Chapter 415
The spirit rescue was a success.
All that remained was to bring it to a safe place, but the question was: where exactly is a "safe place" for a spirit?
"Alright then! We're going down in one go!!"*"Okay!"*
In situations like this, a gamer's instinct might tell them that going upward leads to victory, but unfortunately, on this stage, the correct answer isn't climbing to the summit—it's descending safely to the foot of the mountain.
Bursting out of the cave, I leaped and began a sharp dive down the mountain, with a horde of Ice Yetis hopping and chasing right behind me.
One might think that if it's a spirit, they could just use a Spirit Passage and escape immediately. But in cases like this, they usually can't use it. For the sake of time, I didn't bother asking and just started descending quickly.
This mountain was quite vast; under normal circumstances, descending with this much snowfall would be utterly impossible.
Even using Aerial Step, if I waited for the cooldown, the Ice Yetis behind me would catch up, and combat would be unavoidable.
"Hahaha! Good thing I brought Magic Edge!!"*"Ama-azing!!"*
Yes, normally it would be unavoidable.But would us FBO players ever clear content using *normal* methods?No. No, we wouldn't.
The Magic Edge I deployed on the soles of my feet extended out from my toes and heels, transforming into the shape of slightly oversized ice skates.
On unpacked snow, the blades would just dig in and make gliding impossible—but that's where imagination comes in. If you just lay the blades flat and attach them, well, what do you know? You've made yourself a pair of short skis.
*"UHO!?"*
Hearing the shocked cries of the Ice Yetis behind me—who were poised, expecting me to dive into the snow after exhausting my Aerial Steps—I decided to ski my way down the mountain.
"Man, when's the last time I did real skiing?"*"What's skiing?"*"It's a game where you put boards on your feet and slide down, like this!"*"Skiing is fun!"*"You bet it's fun! It'd be even more fun if there weren't scary gorillas behind us, though!"
I'd done this countless times in the game, so I thought I'd be fine, but in reality, the last time I'd done this was as a kid. I was a bit nervous. After I grew up, it was snowboarding.
I was worried about whether I could still do it, but it turns out the body remembers. I was gliding smoothly.
"Well, this is thrilling and fun in its own way, right!?"*"It's a little scary, but fun!"*
Skiing while holding a fire spirit.No fancy tricks—just accelerating for speed, dodging trees and obstacles, and shortcutting with jumps wherever possible.
Spirits love new experiences.Skiing, a first-time experience, ignited his curiosity, and his fear was quickly overtaken by excitement.
"Is that so, is that so!"
My speed surpassed that of the running Ice Yetis, and I was steadily pulling away. Unfortunately, this area was Ice Yeti territory.
*"Front!?"*"A diversionary squad?! Well, I can't exactly break the sound barrier!!"
Their drumming communicated my position, and another horde of Ice Yetis lay in wait ahead. They raised their arms, bared their fangs, and threatened us, refusing to let us pass. The spirit's excitement shrank back, and he clung tightly to me.
"Even in a pinch like this, Liberta-san will—!!!!"
I gently patted his back and told him it would be okay.
"——Find a way!!"
And here, for the first time, I showed off a trick.
One of the charging Ice Yetis reached out to grab me, rather than just lying in wait. But I used a dip in the snow to jump and spin vertically.Slipping right under its arm, I dodged flawlessly.
*"Gau!"*
Even if I dodged one, there were still plenty of enemies.Now there were two ahead, four behind, and more appearing one after another.
"Spin, spin, spin!!"
Using turns and jumps, I slipped through the encirclement of Ice Yetis one after another.
"And—here we go!!"*"We got through!"*"Yeah, we got through!!"
In just a few seconds, I broke through the wall of Ice Yetis and left them in the dust.
After that, they tried to cut me off once, twice, standing in my way time and again. But each time, I evaded them.
*"The monkeys are gone."*
As I descended the mountain, the attacks suddenly stopped completely.
"Yeah, that probably means the big move is coming."*"Big move?"*"Yeah, the big move the angry monkeys pull out when they can't catch us."
We were about halfway down. At this pace, we'd reach the bottom before long. But I knew there would be one more storm before then.The sign of it: the disappearance of the monsters.
"...Here it comes."*"What's that sound?"*
Immediately after, a thundering, booming sound like an earthquake echoed through the area.Then, a loud crashing noise.
"An avalanche."*"A ton of snow is coming from behind!?"*
The avalanche triggered by the monsters on this snowy mountain field was said to be so widespread that there was no escape within the mountain.
Once it was triggered, it would keep coming until you descended and left the mountain entirely.
And then—
*"The monkeys!"*"These monkeys are as resourceful as ever."
Riding on top of that avalanche were the Ice Yetis.The sight of them balancing on large logs, surfing the massive wave behind us, was so ridiculous I wanted to call them out on it.
The avalanche roared with a deafening rumble, and the Ice Yetis, riding their logs, picked up speed and closed in on us.
*"They're gonna catch us!?"*"No problem!"
The moment the avalanche surged right behind us, I leaped with Aerial Step and started gliding on top of it myself.
*"UHO!?"*
The Ice Yetis looked at me as if to say, "You can do that?!" But using the enemy's attack against them is the FBO way.This kind of thing is an everyday occurrence. I laughed and showed them, and the furious Ice Yetis started hurling giant snowballs at me one after another.
"As long as they don't hit, it's no problem!"*"Amazing, amazing!!"
Even if they come at me at blazing speed, they're just snowballs traveling in a straight line.If I got hit and fell, I'd be swallowed by the avalanche—a total disaster. But there's no way I'd make a blunder like that.
"Return to sender!"*"UBO!?"**"It hit!!"*
Instead, I scooped up snow while skiing, formed it into snowballs, and returned fire at blazing speed, throwing them off balance and sending them tumbling into the avalanche.
"Number two!"*"They're coming from behind!"*"On it!"
Skid, make a snowball, throw.I repeated this process, swallowing Ice Yeti after Ice Yeti into the avalanche.
*"WOOOOOAAAAAH!!!"**"It's big!"*"That's the boss."
Among them, one particularly massive individual rode the avalanche toward us.
The Bigfoot Father—a giant Ice Yeti skillfully gripping a massive log with its feet, surfing it like a snowboard.With a rugged face that would suit a cigar, bulging biceps, a thick chest, and white fur that looked like a tailored suit, we players affectionately called it the Mafia Gorilla.
The attacks launched from that massive body weren't mere snowballs—they were in a completely different league in terms of quantity.The saving grace was that neither the Ice Yetis nor the Mafia Gorilla possessed anything but physical skills. If they had magic skills, they'd be an absolute nightmare.
And with the additional Ice Yeti minions, a carpet bombing of snowballs began. I couldn't withstand it all, so I switched to full evasion. But the difference in numbers was overwhelming.
"HAHAHAHAHA! If they don't hit, it doesn't matter!!"
But I knew that if I showed any anxiety here, the spirit would get scared, so I laughed cheerfully.In reality, I could predict the impact points from their attack patterns, and I was confident I could evade even their predicted fire.
Besides—
*"UHOHOHOHO!?"*
—You guys don't know what lies ahead.
Being a mountain, of course, there are areas like ravines and sheer cliffs.And this particular ravine had a considerable distance to the opposite bank.
It would be a shame if they thought I was just running around aimlessly.Even in this blizzard, I pride myself on my sense of direction.
I know exactly what's ahead as I ski, and I set a trap there.That's what it means to be a gamer.
One of the Ice Yetis noticed the cliff ahead and tried to warn the others, but an avalanche doesn't stop on a dime.
"Now, we jump!!"*"...Okay!"*
Instead of slowing down, I accelerated toward the ravine where the avalanche cascaded down like a waterfall.Behind me, some Ice Yetis tried to slow down and stop, only to be swallowed by the avalanche. Others flailed their arms helplessly, unable to do anything.
Amidst all this, the boss, Bigfoot Father, showed that he understood he needed to accelerate and took a leaping stance.
Seeing that, I deliberately slowed down and circled around behind him.
He was focused on the ravine ahead; his aggro wasn't on me.
And the moment Bigfoot Father leaped from the cliff, we leaped off the ravine as well.
*"UHO!?"*
I immediately activated Aerial Step.Using Bigfoot Father as a stepping stool, I threw off his balance, causing him to fall far short of the opposite bank and be swallowed by the avalanche.
Witnessing this, I landed precisely on the opposite bank with a perfect ten-step Aerial Step sequence.
This was a safe zone—no avalanche damage, no monsters.
"How was that? Not too scary?"*"I'm okay!"*"Good, good. We're almost at the place where your ride is waiting."
This wasn't the goal, but the destination was close.
*"Ah!"*
As we proceeded, a flame became visible through the blizzard.The spirit in my arms reacted to that flame.
And the flame also seemed to notice us, making a motion in response.
This, too, was a trap. If, while being chased by enemies, you attacked the flame visible in the distance—
*"Mother!"**"Ah, my dear child. I have been searching for you!"*
—you'd plunge into battle with this high-ranking spirit, transformed into a massive lioness.Spirits possess both human forms and other forms.
And those other forms are sometimes so intricate that they are mistaken for monsters.In this situation, she had been frantically searching for her son and was on edge, radiating a killing intent so strong that one might indeed mistake her for a monster.
Realizing she was the mother, I didn't stop the spirit as he leaped out. I let him go. The lioness transformed in an instant into a woman and embraced the spirit I had protected.
*"Mother! This person saved me!"**"Oh, child of man. I thank you for rescuing this child in these mountains."*"No, no. It was just the natural course of events."*"Nevertheless, the fact that you saved him remains. This area is rife with ferocious monsters. I must offer you something in return."*
It was proof of how much she cherished this spirit—though I kept the internal retort of "then don't bring him to such dangerous places" and the thought that "it's a trial, so that's just the setting" to myself.
*"Take this. It is a spell imbued with my power, usable only once. It should prove useful."*"Thank you very much."
I gratefully accepted the reward.What she handed over was an orb containing a sealed fire spell.It was a consumable, but being able to unleash a single Class 5 equivalent spell was incredibly convenient.
*"Thank you, big brother!"*"You're welcome. Don't get lost next time."*"Okay!"**"Then, farewell."*
And so the rescue quest concluded. As I watched the parent and child disappear into the Spirit Passage, a teleportation circle leading to the next floor materialized on the spot.
Naturally, this quest couldn't be repeated, so I obediently stepped into the circle and—
"The desert!? Seriously!?"
—yelled at the next area.