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ZE - Chapter 35: Climbing the Great Wall!
🕑 Added 2024-04-24 21:51:59 +0000 UTCDisclaimer:
“Dialogue”
‘Thoughts’
-Author notes-
Chapter 35: Climbing the Great Wall!
‘Intimidating presence?...what does it do?’
He checked the passive skill list to get a description.
[ Intimidating presence (strength 20): People will be more intimidated by your imposing figure. ]
“What is this?, this sounds…useless…” Zephyr muttered. He wasnt like Thomas or his two thugs who liked to go around intimidating people.
Zephyur could not imagine a situation where this could be useful.
“Is something wrong?” asked Seth since he could not see the same things as Zephyr, he got worried when he stopped talking.
“Nothing...it's fine.” Even if the passive skill was not very good, it didn't really matter. He could already feel the increase in strength in his body and that was the reason he put the points in strength.
“Don't worry about the climb, Seth. I will carry the both of us up that wall!” Zephyr said with confidence.
Seth didnt seem very convinced. This was going to be quite the challenge. But is not like he had a better idea right now.
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“Uh…it is big…” Zephyr stared at the Wall in awe. He already knew how tall it was supposed to be, but seeing it in person was something else…
“Wow…” Seth was doing the same. Knowing the numbers and seeing it right in front of him was something else.
The two of them stayed there for several minutes, staring at the magnificent structure. It was supposed to be over a thousand years old but still looked like it was just built. The grey stones were completely pristine.
They could see the mountains to the west. That was where the wall, and the continent, ended.
To the east was the Raingar Fortress, but it was too far away to see with their naked eyes.
“You know… it's not too late to change your mind. We can go to the mountains to the west. It will be much easier to climb there,” Seth said.
“No… I can do this.” The alternative was too risky. This was the best way...he was sure of it.
“I can't see any guards up there…” Seth squinted his eyes while looking at the top of the wall. It was supposed to be wide enough to allow people to walk over it.
“If we are lucky, we may stumble upon a section of the wall that was left temporarily unguarded,” Zephyr said. As unlikely as that was.
“And what happens if we stumble upon some Celestial up there?” Seth asked.
“Mmm, then we hope it's a low-rank guard… come on, let's get out of here, we are too exposed here.” They knew this journey was dangerous. Now they had to bet once more.
They hid beneath some trees until the sky started to darken. They would be less likely to be spotted while climbing then.
Zephyr stood before the wall and examined the surface.
It was composed of many large stones. Each stone was dark grey in color and extremely smooth.
He placed his fingers in the gap between stones. It was just enough to get a grip.
‘This is going to be rough… I need to climb this wall while carrying Seth and can only grip with the tips of my fingers.’
“Are you ready?” Seth asked while securing the two bags on his back. They were only carrying the strictly necessary to minimize the weight.
They could only hope to find some animals to hunt on the other side.
“Let's do this!” Zephyr exclaimed.
While Seth was holding onto his back, Zephyr began to climb the wall.
He had to move slowly and secure every step as it was difficult to hold onto the surface.
It took him almost twenty minutes to reach the top, and his fingers felt completely numb.
“You did it!” Seth celebrated. “I gotta be honest…I-”
Zephyr hurried to cover his mouth. “Don’t make too much noise,” he whispered.
The sky was dark already, and they could only spot a few torches on top of the wall, so there was very little visibility.
The wall was around ten feet wide (3 meters), so they could at least stand on it comfortably.
‘I can't see anyone on here…’ He wanted to feel relieved. This was the best-case scenario he had hoped for. All they had to do was to go down on the other side and be free, but he had a bad feeling.
“How are we going to get down?” Seth walked to the other side and glanced down.
It was too dark to see the ground or anything in the distance. All he could see from the top of the wall was darkness at this point.
“The same way we came up… I'll try to hold the best I can and go down,” Zephyr whispered.
“Well, then we shouldn't stay here for long. How are your fingers?” Seth whispered.
They still felt numb so he moved them a bit. “Is fine, I-”
[Warning…hostile presence detected…]
“Careful!” Zephyr grabbed Seth and moved him out of the way before a gust of wind clashed against the part of the wall where Seth had been previously standing, leaving a large gash.
“Hihi, what do we have here?” They heard someone speak with a mocking tone.
Two shadowy figures walked towards them.
Zephyr and Seth were unable to identify them until they got close enough to one of the torches.
One was a tall Celestial Elf with their usual long blonde hair and green eyes, wearing some leather armor and carrying a sword on his belt.
The other one was a human boy with short black hair and orange eyes. He wore some simple grey robes and a black collar around his neck.
Zephyr's eyes opened widely when he saw the familiar boy. “Bill!”
