Surprisingly, it was still dusk when we reached the Zakara Mountains, traveling nearly five miles on foot through the forest heavily layered with snow.
The sun wasn't there yet, but the golden rays that dispersed throughout the sky drew an alluring atmosphere all around. It was pleasant. The true beauty of nature.
The Zakara Mountains were tall, layered with ice and almost touched the dusk sky. They stood as if holding their utmost pride. Each one of the mountains was the same.
From here on, our journey would begin through rocks and stone—but of course, covered with snow—and various traps hidden under those snow and glaciers.
Of course, I hadn't climbed a mountain before. However, I had a basic understanding of mountain climbing. The easiest paths on a mountain were most likely to be dead-end traps. We had to be careful about that. Besides, we didn't know where the demon was camouflaging itself. If we were unable to locate its concealment, we might get ambushed.
"Shall we start our journey then, Shika?" I asked as I prepared.
"Wait a minute, Zanthrix." She replied. "Let me take my usual appearance first."
She then changed to her Iceborn appearance. The human-like skin turned bluish swiftly. Then she continued.
"I am an Iceborn. This kind of environment is most suitable for me. Climbing these mountains is no big deal. I can do this effortlessly."
That's an Iceborn for you. I thought smilingly and said, "It's good that we can rely on your Iceborn instincts. This way, we can avoid the dead ends spread around the mountains."
"Right of course. I'm capable of much more than simply detecting hidden traps. I can sense changes in the weather too. And right now, I don't think any obstacle will be on our way."
"Heh-heh, I'm counting on you."
She looked confident.
In any case, we commenced our journey.
First of all, we needed to climb up a few boulders of ice and had to avoid some small traps. Since we didn't know where the demon might be, we were headed to the peak.
The dusk atmosphere was suspiciously long and the weather wasn't harsh as the ruler had told us.
I pondered as we were now walking on the slope of the first mountain. Although there was no suspicious activity so far, my mind refused to rest and continued to sense danger.
And then…
A sudden thought occurred to me.
It was relevant. I couldn't possibly look the other way.
If the weather wasn't challenging right now, and the atmosphere was also good so far, we needed to consider that the…
"WAIT SHIKA!!" I called out suddenly and she, too, sensed what I was worried about.
Suddenly, the ground—more like the snow, beneath us shook.
"The weather isn't the only thing that'd be challenging. The monsters residing on the mountain would be too."
As I said, the snow before us began taking a monster-like form. With solid rocks and snow, a giant golem appeared before us. It was huge. It was tremendously monstrous and unleashed its menacing presence.
[Snow Golem encountered!]
"Watch out!" I called out to Shika was close to it and pulled out my lance—the Valaic Blue, to strike. However…
"Take this!!!"
Shika punched it with her bare hands. She exerted an overwhelming force on the snow golem's chest, shattering it with her raw strength into pieces. She was amazing and her strength was terrifying.
"We don't need to worry about this dimwit. They hardly pose any threat to us." She replied, smiling gently as she looked at me.
"Is that so? Guess we don't have to worry about them after all." I replied and we continued our journey.
After a few while later, we faced a group of snow wolves. They, also, couldn't stand against her even a minute. That same went for the frost bear that appeared afterward.
She killed them—no, she annihilated them one after another using her fist only. I was awestruck.
Of course, I knew she was strong—even stronger than me. But taking down those beasts and monsters effortlessly… was something I couldn't do within a short period.
Then again the Yeti-like monster that nearly sneaked on us. She used one of her ice moves and struck him. Then the ice erupted from his body, shattering his bones and spreading his blood all over.
She gently swept the blood off her cheeks and turned back to me.
And me…
Oh, I was dumbfounded by her actions.
"That was impressively done, Shika." I complimented, "You took them down like they were nothing."
"It's strange." Shika looked at the sky instead of getting happy at the compliment.
"What's strange?"
"It's strange why the night hadn't started yet. It's still dusk. This might be the very reason why the stronger opponents haven't shown up yet. These beasts were nothing compared to those who hunt during night-time in the mountains."
"You have a point. I…"
"Wait Zanthrix!"
I was about to say something, but she prevented me from doing so.
"The pressure shifted. There's no wind. The humidity changed too…" she closed her eyes and thought deeply, "There might be a strong blizzard coming this way. We need to find a shelter."
She said with caution, and she was unmistakably right. The surroundings were unimaginably quiet since we had been here—it might have been the calm before the disaster.
"If you think so, then…" I started scanning for any possible spot that we could take as a shelter. I found one soon enough. "What about that one.."
It was a cave-like structure. However, the slope was unimaginably steep—like a towering wall of ice—and the cave was located nearly a hundred meters above it.
"That may be a good spot. But how would you climb up? If you like I can hold you in my arms and climb up there."
"You don't have to go that far for my sake. I have these."
I pulled out the implements necessary for climbing—the very same ones the ruler had provided.
Besides, using a woman's lap for climbing was an embarrassment for me.
She was an Iceborn. She was adapted to this kind of environment—and I think she could overcome the hassle. Even so, I couldn't let her do it for me.
I needed to do it on my own.
"Well, if you say so, then be my guest." She smiled, probably understanding why I turned her down.
I smiled as well.
We then headed towards the mountain wall where the cave was located. It was still dusk then.