Volume 6 Chapter 14
Volume 6 Chapter 14: Facing the Waterfall
Lorie stood frozen, hit by the spraying water and overwhelming presence of the scene before her.
「I’ve… never seen a waterfall like this…」
They were standing on a high plateau roughly halfway up the colossal waterfall. Even from there, it was obvious at a glance—the vertical drop easily exceeded a hundred meters.
Despite the distance, the cold spray lightly splashed onto her face, confirming that what she saw was definitely no illusion.
「Did this exist from the beginning, or was it created by geographical changes from the Ouroboros…? Even then, isn’t this too extreme…?」
The noise was oddly quiet for such a massive waterfall, but upon closer inspection, she sensed magic from the rocks forming the cliffs.
A kind of magic stone…? Are those stones dampening the sound and vibrations…?
Magic stones sometimes emitted magic naturally. People often derived inspiration from these phenomena to create new spells, making them valuable natural occurrences—but right now, Lorie could only sigh.
This particular one… I’d really rather do without…
As Lorie thought this, Axel—who had been standing ahead and scanning their surroundings—spoke up.
「Hey, Lorie. It seems the checkpoint is over there.」
He indicated a spot below. When she looked, indeed, there was an orange glowing checkpoint hovering clearly amid the mist of the falling water.
Checking the Divine Codex confirmed its location without a doubt.
…But how do we reach it…?
The point hovered slightly away from the plummeting water, suspended in the air above what was probably the plunge basin.
It’s too dangerous to swim there…
While Lorie considered the dilemma—
「—」
The Codex suddenly began glowing.
Words appeared on a previously blank page:
「Special condition for the final checkpoint.」
「An additional condition…?」
Even as Lorie voiced her confusion, glowing letters continued appearing:
「Within three minutes, pass through all checkpoints here in order—from one to three—and then leap into the swirling light.」
The message stopped appearing.
「W-wait… in order…?」
While Lorie frowned at the Codex, Daisy—who had been observing the waterfall alongside Axel—called out:
「Hey, Princess, the checkpoint just changed! There’s more than one now.」
Lorie quickly turned her gaze away from the Codex to the waterfall.
Now there were clearly three orange glowing points instead of one.
Moreover, each one was shaped distinctly as a number.
The first checkpoint she’d seen before now took on a numerical shape as well, but—
「You must be kidding…」
Checkpoint 「1「 hovered just above the plunge basin, 「2「 midway up, and 「3「 higher still. Directly above checkpoint 「3.」 a vortex of orange light floated in the air.
「Lorie, what’s going on?」 Axel asked, walking closer, clearly puzzled by the sudden development.
Lorie showed him the new message from the Codex and replied quietly:
「It seems the route requires ascending from below.」
「You mean we have to climb the waterfall?」
「Yes, probably. Right, gods?」
In response, the Codex glowed again, forming a single word:
「Correct.」
Clearly, it was exactly as stated.
Seeing this, Lorie exhaled deeply.
「And just when I thought we’d passed so many hurdles—they throw an impossible task at us. Gods really have a twisted sense of humor.」
She had no idea how to tackle this.
It was her immediate thought, and she felt momentarily overwhelmed. There was no point dwelling on despair, she knew, yet faced with such an enormous obstacle, solutions eluded her completely.
Just touching one checkpoint seemed challenging enough, but doing it three times, in rapid succession, in strict order?
Despair seemed justified—but then Axel spoke calmly:
「Well, guess we’ll just have to climb it.」
He sounded as casually confident as ever.
He’d been carefully examining the surroundings, and after finishing his assessment, he’d returned with these words—exactly as he had during the tunnel collapse earlier.
The circumstances, after all, were essentially unchanged.
They had to climb anyway. Yet still, Lorie protested weakly:
「This isn’t like climbing a mountain. It’s a waterfall.」
Normal people couldn’t scale waterfalls—especially not within three minutes.
Yet Axel replied simply:
「Well, we have to. If I don’t, I can’t bring you to the specified point.」
「Yes, that’s true. But do you have an actual method?」
「Yes. Actually, I recently acquired a skill that allows me to walk on water.」
「That’s… a skill only high-tier carriers can master…」
She’d seen carriers cross small rivers using that skill before.
「But how does that help here?」
「Won’t it be useful for progressing here?」
「What?」
「A waterfall is still a water surface.」
At first, Lorie couldn’t grasp Axel’s words. She had seen transporters walk on water, but only horizontally—
A waterfall was vertical…
「Y-you’re serious…?」
「Absolutely. I tested it earlier at the waterfall in your palace bath. Just like running on a wall, I can manage.」
「Running on walls…?」
She’d never seen a transporter who could pull that off—but given how Axel had traversed the body of the Ouroboros, Lorie realized it might actually be possible.
「Well, obviously I’ll have to carry you again. If you’re uneasy or too afraid, we can think of another way—」
But Lorie had already decided after careful thought.
「I’ll be fine. I’ll trust you, Axel.」
「You sure?」
「Yes. You’ve carried me all this way. I’ll trust you until the end.」
At her words, Axel nodded with a gentle smile.
「Thanks for trusting me. Alright, let’s get ready.」
「Yes.」
〇
Preparation for climbing the waterfall involved me leaving behind the contents of my transport bag on a patch of land near its base.
Thanks perhaps to the waterfall, the air around there was quite cool, and we judged it suitable enough that food items would remain preserved for a while.
With most of the food placed outside, my transport bag had gained a considerable amount of free space.
…Now Past Transportation should be possible.
Just in case, I readied myself to use the skills from my days as a dragon knight. With this, my preparations were complete. Therefore,
「Sorry to keep you two waiting.」
I headed over to Lorie and Daisy, who stood at a spot almost directly under the waterfall.
「Not at all, Axel. I finally finished preparing myself mentally, too.」
「Me too, partner! I’m fully ready for beast form.」
They said this with gentle smiles.
No doubt they were trying to reassure me, to avoid causing unnecessary concern; feeling grateful, I stepped forward in front of them.
Then, crouching down, I prepared myself for Lorie to climb onto my back.
「All right. Get on.」
Just as I spoke those words, the weight of one person settled onto my back, followed immediately by the weight of one carbuncle on my shoulder.
「I’ll be counting on you. I’ll touch each checkpoint as we pass it.」
「I’ll support where I can, my friend.【Alchemy: Binding Rope of Plants】」
The moment Daisy spoke, glowing ropes appeared around me.
They were probably created using alchemy, binding Lorie and me securely together.
With this, she wouldn’t fall off unless I made some incredibly unusual movements.
「Yeah. I’m counting on you—especially if something happens, like a fall.」
After replying to both of them, I turned my gaze forward.
Just one step ahead lay the water’s surface.
Beyond that, the whitened mist of spray filled my sight.
Taking all this in, I said:
「Well, then… let’s go.」
I stepped forward, kicking off the water’s surface.
Normally, my foot would sink immediately.
Yet—
【Water Walk】
My transporter skill activated flawlessly, and the water surface pushed back against my step.
It didn’t feel solid like regular ground, but it definitely provided enough resistance to kick off from.
…If I could walk on water, then I could run—and even leap!
With my first step, I touched the 「1」 checkpoint and leapt upward at an angle.
「—!」
Plunging into the misty spray, I went even further.
…If I can walk on water, then even mere droplets could become a foothold…
I kicked off the mist, ascending even higher.
I had tested this already in the palace hot springs. Even droplets, though providing reduced resistance, could still be used to advance. And furthermore—
「Even vertical surfaces can serve as footholds…!」
Using the waterfall’s surface and scattering droplets, I surged upward, racing directly toward the checkpoint.
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