Jack slowly lowered himself further until his head was also below the elevation of the horizontal ceiling. He then let go of one hand to search for a grip on that horizontal ceiling, his entire weight was now being held by only the hand that was holding the ice axe.
After securing a sturdy handhold. He pulled his ice axe out from the wall. He decided to store it. He felt that it was easier maneuvering this ceiling with his two hands. He moved from one grip to another, his two legs dangling in the air. He remembered someone told him this move was called campusing. It's a good thing his strength stat was extremely high, relying only on his two hands to hold his body weight was not a problem then.
As he got the hang of it, he increased his campusing speed. The vertical wall was just a few meters ahead. Once he reached that wall, he could resume his down climbing.
Suddenly, the rock that he grabbed with his left hand crumbled. Losing one grip caused his whole body to jerk down, pulled by gravity. He immediately tightened his right hand's grip. However, he was a bit late. The sudden pull downward caused his right hand's fingers to slip a bit as well, leaving only the outer part of his middle and ring fingers still holding onto the rock protrusion. He was now practically hanging on with just two fingers.
"Shit! Shit! F*ck! F*ck!" He cursed incoherently as he tried to maintain his grip. His eyes darted to the rock that had crumbled. It was not the white stone that had marked this trial pathway. It was a similarly white color rock, but a more fragile one. In his haste, he had mistaken it for the white stone handhold.
"Grrhh…" He tried using his strength to pull himself up with only the two fingers, but the exertion instead caused his fingers to slide even more. He was now only hanging by his fingertips!
Peniel flew over to that hand and tried to help by pulling up, but she was too small. She could hardly help.
Jack's fingers slowly shifted.
"Fu… Goddamnit! Goddamniiittt….!!!" He screamed as his fingers finally relented. He was now freefalling.
He fell straight down. It was a long fall. He looked at the vertical cliff in front of him. It was just a few meters away. If only he could reach it and used his sword to stab into the wall. He took out his Storm Breaker and thrust. No, too far!
"Damn it! Why is that cliff so straight!" He cursed and looked down. The cliff was straight all the way down.
"Calm down! Think… think…," He said to himself.
Suddenly he thought of something. He took out his magic staff this time. Spell formation was quickly completed and his body started slowing down until a stop.
Jack had cast the Float spell.
"What now?" Peniel asked.
Jack was unsure as well. The float spell only allowed him to move in an up and down direction. He couldn't float himself towards the wall.
"We go down!" Jack finally said and willed his body to go down.
Due to the Float spell, his descent was not as fast as when he was freefalling. He looked towards the ground far below.
"Crap, the ground is still be too far when this spell runs out of its duration," Jack said. His Float spell was at level 4. It lasted only one minute.
"Wait! I have three free archmage skill points from leveling up just now, I can use them on the spell to increase the duration," Jack said.
But before he did it, Peniel stopped him. "No use," she said. "You have already cast the spell. Even if you level it up now, it will still be at the level when you cast it."
"Darn!" Jack was depressed. "Should have cast this spell when the ground is close. That way, I can land safely."
"Yeah, perhaps you should have done that," Peniel said.
Jack calmed himself. It was done, he couldn't dwell on a past mistake. He had to think of another way.
After a while, he thought of another idea again, but he was not sure if it could work. Still, trying it was better than doing nothing. He willed his Float spell to stop his body in the middle of the air, he then started casting another spell. Five runes were formed.
Peniel recognized the spell formation. "Myriad Ensnaring Chains? What use is that spell in this situation?" She asked.
Jack didn't explain. He cast the completed spell on the wall before him. Thirteen crimson chains appeared on the vertical wall. But since there was no opponent, the chains were just dangling from the wall without moving.
"Oh, you want to try to grab them to pull yourself to the wall!" Peniel realized what Jack was trying to do as she saw him extend his hands trying to grab one of those chains.
However, the chains were still a few feet away. If only the chains extended themselves out, Jack would be able to grab them.
Peniel flew over and tried to push one of the chains towards Jack, but it didn't budge. She was too weak to affect the chain.
"Bloody hell… Will this fail as well? Think… Is there any other way…?" Jack said to himself. His Float spell's duration was ticking every second. His Myriad Ensnaring Chains also didn't last long. He couldn't afford the luxury to think too long.
The thought of his grandfather using the Ki Strike came back to him.
It didn't take long for him to decide to give it a try. "It's do or die!" He exclaimed and shut his eyes.
"What dies?" Peniel was confused by Jack's exclamation. Seeing Jack close his eyes, she was worried that Jack had given up. "Hey, don't give up!" Peniel shouted as she again try to push the chain with all her might.
Jack didn't hear Peniel's words. He was currently fully concentrated. He focused all his attention to sense the mana before him. The mana of his Myriad Ensnaring Chains. He sensed every strand of the mana in the chains, every strand in their links. Time seemed to stand still as his sense delved deeper and deeper into the chains' parts.
Similar to when he was practicing mana manipulation, it was easier if he started small. He tried to inject his will into that smallest part of the chain. He tried to guide the mana that composed that one link. Once he felt his control take hold of that link, he moved on to the next link, and the next. Slowly, he felt his mental influence on a section of the chain growing. He then manipulated that section to move towards him.
Peniel was still pushing as hard as she could, but the chain just won't budge. "Stupid chain! Are you going to let your master fall to his death?"
Suddenly, the chain started shifting. Eh? She had tried pushing with all her might with no result, but it instead moved when she scolded it?
It was ridiculous, but at this stage, she was willing to try anything. So, she scolded some more, "You useless piece of dysfunctional chains! How about you try to be useful for once? You better move now or I will turn you into scrap metal!"
The chain moved again.
It's working! Peniel exclaimed in her mind. So, she doubled her effort with more passionate scoldings.
The chain moved slowly with her every threat and chiding. Until finally, it was close enough for Jack's extended hand. Jack's hand immediately grabbed onto the chain. He opened his eyes and used his two hands to pull himself using the chain towards the wall.
The Myriad Ensnaring Chains' duration finally ended, so as his Float spell. The chains disappeared and Jack started falling again. However, he was close enough to the wall now. The ice axe Paytowin had given him reappeared in his hand. He swung the axe and struck the wall. He was now hanging while holding that ice axe.
He exhaled a long relieved breath. "Phew, that was close," he said.
"Yeah, you should thank me. It was all due to my quick wit. I never thought a spell can be afraid of my scoldings," Peniel said.
"The hell are you talking about?" Jack had no idea what she meant.
After taking a few short breaths to rest, Jack resumed his down climbing. He was more mindful of the handholds now, making sure he didn't grip the wrong one again.
The descent continued for quite some while. They were not kidding when they said this Mount Audacias was the tallest mountain in the Hydrudond country. After several hours of exhausting down climbing, Jack finally reached a part of the mountain where he could travel with his feet instead of climbing.
He rested there as he looked around. "We are not yet at the foot of the mountain?" He asked Peniel.
"No, we are only halfway. However, from here on, you can walk," Peniel answered. "There are monsters, though, starting from this part. So don't let your guard down."
"I prefer monsters than all that down climbing," Jack uttered.
