Chapter 2127: Garan’s Ascent

Garan took a deep, deep breath, reading her message. What was more depressing than not being able to reply?

However, he trusted his wife. He had long learned that being overly protective would not just annoy her, but also hinder her growth. So—even if it went against all his instincts—he chose to calm down and not go after her, focusing on self-preservation instead.

By the time he received her message, he was already near the col that Althea spoke of.

He had long emerged from his little cave, more or less recovered, and he went straight to where he encountered the berserk-but-injured bird at the time.

It had some internal injuries when he encountered it (which he later realized was caused by one of Althea’s bombs), and its flight was slow, so it couldn’t have gone far.

It wasn’t far from where he rested, and he climbed whenever he saw relatively easy inclines (i.e. areas with a positive slope, saving energy by climbing some areas), though he also had to deal with beasts here and there.

On the lower half of the leeside of this tall mountain, the wind wasn’t very strong, maybe even stagnant. This was why there were many more crawler monsters on this side compared to Althea’s side.

Without a bird taking Garan up, just finding and climbing to that mountain saddle would likely take him the whole day, if not more, especially considering the monsters on that side. Even if he avoided those he could, there were still some unavoidable fights.

By the time the wind died down, he was already traveling along the saddle. Several monsters immediately went to him, occupying his hands.

He was immediately surrounded, and he had no choice but to use quite a bit of mana to deal with the monsters around him.

A moment later, a dozen sharp ice spears appeared around him. They were reinforced by metals and covered with sharp aether, adding an extra penetrative effect to their damage.

They created a spinning shield around him, creating three-dimensional stabbing and slicing damage to the monsters that dared approach.

Slash, Stab, Squelch!

It was quite bloody.

Anyway, Garan was very focused on his task, and he was completely unaware that he was being watched as if he were the protagonist of a reality show.

Blink, blink, blink

Several dwarven eyes stared at the show with various expressions on their faces, mostly awe. They were watching a large crystal ball that was bigger than an adult dwarf.

It was a magic tool similar to the Eye of the other dwarven tribe, and because the sight they were watching was not too far away, they could watch it for a long time.

Right now, it was surrounded by gossipy dwarves, watching the changes in real time. Someone clapped his hands when a sharp ice spike entered a monster’s mouth, going straight through its skull.

"WAO! BRUTAL!"

"That was sharp!"

"I wonder if that ice can be shaped into a curved blade..."

They pretty much commented on everything he did. This was not limited to his attacks, but also his movements.

"Whoa! He climbed up tens of meters quite quickly!"

"He encountered a sharp overhang! Whoa! He jumped! He jumped! Cool!"

"Wow, that’s probably ten meters, at least!"

"Wuwuwuw I cannot even jump over two inches, la!"

Others commented on his appearance.

"He’s quite handsome and tall."

"Are you blind? He doesn’t even have a beard!"

"He has more muscles on his arm than my whole body..."

"That’s because you don’t build enough tools..."

"Splitbeard!" the dwarf cursed. "It’s called being quality focused!"

"My beard is very well-maintained!"

Anyway, they were very invested. This was especially so when more and more monsters converged, and Garan had no choice but to find a nook to hide in.

"I wonder if he’s alright?"

"I wonder if he’ll lose a finger."

And so on...

Then, when things calmed down a bit and some monsters lost interest, the human male would find an opening and rush out, and then handle whatever monster was still after him.

They watched for hours, non-stop, and barely even blinking. The fight between Garan and the monsters was quite thrilling; the dwarves’ eyes lit up every time his attacks connected.

They themselves were not gifted in combat, so this vicarious experience was very enjoyable to them.

"Gasp!"

"Amazing!"

"He really froze an entire area! Those annoying snakes fall so satisfyingly!"

"Yes! He took down two Spidraws!"

"Those Spidraws are also super annoying! They don’t taste good either. Why do they even exist anyway?"

And then they watched as the human felt impatient, losing a bit of his control.

They watched the outnumbered human, smaller than many of the monsters he faced, summon immense energy to take them down, triggering a sense of awe.

It was both beautiful and terrifying.

"His skill is amazing..."

"So powerful..."

"So that is an elementalist..."

"I’ve heard about them from my dad, but he didn’t say people could make metals and such sharp ice."

An old voice from the side sounded. "It’s a rare element. Even I have not seen this element in action before."

The sound of this new voice seemed to have triggered some terrifying memories in the dwarves’ heads. They all shivered as if they had intense goosebumps down their spine, their backs straightened in tension as they turned to the source of the voice.

"Elder!"

"Grandpa!"

There was silence for a while as the old dwarf stepped forward, partially clouded eyes tracing over the large crystal ball. Unexpectedly, he didn’t say anything about it.

"Are your projects done?" "I am fairly sure all of you have deadlines."

"We’re... looking for inspiration!"

"Yes, yes, yes."

There was silence again, especially when they realized the elder’s eyes never left the crystal ball during the entire conversation.

It was only after a while that he spoke up. "Don’t admire him too much.

"Most humans are evil and would only hurt you—us, everyone. You can watch from afar, but contact is absolutely forbidden!

"The punishment will be the same as those of traitors. Do you understand?"

Many of the younger generation—not that there were many of them—had not directly suffered from humans. Many of them hadn’t even seen one before. They were just curious! They didn’t think they could be branded as traitors!

To be branded as a traitor just for being in contact with them refreshed their understanding of the enmity between the two races.

Then at some point, after a fight and after Garan kicked down several monsters, watching them fall or roll down the steep cliff, he sat down on one of the ledges.

The dwarves watched the man take out a juicy piece of meat on a stick, taking a bite. Some wise dwarf zoomed in while he was eating to take a look at what he was eating.

Gulp.

Sadly, it was all look but don’t touch.

...

Althea’s group had now all entered the tunnel, with at least half injured before they managed to enter the gaps. They also lost one orc. They protected them well while they were escaping, and Althea felt at the thought of the orc getting feasted on by the monsters.

This was not a rare occurrence, so the orcs, while still sad, simply went on with the task at hand.

Althea created an earth wall to block their scent, even if it was impossible to cover it completely. She even added some paste made of modified jacoba plant to repel monsters.

It only worked on weaker monsters, but it so happened that the only ones that could fit in the impromptu hole were exactly that level.

They encountered many dead ends in their descent, and some even tripped. Orcs had good dexterity, but the cave’s floor and surfaces were just so irregular, and it was too dark as they went deeper in.

Orcs had superior senses, but not all of them could see in the dark. Even in the animal kingdom, plenty of animals didn’t have night vision, like the chicken, the squirrel, and so on.

Of course, rather than a difference in species, it was treated more like just different characteristics, like nearsightedness versus farsightedness and myopia.

They headed deeper and deeper, and Althea couldn’t help but remind them of the possible dangers.

"Wow. Even those areas that had never seen the sun?!" Bambi couldn’t help but ask.

"There could be poisonous air inside. So be careful." In fact, they’d probably have to dig to get the concentration that would affect orcs.

With the only entrance so far closed down, they descended into darkness, led by a handful of orcs who had night vision.

Althea didn’t delay and took out a flashlight, causing the orcs to gasp again. Some were in awe at the sudden light, and others were pained yells because their eyes stung at the sudden burst of light.

"Oops. Sorry..." Althea said, guilty, and immediately turned it off again.

Unexpectedly, the transition of sudden light to sudden darkness revealed an odd shimmer on one of the walls. It was like, in the nearly pitch-black darkness of the tunnel, there were bits of the starry sky.

She narrowed her eyes and stared at it for a while until the luster disappeared, as if it had already consumed all of its light. She did not speak, and the orcs seemed to have noticed her oddity and didn’t bother her.

Althea blankly opened the flashlight again—triggering a few more shocked and confused screams from the nocturnals again—but this time she didn’t remember to apologize. Her attention was all on the surface not too far away from her.

It wasn’t obvious because they were ores, surrounded by other rocks.

But...that shimmer was too familiar to her.

They’re... space stones!!