"Results are in, and it's not looking good…"
Don Urude frowned as he read out the report printed by the atmospheric sensor, which showed several line graphs, all with curves dropping down just as steeply as the slopes beneath their feet.
"The miasma seems to be coming from… Well, nowhere?"
Rubbing his forehead and double-checking the numbers, he sighed, then packed up the machine and put it back in the bag.
The time was midnight, the darkness of the mountain so immense that the two men could hardly see a step in front of them.
Yet, disregarding the risks, they pushed forward into the climb, the remaining two thousand meters still no small feat.
Each time they found a new ledge, it seemed to be higher than the previous one—an arduous ascent with no end in sight.
However, as the two men passed the seven thousand meter mark, they paused, an oddity catching their attention.
"A cave?"
Aaron's blood went cold, an unknown pressure falling upon his very essence, warning him in all senses of the word to leave.
The opening was jagged and rocky, but still large, with translucent liquid dripping from stalagmites framing the front of the cavern.
Urude stepped forward, reaching his hand out to touch one of the icy rocks, yet pulled his hand back at the last second as if something had changed his mind.
Aaron, who watched from afar with a pale face and eyes wide, only had one thought running through his head, the image making his heartbeat rise.
It looks like a mouth.
While the idea that the cave or the mountain itself was alive would be preposterous under normal circumstances, Aaron couldn't help but think that it would explain a lot of the mysteries surrounding the place.
A creature that size would justify the amount of miasma rolling in the crisp mountain air, and the reasons for all the previous expedition failures would also become clear.
"Well, we have two choices here."
The orange-eyed man spoke quietly, his hands clasping the handle of his stone sword as he stared down the entrance.
"Enter or continue higher."
He gritted his teeth as he turned back to face the blond boy, the thin air making his eyes bloodshot and shaky.
The fifteen-year-old simply wished to turn around and leave, both options ahead of him sounding equally as bad.
But this wasn't the kind of mission he could just drop, especially not after already coming so far.
If this thing is alive, then…
A flash of greed appeared at the forefront of his imagination, as the idea of killing the mountainous creature and devouring its core filled his veins with nervous anticipation, even if he knew it was nothing but a mere fantasy.
Would I become a mountain if I absorbed it?
Chuckling to himself, he unsheathed Ocean's Bane and took a step forward.
"Tsk… Curiosity killed the diver…"
Watching Aaron tuck his head down to enter, Urude grumbled something impolite under his breath.
It was short-lived, however, as only a few seconds later, he followed suit, unsheathing his claymore and holding it in front of him, ready for battle.
The inside was dark and damp, the occasional trickle of water resounded like a pop through the cavern, making the uneasy tension deepen.
"It's pretty wide in here, so we should be—"
CRUNCH!
The blond-haired boy's foot stepped through something brittle, a chill resonating down his spine as he closed his eyes.
He was no amateur; the sound of a cracking skull was nothing new.
It did not make it easier to look downward and see the body; however, the bony figure was displaced and broken, with multiple fractures along nearly every limb.
「Illuminate」
Urude stepped forward with a tiny ball of flame in his hand, covering the cavern in light, allowing the truth to be revealed.
"So this is what happened to them…"
Turning his head downward in a silent prayer, the turquoise-eyed boy stared with a silent and solemn sadness that could be felt from his very being.
Ten bodies, ripped to pieces with bones strewn across the chamber, blood seeped so deeply into the rocks that it could never hope to be erased.
There was no smell, a miracle that Aaron thanked the crab for, regardless of his involvement with anything.
"Do you know what caused this?"
The boy craned his neck backwards as he removed his foot from the broken skull, his eyes meeting Don's.
His own gaze was focused somewhere else, however, a place further into the cave that he couldn't quite avoid.
"Aaron…"
The tone of his voice was deadpan and emotionless, his eyes glazed over, and for the first time, wrought with fear.
"It seems we have fallen into a trap."
The blond boy followed the knight's gaze, meeting a stone statue in the farthest reaches of the chamber.
While a statue wouldn't be uncommon normally, this one was different.
Dark purple eyes glowed with a furious intent, runes made up of various seals all activated at once, slamming a force so powerful that it broke the sound barrier into both men.
Urude fell immediately, his knees colliding with the rocks and making a horrific cracking sound that echoed throughout the area.
Aaron, however, gritted his teeth, maintaining eye contact with the glowing eyes regardless of the noise bombarding his ears.
"KILL! DIE! KILL! DIE! KILL!"
Forcing his hands towards the side of his head to prevent the whispers from entering, he found that they weren't audible, but rather mentally transmitted.
Dammit!
Glancing downward, he noticed the elder attempted to slam his skull into the rock, his hands reaching for his sword.
"STOP!"
Kicking out his metallic leg with all his force, only the lowest part of the fake limb, the foot, flew off like a projectile, striking the stone weapon and sending both objects flying outside of the cavern.
Diving down to the ground to prevent Don Urude's head from colliding with the rock, he got the man into a headlock, holding his skull upward.
"RIP OUT HIS THROAT! TEAR OUT HIS EYES! STRANGLE HIM! MUTILATE HIM!"
Endless voices tore into his subconscious, the effect of the deity inside his mind nullifying it to an extent; however, without a physical target to retaliate against, there was nothing that the godly being could do to cease the noise.
As the blond boy struggled to restrain the man further, a sudden backfist collided with his nose, nearly breaking it instantly.
"GAH!"
Wrapping his legs around the man's arms and legs in a full body lock, he gripped tightly, praying for whatever had started this to stop.
Defying his prayers, the statue's ferocity only strengthened, the glow encapsulating the entire room.
"LEAP FROM THE CLIFF'S EDGE! SLAM YOUR SKULL INTO THE ROCK! DROWN YOURSELF IN—"
The last whisper abruptly ceased, a strong lump of clarity overwhelming the boy, only to be replaced by another.
"DROWN THEM ALL!"
Perhaps without the deathly situation before him, he would've found the Naelith's intervention to spread its useless jabbering hilarious, yet as he actively fought with all his might to prevent a Sea King's subordinate from slitting his own throat, he didn't have time for such foolish thoughts.
THUMP!
Aaron's body was thrown backwards, Urude's massive form finally able to get a grip on the surface and launch both of them outside the cave entrance in one push.
Wind slashed against their flesh like razors, the thin air and miasma eating away at both their willpowers, yet with the ledge ever-approaching, the blond boy had run out of options.
"DAMMIT!"
Looking to his left, he saw the glint of his metallic foot beside the stone blade dangling precariously off the edge, too far out of reach to clasp.
One more strong push from the mind-controlled man sent him spiraling to the very farthest edge of the cliff, the boy's eyes glancing downward as he hung on the ledge with a sturdy grip.
Below him, a steep and dramatic near seven thousand meter drop awaited him, a certain death and one that not even a Ghostship could prevent.
Slamming both his footless metallic leg and fleshy opposite into the rocky surface, he ground his teeth hard, one more push certain to send him off the edge and into death's grip.
Blood pooled around him, and flesh peeled back to reveal gruesome lacerations caused by the sharp stone, a horrific scream building in his throat that wouldn't see the light of day.
Yet, while that push would never come, a fate worse than that would befall the boy and the elder only a moment later, a deafening crack silencing the world for the boy.
KRKKKKKK!
The rockface didn't even give him a chance to think, the stone crumbling away and dropping him into weightlessness.
"NO!"
Reaching out with all his might, he clawed the vanishing ledge, his fingernails peeling backwards to reveal their bloodied nail beds that were quickly ripped to shreds by gravel.
"AGHHHHH!"
His fall ceased as he caught a jut in the rock, but the feeling of Urude's hand in his own weighed him down like a boulder.
To prevent the man's certain death, he had grabbed the elder's hand with his left and used his shredded right hand to clasp onto the cliff with only fragments of tissue holding him up.
C'MON!
Pulling with all the strength he had in his body, he tried to bring himself upward; however, with Urude holding on to him, he could do nothing.
And once again, Aaron Grimstall was left at a crossroads, the choice between falling alongside the man and meeting a fate together or sacrificing him to survive flashed before his eyes.
Deep within his mind, the whispers bombarded him yet again, the Naelith's subduement fading away as they fought for control.
There was nothing else he could do; the only true choice calling out his name as if an angel was speaking to him directly.
"Drop… Him…"