Return of the Fallen Volume 2 Chapter 29
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Author: Blue_Rat
ch29
Kazuki’s assessment was right. By simply spreading out a few miles and climbing to the tops of trees, he and the others were able to scout any possible ledges that Mei and Tsura could use. What would have taken possibly days of climbing every cliff, ended up being done in less than 2 hours.
After reviewing all the possible locations, Kazuki managed to whittle down the most suitable spots from almost 100 different locations all the way to 3. The next part would be difficult.
Kazuki had Sam make more of his earth rope. Sam’s rope was made from rock but its flexibility was close to normal rope. This was just one of Sam’s specialties. Though with its flexibility came disadvantages. Sam could either make his rope flexible or harden it but in doing so it would change the earth ropes durability and strength. The more flexible he made it, the less weight it could hold. The opposite, if he hardened it then it could hold several times more weight, but in doing so it became less and less rope-like and more akin to a stone pole. It was all give and take.
Currently, Sam could only make 3-4 feet of rope before his concentration would fail him and he had to reset himself. Because of this, he had to repeatedly make rope. Kazuki and the others would then tie each 3 or 4-foot piece of rope to one another until they made several hundred feet of rope.
Finally, after nearly an hour, they had completed one long piece of rope and Sam could now make his climb.
Kazuki had wanted him to rest for a bit but Sam’s patience was completely gone now. With a plan in place and the equipment needed having been readied, Sam could not sit still and began to ascend the first cliff.
Everyone was going without rest which was already dangerous. Add on the fact that they hadn’t eaten for nearly a full day and had run through the forest for an entire night and fought multiple times. People were running on fumes. Sam though had it worse than Kazuki and the rest. After all that, he then had to make several hundred feet of rope pushing his magic to dangerous levels and then climb several hundred feet up.
His magic that was already reaching its limit then had to be pushed one step further. Using more of his magic, he gathered small bits of rock around his hands. Sam made gloves of rock armor so he could safely grab the jagged rocks that were sticking out of the face of the cliff and climb.
“Shin, at the pace he’s going, Sam should be able to reach the top within 30 minutes or so. Take to the top of this tree and watch, report to me if anything happens.”
Shin nodded and saluted exaggeratedly.
“Oh captain my captain, your will, will be done, hehehe.”
Shin jumped into the tree and disappeared, only the rustle of a few leaves could be heard afterward.
Kazuki rolled his eyes.
“Asuna, you and Nunully will take a short rest and recover as much as you can while we wait. I’ll guard you two, so do your best to recover your magic more than anything else.”
“Ryuta, don’t you think your fire magic will come more in handy than my space magic. I mean, yeah, teleporting can be very convenient but at the moment I can only teleport myself or objects a few feet. Firing a fireball is much more useful than what I can do. You should take the first break.”
Asuna was right but how could Kazuki tell her that he had no Mage core and can only create a fireball using his ancient hand signs. For it to be exposed right now would not do him any good and would only lead to dangerous questions. He still needed Asuna and the others and could not risk exposing who he truly is.
(How can I explain that I can’t make fireballs with just my magic ring.)
Before he could come up with an excuse, Nunully did so for him.
“Asuna, for him to use fireballs so casually, isn’t that quite dangerous for everyone else. I mean, if he shoots one and misses, he could wind up hitting you or me or someone else. If he does that, we could die rather easily. If this happens while we’re in the middle of battle, it could be many times worse. It might even change the entire course of the fight. Especially against those Mangshi. If he uses one and the fire catches hold of the surroundings, it could surround us entirely in less then a minute. If we were occupied dealing with the Mangshi and we can’t deal with Ryuta’s flames or get away from them in time, we’ll be surrounded but the Mangshi could simply fly away. In my opinion, at Ryuta’s current level it’s best he does not use his magic at all during combat until he has it perfectly under his control.”
Nunully had seen how Kazuki had used magic when they escaped the sky prison but for some reason, she knew that Asuna and the others didn’t know about it and that Kazuki was keeping it secret. Even she had never seen magic being performed as Kazuki did it, one thing was for sure, it was a secret. This was a secret Kazuki had trusted her with and she would never betray such trust, especially for the one who saved her. If he didn’t want others to know then Nunully would never reveal it and she would also try and help Kazuki whenever a similar situation such as this one came up. Nunully decided it was the least she could do for him.
Asuna was dumbstruck. She had never even thought about Kazuki’s fire in that way before but what Nunully described to her made perfect sense. Fire was truly dangerous and uncontrollable for a noob like Ryuta, of course, so Asuna came to understand.
“So that’s why I haven’t really seen your magic. Hmm, if that’s the case… then, Nunully, what you’re saying is right. Ryuta, your fire magic is too dangerous and unreliable right now. It’s OK though, don’t feel down. I’m sure if you keep practicing you’ll be able to do magic as easily as me or the others without worry, tee hee.”
Asuna laughed a bit at the end. Not because she was making fun of Kazuki but rather because she felt good at being able to do something better than him. Back on earth, she could perform any task better than Ryuta, yet since arriving on Gordonia, he had outclassed her in everything, which led to a bit of frustration. He even seemed more intelligent than her lately making her doubtful if Ryuta was not replaced with some alien shapeshifter or something. However, after realizing he wasn’t the golden child, a sense of relief filled her heart.
(If he can’t use his fire magic during combat, then he’ll have no choice but to rely on me a bit more, hehe. Don’t worry, Ryuta, I’ll protect you.)
Asuna started to smile oddly as her eyes glazed over slightly while daydreaming.
Kazuki wanted to say he wasn’t that useless but he didn’t want to break the mood, as it seemed like Asuna was already relaxing.
Kazuki gave Nunully a small thumbs up and mouthed the words thank you.
Nunully smiled back before sitting down and shutting her eyes, meditating to recover her magic.
As Sam scaled the cliff, he had the rope slung over his shoulder which weighed him down a bit. This rope was made from rock and there was over 400 feet of it on his shoulder and back. The armored gloves he had made from magic didn’t compensate for the extra weight and were becoming more and more damaged quicker then he had anticipated.
Grabbing another jagged rock, he could feel the armor on his glove being torn through and a bit of blood followed. Spilling out of his palm and fingers, his hand became slick with blood and his grip became loose.
Shin called down to Kazuki, and Kazuki climbed to the top of the tree in only a few seconds to observe. Looking down on Sam, he had made it slightly more than halfway up. Since they were only a few hundred feet away, Kazuki wanted to call out to him but if he did so and the ledge Sam was climbing did happen to belong to Mei and Tsura, it would be disastrous for Sam.
“Ryuta, what do we do? We can’t call out to him and tell him to come back down, and knowing him he’ll push himself forward even with the pain. If he slips and falls, even with his tough body, there’s no way he can survive that.”
Kazuki only intended for Shin to call him if the Mangshi appeared. If so he would figure out something but with the problem being Sam, there was little he could do. Sam had become increasingly stubborn when it came to Kimi. Kazuki didn’t really know if what the two shared was love, but a deep bond was definitely there. Sam had become less rational with Kimi’s absence and even if Kazuki called out to Sam right now to come down, Kazuki doubted that it would work. That in itself added to the danger, for if he did call out and Sam refused to climb back down, followed by the Mangshi showing up. That would just be a boulder on top of a boulder on top of a boulder, crushing indeed.
“There’s nothing we can do. If he’s smart he’ll climb down but knowing his attitude and feelings at the moment, there’s just no way.”
“Are you telling me we’re just supposed to sit here and watch him fall?”
“Well, maybe we can do something…This will definitely injure both parties but if you catch him…The danger to that though…”
Shin stared in shock.
(That’s his plan, really?)
Before Shin could argue, Sam’s hand really did slip and he was dangling with one hand. Shin’s eyes went wide and he didn’t hesitate to jump down from the tree. Every 50 feet or so he would kick out a gush of air to cushion his landing a bit before leaping down from another branch and repeating the process. Shin made it to the bottom of the tree in only a few seconds. Then he raced to the cliff wall. Of course, he could not run at his fastest speed, seeing as how there was a minefield of rock spikes sticking out of the ground.
Sam on the other hand although he was dangling by one hand, was calm and unperturbed. He thought about using his rope but that idea was quickly thrown away. These jagged rocks in time could cut through his rock armor, no way his earth rope would last. Staring at his bloodied hand, Sam had a thought.
(My magic is being depleted too rapidly to keep an entire glove of rock armor. Couldn’t I instead…)
Sam’s glove was torn through because he was using his magic too quickly but what if he reduced the cost he thought.
Taking a deep breath, Sam reformed the glove of rocks over his bloodied hand, however this time he did not fully cover his hand. He covered only the part that would actually grab the jagged rock. Now only half of his hand actually had armor on it. Using the same trick, he got rid of half the armor on his other hand as well. Doing this, he reduced his energy usage by half in one go.
(This…this is much better.)
Gripping the jagged rock, another idea popped into his head.
(If I can do this for my hands, why not for a toe or two as well?)
Sam formed rock armor on his toes and then stood on the jagged rocks without fear.
(Hahaha, this…this is a game-changer. It’s like I’ve gained a whole new skill.)
Sam looked up and smiled confidently.
(Let’s try this out.)
Taking a deep breath, Sam exerted his strength and while pulling himself up with his arms, at the same time he jumped upward, kicking off the jagged rocks with his new toe armor.
Kazuki and Shin both saw this and at the same time felt their mouths fall open.
(This smart fool, now that is a clever little trick.)
Shin as well looked up in thought.
(Hehe, guess my worry was for nothing.)
Sam in one leap had jumped almost 10 feet up. Grabbing onto more jagged rocks, he placed his hands and feet perfectly before leaping again.
The cliff that should have taken 30 minutes to scale, turned into less than 15. 12 of it was from regularly climbing it, which got him almost halfway up but the last 3 minutes he was leaping the entire way until finally…
A single hand stretched over a ledge and with a bit of strength, Sam pulled himself up and rolled over onto a flat surface. Taking heavy breaths, sweat poured down Sam’s face and soaked his clothes. His body was beyond exhausted yet a confident smile spread across his face.
(I made it. Kimi, I’ll find you soon.)
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