The slanting of the path had became significant. But still the gloomy atmosphere was still present.
After a little rain, The soil had became moist.
Up ahead we were getting close to the peak of the mountain and although there were short platforms formed on the slope, Most of our day consisted of just climbing. There were few instances where Beasts from the sky attacked us but not too high layered. The bone artifact we got from the cave beast was still pretty useful, It created a space where sound doesn't leak. It was especially useful on a mountain where a small sound would echo around in the valley and forest, Alerting the Beasts of our presence.
We were getting very eager to reach the peak. At first we were going to pass the valley. But decided not to, The valley was much more dangerous, And while we were passing the valley, A strong stench of rot and blood passed through our nose. So in the end Veyra decided to climb further up and Thus we decided to reach the peak.
While climbing, The mountain seemed calm, too calm. Climbing further up we thought that we would encounter much more harrowing beasts. But the situation seemed different.
Everyone was tensed, And had various thoughts they would not speak into reality. There were two possible explanation, Either we are extremely lucky and there are no beasts at the top or we are in some harrowing Beast's territory, Who is large enough or strong enough to fear away the lower ranks.
The most probable answer was latter.
Two days passed by, It was late at evening and we haven't had a found a place to camp, Our meat supplies were basically over and we haven't had water in nearly a day. It was fine for the rest of us but it affected Nolan's mother, Lily and Veyra. The poison was spreading more aggressively. Still Vivi tried her best and used healing multiple times a day on three of them. As a result she was also getting fatigued. Due to the poison the strength in Veyra was slowly decreasing and the pressure came on Lex, Me and Phoebe.
we were still climbing.
But there was something wrong
I had a feeling that something was going to happen.
And It did. As we were climbing,
It emerged from behind a monolith of basalt. Tall, armored, hunched with jerking movements.
At first glance, it resembled a human soldier wearing old ceremonial armor. But nothing human moved like that.
The plates were fused into its flesh. The helm had collapsed inward, distorting its face into a metal grin. One arm ended in a cluster of bone spines. Its ribs were visible through gaps in the armor, pulsing like bellows.
Across its chest, glowing faintly under the corruption, was a sigil.