We reached where we were headed for. From here on, the slope was nearly ninety degrees and the cave was located almost a hundred meters above.
We had climbing equipment. The ruler had provided those.
It was time I put them to good use, so I opened the backpack that had been given to us. As soon as I did, I felt somewhat disappointed.
"Seriously? Only a pair of Ice Axes and a cord that hardly reaches fifty meters? Talk about a lame help." I said bitterly. I was disappointed. Why wouldn't I?
Since the ruler himself provided it, I had high hopes. But it turned out to be only these.
Sigh!
"Well, whatever. I guess I'll have to climb with these."
"Don't worry, Zanthrix. If anything troubling were to happen, I'll help you out." Shika muttered promisingly. "I can climb this wall without needing them. Use them all you like."
"Right." I nodded.
Then I pulled my lance out of my inventory. Yes, it was the Valaic Blue—the majestic-looking blue spear, crafted with highly durable metals.
On the end part, I tied a knot with the cord in a way that it'd be hard to undo—at the same time, it'd also lift my weight if needed.
I clutched the lance tightly, took a deep breath, and then looked exactly at the spot where I'd throw it.
I could feel my energy channeling through the lance—and as I threw, it accumulated momentum seamlessly. It then struck the mountain wall, penetrating through the icy wall relentlessly. Then it stopped as if sealed with the mountain. There was a slight miscalculation and it had gone about ten meters higher than I had anticipated.
The end part of the cord that hung about ten meters from where I stood, said it otherwise.
Of course, I could use my Archer Class for high accuracy and pinpointing the exact location. However, I wasn't certain how much the arrow would last while lifting my balance. Besides, the snow—more like the ice, was quite thick and rigid where I had struck it. An arrow couldn't penetrate through it either.
Lancer-class was unmistakably a better choice if I said so to myself.
Anyway.
I jumped and climbed the wall using those ice axes and stopped where the end of the cord was hanging. The ice wall was slippery. It was hard to maintain my balance.
I took out another rope out of my inventory. It wasn't long like the cord. However, it was enough to tie me with the cord with a special knot. If I got unlucky and slipped, this knot would tighten from the friction between the rope and cord and would stop me from falling.
It was an impressive survival technique I learned while playing a zombie apocalypse game. In that game, I needed to climb up a building through the rope my companion had thrown down. Thanks to the 'Mind Map' uniqueness of that game, it provided the necessary details on how to do so.
I applied the same technique here.
"Color me surprise, it worked," I said and looked at Shika who was still standing on the snow. "Shika, you can climb now."
"Okay!"
As she said that she took a different appearance than herself. Now she was looking slightly like her father.
Her hands and legs turned like that of her father—made of rigid, sharp ice as well as her entire body too. As she had said, it was effortless for her to climb that way.
She struck the ice and snow as though slicing her enemy and climbing over their bodies. Her technique was impressive too.
She climbed behind me.
****
It took us a while to cross halfway. We still needed to cover the rest. The pace we were heading it would take us only five minutes or so to reach the cave-like spot. However, there was a challenge against me.
I reached where my lance was sealed. I needed to pull it out and throw it one more time to cover the rest of the part. If I were to do that, I didn't know how my body would remain there unsupported.
I could use Shika right now. She was strong. She could easily lift me even in a situation like this. But I wasn't sure whether I would be able to launch the lance-like I had done it before.
If there were a slight miscalculation again, it might not penetrate the target like before. Besides I needed to untie myself from the cord—I had reached the end that was attached to the lance. I had to repeat the same process one more time.
The lance was tightly stuck to the ice wall. With a strong pull, I got it back. Then I took a deep breath and thought.
'Time to do something Mr Unreadable would do.' I smiled, looking confident as I prepared.
"Shika! Catch me if I fall okay?" I told her as she was still a little behind.
"Wait wh—" she couldn't complete her words before I had jumped off the ice wall.
With a powerful leap and all my strength behind the lance, I launched it once more. It carried the same momentum as before—perhaps even greater. It then landed a perfect hit on the cave mouth and penetrated the wall again, attaching itself to the cave mouth as though it had been sealed for a thousand years.
Meanwhile…
Me?
Of course, I was falling since there wasn't anything to support me. Perhaps I probably would've kept falling if Shika wasn't there.
As I fell, closing the gap between us, she clutched—not my hand, but my whole body itself, just in time and prevented me from the free fall.
I was on her embrace. Our chest pressed against one another. I could hear the aound of her breathing. Up this close, her eyes were more beautiful than I had seen them before.
"Got you!" she exclaimed, her breathe low and frequent. "Are you mad pulling a stunt like that? What if I were not able to catch you in time."
She was scolding me like a big sister—or maybe like a mother. I could feel the warmth, by the way. The warmth that wrapped around my body. I thought it would be cold like ice. It was warm—perhaps warmer than when it felt like embraced by a normal girl or so.
"I had faith in you." I replied to her. Our faces were unimaginably close as well. "I knew you'd catch me. There was no way you'd ever let me fall into danger."
She froze for a second. She then averted her gaze and replied,
"Anyway, we had a mountain wall to climb. We can talk later." She replied and started climbing while holding me in her embrace.
Now I was this close to her and the dusk sky was still there, her face looked adorable.
BUDHMM!
Nearly thinking of that, my heart skipped a beat.
Unexpectedly, it started racing faster.
Yeah, I could hear that.
Breaking the LUBB-DUBB pattern, my heart raced much faster for some unknown reason.
Wait...
This wasn't my heart that I heard the sound of.
Could it be…
"Here," Shika told me as I was lost in thoughts. "You're much motivated to climb this wall in your way. Here's your rope."
She had already climbed up near the cord.
I attached the rope knotting around me with the cord again and the ice axes were still there.
I don't know what to say. I couldn't say as as she climbed a little further up ahead.
Simply smiling a bit, I took the ice axes and now was on my way to defeat this ice wall.