Abstraction for a bad world

Chapter 177 Because the Mountain is There (4k)

Flandre picked up the small bracelet that Rush had placed on the table, twisted it between two fingers and held it in front of her eyes.

Although he recognized Rush's awareness and belief, Flandel still felt that it was a waste of time to personally supervise her training.

Because for these training items, there would be no difference even if any core-cast or legendary referee was replaced.

Rush is different from Yuan Qingzhuo. Flandel would not be kind enough to do something as time-wasting and stupid as "Yuan Qingzhuo's Mercury Level Promotion Ritual" for her again.

Yuan Qingzhuo is unique.

but……

Flandel's eyes moved slightly.

He had accepted the complete erosion of the scarlet sun, so perhaps he needed to make some further preparations.

She held the small bracelet in front of her eyes and looked at it carefully for a while before putting it down.

Then he glanced at the necklace and the fashionable plastic crown.

——Do you want to be a demon king?

"Rush."

Flandel put the few trinkets she had placed on the table into her pocket and tapped the table lightly with her index finger, causing the girl opposite her to sit up straight.

"Come, say it with me—"

Farandel said softly: "The Golden Rule is supreme."

The girl was slightly stunned, but immediately continued: "The Golden Rule is supreme."

So the next moment, Rush felt that the atmosphere in the entire office was more than a little heavy.

But her eyes could not see the ancient spells and rituals that suddenly filled every corner of the room.

"I, Rush, took the initiative to volunteer to follow Farandel in training. I was not forced in any way."

"——I, Rush, took the initiative to volunteer to follow Flandre in training. I was not forced in any way."

"No matter what happens during the practice, any accidents, I will bear them all myself."

Rush hesitated for a moment, but after seeing Farandel's half-smile, he no longer hesitated and spoke word by word: "No matter what happens during the training, any accidents, I will bear them all myself."

Snapped.

Farandel snapped his fingers: "The contract is established."

The Golden Law flickered slightly, witnessing the birth of this verbal contract.

Seeing that Farandel didn't continue talking, Rush thought for a moment and asked, "Sister Farandel, what were you doing just now..."

"——Of course, it's to prevent Yuan Qingzhuo from going crazy."

Flandel used magic to materialize the contract and stuffed it into a drawer.

The corners of her lips slightly raised: "He doesn't know what we said to each other... Let's prepare for a rainy day."

Because there is a close blood connection between Yuan Qingzhuo and Rashi.

Normally it may have no effect and no presence, but if one party is on the verge of death or dead, the other party will definitely feel it very clearly.

No matter how far the distance is.

This contract is to prevent Yuan Qingzhuo from doing anything bad after feeling it.

Rush nodded as if he understood, jumped off his chair, and said excitedly: "Then Sister Flandre, when do we start?"

"Now."

The woman in the wheelchair lowered her eyes and spoke softly.

As the indifferent voice fell, Rush was surprised to find that the familiar office decoration around him was no longer there.

She looked around blankly at the falling snow.

When did I come to this empty snowy land?

Where is this?

Still in the monastery... no, still within the jurisdiction of the order?

a little cold.

She pulled her feet out of the snow, and the cold air around her kept reminding her that it was icy and snowy here with the temperature below zero.

Lashi exhaled a puff of white mist and rubbed his hands.

An extremely weak spiritual essence was flowing around her body, protecting her from the cold.

"Sister Farandelle, what do I need to do..."

Looking around the empty snowy land again, Rush did not see any enemy, nor any living creature that could move.

Why had Farandelle brought herself to a place like this?
"—look up."

An indifferent voice came from the sky. Rush blinked his eyelids, which were already covered with frost, in confusion and slowly raised his head.

This is not nothing...

No.

As Rush's pupils shrank, a black and white peak that was beyond her sight and seemed to have no end stood less than ten meters in front of her.

Endless towering mountains and cliffs stretched before her eyes.

'What do I need to do...'

There is no need to ask such questions anymore.

So the girl asked, "What do I have?"

Farandel's voice came: "Yourself."

As the girl opened her mouth in shock, Flandre said calmly:
"You don't have tools that can be embedded in the rock wall, you don't have enough equipment to deal with emergencies, you don't have a partner to rely on, you don't have enough food and water to fill your stomach... you don't have fire."

"But you have the will to make a judgment, a body with unlimited potential, and a soul that has yet to be polished."

Farendel paused. "The most important thing is that you won't die."

At this point, her tone rose slightly:

"But please remember that the bone-chilling cold, the cramps and convulsions of the body, and the pain of near-death are all real."

After giving Rush a few seconds to comprehend the situation, Farandel asked a final question:

"As a benefit of 'Rush', it's not too late for you to regret now... Then please tell me what your decision is?"

So cold.

My hands and feet hurt.

I feel like crying just standing here.

But here, even if I cry, my tears will freeze.

Rush swallowed his saliva silently, clenched his aching fists, and let the cold air like needles fill his lungs.
"——I am absolutely sure that I don't regret it."

The girl with spiral horns on her head and enlightenment burning in her chest answered like this.

Then Farandel laughed:
"Then climb to the top of this 8848-meter-high peak, conquer it, and prove to me with facts that what you said is true."

"—good luck, Rush."

The echo of Farandel was gradually swallowed up by the cold wind that swept across the sky and earth, and could no longer be heard after just a few seconds.

In the whole world, it seemed as if... No!

She was the only one left.

The girl said nothing, tore off the hems of her skirt that were in the way and threw them casually on the ground.

Now, if she looked up, she could see the rock wall standing side by side with the sun hanging in the azure sky.

A small feeling arose in Rush's heart.

She then took off her troublesome little boots and stepped barefoot on the ground not covered with snow.

Now, she was not wearing any clothes except the tattered dress.

Cold to the bone.

Rush gritted his teeth.

If it weren't for the Duke's blood in her body that was doing its best to help her resist the cold from the outside world, Rush would probably be lying on the ground with hypothermia waiting for a warm death.

The girl placed her little hand on the first black rock wall that protruded outward.

As long as you climb over this two or three meter high starting point, you can stand on the not so steep gentle slope and walk up.

Her hand... wasn't even one-tenth the size of the protruding rock wall.

This rock wall was insignificant compared to this peak. At this moment, Rush exhaled, shattering the last bit of retreat in his heart.

Is it true that the mountain range I want to conquer is so huge?
pay close attention.

Rush clumsily clasped his fingers around an irregular protrusion on the rock and carefully placed his foot on another protrusion.

Climb, climb, and climb again...

Snapped!
His body temperature melted the snow into water, and Rush naturally fell heavily from the rock wall more than two meters high.

The bone is broken.

But Rush, who was shivering from the cold, did not notice this, and she did not even feel the pain in her body.

The girl just got up silently, shook off the snow on her body, and hooked her fingers on the rock wall again.

Climbing.

Fall.

Climbing.

Fall.

This scene was repeated twenty or even thirty times on this small rock wall which was only a little over three meters wide.

Because Rush had never learned rock climbing, she could only rely on instinct to learn. She had no means to heal her body, so she could only grit her teeth as hard as possible and swallow the pain coming from all parts of her body.

It took Rush a full three hours to cross the starting line.

When she opened her eyes again in a daze, she found that she was already standing at the starting point of the gentle slope at the foot of the mountain.

"So it only took me five minutes to climb up here..."

The girl gasped, trying to endure the pain and cheer herself up in her heart. Just when she was about to take a step, a familiar voice came from the sky.

"——Are you going to give up?"

She remained silent and did not answer. She just sat on the ground for a while, watching one blurry light and shadow after another pass by her.

The various shapes and colors of lights and shadows are simply dazzling. Some are in groups of two or three, while others are fully equipped.

At a glance, there are at least three digits.

"Those are explorers and adventurers who once wanted to conquer this peak. They are thinking the same thing as you now."

Never give up... huh?

Rush waited until she regained some strength before she stood up and said, "I won't give up."

Farandelle did not answer.

So the girl walked barefoot, slowly and steadily towards the top of the mountain.

Fifty meters.

My chest feels tight and I'm a little breathless.

His feet were so frozen that he had no feeling at all, and the little spiritual energy that was left was circling inside them.

Although the Duke's blood can maintain the core temperature of Rush's body, there is still a lot of skin that has been frozen and necrotic.

The girl took another step forward and couldn't help but look back at the road she had walked.

Just as she turned her head, several shadows passed by her and walked upwards.

Just, only this little bit.

You can even see the starting point of the idea of ​​never giving up.

Rush, who thought he had climbed hundreds of meters, suddenly felt a lump in his throat and pursed his lips.

How far is it?

How long will it take?

The girl lifted her feet and looked at the scarlet-stained soles, her body trembling slightly.

How long will I have to suffer?

Then, Farandel's voice came again at the right time:

"Are you giving up?"

The girl was silent for a long time, picked off the tears that turned into ice crystals with her fingers, and shook her head again.

So, the climbing continues.

Eighty meters, one hundred meters, one hundred and fifty meters, two hundred meters...

Rush shed tears many times alone, but she also picked off the frozen tears again and again and crushed them under her feet.

She gradually got used to the unbearable pain, and the cold that used to make the girl shiver no longer caused her body to react violently.

Even the long loneliness was compressed into one step after another.

Five hundred meters.

Rush turned his head again.

This time, no one could use the brief moment she turned her head to cross the crack less than half a meter in front of her.

The number of people in the field of vision also decreased sharply, to less than one-half.

Ignoring Flandre's renewed abandonment of doubt, Rush leaped over and continued walking.

But the road ahead is no longer a smooth road that can be solved by just taking a step.

The dark rock walls are crisscrossed, just like the three-meter-high stone wall before the starting point.

But how high are the steep rock walls here?
Hundreds of meters? Or thousands of meters?
Rush wasn't sure.

She just knew she had to move forward.

——The girl’s hand slipped from the rock wall, and her whole body was enveloped in a feeling of weightlessness and fell down. The pain of being shattered came again.

I can't remember how many times.

At first, he would cry for a long time in the snow because of a fall, and even begged Flandre to give up.

But Flandre didn't respond to her at all, which even led to Rush's strong resentment towards Flandre.

But when resentment is melted by the cold, pain is swallowed up by time.

Rush would slowly climb up again, walking up with faster steps and more skillful rock climbing techniques than last time.

Two thousand meters.

The environment became increasingly colder, and even the oxygen content in the air decreased as the altitude increased.

The number of people who can reach here is less than one-tenth of the number at the starting point.

But instead of feeling uncomfortable, Lash felt as if his whole body was on fire.

My heart is beating, my blood is flowing, my muscles are humming happily, my mind is much more agile than before, and my vision is clearer than ever before.

Rush had never felt so alive as he did at that moment.

"Are you giving up?"

"——Why do you always ask me if I want to give up at times like this?"

Rush shook his head, leaped up and grabbed the ice spikes on the rock wall. In an instant, he crossed a distance of more than ten meters and arrived at the next rock wall.

Climb, rise, fall.

Then a faster climb, a faster rise.

Falling now could no longer bring wails and tears to Rush, it could only make her climbing skills more proficient and her will more refined.

Five thousand meters.

The light of a flashlight and someone's exclamation were heard at the same time, making Rush look back in confusion.

"Hey, hey, is Sister Fa in there?"

"Come in."

As soon as he finished speaking, Flandel, who was staring at the white crystal ball in his hand, looked up at Yuan Qingzhuo who had poked his head in.

Flandel still didn't look at him well, and just asked calmly:
"What do you want from me?"

Yuan Qingzhuo walked in holding a heavy book and said, "I have some key questions to ask you, Sister Fa."

When he walked to Flandre's table, his eyes were attracted by the exquisite crystal ball with a miniature mountain inside.

"What is this? It's pretty."

(End of this chapter)