Starting our journey back up again after a short break to clean up, we spent a great deal of time meandering through the forest, as both Hana and I needed to rest and replenish our mana reserves. I spared a bit of mana for an [Aqua] spell to wash out Hana’s mouth and clothes, as well as my own bloodstained armor. Claire helped with drying, casting a [Heat] spell from her hands. It felt really nice, honestly.

Claire seemed to appreciate the slower pace, finally able to massage her bruises and tend to her fairly minor injuries. She did so rather aggressively, indicating just how bothersome they were.

"Ouch."

Fortunately, the mountains were not easy to lose sight of, and the Wolfhaven walls that blockaded them didn't extend much beyond the main road, which we were now quite far from. The destination was not too distant, so we didn't need a guide or a map; we merely had to remain cautious in case a wolf or some other monster decided to ambush us.

Frankly, I wasn’t too worried about that.

What concerned me more was what we would do once we actually entered the mountain ranges. I assumed we wouldn't venture too far up, considering our clothing was far from suitable for the trek. Hana especially, with her super thin sundress, was probably the least prepared.

I supposed if we changed her into the light armor stored in my pack, she would be a little more covered up, but I knew that still wouldn't suffice. We'd need coats and cold-resistant shoes at the very least.

I decided to ask Claire about it.

"Hey, boss. What's the plan with the mountains? Are we going to hang out around the bottom and just kill some wolves? I feel like we'll get found out if we're there for too long."

Claire paused her self-massage, then looked at me as if I were stupid.

"Of course we're not gonna hang out around the bottom, you dork. You really think I'd let anyone have the chance of seeing us after we just murdered thirty Inquisitors? I don’t want to have to deal with the church any more than we have to right now.”

Claire motioned with her finger toward the mountains, snaking it around as if it were maneuvering between the valleys.

“We're going to go up and through the mountains. It's a faster route inland like that anyway, instead of having to go around the range."

At this, I brought my hand to my chin in thought, mulling over the various problems I had with Claire's plan.

I had never really heard of anyone attempting to traverse the mountains as a route inland, and for extremely obvious reasons. It would be pretty dumb for anyone to attempt such a journey, considering the incessant attacks from wildlife, the freezing temperatures, and the terrain.

I supposed it could be feasible now that we could trust in our enhanced abilities to help us survive, and Claire appeared unshaken in her confidence about the plan, but I still wanted to be clear on her thought process behind the decision.

"Okay, then what are we going to do about our clothes?” I challenged. “It's going to be really cold, right? Look at Hana. She's hardly dressed for the occasion."

Hana's delicate features twisted into a grimace, her fashion sense finally causing some issues beyond just being inconvenient for battle and general clean-up. She mulled over the idea of at least having alternative clothing on-hand, her eyes narrowing in contemplation. I hoped that she would at least settle on having some spare pants.

"That's an easy fix," Claire interjected, her hands deftly mimicking the actions of someone holding a knife and carving outward.

"We skin the first wolves we encounter. Then, Hana sucks the blood out from the skin with her weird life-stealing technique."

Hana's expression soured at the description of her newfound ability, but she could see where Claire was going with her reasoning.

"Even if she can't control the intensity of her drain on the enemy, we know it still leaves behind desiccated skin and muscle. That's a limitless supply of clothes and food right at our fingertips, as long as the wolves keep attacking us. And from what I've heard about these mountains, they most certainly will. You guys just have to keep killing them. Easy, right?"

At that, Claire once again resumed her trek to the mountains. Hana and I were at a loss for words.

I couldn't help but find humor in the fact that our "easiest option" for travel involved a perpetual battle against ferocious monsters. Nonetheless, I had to concede that it was a far more favorable alternative than facing the wrath of more Inquisitors, or worse.

As fearsome as the Inquisitors were, they represented only the first tier of the Inquisition's military might.

They had many even more formidable forces at their disposal, the ranks going from Inquisitor, to High Inquisitor, to Overseer, to the Grand Inquisitor. Fortunately, the Grand Inquisitor had gone along with the archbishop to Sargaia, so we didn’t have to worry about her for now, thank goodness.

Yeah, I’d take wolves over those guys any day. I was not down to be hit by something worse than that [Gravitum] technique, absolutely not.

To the mountains we go.

…

As we approached the mountain range, the air around us grew increasingly hostile. The wind roared in our ears like a vengeful spirit, as though the mountain itself was attempting to dissuade us from venturing further.

Well, if I were to tell the mountain one thing, it would be this:

This was Claire’s idea.

If the mountain had any qualms, it should take them up with her. Personally, I had no desire to be freezing cold and constantly fending off wolf attacks. Yet here we were, plunging headlong into the unknown, our fates within the capable hands of a blonde girl with a broken sword and a guy who fights monsters bare-handed.

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Hana, already deathly chilled, shivered beneath her sundress, her body shaking uncontrollably against the lowering temperature. Claire was in a similar position, but instead of outwardly shivering, she grit her teeth in the hopes of stifling her body’s natural reaction to the intense climate.

For their sakes, I hoped we ran into wolves sooner rather than later. It was looking like we really needed those skins right about now.

Fortunately, it didn’t take long for my wish to come true.

There, in a small clearing, in the overcast light that pierced through the dense canopy, stood a Dire Wolf of average size and build. The creature stood two meters on all fours, a monstrous beast that boasted great physical strength and agility.

Its muscular body was covered in a thick, shaggy coat of fur that was mottled with shades of gray and black, allowing it to blend seamlessly into the shadows. Its powerful limbs were tipped with razor-sharp claws, and the beast's yellow eyes gleamed with a feral hunger.

The very sight of its snarling visage was enough to send a shiver down the spine of most adventurers.

But not us.

Hana drew her blade, gripping her sword with white knuckles. Her grip was even tighter than usual, trying to focus on holding the blade even while her hands were freezing cold.

As per usual, the blade came to life, its form snaking and floating through the air.

At this, the Dire Wolf leaped, and I tensed in case I needed to intervene.

But there was no need.

Hana pierced the Wolf’s chest, its hide tearing open like an envelope. It let out a terrified yelp, dangling in the air as life was sucked out of it. The hero winced as she heard it, steeling her heart against its cries.

(I’m sorry, please die so I can be warm!)

I could hear her thoughts loud and clear, her desires painfully obvious even without the help of telepathy.

Eventually, the wolf did just as she had prayed, going limp and drying out like a husk.

“Quick, pull it out!” Claire exclaimed, hurrying Hana to remove her weapon from the wolf before its fur started to fall from its skin.

Hana, obeying swiftly, removed the blade from the wolf’s body. Blood spurted from the exit wound, quickly dissipating into a purple, gaseous substance which was absorbed into the cursed sword. Even despite her removing the weapon, the wolf’s hide began to wither, its hair falling like rain. The mana continued to flow, following Hana, just like it had earlier with the Inquisitors.

“Try to stop it from sucking out everything!”

But Hana couldn’t.

It seemed like she had little control over what her powers devoured. I could tell by the unguarded and panicked thoughts in her head that she was trying everything she could to stop the drainage. Idea after idea flickered in her head, Hana trying each of them in sequence as they came to her.

Canceling her mana flow, slowing her mind, letting her body relax, dropping her sword, visualizing the mana being cut off, thinking about nothing in particular.

Though she tried her best, nothing seemed to work, and soon the wolf was nothing but a hairless mass of deflated flesh just like the rest of the hero’s vanquished foes.

“Shit!” Hana exclaimed, clearly distraught at her failure.

She kicked at the dirt, thoroughly upset.

‘Why can’t-’

Her lamenting thoughts rang like a church bell in my mind, but then quickly fogged up, as if hiding the rest of her sentence.

Even without the entirety of that thought to read, I could tell that the temperature was really getting to her. She already had enough to worry about, we couldn’t let this be another thing on her mind.

Since I had gotten Claire back, I was fucking ecstatic. I could not be happier. Even just the ability to look back and see her there, limping along, sparked joy.

Hana’s apparent discontent did not spark joy.

Thus, I decided that I would have to be Hana’s support for now. At this point, it was no longer because I owed her a great deal, or because I thought it would keep up her motivation, but because I now considered her to be my friend and comrade.

I picked up and draped the dried, hairless hide over Hana’s shoulders, easing her shivering a little bit.

“Don’t worry about it,” I said, trying to reassure the depressed hero. “We can just keep trying, and if it doesn’t work, we don't really need the fur anyway.”

Claire piped up.

“Yeah! Fur is overrated anyway, definitely not your look. That leather looks way better on you.”

Upon saying this, immediately three more dire wolves popped out from the trees. Claire frowned.

“No offense?”

They leaped from the bushes at the receptionist, and Hana skewered two out of the air immediately. The segmented sword barreled through the side of the first wolf’s head, out its mouth, shattering all its teeth before shooting through the heart of the second wolf. The segments chunked away at the initial puncture wounds, leaving ribbons of flesh splattered on the forest floor.

The segmented sword embedded itself in a tree not far from the wolves, hanging the animals like clothes on a line as they were sucked dry of life.

Since Hana didn’t have the chance to dispatch the third monster, I immediately rushed it down.

The wolf, sensing immediate danger, turned on me, its teeth bared.

I suppressed the mana that I had received from Hana, trying to reserve energy. I had expended a lot of it, telling me I still didn’t have the biggest mana pool, even despite my grand upgrades.

But I didn’t need heroic powers to kill this thing.

The wolf lunged at me, but I pivoted into a side stance, shifting my weight onto my lead leg and launching myself into the air over the monster’s head. I landed on its back, clinging to its fur like reins.

The wolf tried to snap at me with its fangs, but I had positioned myself far enough up on the beast’s neck to make it almost impossible for it to actually bite me. I wrapped my legs around its throat, squeezing into the beast with all my body’s unempowered physical strength. It thrashed and snapped, trying to get me off, but I brought an elbow down onto the top of its skull.

And then another. And then many more.

Soon the top of the wolf’s head had become a pulp of mush and fractured bone, the beast quickly switching from growling to yelping. Its thrashing lost much of its strength, but I did not stop dropping elbows until it collapsed entirely. When it did, I hopped off the beast and it let fall.

There were no more strikes needed to be thrown. It bled out and died silently, its cries for help silenced in the forest’s wake. Claire cringed.

“I think you should just kill it with magic next time. That was hard to watch,” she said, scratching the back of her neck in a show of discomfort.

Hana nodded in agreement, having already retracted her blade from the two new dire wolf skins. She began to drain the wolf I had killed, grimacing a little bit.

“Yeah, I think so too.”

I shrugged in dismissal, thinking to myself that anything was fair in a battle for life or death. At least, that’s what I was thinking until I took a second look at the wolf. Its head was horribly disfigured and its previously glowing eyes dimmed gray.

Maybe I did go a bit overboard.

“Alright. My bad.”

I used magic to kill the next few wolves, dispatching them quickly and painlessly until we had enough material for shoes and cloaks covering our whole bodies.

Claire bound the skins together using her [Heat] skill, searing the material together into wearable forms.

Now with snow-proof shoes and warm clothing, we headed out into the snowy mountaintops, draining away any wolves that tried to oppose us.