With there being no good spots to camp I am half wondering if I shouldn't just push through until I reach the summit. Following the path would certainly be more dangerous at night, but camping in a bad spot could be just as bad. Looking at the position of the sun I probably have two more hours of decent light left.
For now I am just going to push on as best as I can, if I find a spot to camp I will. If I haven't found one by the time I lose the light I will take the chance and push on. Not much time has passed when I spot Kechara flying above the clouds, I wave my arms so she can locate me.
She quickly flies over to me, puts Bones down, and then lands and looks around. I'm guessing she hasn't been up here yet in her search for driders and breaches. When I ask if they killed any driders both Kechara and Bones nod at me.
Then I explain to Kechara about the barrier and that all she needs to worry about is killing any driders that managed to get out. From what I know of the barrier it shouldn't be anywhere close to where we are now. When I explain the current situation Kechara quickly flies off again, I can only guess she is looking for a safe place to camp.
If she can find one that would be great, but in case she doesn't I need to keep moving. I need to go as far as I can while there is light, even though I feel like I can't get a full breath. Suddenly as I am walking there is a loud sound from above me, it sounds like a tree breaking.
The snow on the slope above me suddenly starts moving, it's an avalanche. Kechara hasn't returned so I grab Bones and move him behind me, then I plant my feet as hard as I can. Right before the wall of snow hits me I activate my wind armor, I figure every little bit helps.
To my surprise the wind armor is super effective, it is shredding all the snow that touches me. Also for some reason now that it is active I can breath normally. The snow is still trying to push me back but I am strong enough to keep my footing and resist the pressure.
The avalanche only lasts for a minute or so, but without the wind armor I am sure I would have been buried. It was only a small avalanche as far as such things go but it still could have killed all of us fairly easily. I guess I am just lucky this was the first one I have had to deal with, maybe because it hasn't snowed too much yet.
As winter progresses it will probably become more of an issue, I will have to keep it in mind. Kechara returns fairly quickly, she probably heard the avalanche, she looks relieved when she finds us. When I ask if she found a camp site she shakes her head, but that is when I notice something.
Climbing on top of the snow left by the avalanche I take a closer look at the slope it came from. There seems to be a darker area, kind of like a shadow, but as I move closer I can see it is an opening. It was buried under the snow before the avalanche which is why I couldn't see it before.
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It is just a narrow crack, too small for me to fit through, a human could maybe squeeze through. Putting Asuna down I ask her to go inside and see if it gets any bigger, she returns quickly and nods. Pulling out my pickaxe I immediately start hitting the sides of the crack, with every swing rock goes flying.
Using my full strength I am able to smash the rock easily, widening the crack enough for myself only takes a few minutes. Widening it enough for Kechara however is a little bit more time consuming. By the time I have made the opening wide enough for Kechara to get inside the sun has been down for about an hour.
Inside is a small round room about fifteen feet across, barely enough room for Kechara to fit inside. Since he is immune to the cold I leave Bones standing in the entrance to keep watch. With Kechara curled around the room there is only a few feet of space left in the middle.
In the very center of the room is a small circle of stones, it looks like someone has used this place to camp before. Probably one of the ancient mages who was on their way to the library, maybe even the archmage. After all, he was probably the last person to come here, unless he let someone borrow the necklace.
Once I have a fire going the cave quickly warms up, and even Kechara seems to be enjoying the warmth. Just because the cold doesn't affect her doesn't mean she likes it I guess. As I am cooking I take out the history book to continue teaching the language to Asuna.
I am not sure how much she is actually learning since she keeps glancing at the meat every few seconds. Seeing this I decide to wait until after we have eaten to continue, no point wasting my breath. I have been activating the wind armor every few minutes ever since the avalanche so that I can catch my breath.
Because of that I am almost out of sacred power, but being able to breathe is worth it in my opinion. Considering the cold and the activity of the day I make extra large portions for the three of us. Between the food and the warmth I am struggling to stay awake, Asuna fell asleep as soon as she was done eating.
Even Kechara is already dozing off, maybe I made a little too much food. Deciding it won't hurt anything I stop fighting it and join the other two in slumber. When I wake up I can't tell what time it is but the fire has long since burned out and the cave has gotten cold again.
Building and starting a new fire I let the cave warm back up before I start cooking breakfast. For once the simple act of cooking doesn't wake the other two up, but they wake up fast enough when I call their names. After eating I have Kechara move her body enough that I can see outside, the daylight is almost blinding.
Getting Kechara out of the cave ends up being even harder than it was to get her inside. I can't help but think she grew a bit more during the night, Asuna certainly did. Once we are all finally outside we move back onto the path and start following it.
After a couple of hours we finally reach the summit, but there is still nothing here. The path I can see thanks to the necklace seems to just run right into a boulder that is sitting off to the side of the actual summit. Having no other ideas of what to do I walk over and reach out to touch the boulder, but my hand sinks straight into it.