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