reunite with Patrick’s group, howeve