The jagged rim of the Bleeding Gorge dropped into a sheer, black abyss where freezing mountain winds screamed through narrow fissures of iron-red rock.
Sagiri led the squad along the upper crags, keeping his body pressed low against the frosted shale while his crimson eyes scanned the shadowed ravine below.
Behind him, Squad 25 moved in disciplined loose-stalking formation, using the jagged basalt boulders to break their silhouettes against the pale morning sky.
"Watch your footing along this shelf," Kiuga whispered, dropping into a low crouch while signaling Bukata to cover the northern ridge line.
"The frost here has formed over brittle shale, and if you slide, you will drop three hundred paces into the gorge before anyone can grab your collar."
Maita scoffed quietly as he stepped over a frozen crevasse, pulling his woolen collar tighter against the biting chill of the mountain draft.
