At the bottom of the cliff a huge crater several kilometres wide greeted the exhausted Ellis, the crater wasn't that deep mainly due to the strength of the rocks here as while everything around them was broken and spread kilometre away the rocks in the centre were merely cracked, she guessed that the giant that just passed her had caused this since a few of its black rocks lay inside the crater
'These rocks don't seem poisonous'
Ther weren't any fumes coming out of the rocks and it didn't have the same colour as the normal earth around here, the rocks were a normal brown like the ones that normally dotted the earth
Being cautious was a trait she learned to have though and so she first took a bra out and threw it in the crater, after seeing it land and waiting for a few seconds there was no corrosion whatsoever
Seeing that it was safe passage she started crossing the long crater with a less tired body than when she arrived, knowing that she didn't have to deal with poison for a while gave her quite the relife
'How was Master going to cross this land? Or had he not known about these poisonous swamps'
She couldn't think of any way to cross this place without getting poisoned, then again she couldn't understand half the stuff her master did most of the time, she wouldn't be surprised if he knew an easy solution for this dangerous land
With random thoughts she finished the few kilometres in merely twenty minutes while speed walking, she could have gone much faster if she ran but her feet needed some rest as they hurt from the built-up poison
'Can it be sucked out like a snakes poison?'
She wondered, she didn't have much survival skills and getting stronger and smarter would not suddenly give her knowledge, she was as clueless on how to deal with it as the next normal human
As much as she wanted to give it a try she felt that if this poison entered her mouth she might actually die this time, just the damage it caused by getting into contact with her feet, through her aura nonetheless, proved to be so harming, swallowing it might just open up a few holes in her stomach
'Everything seems so difficult'
It was different when her master was awake, even if he usually just watched and did nothing she realized his presence itself was a very important factor in her survival as it mainly depended on planning and having the skill set and knowledge to put those plans into action, all she had to do at the time was follow his plans, painful and tiresome as they may be, and everything would fall into place
Now though she was grasping at straws in the dark, with nothing but a direction she had to deal with everything as it came, just look at her current situation, she had greater strength than any human before the world changes, greater brains as well, yet she was having a hard time crossing an empty plain
'And now I've got to climb this'
pαпdα-ňᴏνê|·сóМ Looking up she couldn't see the cliff's end from this angle, it was pretty much a skyscraper of hight, except the clouds in this world seem to go higher than the ones on earth did making its peak clear from any fog
If climbing the tall cliff with two weights wasn't hard enough already then its poisoned state proved to be the extra challenge she needed, there were no fumes coming out like on the ground but she could tell just by its black hazy colour that her suffering just started
While letting out a tired sigh she shifted Anput into one hand and held a knife in the other
Walking up to the cliff she jabbed the knife into its walls only for it to bounce away, hardly scratching the rock
'Touch indeed'
But if she could scratch it without her aura then she could definitely cut through it with it, thus she covered the knife with her aura and jabbed it again at the wall
Pik!
Sure enough the knife cut into the wall with some resistance, it didn't cut too deeply but it was enough for her to make a sturdy grip
With a workable climbing method, she didn't dally any longer and made a high jump, lodging the knife into the wall allowing her to dangle off the ground with one hand only without much effort, this was only the easy part though as the hard part only came next
Her arm and abominable muscles tensed up, then with a bit of explosive power she threw her body upward while dislodging the knife from the wall then stabbing it back once she reached her new height
This caused no small tension for her muscles as they stretched out beyond their normal limits, combined with the explosive movement it was easy to guess how taut they would be if she kept at it
She also knew this but her response was to repeat it again and again, with no other viable method she had to do this, the cliff as too wide and who knew what lay at its edges even if she got there, perhaps there was a reason they were taking this path and by taking any other rout they would be in danger, or maybe her master's plan would be foiled, all in all this was her only choice
'I wish I had gotten a rope, using two hands would have been much easier'
She regretted her unpreparedness, not that she knew what to prepare for since it was her master's burden, he probably even had rope in his storage too, but she was afraid of blowing it up by using it, her fears were justified after her near-death experience with the last spatial storage she took liberties with
Pik...Pik.....Pik
Two hours later the sound of Ellis's climb was swept by the cold howling wind, a short pause came after each jump as she gasped for breath, her stomach felt like it was stretched taut by the forceful lifts that border human limits, her arm throbbed with pain signalling the need of immediate rest
Her grip was stiff from the cold brought by her high altitude, her eyes lashed batting quickly to wash away the dryness, the steady figure that was maintained through half the climb was gradually swaying more and more, how long could she keep this up she had no idea
Piik
Another push upward made her body shake heavily, this promoted the sleeping body on her back to finally slip backwards
'Crap!'
Clenching her abs she hastily bent forward with a thrust while lifting her legs to the back, pushing his body back onto her back once again, averting a great disaster
His arms were now dangling by her hips instead of warping around her, this would make it even easier for him to fall from her back, and with both her hands occupied she couldn't adjust his position
Her panicked mind worked hastily and came up with a quick solution, she kept her forward bent position but lowered her legs to the front of her hip, she wrapped her legs around her master's and hooked them with her feet, this made sure she could hold him tight even if he slipped off her back
Relieved she let out a sigh as panic reseeded from her face, what replaced it was a slight blush as she felt warm in this cold wind, but she hastily shook her head, trying to focus on the task at hand
Pii!
Her attempt at focusing seemed unsuccessful though as she failed to jab into the wall with the required force, the recoil from the hit pushed her back, shoving her into the air and putting her into her most feared state
Quick decisions were a trait of hers in crisis though, thus she didn't hesitate to follow her momentum and flip herself backwards, with the full flip she managed to get back into her straight position again, she didn't strike at the wall though and kept staring downward, looking for something
Three seconds later she spotted a jagged rock poking out the cliff with a good enough length, once she did she wasted no time in striking forward, lodging the harpoon in her hand into the wall
Ting!
The harpoon broke off in no time but she wasn't counting on it to stop her descent anyway, she merely needed the buffer time it gave her by lowering her momentum enough to use the rock as a stepping stone to jump back up and counter her fall
Her speed supported by her quick mind allowed her to achieve this impossibly hard manoeuvre, a second harpoon coming out the storage as she did and jabbing into the wall, ending this exhilarating and death seeking moment
Piik....
Unfazed for even a moment she started the climb again, she might have taken a few seconds to calm herself if it was before but now that her new skill came into effect she always had a sense of calmness when under pressure, the moment before when her master was about to fall didnt count though....
Looking up at the broken harpoon that was lodged too deeply into the cliff she couldn't help but sigh, it was such a waste since she needed every weapon she could get as they had been corroding by the poison in the wall at a fast speed, other than harpoons she had no remaining weapons, if she didn't take care of her stock then she might run out before she reached the top...
'I need some rest'
Pushing forward was good and all but there had to be a limit, otherwise, she would only foolishly get herself killed, and this harpoon which couldn't be taken out was the perfect excuse for her rest
Once she got above it she dislodged the one in her hand, landing her butt, or due to her mistake, her master's butt on the handle of the harpoon
"...."
The scene of her sitting in his lap on a weapon's handle so high in the air that others wouldn't even spot them from the ground while her legs were hooked onto his around her hips looked dangerous in more ways than she would like to admit
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