CHAPTER 13
The air was cold, so very cold…
… They had soon come to a halt with the snow-peaked mountain now in view. The gargantuan trees were behind them, standing no less than 100 feet (30 m) tall, a bit smaller than an average iroko tree, but still, they were massive.
They all took out their luggage and set out toward the foot of the mountain.
The ever-snowy mountain looked magnificent even from the distance; its towering peak was veiled in eternal snow.
The air quickly got colder the closer they got, but luckily, they had put on their jackets before setting out, and it was only a dozen more meters before they would reach the foot of the mountain.
Minutes passed with the air growing increasingly frigid, and soon, they arrived at the foot of the ever-snowy peak. Setsuho was truly breathtaking: a towering summit of primordial ice.
The lofty peak, veiled in ancient layers of ice, was over four thousand five hundred meters in height, with the summit of the mountain appearing more crystalline. It was both mesmerizing and unforgiving, as if the very essence of winter itself had been distilled into the rugged contours.
A path had been carved up the slope of the mountain with many layers of ice scooped off to allow people an easy passage, but the ice had already begun to devour the path once again.
Megumi shivered at the sight of the narrow road, as it had given him a vague idea of just how much snow the great mountain was veiled in. Not only that, he was freezing even with the jackets he had on; no human being back in his previous life would have been able to survive this place even with the most protective gear.
A fire might make a difference, but then he believed it would only slow down the inevitable.
They soon began their ascent, dragging their feet up the snowy pathway. The only thing he could remember proving as difficult as traversing the slope of this treacherous mountain was scaling the walls of the ravine back at the moonlight temple, but even then he wasn't freezing to death.
His right hand was tucked into the sleeve of his jacket, while the other was bent upwards, gripped around the handle of the backpack he had strapped to his shoulders.
From what he could see, apart from Gekka and, not so surprisingly, his sister, the others weren't having things any easier. If anything, Yuki was in a worse condition than he was.
He could hear her breathing, standing just a few meters behind her, and the rhythm of her breath was now in discord. Two of her arms were tightly wrapped around each other right above her waist, and her steps were beginning to slow down.
'We only just began this journey; how the hell is she already tired?'
Keeping his gaze keenly on her, he was able to see it… As the icy mountain exhaled biting frost into the rarefied air, there were almost inconceivable tendrils of white fog escaping along with it.
Those tendrils… They gave him an overwhelming feeling of nostalgia, prompting him to stop instantly in his tracks as he nervously scratched the back of his neck.
He tried long and hard in a futile attempt to remember what had prompted the sudden feeling of familiarity with the strange phenomenon, but strangely nothing came to mind. Things like this had already become normal for him after all he had been through in the last five years, so he really couldn't understand what the strange feeling he felt was.
Quickly snapping out of his daze, he continued his journey forward through the narrow, icy path.
Their harrowing journey soon came to a halt as they arrived at the lowest plateau of the treacherous, snowy mountain.
The plateau sprawled into the distance like a scarred warrior's shield, frost-etched and cratered by centuries of furious storms. Icy gusts wrestled into crystalline shards.
Looking at the gently sloping icy ground, he couldn't help but feel reluctant. A sudden reality check after the enthusiasm of seeing this magnificent sight—perhaps he was even being paranoid, comparing his two lives in contrast to what lay before him—but this place seemed extremely dangerous.
However, looking over as Gekka quickly got their tents ready, he couldn't help but feel stupid about his thoughts. Yeah, if he was going to survive in this world, then perhaps he would need to go through physics lessons all over again.
The laws of physics were strangely nonexistent here; a nail was able to go straight through the ice on this snowy peak without providing it with a single crack, and a fire burning on the floor of ice wasn't an issue.
Even thinking of the word natural seemed stupid already, but this place felt eerily similar to something crafted through the hands of a deity, perhaps a god of snow or something. The ice here was quite sturdy, and despite a thick veil of ice enough to cover the entire residence of the Fujiboma branch piled up above them, there had never been a single avalanche.
He looked at his hands, still feeling a bit cold, and then turned to look at the ladies with whom he had come. Tsukina had already adjusted, showing no reaction to the cold atmosphere; the same could be said for Gekka and his sister.
Yuki, however, had turned worse than she was earlier, and looking over at her now, he could see the almost inconceivable tendrils of fog flowing into the air that were now rushing toward her, forcing their way into her being.
'This…'
'…it's the same as back at the temple.'
He heaved a sigh, chuckling nervously. He had just realized why he felt nostalgic when he first saw and felt the cold air of this mountain.
It was swirling with an abundance of external energy.
Whatever powers had been used in creating the moonlight temple were similar to the ones used to create this magnificent veil of everlasting ice.