Chapter 747

The ground monsters could be dealt with by just dropping Damien on them, but when we occasionally encountered flying monsters, I had no choice but to join the battle as well.

Unlike the ground monsters that couldn’t even touch the airship, the flying monsters could attack and destroy the ship itself, so we couldn’t let our guard down.

If the floating devices were destroyed by their attacks, we’d have to walk back to the capital.

So, I spewed crimson flames from my back and feet, slaughtering the monsters in the sky like sweeping away dust.

The research mages who witnessed this scene poured out exclamations of admiration with enchanted faces, pulling out papers and scribbling mysterious formulas like mad.

What was it they said? That they gained inspiration to dramatically improve the propulsion method of the airship?

Looking at them, I thought maybe later the ship would have jet engines attached to its sides.

—

Five days passed, and we finally reached the entrance of the Sky Mountain Range.

Originally, four days would have been enough, but we got delayed because we had to subdue the monsters we encountered along the way.

—

The sky above the Sky Mountain Range was bitterly cold.

Even the summer sunlight disappeared, and the breath you exhaled froze, turning into a glittering, icy land.

Even we, clad in Beastman hides, couldn’t dare to rest on the deck, so imagine how others must have felt.

Thankfully, the cabins were heated using the heat from the magic engines, or else the mages would have all frozen to death.

“Ugh, I really didn’t want to come back here…”

Milia, who had stepped out of the cabin to check the situation outside, returned covered in icicles, shivering and lamenting.

Come to think of it, she and Damien had fought a guerrilla war against the Beastmen inside the Sky Mountain Range, hadn’t they?

To pull off such madness when they weren’t even masters, let alone heroes, was truly admirable.

It’s a wonder they survived at all.

The cold wasn’t just unbearable for people; the machines suffered too.

“Marquis Median, I regret to inform you of bad news… this ship has reached its limit. If the temperature drops any further, the magic engine itself might stop…”

Eduard, the mage in charge of managing the ship, cautiously reported.

Due to the structure of the floating device, which uses the heat and pressure of the magic core to generate propulsion, the lower the temperature, the more the output and efficiency drop drastically.

We’ve managed to hold on so far, but if it gets any colder, there’s an over 80% chance we’ll freeze and crash.

“Alright, understood. We’ll disembark here. You all… well… ah, yes. Head to Pailoon Castle and wait there until we return.”

I nodded lightly and ordered them to wait at the Duke’s castle.

That was the plan from the start.

A large combat airship might have been different, but bringing the prototype Tears of the Tower Master to the battlefield would have gotten it shot down in an instant.

But we couldn’t just leave such a precious thing anywhere. So, entrusting it to Duke Pailoon until we returned was the best option.

“Yes. I wish you good luck.”

Eduard responded with a formal salute and returned to the engine room.

Judging by his precise salute, unlike the other research mages, he seemed to have some military experience.

Well, that’s why he was entrusted with the heavy responsibility of managing the airship despite his modest skills.

“…Are we going down?”

“Yes, unfortunately, from here on, we’ll have to walk.”

I picked up a thick fur leather jacket hanging on the wall and asked Nigel to inform everyone of the news.

“Get everyone ready. We’ll descend as soon as preparations are complete.”

The leisurely rest, enjoying the traveler’s mood, ends here.

Now, it’s time to roam the frigid mountain range and engage in some swordplay.

—

Thirty minutes later, we descended to the ground fully armed.

Damien took care of it again.

Watching Damien tirelessly shuttling between the sky and the ground to bring everyone down, I couldn’t help but appreciate that his heroic tale included flight.

It was something I couldn’t do.

My flight method spews flames like a jet engine, using the recoil to fly. Naturally, it radiates intense heat in all directions.

Carrying someone while flying would turn them into a roasted dish.

Ophelia and Asha also had flight abilities… but they couldn’t perform like Damien.

Ophelia’s flight controls airflow with magic to lift her body, making it difficult to control her posture near the airship, and Asha’s small size made it impossible to carry others while flying.

So, Damien was the only one who could bring everyone down.

Having wings must be nice.

He’s become a hundred times more capable than before.

—

Anyway, we began our exploration of the Sky Mountain Range, following the direction indicated by Ophelia’s Soul Compass.

It wasn’t a pleasant hike.

Thanks to the heat from Ryu-rik’s fur leather and the flames Ophelia created, we could somehow endure the extreme cold, but trudging through waist-deep snow and ice-covered mountains was exhausting and troublesome.

Every step, my feet would sink or slip, and eventually, I lost patience and melted the path ahead with the Rune of Fire.

Even though the snow piles would freeze back into icy paths within a minute, at least we could walk properly for a few dozen seconds. That was enough.

“Big sis, isn’t it hard? Maybe I should just walk…”

“It’s fine. You’re not heavy at all.”

I carried Rana on my back, spewing flames as we moved forward. As a mere priest, Rana would have struggled to endure the environment of the Sky Mountain Range.

“That hide… we should have kept that hide…”

Asha was shivering, clinging close to Ophelia.

Without extra Ryu-rik hides, she was only wearing a regular paladin’s leather armor.

The mechanical parts she wore over it radiated a cold, metallic chill instead of warmth.

If it weren’t for those machines, someone could have carried her, but with the bulky machines attached, there was no way we could help.

She must be regretting coming this far by now.

“…How much further do we have to go?”

Nigel, trembling slightly, approached Ophelia and asked. He had heard of the Sky Mountain Range’s notoriety but never expected it to be this cold.

“I don’t know. It’s definitely getting closer, but… without meeting it, I can’t tell how much longer it will take.”

Ophelia sighed, looking at the trembling Soul Compass. Her breath, seeping through the fur, froze into powder.

“…It’s strangely quiet. Didn’t you say the fairies and dragonkin were vying for the dragon’s corpse?”

Jahan, who had been walking beside me, whispered a question.

“They probably don’t know the direction either, so they’re wandering aimlessly around the mountain range.”

Considering the size of the Sky Mountain Range, the chance of encountering them before the Insect-Dragon was close to zero.

“Well, we might run into them while wandering… or if we fight the Insect-Dragon, they’ll come running.”

Once the battle starts, the dragon’s roar will echo through the mountains. Hearing that, they’ll swarm like a pack of hungry dogs.

“…We might get sandwiched between them.”

“Right, so we need to find and deal with it as quickly as possible.”

If the battle with Nidhogg drags on and the other races arrive before we finish it, things will get very complicated.

—

After eight hours of searching, we stopped to prepare camp.

Once the sun dipped below the horizon, the cold would become even more unbearable.

Preparing camp wasn’t anything grand.

We built a dome-shaped igloo from snow and ice, lit a magical flame in the center, and laid out sleeping bags around it.

We filled a metal pot with snow and ice, added dried ingredients, and made a stew to warm our chilled bodies. Then, we crawled into our sleeping bags and slept.

Until the freezing night cold subsided and the sun rose again.

We continued like this for two days.

The only creature we encountered was a snowfield bear with an incredibly thick fur hide.

Even with fur as thick as my thigh, it was shivering, unable to withstand the cold of the Sky Mountain Range.

So, we kindly guided it to its winter sleep—eternal sleep.

Well, it’s still winter sleep, right?

Animals’ winter sleep means sleeping through the winter and waking in spring, but here, it’s always winter.

Since spring will never come to the Sky Mountain Range, winter sleep here means eternal sleep, doesn’t it?