Valerian, The Legendary

286 Climb.

Valerian had not moved a single inch to climb the mountain. He was still struggling to deal with the partial soul inside his body. The young man was sweating profusely, and his mental composure was rattled already.

The prince was shivering profusely to retain control of his body. Finally, he said, ‘No matter how much you struggle, this is my body, and I will not let you have it your way.’

The partial soul was chanting curses and abusing Valerian, but nothing logical. This was a trait of the creature formed with incomplete thoughts and consciousness. Valerian understood this fact while he was arguing.

He raised his shivering left hand, and the palm landed on the cliff. The entire Throne Mountain resembled a monolith that stood perpendicular to the ground.

Valerian struggled to place his left hand on the mountain, but when he finished doing so, the struggle from the partial soul slowed down. The pressure was slightly lowered, and the young man let out a sigh of relief.

He was thinking of how to climb the mountain when a voice sounded, “You do not have to climb it vertically. It is impossible for a human. Of course, you can trek the path from your right, but that is more dangerous than the straight climb.”

Valerian knew this voice belonged to Fortuna, so while holding on to the cliff, he made his way to the path on his right. The pathway was a spiral trek running around the mountain leading to the summit.

The young man felt exhausted, and the trial had yet to begin, but instead of worrying about the future. Instead, he just focused on moving step by step toward the pathway. He did not care that trekking on the path was much more challenging than the mountain.

The young man stepped onto the trail, and at this moment, he sensed the partial soul hiding away from his active consciousness. First, Valerian kneeled on the ground and panted to catch his breath. Then, after a few minutes, when he was relaxed, he sensed a strange pressure coming from the mountain. Only then did he realize that the partial was hiding away from his consciousness and the other entity.

.....

Valerian caught his breath and then stood up from the ground to tread ahead. Each step he took made him realize that the pressure was increasing slightly. The hidden partial soul was getting restless. Finally, however, it could not control Valerian anymore.

The young man kept walking, and after climbing a few hundred meters, he found the wind harsher. It was prickling against his skin as if knives were being thrown at him to turn him into meat shreds.

Valerian tried to channel his mana but could not do so. Throne mountain barred all sot of mana. Even the air did not carry a hint of mana. So now, all he could rely on was his grit and will to climb the mountain.

...

On the summit, Arma said, “Looks like he found out the mystery of the mana.”

Gale nodded and said, “This is just the start. The pathway is not only a challenge to climb but also the prison holding death row inmates we captured over the ages. Also, do not forget that women from the eastern continent are also there.”

Fortuna said, “He must get past them on his way. Or he will not be able to get that partial soul out of himself.”

The rest of the people nodded, and Sophos said, “Nothing to worry about. Those things also suffer the same disadvantages as he does. However, I do not think that child will suffer defeat. Let him take his time to climb the mountain and discover the new him.”

...

Valerian was walking for a few hours when he saw a silhouette. He became alert. This place was not something open to visitors. He regained his focus and glanced at the profile. It turned out to be a burly figure.

Valerian approached the figure carefully and was surprised. He mumbled, “War orc.”

In front of him sat a creature with the body of a human and the head of a warthog. Hearing his whisper, the beast opened his eyes and looked at Valerian for a few moments before he smiled maniacally and said, “Did they catch you having fun as well?”

Valerian did not reply. He stood his ground and watched every action of the War Orc. He knew these creatures were blessed with terrific battling prowess and even more horrible healing quality. The only way to kill this thing was to loop off its head.

The war orc saw that Valerian was not replying to him. So, the creature stood up from the ground and revealed his complete physique. This guy wore a bone necklace around his thick neck and a loincloth to cover his body. The war orc smiled and said, “Why are you standing so far? Come close, and let me have a meal. You know these filthy lizards had not let me feed anything for the past half year.”

Valerian was surprised and asked, “What did you do to end up in this place?”

“I was going to challenge the leader of my tribe, but I was weak, so I found that if I ate my clansmen, I would become stronger. Hahahaha, I ate my wife and son, then my neighbor and his family. Finally, I became stronger and defeated the tribe leader. However, when I was about to eat that weakling, he called for a lizard to help. Humph, fucking crawlers.”, replied the War Orc.

Valerian nodded and said, “You must have been troubled by hunger and the pain from the destruction of your effort, right?”

The war orc nodded and said, “Since they let you climb this place, you must be strong, right? So come and let me eat you. I promise I will beat these reptiles back.”

Valerian smiled and nodded. He walked toward the beast and noticed the other party was not lax. The war orc stood with square shoulders, and his weight was shifted forward. This beast was not letting down his guard. He was ready to face any sneak attack.

Valerian stopped and asked, “Will you grant me a last wish?”

The war orc was surprised, but then he replied, “What is your last wish?”

Valerian said, “I would like to hold your hand.”

The war orc did not mind it. In his mind, as soon as the young man held his hand, he would drag him over, crush his bones, and eat him. This would make his work easy. He nodded and extended his hand to Valerian.

The young man held hands with the war orc and channeled the battle aura from his body inside the body of his enemy. The war orc was stunned, and then his body began to heat up. He tried to pull Valerian over, but his body was shivering. The young man had taken a gamble, which paid off in his favor. However, he did not know if the battle aura would affect this guy or if it would circulate.

Exploiting the window when the orc was stunned, Valerian formed a sword in his right hand and slashed it at the neck of the creature. However, the war orc was not to be underestimated. The creature resisted, and suddenly, he leaned back, making the cut on the neck shallow.

Valerian clicked his tongue when he saw the result. However, he did not give up, rushed toward the enemy, and began to slash at every part of exposed meat with two swords. The actions were quick, and the damage was significant.

This made the war orc move closer to the ledge, and Valerian did not let him go. He did not like bullies, and this beast confessed to consuming his family too. This was not to be forgiven. Valerian did not understand why the dragons kept such an abomination alive.

Valerian was a grandmaster. His strength was not weak. He won the contest by pushing over the ball of fat because the War Orc was immobile, and it had been underestimating Valerian. The beast fell off the ledge but did not let go of Valeria’s legs. Instead, he said, “You think you can defeat me or kill me like this, small human? You are a fool.”

Valerian glanced at the war orc with indifference as he watched the wounds on the body healing and the creature regaining strength. The War Orc caught onto the ledge and tried pulling himself up when Valerian stabbed him with a spear.

Then the spear morphed into a sword, and Valerian chopped off the hands of the beast. The War Orc fell off the ledge before he even had the time to let out a scream. The distance from the ground was at a thousand meters at least. Even with his regenerative abilities, the creature will not survive.

...

Fortuna sat up and said, “The climb begins now.”