Chapter 256 Volume IV - Chapter 101: Sky Piercing Mountain
The day before the mission, our team of eleven met in a large hall to discuss the mission and get to know each other.
The person chosen as the mission leader was a first sergeant. His name was Harhan, he had light brown hair and jet-black eyes. He was in his thirties, yet he had a stern old face as if life had taken much from him. He had no beard, a rarity for a dwarf.
The others... frankly, they are not very important, at least not to me.
The mission we are going on is of no importance to me. It won't make any difference to me whether I succeed or not. Of course, if I fail, my reputation will suffer a little bit, but... that's it.
What matters is my own 'mission' in my own mind.
And no matter how safe and risk-free this mission might be for the North Holar, it's not for me. Because I am different from the others on this mission.
I am the only one here who belongs to a different race than the 'dwarves'. They don't have access to mana with their own bodies, but I do. That is why this mission is so much more dangerous and important for me than for them.
Of course, I am the only one who knows this.
Nevertheless, I tried to suppress my excitement and nervousness and focused on what was ahead.
Everyone in the eleven-person team introduced themselves, this part was quite short. Then came the really important stuff - what exactly we were going to do on the mission in detail.
The South Holar were so afraid of the creature they believed lived inside this mountain that they wouldn't let anyone get close to it. So there were always soldiers patrolling around the mountain, and if some fool decided to approach it, they would either drive them away or kill them outright.
Of course, also because of the threat of this mountain, the soldiers there were not strong or numerous. A base had been set up not far from the mountain, though, just for the purpose of conducting these patrols.
This was one of the two 'risky' parts of the mission.
We were to be divided into two teams of seven and four. The first team, the seven-man team, was to attack this base. Their aim was to make it look as if this was a large-scale attack on the base, to attract the attention of most, if not all, of the soldiers around the mountain, and to reduce security.
Meanwhile, the team of four, including myself, would secretly infiltrate a cave known to run deep into the mountain.
That was the mission in a nutshell.
"Any questions?"
First Sergeant Harhan looked at the ten people lined up in front of him, one by one. Yet not a single sound came from anyone, an intense silence filled the hall. Finally, Harhan let out a deep sigh.
"Good, now let's go over the plan again."
With that, he again opened the holographic map he had used to explain the plan to us. This time he began to explain the plan in more detail and in a more descriptive way.
Although I hadn't paid much attention before, this time I focused on him. Having information about the mission wasn't a bad thing, after all.
*******
When I was in the aircraft that would take us to our mission, I didn't think much. I was relaxed and calm as we were heading toward our destination.
And yet... that was when I realized something.
I thought about what I've been going through lately, and I realized how... sudden, and fast the events of the last month have happened compared to what I've been going through so far.
Before I know it, it's the end of the day and the beginning of the next day. It's been almost three days since it was announced that I was going on this mission, but... it's as if I experienced it just a few hours ago.
Am I getting used to my situation, to my environment? Has my perception of time been distorted by going from place to place as a soldier, constantly being in and out of battles...?
I let out a deep sigh and shook my head slightly from side to side.
I will make sure that this war ends soon, at least two months, if possible one month. In that time this war must end... will end.
In the meantime, I will do my best to ensure the dwarves are in my debt.
"We're approachin' the mountain, get ready!"
First Sergeant Harhan's voice echoed through the room, and everyone stood up. I stood up too, even if I was a little slow compared to them.
Everyone checked their armor one last time, put on their helmets, and made sure there was nothing wrong with the system. I did the same thing. The only difference was that I had a rifle in addition to the one I checked.
I picked up my rifle, and no matter how many times I had checked to make sure there were no problems with the energy flow, I looked again, just in case. It was at this moment that I heard a voice from behind me.
"Hey, Aiden."
I saw a familiar face.
"Ah, Gurdas? Is something wrong?"
Gurdas looked at me with Durvan behind him. Then he smiled, put his hand on my shoulder, and patted it hard.
"Ye seem a bit more distracted than usual. Buck up and gather yerself."
Distracted?
I hesitated for a moment, my eyebrows raised, but then I realized.
I am distracted... and I don't even realize it. I didn't... expect this.
Have I not prepared myself as well as I thought for this mission, for my own 'mission'?
No, that's not the problem.
I'm trying not to be nervous, not to get excited, maybe I'm stepping into a place where I'm going to come closest to death after Ezareth left me to die, so I need to make sure that everything is going as it should and... so I do.
Is there a problem because I'm pushing myself so much?
I closed my eyes briefly, took a deep breath into my lungs, and let it out slowly. I tried to think of other things for a moment, like what I would do when I got back to Cevilian...
I had good plans for the future. There was a lot I wanted to do, especially after I finished my work here.
After only a few seconds, I opened my eyes, finally sighed deeply, and smiled slightly at Gurdas and Durvan.
"I'm sorry, I just had something on my mind. Thanks for the warning."
Gurdas took his hand off my shoulder, finally stepped back, and hung his one-handed axe around his waist as he kept a smile on his face.
"We're on the same team, we're going into that mountain together. I don't want ye bein' this scattered in there neither."
I slipped my rifle into my ring and widened my smile as I looked at Gurdas' worried face.
"Okay."
I paused for a moment, thinking about Gurdas and Durvan coming directly to me, warning me in a worried way and smiling like that.
I realized something else, I took another deep breath in and out again, unable to keep the smile off my face.
Sometimes I realize I am not alone. I find people who are trying to help me. And these moments... they feel good.
If I didn't have Gurdas, Durvan, and Rulhan... if I didn't have people like them to talk to, to commiserate with, to try to help me every time I leave the battlefield... where would I be as a soldier right now?
I don't think I want to know the answer to that.
*******
A few minutes after the checks, everyone was finally ready. The aircraft continued to approach its target without pause.
Finally, after a while, it reached the place where it would land us. As we landed, First Sergeant Harhan put us back in line. Under his leadership, with all our weapons and armor on, the aircraft suddenly stopped moving. The door of the aircraft, which led to the outside, slowly opened.
First the sunlight poured in, and then the autumn winds hit us in the face, even though it was April because we were in the southern part of the planet.
Like much of the Holar continent, we were in a hilly area, forested and elevated. The trees were much taller and denser where we landed than elsewhere. Yet the aircraft didn't seem to care much. It had damaged the environment, knocked down a few trees, but it had successfully gotten us to our destination.
I squinted slightly, looking between the beams of light at the majestic mountain, the most prominent of the high peaks in the distance, but to us, it seemed the furthest away.
The mountain covered quite a large area of land, although it had extremely steep slopes. At the same time, it was almost two kilometers tall relative to sea level. It was not one of the tallest mountains on the continent. In fact, it was quite short, but it was certainly one of the most majestic. Its pointed top, which seemed to be reaching for the clouds, with the sky behind it, was a breathtaking sight.
An ancient creature had made a nest in it, and it also contained a great deal of virgonium in its depths. On top of all that... what I wanted was there. Not just me, but something that everyone in this world would want to have if they knew it existed.
I took one last look at the spectacular mountain, then turned with a sigh and looked back, this time at the aircraft that had dropped us here.
Its camouflage system was still working, surrounded by a strange layer of mana. This layer prevented it from being seen by anyone and detected by any system. Even though I had just stepped out of it, when I looked back at it, what I saw was simply emptiness.
The only reason I knew it was there was because the open door allowed me to see through it.
"As we've already decided, we be dividin' into teams right here!"
I narrowed my eyes as First Sergeant Harhan's booming voice echoed in my ears, finally tearing them away from the aircraft behind me and turning them in front of me.
The time had come...
Harhan divided everyone into two teams of seven and four, as predetermined. The group of four included me, Gurdas, and two dwarves I did not recognize. Rulhan and Durvan were in the group of seven, who would be a distraction while we explored the mountain.
"Here we go. Move slowly, gettin' closer to the mountain. Do yer business while we draw attention to ourselves."
The ten men in front of First Sergeant Harhan shouted at the same time with great determination.
"Understood!"
So our group of four dived into the trees, while the other group moved off to create chaos. This is how we started to get closer and closer toward the gigantic mountain.
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