Without hesitation, the squad ran in the opposite direction of the giant snow abomination. None of them dared to even think of actually fighting the A-Ranker.
Unfortunately, the direction they were forced to run towards did not lead out of the mountain range but deeper into it. Nothing could be done about it, as the orc Champion appeared between them and the exit of the mountains, clearly on purpose.
The only silver lining of this situation was that the A-Ranker didn’t appear to specialize in speed, given the fact they were still alive.
The squad slid down from the plateau onto the mountain slope, using whatever method they had to move faster. When going down a mountain, Duncan would use his silver barrier to form a makeshift sled as they bulldozed downwards. When going upwards, Sol would use [Terra Manipulation] to create footholds to run upwards and tunnels in thin parts of the mountain to cut directly through it.
Sol considered making a tunnel that went deep underground and sealing it off but decided against it because he didn’t know if the orc had special means to follow them underground. When he used [Analysis] on the snow giant, the status page was filled with question marks. At least with Victor, he saw little bits of information, but there was truly nothing he could decipher from this foe.
The orcs who littered the mountain range spectated the squad with glee, and none stood in their way. Some orcs even moved out of the way when they ran towards their direction.
Two orcs that were watching from a distance saw the snow giant with a reverent gaze.
“Champion Kirgar is as domineering as ever. The moment those humans saw him, they immediately ran away.”
The other orc nodded. “It's very like humans to run in the face of adversity. They killed many of our brethren, but I am happy their sacrifice was not in vain, and they will get to go to Ragnar’s heavenly battlefield.”
Ragnar was the God of War, whom the orcs fervently devoted themselves to. It was ingrained into orc culture that those who died a meaningful death on the battlefield would be able to join Ragnar's army and fight to their heart's content. The orcs that died today may not have impeded the squad by a lot, but their collective sacrifice bought their Champion enough time to arrive, which meant that their deaths did have meaning.
As the squad climbed yet another mountain, they could see the snow giant once more, and it was steadily closing the distance. While its massive body appeared to lumber slowly towards them, every step it took covered a massive amount of distance.
At first, there were two mountains' worth of distance between them, but now it was just one.
This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Seeing this, Sol urged, “We need to go even faster!”
The rest nodded seriously while Lapis rolled her eyes at him stating the obvious. They jumped down the mountain and slid down once more while looking for means to move faster.
When the snow giant reached the peak of his mountain, it paused for a moment as it saw them slide down and raised its right arm towards them. The snow rapidly condensed until its hand became a large spear of ice the size of its 40 foot long arm.
Without needing to make any throwing motion, the spear launched forward and flew in a straight line towards the mountain the squad was on.
When the squad was sliding down the slope, none of them saw it launch the attack, but they didn’t need to. The mountain rumbled as a spear blasted out through the mountainside not far above them and continued flying in a straight line until it hit the next mountain ahead, causing a large crater on the mountainside.
‘He has the power to destroy mountains…’ Sol thought to himself in shock.
They were lucky the snowman missed, at least they all thought so until they heard a loud sound.
Wumpf!
They looked to the source of the noise and noticed the spear caused the mountain to shake enough that a large upper snowpack collapsed, and it was quickly developing into an avalanche.
“If we get caught in that, we might as well be dead!” Rex yelled with a pale face.
The avalanche was nowhere near enough to kill them, but if they ended up buried under the snow, it would severely slow them down, and they would be easily caught by the snow giant.
Sol quickly formulated a plan and yelled, “Duncan! Reinforce the barrier in all directions!”
“On it!”
Duncan didn't know what he was planning, but he would follow his orders regardless. The barrier that was being used as a giant sled expanded until it covered them from all directions.
The avalanche was picking up momentum and would soon catch up to them. Having to act fast, Sol passed Nataly to Lapis while he focused on sending mana into his surroundings. A second later, a pillar of stone rose from the snow and smashed into the barrier from the back, blasting them downwards even faster. He repeated this two more times until he could no longer raise a stone pillar fast enough to boost them further.
Now blasting down the mountain at an unprecedented speed, they were no longer in danger of the avalanche catching up, but an even more terrifying problem was presented before them.
“Aren’t we going too fast? We're gonna crash into the ground!” Aron panicked as his eyes could barely keep up with how fast they were going.
“I don’t think my barrier can withstand the impact…”
“It’s going to be fine!” Sol assured them but kept his real thoughts to himself. ‘But only if I angle this right…’
Sol sent mana once more to the ground ahead of him, reinforcing the earth and causing it to rise at a curved slope.
Seeing they were heading right towards this curved stone, they began to realize his plan and the absurdity of it.
Nataly also began to panic. “You made a ramp?! What if we launch ourselves straight into the mountain?!”
Sol nodded and responded while focusing most of his attention on making the ramp angle perfect, “At this speed and angle, we should be able to fly over the mountain…”
“Should?!” Nataly felt like she was going to faint.
He nodded again but noticed their speed was slowing down from the friction of sliding down the mountain and smashed the barrier again with a stone pillar to boost them back to maximum speed.
Nataly couldn’t bear to watch anymore. She hugged Lapis and buried her head in her chest while screaming.
“We’re all gonna die!”