Chapter 195
Over the Summit (I)
The weather luckily improved within a couple of hours, during which the young man never woke up.
As the blizzard settled down and the thick fog began to recede, we started our climb back up to the castle, the moods lifted. The kids chattered on about one thing or another while I kept glancing over at Long Tao and wondering precisely what new fresh hell he would take us to once we crossed the mountain.
... speaking of crossing the mountain.
There's no one dedicated path. Honestly, I thought there'd be a tunnel or at least a navigable road, but nope. No such thing. There are natural ways to cross, of course, but they involve climbing further up, about 650 yards to be precise, against the dreadful weather, insanely low temperatures, and God knows what else.
It is the path we'll have to choose, but goddamn, I ain't looking forward to it in the slightest.
It was midday by the ti we returned to the castle, and, boy, was it ever abuzz. As soon as the Blood Fiend collapsed, so did his Thrall--and, we were quickly ushered (well, Lilia and Zhu were quickly ushered; we just followed along) to the barracks, where we didn't find a recently 'deceased' corpse... but just a sludge of rot in a vaguely humanoid shape.
And it stank so badly that I retched and nearly belched my guts out; Xi Zhao, Dai Xiu, and even Wan Lan were unable to hold back, and they quickly rushed out and behind the barracks, where they did vomit their guts out.
Light rely frowned, strangely enough, while Long Tao looked as though he expected precisely this. Probably because he did.
"Hallowed Heavens," Zhu mumbled, deeply frowning too as he stepped over to the sludge. "No soul deserves this accursed existence."
"We'll bury him behind the pines," Lilia said. "And pray."
"Hm."
We didn't stick around, as, well, this looked rather personal to everyone involved. Despite rely being a husk, the Captain was quite respected by all those who lived here.
We returned to our little abode, which was when I finally handed over the gauntlets to Dai Xiu.
"... for, for ?" Her lips trembled as she stretched out her arms and took them, her eyes turning watery as she looked up, her chin folded downwards.
"Of course. Who else?" I said, smiling faintly.
The punch was rather abrupt. Well, it wasn't a punch--it was the force of a young girl slamming directly into my stomach as she hugged with the force of a damned bear.
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I held back a yelp as the shock straddled through --this was the first ti she hugged . I an, she wanted to many tis before, I could see it, but always managed to hold back. The gauntlets, I guess, were the fuel she lacked before.
To be honest, my heart was lting a bit; I reached out and hugged her back as she squeezed even harder. I don't know much about any of these kids, but I fear most have been starved for comforts like these, one way or another.
"--I-I'm sorry!" She pulled back as abruptly as she lunged at , her cheeks almost as red as her bloodshot eyes. "That, please forgive , Master! I will never do it again!"
"And deprive of the fantastic way to check how sturdy my ribs are? I don't think so." I said with a faint smile as her worried expression lted into one, too.
"Master has the sturdiest ribs ever!" she grinned. "Even if I hugged twice as hard, nothing would have happened!"
... yeah, no, I'm pretty sure my chest would explode.
"You like the gauntlets?" I asked.
"I love them! I will treasure them until the day I die!" I knew it was pointless to ntion anything here, so I moved on.
"Put them on, then, and let's see how they fit."
"Yes!"
The gauntlets themselves looked like... well, a pair of gauntlets. They seed to be made from so strange tal--it was both extrely sturdy yet strangely soft at the sa ti, seemingly malleable to external forces yet also impervious. That was sort of the essence of it, too--it 'folded' itself in such a way that it increased the striking force of every punch, further forging the aftereffects of the Law of Annihilation, but because of that make, it couldn't really 'defend', as it were.
So, she'd have to fight less like a boxer and more like... I don't know, a martial artist of so sort, I guess? Where she'd bob and weave more so than block and retaliate. I don't actually know how well that style would fit her, but I needed to give her sothing, and unlike Xi Zhao's art that I was still holding onto, it wouldn't alter the very nature of how she fought by force.
If she didn't like it, or if the style didn't fit her, I'd simply find her sothing new. Or, well, I'd pray the system found sothing new.
"Xi Zhao, let's fight!!" She challenged him imdiately as soon as she donned them; they were coated in a faint sheen of red, barely visible, smoky tendrils seeming to granularly shift across their edges.
Though he didn't seem particularly enthused, he got up, and the two left to the back of the building. I'd already forbidden them from using Qi to fight, so they mostly just executed techniques--not much changed, to be honest. Even with the sword, and without her gauntlets, Xi Zhao never managed to win a spar--whether they used Qi or not (especially if they used Qi).
Dai Xiu was just a touch faster than him, and donning gauntlets did little to alter any of that, especially since they were just sparring casually. She didn't use her Qi, and he didn't even take the sword out of its scabbard.
They stopped after a few minutes, with Dai Xiu appearing quite refreshed while Xi Zhao was pouting. One thing he 'had over her' was that I'd given him a weapon as a gift, and now that I've given her one, too... well, they'll figure it out.
When I was young, I was fiercely competitive too--any sport I'd try, I found it extrely bitter to suffer a loss. I cooled off, so hopefully, one day, they will too.
... hopefully.
As we all went back inside and were preparing to eat lunch, I heard a knock on the doors, and after inviting them in, saw Lilia, Zhu, and that young man walk through.
Now that he wasn't comatose and pale as a sheet of paper, he looked rather handso. No, seriously, it's like he walked out of a catalogue back on Earth.
"Ah, we were just about to have lunch; how about you join us and we have a chat?" The more the rrier, as Old Jova used to say. Except, every ti Yas and I went over and she had like 17 relatives, it turned into raw chaos. Entropy at its most basic.
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