Chapter 60: Climbing up [2]
The mountain wall was about 20 meters away from me, which was quite far but not impossible to reach.
I walked back inside the cave and then came running back out, almost jumping over but quickly stopped, causing me to almost fall.
"Not enough momentum." I shook my head and walked back further into the cave.
"I fucking hate heights." I cursed.
I assumed that I was now at a proper distance, so I let mana run wildly through my legs and then burst forward with speed. I ran as fast as I could and once I reached the edge of the cave, I jumped as high as I could.
I tore through the air with astonishing speed and not even once did I dare to look down.
As I approached the wall, my dark gloves took shape and covered my hands while spikes formed under and on the sides of the soles of my boots. Since the speed I had jumped with was too fast and I couldn’t decrease the momentum mid-air, long tentacles came out of my back and thrust forward, piercing the wall, stopping me from getting squashed against the mountain.
I pulled myself forward with the tentacles, then slammed my sharp nails into the wall and kicked my boots’ spikes against it. Once I was sure that I was secure enough and wouldn’t fall, I let the tentacles crumble and started climbing up, fast but steady.
"How far until we reach the top?" I asked as I pierced my left hand’s nails into the wall.
’200 meters left until we reach the surface...so it would take about an hour at the speed you’re climbing.’
That wasn’t too long, but I could shorten that time.
"Let’s make it ten minutes."
I stopped climbing and pulled my right hand off the wall and at my will, a long black spear formed in it. I stabbed the spear right above me, deep enough to hold.
After that I let go of the wall and grabbed the shaft of the spear. I started moving my body back and forward until I was swinging. When I got enough momentum, I swung myself up and let go of the spear — I flew up in the air and covered about 10 meters.
Just before my momentum stopped and gravity pulled me down, another spear formed in my hand and I stabbed it above me, stopping me from falling.
’You are quite smart sometimes.’ Ezio commented.
"Huh, what do you mean by ’sometimes’? I’m smart every time."
I climbed on top of the spear and formed another spear in my hand and stabbed it into the wall above me. I grabbed the spear and swung myself up again and stabbed another spear to stop my momentum.
However, this time I just climbed on top of the spear but didn’t swing again because I suddenly felt like I was being stared at by something. I looked up and stared at what was staring at me.
I saw my figure being reflected in its yellow vertical slit irises. At that moment I jumped to the side and what I was staring at snapped its jaws at where my head had been seconds ago.
I spread my mana and created a platform of darkness that jutted from the wall and landed on it.
I looked up again to see what had attacked me but there was nothing above me. But even if I couldn’t see it, I knew what it was and I could feel its presence — better say, their presence.
It didn’t take long for something to enter my senses and lunge at me from my left side. I turned around, swung my body and kicked it in the mouth, making the creature hiss in pain and fall down to its doom.
The sound of the creature hitting the river below echoed. That must have been really painful because falling from this height and hitting the water would feel like hitting a wall.
[You have slain a Common Low Beast, Grey Gecko]
My senses drew the creature in my head — it was 1.3 meters long, had four legs with a long tail and a head with a mouth full of sharp razor teeth.
The geckos were the same colour as the mountain wall, which gave them really good camouflage.
Let’s not talk about how I was staring face to face with one earlier that almost got my face bitten off.
’There are about ten of them, two below you and three above. The other five are far up.’ Ezio said their numbers.
I wanted as much as possible to avoid fighting in this condition but there was only one way up.
One of the geckos moved so fast that its jaws were already closing round my right shoulder, however, I covered my body with my armor just in time to avoid getting my shoulder ripped off.
I could feel the bite strength of the gecko on my shoulder, its jaws were strong but didn’t pierce through my armor.
It was the beast’s mistake for trying to bite me. A spike erupted from my armor and pierced through the gecko’s mouth and its brain, killing it instantly.
[You have slain a Common Low Beast, Grey Gecko]
The gecko’s jaws around my shoulder went loose and the gecko fell down.
The other geckos didn’t stop at the sight of their falling member and attacked me from all angles.
I dodged an attack from below by climbing to the side but then I was not fast enough to dodge a gecko’s whipping tail that hit my side and sent me flying sideways. I stopped myself from falling by piercing my nails against the wall again.
The geckos came at me again with their mouths open, showing their razor-sharp teeth, and they moved so fast on the walls that it was difficult to try and escape them — this was their natural territory after all.
So I let go of the wall, causing me to fall, but I stopped myself from falling by landing on the back of a gecko below me. My sharp nails pierced the beast’s back, drawing blood and making it thrash around with hisses in an attempt to push me off, but I didn’t budge.
I only moved when the second gecko from below tried to bite me. So I jumped from the gecko’s back and the attack missed me and landed on the other gecko. The gecko hissed in pain and attacked the one that had just bitten its back. They both forgot me and started fighting.
That’s right, that guy bit you, not me.
I spread my mana until it was under them and then two spikes rose from below them and pierced them both in the stomach, coming out of their backs.
[You have slain a Common Low Beast, Grey Gecko]
[You have slain a Common Low Beast, Grey Gecko]
The spikes crumbled and they fell down, while the remaining two geckos stood still, hesitating. After all, I had just killed 4 of their companions easily.
I could feel fear coming from them, so I activated [Emotion Manipulator] and intensified it.
Their bodies started trembling as fear took over them and they couldn’t move a single inch. That made it easier to kill them. I spread my mana over them and then pierced their bodies with spikes and they fell down.
[You have slain a Common Low Beast, Grey Gecko]
[You have slain a Common Low Beast, Grey Gecko]
Everything had gone well so far but there was a little tiny problem.