Geomun Gorge

The carriage slowly came to a halt along with the coachman’s voice.

The moment I opened the carriage door and stepped out, the scenery unfolding before my eyes took my breath away.

“Whoa!”

A gorge more magnificent than the Grand Canyon I’d seen in documentaries stretched all the way to the horizon!

It was impossibly deep, its bottom unfathomable, and so vast that its width couldn’t be taken in at a single glance.

The red rocks of the gorge walls were dyed by the midday sun’s intense rays, blazing like a massive ball of fire.

The wind howled as it passed through the gorge, and a wild, rough scent mixing soil and rock smells brushed past my nose.

To think such a place exists in reality…!

So awesome!

After staring blankly for quite a while, I suddenly came to my senses.

“But where is Master?”

“Huh? How would I know that?”

The coachman answered as if it were obvious.

…?

What?

So I have to find my way from here myself?

That doesn’t make sense!

From what I saw on the map, this gorge is almost the size of an entire country!

Just in case, I scanned the far end of the gorge, but couldn’t even see its end.

No end to the left or right, no end ahead, and below…

Well, if I look closely, I can see the bottom below.

Anyway, finding Master in this enormous scale seemed as difficult as finding a DraXgon Ball.

Yeah, absolutely impossible to find…

“Sigh… Is this the gorge entrance? I guess it’s better to just wait here until Master returns.”

“Uh… wasn’t that the plan originally?”

The coachman tilted his head.

“I thought you’d take me near Master!”

Like some outpost!

“Eh, do you know how dangerous Geomun Gorge is these days? Nobody goes in there except for Frostia-nim. If I went in, I’d become monster food in less than five minutes.”

Only Master goes in…?

Seriously, were they leaving the entire national defense to Master?

Hoo…

Another reason to beat up that King bastard…

“Alright. I’ll just enjoy the view.”

I shook my head and walked near the edge of the gorge where the view was wide open.

A cool breeze brushed against my face, and warm sunlight enveloped my entire body.

It felt like I was finally doing proper photosynthesis after a long time.

The feeling of absorbing sunlight with my whole body was truly refreshing.

Hehe!

Waiting here isn’t so bad either!

A magnificent natural landscape before me, a splendid golden carriage behind me.

It felt like a wealthy tycoon’s vacation on a cruise ship.

But then one sight ruined this beautiful scenery.

The pig who’d started taking a nap on the coachman’s seat!

“Hey! Pig!”

“Yes, yes…?”

The pig startled awake and jumped up.

“You were sleeping while driving the carriage too, and now you’re sleeping again!?”

“Uh… there’s nothing to do right now, isn’t there…”

“What do you mean nothing to do! You need to lose weight!”

“R-right now? Here?”

“Of course! With such good air and wide space!”

I slowly pulled out Crimson Bind halfway.

“Perfect environment for exercise! Yes, I’ll start right away!”

The pig hurriedly got off the carriage and assumed a push-up position.

But…

“Uuugh…”

He barely managed to bend his arms, but his whole body trembled and he couldn’t push back up.

“Huff…! Huff…!”

Eventually, he just collapsed flat on the ground, panting heavily.

Can’t even do one…

This is really serious, isn’t it…?

With that level of stamina, calling him a pig is too generous, isn’t it?

When I return to the Lair, I’ll definitely ask the butler to turn him into a proper person.

“Hey, forget push-ups. Just go run.”

“Huuup, yess…!”

While supervising the pig’s running and enjoying the scenery, I noticed clouds gathering rapidly at the far end of the sky.

Huh?

Dark clouds swarmed in instantly, and soon an enormous amount of snow began pouring down, forming a fierce vortex.

Its scale was truly overwhelming.

The entire cloud formation was swirling as one massive vortex, and the snow pouring from its center fell violently like a waterfall.

That absurd ice power…!

“It’s Master!”

“H-hek…! Wh-what…?”

The pig stopped running and hurriedly turned his head.

“I found where Master is! I’ll be back!”

“W-wait a moment…! Huff…”

The pig caught his breath and continued.

“I-it’s dangerous for me to be here alone… What if monsters appear?”

“Ugh!”

I tossed Crimson Bind in front of the pig.

“Eeek!”

“Use that for self-defense, and just go back first!”

I’ll just return with Master anyway!

“Uh… but…”

“Enough, and keep exercising even when you return to the Lair!”

I stood at the gorge edge and looked down.

It was a very high and sharp cliff, but…

No problem for my specs!

“Well, I’m off!”

I shouted to the pig and jumped into the gorge.

I could slide down the slope quickly as if riding a surfboard.

The sound of rocks crumbling and rolling beneath my feet echoed like a reverberation.

The snowstorm was still raging fiercely in the distance.

It looked quite far distance-wise, but if I ran, I could probably reach it quickly.

Hehe!

I need to hurry and see Master’s battle scene!

I still haven’t seen her fight in person yet!

I was running excitedly down into the gorge, imagining the enormous scale ice magic I’d seen in movies and animations, when…

“Keeeeeek!”

Suddenly something jumped out from behind a huge rock nearby.

『 ☆☆☆ Canyon Wolf LV48 』

“Eek! Gross!”

It was a wolf-like monster covered in black fur, but it was seriously disgusting.

Its eyes had turned completely white, and purple foam was dripping from its mouth.

Even stranger was its movement.

It moved stiffly and unnaturally, like a robot without free will.

The wolf charged toward me, but even when it hit rocks along the way, it didn’t stop and kept running.

Crazy…!

Is it a zombie wolf…!?

“Keeeeeeek!”

Such a wolf charged at me.

“Disgusting! Die!”

Pshhk!

I swiftly projected roots and pierced through the wolf’s neck.

“Keee…”

As the wolf collapsed, the purple foam coming from its mouth slowly dispersed like smoke.

Even in death, its eyes remained rolled back white, and it kept reaching its claws toward me until the end.

Phew…

I was worried it might not die since it looked like a zombie…

After dealing with the wolf, I continued on, when another howl was heard.

This time there were two.

“Keeeeek! Keeek!”

Again…?

『 ☆☆ Canyon Wolf LV51 』 『 ☆☆ Canyon Wolf LV47 』

These were also wolves with the same white eyes and dripping purple foam.

The monsters didn’t care at all about colliding with each other and only focused on me as they charged.

Pshhk! Pshhk!

I could easily deal with these too.

But this time…

“Keek! Kieeek! Krrr!”

Howls came from all directions.

『 ☆☆ Canyon Wolf LV44 』 『 ☆☆☆ Crag Grizzly LV66 』 『 ☆☆ Cliff Ostrich LV52 』 『 ☆ Cliff Ostrich LV39 』 『 ☆ Canyon Wolf LV47 』 『 ☆☆☆ Crag Grizzly LV64 』 『 ☆☆☆ Sika Serpent LV60 』 『 ☆☆ Crag Grizzly LV57 』 『 ☆☆ Sika Serpent LV55 』 『 ☆☆☆ Cliff Ostrich LV51 』 『 ☆☆☆☆ Canyon Hornrabbit LV99 』 ……

What appeared en masse from behind the rocks wasn’t just wolves.

Bears, snakes, ostriches, and even a max-level rabbit!

All had the same white eyes and dripping purple foam as they charged toward me.

“Disgusting!! Die!!!”

Pshhk! Pshhk! Pshhk!

Pshhk! Pshhk! Pshhk!!

But even with their numbers increased, they weren’t threatening to me.

Their zombie-like movements meant they couldn’t dodge my storm of root attacks, and the level difference was too great anyway.

Hmm…

But every time I fight, I feel like my identity is more like a LurX than a flower…

“Ggeek…”

The sight of the monsters dying while spewing purple foam was extremely grotesque.

Ugh…

Do only these guys appear here…?

Ah, wait.

It’s highly likely that monster waves are the work of evil gods.

So were they originally fine but turned into zombies because of the evil gods?

Doing crazy things like posting disgusting images in a gallery!

If I see them, I’ll tell Master to beat them up!

Of course, excluding Bellona-nim!

I remembered the direction of the snowstorm and started running again.

But as I went further, the terrain began to get increasingly complex.

At first, there was one main path that I could just follow, but soon multiple branching paths began to appear.

Hmm…

Which way is it…?

After pondering deeply and tracing my memory, I chose the left path.

This should be right!

But as I went further, another branching path appeared.

This time there were five branches.

Uh…?

Something felt strange.

At first I thought it was just a simple wide gorge, but it began to feel more like a maze.

The high rock walls on both sides made it hard to see above, and the paths were winding and twisting, making it difficult to grasp what lay ahead.

That…

What was it…

There was that theory that if you stick to one wall, you’ll reach the destination, I think…?

I chose the left path once again.

While dealing with the occasional zombie monsters that jumped out, I kept heading left, but I began to feel uneasy.

Will I really meet Master by just going left in this insane vast gorge…?

No, does that theory even apply correctly…?

Wasn’t it a theory for escaping mazes…?

Ugh…

I need to go up high and find the snowstorm again…

But climbing the steeply rising rock walls wasn’t easy.

The footholds were too sparse, and even if I managed to climb, it was prone to slipping or rocks breaking.

“Uuugh….!”

After climbing about twice my height, I began to lose heart.

How long will it take to climb this!

The wall is almost as high as a 20-story apartment!

If only I could fly too!

Master can fly, Cecile can fly, Miel, Rote, Glacia, Nis-nim can all fly, so why can’t I!

Ah, Nis-nim probably can’t fly.

No!

If I were huge like Nis-nim, I could just smash through everything!

That would be even more convenient than flying!

Just as I was complaining internally, an incredible idea came to me.

Couldn’t I just sprout roots from the wall and step on them to climb up!?

Pshhk!

Pshhk!

I summoned roots from the wall according to my will and began climbing the wall as if going up stairs.

“Hehe! I’m a genius!”

I diligently climbed the wall and finally reached the top.

Feeling proud, I looked around, and the still unbelievably vast gorge greeted me.

“Kya!”

The magnificent gorge at sunset…!

Nature is truly awesome…!

No, wait!

I came up here to find Master’s snowstorm!

And why is it already sunset!

But no matter where I looked, there was no snowstorm, not even traces of ice or snow.

The only thing noticeable was dust-filled sandstorms that seemed characteristic of the gorge.

How can there not be a single trace of ice…?

Did I go the wrong way…?

I should just give up on finding Master and return to the Lair…

Since I only went left paths, if I only go right paths this time, I should reach the gorge entrance.

Right…?