Sanctuary Paradise

Chapter 923 Goodbye
The next day, in a cave in the Great Snow Mountain.

"Lord Black Sword, please be careful. Legend has it that the oldest dragon among the ancient dragons slumbers in this snow mountain. If the legends about the Nameless King are true, it may become the final obstacle before you reach the summit."

"Yes, don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

Gently reminding her that she had fallen into the cave, before the extinguished campfire, Xin Lailai nodded slightly. After storing the blindfolded nun's soul and all the camping supplies in her backpack, she held a shield in one hand and a two-meter-long gray-white greatsword in the other, and walked step by step to the cave entrance, passing through the barrier formed by the magic chip.

Boom—!

Almost the instant she passed through the barrier, a gust of cold wind, heavy as could be described, lashed against Xin Lailai's body. The ice and snow within it scraped against the crystalline protective layer covering her body with a sharp, knife-like sound.

Looking up, you can see that the whole world seems to be covered by a white, cold wind and snow, and the visibility is not much better than that of a pitch-black night.

This is the Great Snow Mountain.

The exile grounds, already lacking any remaining sparks of life, combined with the nearly 20,000-meter vertical altitude and the extreme weather conditions comparable to a sustained large-scale spell, meant that if they hadn't already absorbed the first King's Soul and developed the Profound Divine Prayer, a prayer technique practically a bug in the Ash World, Xin Lailai seriously suspected that this snow-capped mountain alone could have held them off for months.

"Marele Stpn al Profunzimii, Eu...!"

A dark, eerie light accompanied by a prayer with a peculiar rhythm swept through the cold wind. Before the mountain path, Xin Lailai cast a profound divine prayer spell on herself to ensure her continued use for the next five minutes. She looked at the mountain path buried by the wind and snow and, amidst the goosebump-inducing sound of her footsteps on the snow, braved the wind and snow and walked step by step up the mountain path.

Although I had considered other ways to move, in this extremely extreme weather, let alone flying, even climbing up using a grappling hook would be risky, as the grappling hook would be blown off course within two meters.

As for using those flying or even dragon-like undead that can move freely in the snow? They did try that, and the result was that as soon as those undead sensed their presence, they would attack them like madmen, even at the cost of crashing into mountains and dying, rather than give them a chance to hitch a ride.

Click, click—!

The biting wind howled incessantly. On the mountain path, as they continued forward, faint cracking sounds flashed by in the cold wind. Xin Lailai, who was struggling to move across the snow, heard the sound and stopped abruptly. Her eyelids drooped slightly, and after glancing around out of the corner of her eye, she silently raised the gray-white greatsword in her hand above her head. The next second...

"Ruaaaa——!!"

A piercing shriek rang out, and several clumps of snowflakes suddenly exploded from the cliff not far away. Several small figures with wings on their backs and faces resembling apes suddenly rushed out of the snow and attacked Xin Lailai at an incredible speed. In the blink of an eye, they collided with the magic chip on Xin Lailai's body, producing several crisp clanging sounds.

Xin Lailai, who was attacked, simply pressed down with her body as if she had expected it. She precisely timed the moment the ape-like enemies hit her, took a step forward, gripped the hilt of the gray-white heavy sword with both hands, and swung it around fiercely.

King's Sword - Annihilation.

"Rua...!!"

A jet-black sword light burst forth, the blade gleaming with black light sweeping across the air like a home run, taking down all the ape monsters in one strike. With a shattering sound of bones breaking, the sword slammed them heavily against the rising crystal wall beside it, preventing the mountain from collapsing when it hit the mountainside, and also abruptly stopping the shrieks from the ape-like zombies.

[Snow-Faced Monkey defeated, Soul Points...]

"Snowface..." has been defeated.

The next second, a golden-red text message appeared, and Xin Lailai, who had dealt with the surprise attack in front of her with a single sword strike, calmly put down the cracked crystal wall, grabbed the gray-white heavy sword in her hand, and continued to use it as a crutch as she climbed up the mountain path.

Having spent so many days on the snow mountain, they now know exactly how to deal with these little monsters.

Like the Snow-Faced Demon Monkey just now, because it is too fast and likes to launch a sneak attack and then immediately create distance, the best way to deal with it is to seize the opportunity when it launches a sneak attack and take it down in one fell swoop with a wide-range slash.

Of course, they must be careful not to attack the surrounding mountains during the process, otherwise they will not be killing the enemy, but burying themselves alive. Don't ask them how they know.

For flying enemies like the Snowbat that have ranged attack capabilities, the best way to deal with them is to slowly deal with them using the ranged skill, Deep Prayer. Although this method is relatively inefficient and consumes more mana, it is stable and almost unaffected by the surrounding environment.

As for archery? Well, the idea is wonderful, but unfortunately, under the interference of such extreme environment, the arrows they shot could hardly hit the enemy, and it would be a miracle if their effective attack range was even the length of their swinging strike.

If you encounter an elite enemy like a flying dragon, the approach is more flexible. If you get close, you can take it down with one sword. If you don't get close, you can slowly whittle it down with prayer. As long as you avoid being hit by its grabbing attacks and thrown off the cliff, you don't need to worry too much about other things. This is one of the benefits of their attribute enhancement.

Unlike when they first awakened and fought across levels despite the attribute gap, they now possess the advantage in attributes and stats. It's just that the environment in the snow mountain is too harsh; otherwise, with their current stats and attack methods, these monsters wouldn't even be able to get close to them.

rustling...rustling...!
The harsh sound of snow scraping against each other echoed along the mountain path. As they continued to move forward, the raging snow around them became increasingly violent. Combined with the increasingly steep mountain path, it eventually reached a point where if they relaxed even slightly, they would be blown back several steps.

Faced with this scene, Xin Lailai simply climbed upwards expressionlessly, like a machine that was completely unaware of fatigue.

……

So, half a day later.

"Roar—!!" "LAaaa—!!"

"Snge profund, prin obstacole!"

[The "Frostscale Dragon" has been defeated. Soul Points...]

[The "Snow Demon Bat" has been defeated, Spirit...]

"call……!"

The piercing screams continued. At an altitude of over 7,000 meters, Xin Lailai, who had used the Mysterious Divine Prayer Technique countless times to ensure her continued power, glanced at the attack that had finally subsided, let out a long sigh, and a look of exhaustion flashed across her eyes.

Too much.

If the number of attacks was only slightly higher at an altitude of around 3,000 meters, then at an altitude of 7,000 meters, the number of zombies and wandering spirits here could only be described as a chaotic mess.

Not only that--

"The number of blocked mountain roads is starting to increase..."

Xin Lailai murmured to herself, glancing at the bottomless cliff beneath her feet. Then she looked up at the mountain path at least thirty meters away from where they were, a look of seriousness flashing in her eyes.

It had fallen into disrepair over the years. In fact, according to their original route plan, they should have climbed up along the tunnels inside the snow-capped mountain, instead of taking the treacherous mountain path on the outer side of the mountain.

Unfortunately, when they found the tunnel at the foot of the mountain, it had already been completely buried due to a collapse. Furthermore, none of the several entrances they found along the way were usable. This forced them to take the outer mountain path and decide to climb up step by step, braving the blizzard and the interference of a large number of monsters.

And now it seems...

"Could this be a dead end too...?"

Standing before the precipice, Xin Lailai gazed at the mountain path in the distance, which she had only caught a glimpse of before it was buried again by the wind and snow, a solemn look crossing her eyes.

They had already experienced firsthand the harshness of the snow-capped mountain environment along the way. If there were no roads that could provide sufficient support, although it wouldn't be impossible to continue, the risks would be far greater than they were now.

"Or, how about we take a gamble on this side..."

Xin Lailai was deep in thought, glancing at the mountain wall beside her out of the corner of her eye. Her gaze flickered slightly, as if she were considering something.

Internal tunnel.

Theoretically speaking, even now, they could still gamble on the large tunnel located inside the snow-capped mountain.

After all, from a structural design perspective, even if the lower area collapses, it doesn't necessarily mean that the tunnels in the middle and upper areas are unusable. Therefore, if they are willing to risk breaking through the mountain wall, they might be able to directly use the internal tunnels to obtain a stable road to the top of the mountain.

The problem is that all of this is just their assumption. If the middle and upper tunnels have already collapsed, then their act of breaking through the mountain wall was not to seek a way out, but to deliberately trigger an avalanche and bury themselves alive.

From this perspective, it would be safer to use the aerial platform created by the Crystal Technique to continue along the outer mountain path despite the enormous risks. At least, the success or failure of this approach depends on themselves, rather than leaving their fate to the uncertainties of luck.

"Indeed, we should continue along the mountain path."

After a brief moment of thought, Xin Lailai looked at the blizzard in front of her, where visibility had dropped to less than a meter again, and made a decision in her mind.

Although the mountain path is a bit dangerous, at least they don't have to rely on uncertain luck. Moreover, with their current abilities, as long as they pay attention, most risks can be dealt with by their absolute strength. Only natural disasters like landslides might not be able to be effectively avoided.

So, having made her decision, Xin Lailai took a deep breath, conjuring a ring of magical crystals beneath her feet, and was about to rush to the other side of the cliff in one breath—

"Hello...is anyone there...?"

"Um?!"

A faint, almost negligible shout suddenly rang out from behind, causing Xin Lailai's gaze to shift. She quickly looked at the mountain wall behind her and pinpointed the source of the sound.

Is this the place?!
The next second, Xin Lailai's gaze landed precisely on a slightly recessed area behind her. She loosened her grip on the heavy sword, slid to the recessed area, and pressed her ear against the snow-covered mountain wall. Then…

"Is there anyone... who can... help... me...?"

"..."

"Lai Lai, doesn't this voice sound familiar...?"

"I'm more curious now about how he managed to sneak in here..."

A somewhat familiar shout came from inside the mountain wall, causing Xin Lailai's expression to twitch involuntarily, as if she realized the identity of the person calling for help inside. However, she still used her heavy sword to stabilize her body, reached out and pressed her hand on the snow in front of her. After calculating the approximate thickness and the force to be used based on the sound in her mind, she took a deep breath and quickly mobilized the demonic power in her body.

boom!
A violent burst of black light erupted, and a giant claw formed from demonic power slammed out, crashing heavily into the mountain wall in front of it. The surrounding mountains trembled violently, and the mountain wall in front of it began to collapse rapidly amidst the explosion.

"Huh? Haha! It's actually my best friend! The voice I just heard wasn't an illusion after all!"

"My dearest friend! Look here! We are here!!"

The next second, excited shouts rang out along with the violent tremors of the mountain. Looking up, one could see that as Xin Lailai had just unleashed her attack, a thin white line suddenly appeared on the mountain wall above and was rapidly crushing towards her location at a speed visible to the naked eye. Upon seeing this, Xin Lailai did not hesitate and decisively leaped into the passage exposed by the collapse of the mountain wall.

Boom——! !

The next second, a heavy white shadow crashed down from outside the cave, and snow poured in like a waterfall, frantically washing over everything in the passage. It took several dozen seconds for the snow to gradually subside. Only when it had completely subsided did Xin Lailai, who had been buried under the snow, suddenly pop her head out, spit out a mouthful of melted snow water, grab the rock wall beside her, and pull herself out of the snow, letting out a long sigh of relief.

"call……!"

Bet right.

Behind this, there was indeed no collapsed tunnel area; otherwise, the echoes from before would not have been possible.

"Haha! My dearest friend! I never expected it would be you who responded! It seems the storm's protection has always been blessing us!"

As Xin Lailai appeared, the somewhat familiar, honest shout fell again. Looking up, one could see a short, stout knight wearing onion-shaped armor, bound by several ropes and hanging upside down in mid-air, swaying left and right like a swing, as if playing some kind of special game.

"..."

"My dearest..."

"Let me ask you a question first: how did you manage to hang yourself up there?"

"I...I'll think about it..."

"Hmm... I don't know! When I woke up, I was already hanging here!"

"..."

……

(End of this chapter)