After bidding farewell to Patrick and the others, Gerald and Quest then began scaling the rest of the holy mountain.
Though it was still snowing rather heavily—with occasional freezing gusts of wind—Gerald and Quest managed to find a cliffside to proceed under. In other words, they had minimal contact with the actual snowstorm.
As they walked on, Quest found himself asking, “What would you say are the survival odds of the adventure team, Gerald?”
“I can’t say for sure, but I think they should still be alive. I’m assuming they’re currently trapped someplace on this mountain!” replied Gerald with a hopeful tone.
Gerald, for one, certainly hoped that they were still alive. He couldn’t bear the thought of Nori dying in this snowstorm.
Shaking the thoughts off, Gerald then asked, “Regardless, how much progress have we made, Mr. Leane?”
“From what I can gather, we should now be at an altitude of seven thousand and five hundred feet. If that’s the case, then we should be two thousand feet from where the adventure team disappeared! Judging from our current progression speed, we’ll need about two more hours to reach that place!” replied Quest as favonovel.com read out the information that his smartwatch was showing.
While they were certainly much closer to the area now, the journey there was still far from over…
At that moment, an ear-piercing roar of thunder could be heard! The sound was so loud that the entire mountain instantly began shaking slightly!
Realizing what was happening, Quest quickly said, “This… This could be the sign of an avalanche!”
Hearing that, Gerald instantly began looking around to survey the area… But to his dismay, there was nothing to shield them against an incoming avalanche! Sandwiched between two stone walls, both of them knew that if they didn’t think quickly, they were going to be hit by the avalanche and subsequently thrown into the abyss at the end of the valley! By that point, they’d surely be in pieces!
“There doesn’t seem like there’s anywhere to hide, Gerald…! What should we do…?!” asked Quest rather anxiously.
Despite being a person with abundant adventuring experience, Quest was now feeling slightly terrified in this seemingly hopeless situation.
After a few seconds, Gerald then quickly retrieved his talisman-making kit before saying, “Don’t worry, I have an idea!”
With that said, Gerald rapidly began drawing on the talisman! The second favonovel.com was done, Gerald then threw it forward, prompting a golden ray of light to envelop both of them!
A shield of light formed just in time as the avalanche came crashing down on them! Thankfully, the golden shield was sufficient in guiding the avalanche away from them, keeping Gerald and Quest safe!
After what seemed to be an eternity, no further sounds could be heard. Still safe underneath a layer of snow, Gerald then cleared out the snow above them… They were safe!
Once Quest climbed out with a huff, Gerald then followed after.
Sighing in relief, Quest—who was honestly still quivering a little—then said, “Thank god you’re here with me, Gerald… Otherwise, I’d surely be doomed!”
Smiling back at him, Gerald simply shook his head in silence before resuming the journey up the mountain together with Quest. It was about an hour and a half later when they finally reached the spot…
Arriving half an hour earlier than anticipated, the area they were in was at an altitude of nine thousand and eight hundred feet. Now much nearer to the mountain’s peak, Gerald and Quest began scanning the area below them. Unfortunately, thick, misty clouds—that were everywhere below them—covered most of their view. Due to that, neither of them was able to find any hints of what could have happened to the adventure team…
After a while, Quest walked over to Gerald before asking with a deep frown on his face, “…There doesn’t seem to be any traces of them being here at all… Could it be that nothing really happened to them here…?”
