Chapter 234: Multiple Guardian Problems

Nisha and I continued forward, leaving the charred body for the excavation team to deal with. Milo had directed us down a specific path, but something pulled me in a different direction. Towards the path those Huallapens had been stampeding from.

I couldn’t explain it. They’d been running from something, and as much as our job was to reach the boss room as fast as we could, I had this nagging feeling that ignoring whatever spooked an entire herd was going to bite us later.

Nisha didn’t argue. I didn’t even have to sell it. The moment I suggested we change course, she looked at me with that flat, unreadable expression of hers and asked one question.

"Are you sure?"

I confirmed, and that was that. Here we were, tracing a path deeper into the canyons, well off course from what Milo had assigned us.

We walked in silence for a while, neither of us picking up the conversation that had been cut short earlier. The quiet settled between us like a third companion.

The shift started at my feet. The ground changed texture, turning from dry cracked earth to something harder, something that crunched. Then the temperature dropped. Not gradually. It hit like walking through an invisible wall, cold flooding into my chest and settling into my bones until I was shivering.

I looked up, and my eyes went wide.

The canyon walls had opened into a vast frozen mountain valley. Ice clung to every surface. Frost crusted the rock faces, and a pale mist drifted low across the ground. My breath came out in clouds.

I swung my head to Nisha.

"Didn’t we just see dry plains outside there? Like a hot climate?"

Nisha looked equally thrown, though on her it came across as something closer to feral displeasure. She nodded slowly. "Indeed... something is wrong. This is not right."

I turned back to the frozen mountain and my shoulders dropped.

’Of course it’s not right. It can’t be right. I’m here!’

At this point, I was convinced that someone up there was either having a fun time fucking with me or was really desperate to kill me.

The next second, I gripped my sword and let a grin split across my face.

"I’m definitely not going to let them have it easy. I don’t go down without a fight."

I was about to step forward when Nisha’s voice cut in, sharp with a frown.

"What are you doing?"

I gave her a confused look and shrugged. "Going forward to see what’s ahead. At least we know now that the rams were coming from the frozen mountain. We still need to know why."

Her confusion only deepened.

"Why?" The word came out carefully, measured.

I shrugged again. "Because it’s the right thing to do? How often do spirit beasts run away from their own home?"

She went still for a few seconds, something working behind her eyes. Then she answered.

"Not too often." Her voice was steadier now. "This whole situation is strange and it irks me badly. I know you feel it too. But still deciding to go deeper... you’re looking for trouble?"

"You say it like we entered this gate to do something different..."

"Oh..." She paused, then sighed, the corner of her mouth curving faintly. "Right."

She moved closer to me, her gaze drifting over the frozen peaks. "Don’t you at least want to call upon your summon?"

I curved a corner of my lips. "Nah. I have a feeling I’ll be enough for this one."

Nisha turned her head to me. Her expression was unreadable for a long moment, something flickering behind those eyes that I couldn’t catch. Then she turned away and muttered under her breath.

"How can it be so hot on a frozen mountain?"

I looked at her strangely. "What are you saying? I don’t feel any heat."

’Is she sick?’

She sighed and shook her head. "Nevermind."

I studied her for a moment more before shrugging and facing forward.

"Well, let’s carry on then."

We walked across the frozen mountain, and as we went further, the cold only intensified. It was hard to believe that a single gate could house two completely different climates, and I was particularly concerned because Nisha said she’d never seen anything like it either.

And she was supposed to be the more experienced one.

We passed a slanted mountain field where dozens of footprints had been stamped deep into the snow, all of them leading back the way we came. Something had run through here in a hurry.

There were also deep grooves gouged into the snow around this area, shattered rocks scattered across the slope. I’d never seen a mountain torn up like this. Granted, I wasn’t a big fan of hiking to begin with.

We continued scaling down, picking our way step by step along jagged terrain buried under snow. The trees here were scarce, and the ones that remained told a story I didn’t like. Some were splintered down to stumps. Others had been torn apart from the middle, their halves leaning away from each other like something had ripped through them.

The further we walked, the worse it got. The destruction thickened around us, and the discomfort in my gut was starting to sharpen into something closer to genuine concern.

"I think it’s safe for both of us to admit that whatever sent those rams running has to be one hell of a beast."

Nisha was quiet for a moment.

"Why do you keep calling them rams anyways? They’re Huallapens, not rams. Actually, what are rams?"

I paused and gave her a disbelieving look.

"You... don’t know?"

She frowned. "Why are you looking at me like that’s a sin."

"How could you not know... you have the wool, the..."

Nisha’s gaze was what made me stop.

I asked no questions and instead spread my enhanced senses. When I did, a deep scowl formed on my face.

I slowly turned towards the depths of the mountain, where the frozen slope sank into a verdant green forest.

"Hey Nisha... I suddenly have a very strange question." I paused. "It wouldn’t be that... different habitats in this gate all have different bosses, right? I hope we aren’t looking at fighting multiple high level gate guardians."