Chapter 312 The second Hurdle
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/SHUA…/
/Rain…/
"Huff… Huff…"
The mountains seemed to never end... Maybe they did not have one.
An eternal climb to symbolize the infinity of the Universe.
Whenever he reached the end of one of the many mountain peaks, he realized it was just the start of another.
From the golden wheat fields, he climbed the rocky cliff amidst the rain and storms, eventually arriving at the ancient ruins of a dilapidated temple built alongside the walls of a mountain.
Whatever this temple had once been dedicated to was either dead or far of reach as this place felt dead in every sense of the word.
The carvings were long gone, the luster of the marble was now opaque, and most of its structure had already collapsed onto itself.
Its only use now was to be stepped upon for someone else to ascend higher.
As such, using its large pillars, Dale climbed atop the temple before continuing further.
/Grab.../
/Thunder.../
Eventually, he climbed so high that he reached the thunderclouds, finally seeing their source.
/SHUAAA!!/
Up here, the wind was extremely chaotic, pushing him back with incredible force.
Their origin was a creature far away in the distance, the statue of a gigantic beast with its wings folded, its maw open as it tried to devour something in the distant mist whole.
Yet… It was instead frozen in time. Its last roar now serving as a testimony of its fall.
"..."
/Grab.../
Dale, however, didn't even look at it before moving on, crossing the thunderclouds, avoiding being struck by lightning as he continued his climb.
…
/Huaa…/
Atop the clouds, frigid wind began to blow in his direction.
Climbing to the edge of the mountain, he saw himself in the middle of a battlefield full of strange creatures in armor.
Their valor, courage, determination, ferocity, were all frozen by the ice blowing from atop another mountain far away in the distance.
Their weapons raised at each other as they racked and screamed at each other, their last moments now frozen, forever, in ice.
"Huff…"
But even as his breath froze over, Dale's eyes burned with unending determination.
/Push!/
/Crack!/
Without ceremony, he pushed away one of the ancient bodies in front of him, causing it to shatter as he continued to walk, making his way to the source of the frigid winds.
Up above, the wind descended from the mountains, that was where his destination awaited him.
…
/CUT!/
"Huff…"
From the battlefield to the mountains, Dale now climbed a massive waterfall several Kilometers long, the bottom was now so far away he couldn't even see it anymore.
How much had he climbed so far? A dozen Kilometers? Twice that? Thrice...
It didn't matter, he just continued to climb.
"..."
Beneath the turbid ice, he saw the corpses and weapons of even more soldiers, now only skeletons, shadows of their former selves.
Their empty eyes sockets now stared deep into Dale, as if mocking him, taunting him that this would be his fate also.
Amidst the rocks he saw statues of great warriors or rulers carved from the mountain, broken down and worn by the sands of time, making it impossible to tell who they once belonged to.
What kind of war had transpired here? Or was this place only an illusion?
Perhaps place where Fables came to die… But this place would only be the beginning of his.
...
/CUT!/
"Ugh..."
The waterfall was filled to the brim with old and rusty weapons, their edges sticking out of the ice, still sharp despite the many cracks along their edges.
The wind caused his skin to grow brittle, and even a tiny shard of ice would penetrate his leather chestpiece.
Maybe it was the remorse of the dead, to bring harm to the living centuries after their fall...
To pass through safely, he used his sword to cut and block all dangers, but they were relentless, little by little, he was worn out by them.
"Guah… Huff… Huff…"
He bit his lips in pain as bloody handprints were left in the rocks, but seeing the top not that far from him, his eyes burned even more ferociously as he continued to push ahead.
…
/Crack…/
One last push, Dale reached the top, the ice beneath him breaking due to foreign weight.
But with a quick roll, he avoided the fate of being thrown back down to his death.
"Huff…"
Strangely enough, up here, the cold was bearable… It was… Warm even.
And then, he finally found the source of the cold… And Heat.
"..."
Not that far away in the distance, he saw two giants clashing weapons.
A giant warrior made of stone, metal, and flowing lava struck down his axe against the neck of an icy giant made out of stone, ice, and wind.
From his wound, a torrent of cold wind gushed into the world outside, bringing permafrost into the entire landscape.
Meanwhile, before his death, the icy giant froze the entire landscape with his hands, capturing the legs of the lava giant and puncturing its body with mountain-sized ice spikes.
From his wounds, a torrent of lava flowed down onto the caverns of the mountain, quickly vanishing from his sight.
Soon enough, Dale found his way forward… And he returned his pilgrimage.
Long ice paths likely made out of the rapid cooling of the molten rocks released by the giant, his very blood.
And following his desire, Dale climbed the molten giant, its heat now charring his skin as he reached for its mouth.
/Shuaa… Thunder…/
The skies began to rumble again as he approached his destination, golden yellow lighting continuously struck the heat of the giant, as if trying to bring it back to life.
Yet there it remained, motionless.
/THUNDER!/
In anticipation of what was about to happen, the skies exploded one last time before growing silent.
/Grab…/
"Huff…"
Alas… He reached it.
…
/Walk…/
/HEAT!!/
Inside, a lava pool awaited him, and at the far end of it, he saw another entrance and an even taller mountain…
That was his destination, where he was meant to be.
To cross it, he just needed to follow the cold rock path atop the lava pool.
As the frigid winds entered the cavern, they cooled down the lava, but Dale wasn't a fool, that layer of rocks wasn't that thick to support his weight.
/Sizzle.../
A single step in it and it broke down, causing lava to stick to the bottom of his boots, forcing him to quickly shake it off.
"..."
With a determined expression, Dale's expression stiffened as he cast his fears aside.
It was time to cross the pool.
/Step…/
But for that… He needed to take down the man in front of him.
/THUNDER!/
/BZzzz… ZAP!/
Standing atop a rock in front of a lava waterfall, just a few steps away from the exit, was a man whose face was hidden by the darkness of his cloak.
He looked at Dale as golden lightning fell from the rocks above, falling onto him as it was absorbed into his body.
It seemed that all this time, he was the source of the lightning bolts in the sky...
Or maybe, he was the one who harvested it.
"..."
/Inhale…/
/BADDUM!/
As soon as his heart began to beat again, Dale rushed ahead, walking over the half-solid path atop the pool, leaving burning footprints in the stone.
"..."
/Lightning!/
The mage immediately replied, raising his hands and causing dozens of lighting spikes to fall onto him, breaking and splashing lava around as he evaded them.
/Raise!/
The mage swiped his right hand diagonally, and the entire lava pool shook as it bent sideways!
The very magma beneath him was under the man's control!
/SIZZLE!/
Small droplets of lava fell onto his skin, burning it to a crisp, but he continued to run, it was a rush for victory.
He would be buried in this sea of molten rocks if he was too slow!
As funny as it may be... The Mage had the High ground.
/PULL!/
With his left hand, the mage pulled, and with it, a torrent of cold wind entered the cavern from the outside, cooling the rocks and Dale almost to a standstill, freezing the entire chaotic scenario like a picture in a camera.
/C-CRACK!/
"HAAA!"
Screaming, Dale broke free from his cold restraints, jumping onto one of the cooled pillars of lava before kicking it, holding his spear as he dashed in the air after the mage.
"Humph."
The mage wasn't ready to fall, and even as his spear was just a few pals away from his face, he didn't move.
/DOWN!/
The mage pointed his right hand down and a pillar of lightning fell onto Dale, crashing him onto the icy spikes in front of the rock.
/CRUSH!/
Using the floating sword to defend himself, he was punctured by the ice, but his situation wasn't any better.
/THUNDER!/
/FIRE!/
/ICE!/
Finally revealing his true powers, the Mage raised his hands, causing the entire cavern to shake as the elements reverberated within, cracking the flesh of the Titan due to their immense pressure and power.
Around the mage, three shields materialized, manifestations of his elemental mastery, a fiery shield made out of burning flames, a still shield made out of cold spiky particles, and an ever-moving shield made out of snappy lightning bolts.
"!"
/BOOM!/
Before he could even react, a massive explosion blew him back to the entrance of the cavern, causing him to spit out blood as his spear was flung back at the entrance, almost falling into the distance…
If it weren't for his floating sword taking most of the explosion's power, he may have been flung outside.
He made the right choice by using it defensively and not offensively.
But at this pace, he would lose.
/CRACKLE!/
In front of him, the mage's momentum continued to increase, and knowing this would be his end if he allowed things to remain as such, Dale rushed back pointing his right hand forward and sending his sword to clash with the mage with everything he had.
/BLOCK!/
/GRAB!/
The sword hit the mage's shield with great speed just as he grabbed his spear back.
/CRACK!/
/Stop…/
Even with the sword's speed and power, it only managed to break through the fire shield before it was stopped, but that was everything he needed.
/RUSH!/
Running through the fields of rock and ice, Dale jumped onto one of the fallen stalactites before pulling his hand back, and getting in a throwing position.
"!"
The mage realized things didn't look good so he began channeling his own spell, mixing his energies to form a shield in front of him…
/THROW!/
Meanwhile, Dale threw his spear with all his strength.
In his vision, he saw the lightning spear in the skies, the one that led him here.
He didn't know if he could copy it… But right now, he needed anything he could get!
Was this moment predestined to happen, was it fate that led him here?
Or was it the will of those above?
/LIGHTNING!/
Bolts of white lightning began to revolve around the tip of the spear, forming a cone as it pierced through the air!
The elemental shield formed, and the mage put up his strongest resistance!
/CLASH!/
"URG! HAAA!" The Mage exclaimed as his body started to burn and freeze as he used his powers to the limit
/CRACK!/
/BOOOOOOOOOOM!/
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Notes
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