"Next stop - Mount Ivrys!" I shouted right before jumping through the portal, all the while holding Olya in a masterful princess-carry, "All aboard!"

"Put me down, asshat! I seriously mean it!" He protested with all his might, "The girls are here, come on...!"

"What?" I dramatically put my face close to his as I gave the girls some fanservice, "Must our love remain hidden from them?"

"Kyaaa~! So dreamy~!" They all cheered in a row, "I didn't know those two were like that! Schnell might be a brute, but a hunk is a hunk! Oh, if you look closely, is Olya blushing?"

"Shut up!" Olya slapped me on the butt as if one would a lazy horse, "Come on already, just jump in so you can put me down already! I see you won't do so otherwise, so just finish it!"

"Ah, he slapped his butt." The doctor narrated.

"I never knew they were like that, but looking back it makes sense..." One of the girls added.

Alright, I think they bought the joke pretty convincingly. Time to get a move on, otherwise Olya might actually start to catch feelings-err, I mean get really mad at me. Heh, just kidding.

"Baaaaahhhh!" Olya clung tightly onto me as we warped to the opposite point of the globe, "S-S-Shiet! W-Why's it colder here than in S-Sibirus?!"

"Cause in Sibirus we were inside." I chuckled as I gently let him down, "This is probably the temperature we would've had to deal with this entire time had it not been for the lair."

Well, I say that, but I guess it really isn't the lair as much as it was the Book adding heating to it. Oh, but never mind that. Right now we should marvel at this absolute beauty! Just look at it - Mount Ivrys! Heh, I guess the legends were true, you really can't see the top because of the clouds. A fitting place for the Gods to meet at, I say!

"Then, let's get a move on." Olya looked confused.

"Why're you lookin' at me like that?" I joked, "Did you really think I'd drop ya'?"

"Kinda, yeah?" He nodded, "Well, I certainly won't complain. In any case, I'm more worried about that moat there than anything."

"Moat?" I approached it warily, "Oh, I think I see some fishies down there...!"

"Fish?" Olya tilted his head, "There's no way any fish are gonna survive out in this cold-"

Just then, a giant fishie the size of a mansion burst out to jump at us. Of course, I knew full well that whatever fishie lived in these waters was probably up to no good, so I was prepared to grab Olya and jump out of the way. That being said, my fingers are a bit numb from the cold, so I did accidentally drop him at the end, leading to him sliding on his belly and face like a dead seal.

"Oof, sorry about that." I smiled, "Didn't mean to drop you this time."

"It's... okay..." He whimpered, "Better than dying, I guess. But damn, is that a megalomanic!? Seriously, I thought the sailors got rid of them all!"

"Guess the big fishies fled to the bottom of the World." I figured.

"And why do you keep insisting on calling it a fishie!?" He inquired.

"Cause this thing's just that - a fishie!" I pointed to it, "This must be a trial set by the Gods, don't you think? Sort of like weeding out the weakling tourists from the truly worthy. I think that's what the Gods want from us - call it a test."

"Don't tell me you wanna take it down?" He winced, "Isn't the megalodon known as the invincible beast? It takes an entire army of seasoned sailors to even drive them off of the main trade routes, and no one has yet to actually kill one. The only way it dies is if it suddenly croaked of old age."

"You're quite the knowledgeable fat man." I joked before starting my mad dash towards the moat, "Then if we can't kill it, let's just drive it off!"

"Schnell, come back here right now!" His voice grew ever more distant as I ran towards the invincible beast.

Just as expected, the megalomanic had jumped out of the pool of water with all its billions of sharp teeth pointed towards me. Imagine jumping into a pit of spikes, that's basically it. Still, it seems like it's not so good at calculating, because it didn't expect me to have such a high vertical. I jumped straight over the pit of spikes in its mouth and aimed my knuckle at its schnoz. Punching it so hard that it actually recoiled to the other side of the moat, impaling its skin with the ice around the mountain, it had bled a bit before groaning and running away. Hah, fishie go bye-bye! Oh, but I'm all wet now since I did jump straight into the freezing cold water.

"H-!?" Olya bit his tongue in astonishment, "How the hell did that work!?"

"D-D-Don't you r-r-remember what that captain told us when we were s-s-sailing to Sibirus?" I explained as I brrrrr'd, "If you ever come into contact with a nasty shark, just punch it in the schnoz! They get startled from that and usually leave you alone, he said."

"There's no way your dumbass is still alive with stunts like that." He facepalmed, "Seriously, you need to stop risking your life for style points. That's bad for you."

"Nah, can't be." I brushed him off before realizing, "Oh, guess we don't have any other way to the other side, so I'm just gonna swim over there now."

"What!? No way, I'll freeze to death!" He shriveled up at the mere thought of dipping his toes inside the polar water.

"Ahh, come on!" I splashed him a bit, "Get in! The water's great!"

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"S-S-S-S...!" Oly shivered.

"Suh, suh?" I glanced back.

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"S-Ss-Sss....!" He raised his tone, but still couldn't properly say what he wanted to say.

"Olya?" I asked again.

"SSSSHIIIEEEET!" He shouted with all his might, probably starting an avalanche on some other part of the mountain on account of the noise over there, "It's fucking freezing, and now I'm wet too!"

"Oh, that's what's buggin' ya'." I nodded, "Yeah, balls are shriveled, but motivation is at an all time high, I'd say. I mean, did you see what I did to that thing!? That was epic!"

"Yeah yeah, nice going, I'll be sure to write it down somewhere..." He groaned, "But damn, this still doesn't count as the World Wonder. God, what if we have to go all the way to the top? That'd take forever...!"

"Really?" I looked up, "It doesn't seem so bad, though?"

"You sure your brain didn't get frostbite, bud?" He raised an eyebrow, "The peak, as in, ABOVE THE FUCKING CLOUDS."

"Well I mean, yeah, but..." I raised a point, "The Gods were kind enough to bestow upon us a well-paved out path, right? As long as we follow it to the top, we should be golden. Also, I'm sure you've noticed, but it ain't as cold here as it is on the other side. Look, there's even grass if you look hard enough."

"Is it really grass though?" He ducked to inspect it, "I thought for sure it was moss..."

"Ah, moss, grass, same shit, really." I shrugged, "Come on, race ya' to the top!"

"Hell no." He stopped me before I even started the countdown, "Why the hell should I? We're not racing to the top, we're taking it slow."

"If I beat you I'm gonna start feeding you food from now on back to the lair." I gently put his hand off my shoulder before I started sprinting, "Oooh, just what kind of rumors will be spread then, I wonder~?"

"Dammit, you jackass!" He shouted before starting a sprint himself, "You know I can't let that slide! Oi, get back here, headstarts aren't fair game!"

And so, we followed the path up the mountain. Really, the legends made this place out to be some sort of final destination where no man can ever come out on top, but it's just a damned mountain, just like any other! Seriously, we ran up to the part above the clouds in just 3 hours! It ain't even that!

"S-S..." Olya called out to me weakly.

"Shiet?" I tried saying what I assumed he wanted to say.

"No, stop." He corrected me, "I need a fucking break, please..."

"Whaaaat? You wimpin' out already?" I mocked and jeered, "Come on, this was just a warm-up! I know you can do more! Let's go, up, up, up!"

"Ngh...!" He clutched his heart before getting up to continue the race, "Fugh! Shiet!"

"Attaboy!" I lowered my speed a bit to keep an Eye on him from now on, "Let's go, you don't want those rumors to start now, do ya'?"

"N-Nogh!" He could barely talk, but still continued to run.

"Then let's go!" I raised my fist, prompting him to follow suit shortly after.

The rest of the trek was as you'd expect. Since we were slowing down a bit on the latter part, I finally got time to admire a bit of the views around here. Olya wasn't really that interested, since he was just busy running his heart out, but lemme tell you, I was enthralled! Like, I felt like I could see the whole World from up here, and we weren't even at the top, then! Genuinely one of those moments when you think "I'll remember this day for the rest of my life".

"I-I'll remember this day for t-the rest of my life..." Olya fell to his knees as we made it to the final staircase, "Yeah, I'll remember it as the day I won over my obesity."

"Hell yeah!" I hyped him up, "I'm stoked to hear that, man! You're incredible, to run all this way with such a body, that's insane!"

"I-I'm not that fat! Remember what I said - I started working out a while ago!" He grabbed where his belly fat used to be, but this time it was noticeably more difficult to do so, "Oh, guess it's finally paying off, cheh..."

"Well, one last hurdle before we can get outta here." I went to step on the first step of the staircase, "Man, you are SO gettin' a special reward from the girls for this one! I'm real proud of you, man-WHOA!?"

"Schnell!" He immediately jumped to grab me, "Dude, don't scare me like that."

"Haha, guess stairs made of solid ice are slippier than I thought. Go figure..." I chuckled as a cold sweat ran down my spine, "Hey, thanks for the save. In any case, I think this place could do with a handlebar or two."

"Yeah, just watch your step." He smirked, "Let's go then. Slowly this time."

Climbing up the stairs way more carefully than I did just now, we had successfully scaled the entirety of Mount Ivrys. And at record time, I'd imagine. Seriously, there's no way we're not the first humans to make it up here this fast, if at all! We deserve some extra kinky praise from the succubus ladies, surely!

"Ah, the Green light." I noticed it beneath my boots as soon as we stepped foot on the top platform, "There, we can go now."

"Oh, want me to set up a teleporter here?" Olya plopped it down without even waiting for a response, "It'd be cool to have it here, just in case, y'know?"

"I guess." I shrugged, not really caring all that much, "We didn't really use them as much as we had hoped, anyways, so go for it."

"That's it then." He looked as the portal manifested in front of us, "We did them all, right?"

"I hope so." I added, "I was expecting something way more ceremonious, but I guess as long as we get the wish that'll bring Shaid back, then I'm happy."

"You said it." He gave me a weak but determined fist bump, "Ack, my shoulders hurt like hell..."

"Let's ask the ladies for a reaaal good massage when we get back, okay?" I suggested.

"Aye, you said it." He smiled before jumping in, "But only after we get Shaid back."

"Oh, right." I smiled, "That too."