Chapter 411 Expedition To The Frozen Region: Remote Scouting
I opened my eyes and stood up from where I was lying. My head is a bit painful and I feel a bit groggy. I remembered that I have some sort of a dream that happened a bit ago though I don\'t think I remember what it was even. It was like a deja vu of some sort since I also seemed to have the same experience the other time but I don\'t remember it anymore.
Shaking my head, I can only just forget what it was. Even if I try to force myself to remember, I think I would just hurt my head more than it should have been.
Because my head is a bit more groggy after waking up, I sit there for a bit to recover what I am feeling.
"Master, are you alright? You seemed to be a bit pale," Lina asked inside the summon\'s area.
"Don\'t worry, I am fine. It seems I had a dream but I think I can\'t remember what it was."
"It\'s alright to not remember anything, master. Some dreams are easily forgotten once you wake up from sleep so I don\'t think it is worth mulling over?" Tina explained just to elevate my mood a bit.
"Yeah, I know but it was just some sort of weird feeling that I think I shouldn\'t have forgotten. But since I can\'t even remember what it was, I shouldn\'t even bother thinking too much about it. Thanks for saying that."
After a while, my head felt a lot better and I don\'t think there is much I can do so I decided to go and rejoin everyone. With the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned dead, everyone must be really busy trying to salvage the materials from the carcass of the monster. It was Almira\'s idea so it was clear that she had some sort of plan for the materials that will be obtained from it though I have no idea what it was she was trying to get from it. It\'s no longer my problem though it would be a different matter if Almira called me to help with that then that would be a different thing already.
When I went out of the carriage, I saw Queen Tanya and Queen Tori are currently preparing something and a few soldiers are also carrying out some tasks. Queen Tanya saw me and smiled before she beckons to me. Curious as to what the two are up to, I decided to approach them.
"Good timing, Bladeheart. We needed someone strong to accompany us and you fit the category just fine," Queen Tanya nodded in satisfaction.
"Huh? What? What is this all about?" I was confused.
"We will be doing some remote scouting ahead of us. With the Mistfall Turtle of the Damned dead, we have to check the surrounding vicinity in case an enemy is attracted from the dead body of the turtle and is just lying in wait for us. It is also to avoid trouble along the way, we wanted to scout the area to make preemptive measures if things get really bad."
"Should I tell the others too? I think they will be willing to help," I asked.
"Nah, they are currently preoccupied at the moment so they can\'t and if you remove one of them from there, I don\'t guarantee it will bode too well on their side, so best you leave them alone for now. Besides, it is a good idea to have more capable people left behind in case some stronger monsters appear while we are away, it will help a lot with them defending the place," Queen Tanya quickly refuted my suggestion. She was right though so I guess it was only me and the soldiers who will be helping Queen Tanya and Queen Tori right now.
I waited for them to finish their preparations and after that, we departed and went to the other side of the caravan where I can see in the distance some sort of part that looks like a cliff of some sort It was currently being hidden by the tall cliffs situated above our heads, creating a wall that encloses the area towards the next area.
"This place always gives me the creeps," Queen Tori shivers even though she is wearing a jacket.
"Why so? It looks like a normal place to me and aside from being a bit dark and a bit cold, nothing seems to be out of the ordinary at all." Queen Tanya looked around to see if there are anything that seems to look bad enough for her sister to act like that but failed to spot it.
"If you live long enough in this hellhole, you can develop a sense of dread from places that seem to be not even worth putting a bit of dread either. Normal-looking places like this might have something more in store for us that we just didn\'t know."
"Alright, alright. I am just not able to detect anything so I thought there is nothing."
We continue walking around the place that slowly turned into a cavern after another cliff that is situated on the other side arched over the first wall, creating a little natural cavern. Compared to earlier, it was much colder and darker so Queen Tanya has to summon a little Glow Ball to light up the way.
As we continue walking, I finally realized what Queen Tori said that she didn\'t like the place due to some sort of bad feeling she feels whenever she is there. It seems to also be affecting me for some reason too. As for Queen Tanya, she seemed to be fine so I am a bit in a doubt about how Queen Tanya seems to have not noticed anything at all. After all, from all of us, she has the most sensitive sensors on some things that seem to be out of this world.
I didn\'t say anything as that would just give everyone around some anxiety over an unseen enemy that I might have just imagined.
But just as we have been deep enough into the place, we felt a loud rumble underneath us. The snow above the cliffs is also falling slowly through the gaps.
"Oh, sh*t... Avalanche! Everyone! Let\'s get out of here!" Queen Tori warned everyone.
When they heard that it was an avalanche, the soldiers panicked and started running away. Queen Tori and Queen Tanya also started running. I also started running when I noticed one soldier is running behind me.
"Come on, run faster!" I encouraged him.
"I am sorry! I am just a slow runner! Just go, I will catch up!"
I almost cussed when I heard that reason and it didn\'t help that he was carrying some bags too so I decided to grab the bags he was carrying.
"Let me carry that. Come on! Focus on running!"
The rumble is getting louder and the snow falling above us is also getting faster in falling down. I frowned as we are still not that near to the area where we will be safe from the area of the avalanche. As much as I want to encourage the soldier to run as fast as he can, the soldier who I took the bags off from him is still running so slow. It was like he was intentionally doing this.
Then, the avalanche finally broke through and the snow that is currently up above the cliff started to fall down in large quantities that one drop from it and you will die. The slow soldier just continues to run as slow as he was earlier.
We are already at the very end where we can be safe from the avalanche but with the slow speed of this soldier, there is no time for us to even get there in time. I can just leave him there and save myself but even if they are NPC, I don\'t think I can even do that. So to quickly save him from that predicament, I decided to use the bags and throw them at his back with all my force.
Why did I do that instead of lounging myself on his back? It was because it has a higher risk we will be caught by the snow instead together. To avoid that, I decided to use this chance to just use the bags to push him towards the edge. Besides, I am a player. Even if I die, it was no biggie since I can just respawn from death, unlike an NPC.
Still, that NPC soldier is slow us f*ck. I don\'t even see a hint of surprise or panic in him even while we are running, It was like he was taking his time running without even a sense of urgency. It was like he didn\'t care whether he will be buried in the snow or what. When I released the bag, he was thrown to the end while the snow-filled the whole place alongside myself. But before the whole place was filled in with snow, the floor I was standing in caved-in and I fell to the new cliff that seems to be like an instant death once I fell down there.