Former Ranker's Newbie Life

Chapter 119

The longer they walked, the colder it got. The higher altitude alone was enough to drop the temperature, but with the sun going down, the air grew even harsher.

Stick around any longer and it won’t be frostbite that does it. I’ll freeze to death first.

Just as the thought had crossed Do-Jin’s mind, Maglo spoke up, “If we keep walking, it’ll end badly. Let’s stop for the night over there. In mountains like this, you’ve got to know when to stop at a spot that’s flat enough. Start thinking ‘just a little farther’ and you’ll never know when another decent place to rest will show up.”

The middle-aged dwarf worked his short legs hard, jogging ahead to the flat space he’d pointed out. Do-Jin almost walked past without noticing, but of course a man born in the mountains would spot it.

“The wind’s brutal.” Do-Jin grimaced as freezing gusts slapped across his face.

Maglo chuckled. “I think it’s better that we start setting up before it gets worse.”

Do-Jin lifted the snow with Psychokinesis, shaping it into blocks like bricks.

“Oh, damn. Magic really is convenient.” Maglo had been ready to sneer if Do-Jin pulled out some flimsy little tent, but the neat blocks piling up faster than he could ever cut them left him impressed instead. “Alright, it’s time to show off a little.”

He began stacking the ice bricks Do-Jin had made. Whenever one needed trimming or reshaping, he went at it with a hand axe, carving each piece smooth. The precision of the work made it obvious he was a dwarf through and through. With a mage providing steady support, a proper igloo took shape in no time.

“Hey, can you melt the surface for me? Just enough to seal it.”

“That was my plan,” Do-Jin said, heating the outer layer with magic just enough to soften it. The snow hardened instantly into solid ice, turning the igloo into something far sturdier than loose snow could ever be.

“You’ve spent time in cold places before, haven’t you?”

“There aren’t many environments I haven’t had to deal with.”

“Shit, wrestling with all this snow’s got me sweating. Makes me feel even colder. Let’s get inside before we freeze our asses off.”

Maglo crawled through the narrow opening first, and Do-Jin followed behind. The inside was surprisingly spacious, built wide with the intention of making the place as comfortable as possible.

“Ahh, that’s better.”

“We should get a fire going.” Maglo peeled off his gloves and rubbed his hands together. He dug into his pack, pulled out dry wood shavings, and piled them in the center.

After crawling in behind him, Do-Jin snapped his fingers and cast Ignite, coaxing a small fire to life. Together, they spread bedding across the floor, rolled out their sleeping bags, and settled in for the night.

“The wind’s picking up outside,” said the dwarf, warming his hands by the fire. “Good. It means we’ll get a blizzard. When the snow’s howling like that, the monsters tend to settle down. We’ll be able to sleep in peace.”

Only in a world like this could a raging mountain blizzard be considered good luck.

“Let’s eat fast and sleep faster.” Being a dwarf, Maglo wasn’t satisfied with how the last two meals had been nothing but jerky scraps and a few biscuits. His kind needed real food. From his pack, he pulled out sausages, cheese, bacon rolled into neat bundles, and a hefty slab of smoked ham.

Do-Jin raised a brow as a bottle clinked onto the snow. “You even brought liquor?”

Maglo looked at him like he’d just said something stupid. “Of course. You don’t leave the house without a bottle.”

“That’s not normal. At least not in human lands.”

“Tsk, tsk. That’s why humans barely make it past a hundred years. Look at us. We get 500 easy.”

Do-Jin shut his mouth, too dumbfounded to bother with a retort.

***

The next day, Do-Jin summoned Anemone to travel with him. The snow-covered mountains were too beautiful to keep to himself. Maglo quickly cobbled together a pair of snowshoes for her.

“This is my first time in a place so cold and white!”

Anemone turned her head this way and that, marveling not just at the snow but at the icy air itself. Before anyone could stop her, she scooped up a handful of snow and swallowed it.

“It’s cold!” she shouted as if having just made some great discovery.

Her excitement brought a smile to Do-Jin’s face. “You fool, don’t eat too much of that, otherwise your stomach will give out.” Even Maglo, who had flinched at her presence when they first met, had warmed up to her within just a few hours.

“Stomachache? I don’t get things like that.”

“Really? I guess being a spirit means you don’t have to worry about that, even if you look like a wolf.”

“By the way, why are you so short?” Anemone asked, turning to the dwarf. “Your face looks old, but your body’s small, like a kid.”

“Hmph. For my people, I’m considered tall.”

“Liar.”

“It’s the truth, damn it.”

Do-Jin was walking, listening to the two bicker like children despite their difference in race and age, when a deep, heavy cry rumbled out from beyond the curtain of snow blowing in the wind.

“Y-Yetis!” Maglo’s face tightened as he grabbed the axe at his waist.

“I’ll handle this,” Do-Jin interrupted.

He and Anemone surged forward before Maglo could make a move. The veil of snow thinned, and their enemies came into view. The two Yetis, each covered head to toe in fur, were easily three to four meters tall.

“Anemone, just keep their eyes on you for a moment.”

“Leave it to me.”

The makeshift snowshoes shattered under the strain, but her feet didn’t sink. With Spirit Power surging through her, she raced across the snow without breaking stride. In an instant she closed the distance, and the Yetis’ killing intent locked onto her. Both of them swung their massive fists at her at once. Anemone darted around them, keeping just the right distance, circling in wide arcs to draw their attention.

Meanwhile, Do-Jin was already deep in his casting. Lightning, the most unruly force after light and darkness, surged together, condensed into the shape of a spear that hummed in his grip. Ordinary lightning spells bled their power too quickly, scattering before they could bite, but Lightning Spear held the charge tight, forcing it into a weapon built to pierce.

Sparks spat and cracked along its length, the pale light washing over Do-Jin’s face as he whipped his arm and let it fly. The spear burst forward in a blinding flash of blue, tearing across the snow before slamming into the Yeti with a thunderous crack. The beast seized up, body locking rigid, before it toppled backward in a crash.

In terms of raw power against a single target, this spell is up there with the best of Tier 5 magic. And it crits on top of that.

The outcome of the spell was either instant death or a target left twitching on the ground. With the added elemental advantage this time, the Yeti died in a single, clean shot. The other Yeti chasing after Anemone froze and glanced back at its fallen kin. It all happened too fast for the dumb beast to process what had just gone down.

That was when an ice spike burst from the ground and shattered its knee joint. The monster collapsed with a heavy thud, one hand digging into the snow for support, only for Anemone to lunge in and sink her teeth into its throat before darting back out of range. Do-Jin followed up with a volley of spells, hammering the crippled beast until it joined its friend in death.

Fuck, Tier 5 magic burns through mana like crazy.

The cost wasn’t just mana, either. His circuits were overheating more than usual. Do-Jin pulled out a Mana Cigarette, lighting it up to stabilize himself in case more fighting broke out.

Having finally caught up to the two, Maglo blurted out in disbelief, “How can you take down two Yetis like it’s nothing? Are all Rank 7 adventurers complete monsters?”

“No, they’re not all like this,” Do-Jin replied.

But the dwarf hadn’t bothered waiting for the answer. He’d already rushed forward, eager to check out the corpses for himself.

Do-Jin walked after him, adding a warning, “The fact that Yetis showed up here means this area is part of their territory. If we hang around too long, we’ll run into more of them.”

Something about Maglo’s posture felt wrong. He wasn’t gawking at the dead Yetis anymore. He stood stiff as a board, eyes locked on something else entirely. Do-Jin closed in fast to see what had him spooked.

What the hell is that...?

There was a sunken pit, and protruding from the snow was a hand with short, thick fingers frozen stiff. It was unmistakably a dwarf’s. Maglo scrambled down into the pit, clawing away the snow in a frenzy. Do-Jin joined him. There was no way the owner of that frozen hand had survived, but walking past without checking was not an option.

The deeper they dug, the worse it got. It wasn’t just one body. The pit was full of them. Some corpses were intact, others mangled beyond recognition, but there was no mistaking that dozens of dwarves had been dumped here.

Maglo’s face became ghost-white. The dwarf who hadn’t shivered once through the entire blizzard was now trembling violently.

“Maglo...” Do-Jin called out quietly.

But the dwarf did not answer. He stared at the pile of frozen bodies for a long moment, then shot to his feet.

“We need to move. I have to see it with my own eyes.”

Do-Jin didn’t say anything more. He simply followed. Anemone was dismissed back into her realm. The heavy atmosphere was suffocating her, and with her snowshoes broken she’d sink into the drifts anyway.

Also, I need to save mana...

From there, Do-Jin and Maglo marched on in grim silence. There were no words exchanged, only the crunch of boots on snow. They crossed ridgelines, clung to narrow ledges carved into cliffs, and kept moving for three days straight. At last, they came upon a massive hole bored into the ice.

“If we climb down through here, we’ll come out in my village.”

“Climb down? You mean slide, not fall?”

“What choice do we have? I told you before. The cave route is the only real path in. And going down is still better than trying to claw your way up.”

Do-Jin peered into the steep shaft. One slip and they’d be tumbling hundreds of meters, ending up as nothing but tenderized meat. This was the easy option as well. The alternative was the sheer cliff wall opposite them, as if some god had sliced the mountain clean in half with a sword.

It would’ve been a lot easier if I’d leveled up before coming here.

If he was a tier higher, terrain like this wouldn’t be half the problem. At Tier 5, there was still plenty he had to muscle through with grit alone. Still, this was the final hurdle, and it was time to push through. Do-Jin lowered his stance, bracing himself. There was no way he could simply walk down this slope. It was far too steep for that.

***

The ice shaft opened into an enormous cave. On the way down, Do-Jin had wondered why anyone would settle in a place like this. But once his boots hit the ground, it made sense. Unlike the snowbound peaks above, the underground cave was warm. Luminous minerals embedded in the walls glowed on their own, bright enough to light the place like natural lanterns.

“It’s the geothermal heat. Keeps the whole cavern warm,” Maglo explained as they walked. “Plus, hot springs bubble up all over the place. Makes it more than livable.”

Spotting a massive boulder, the dwarf broke into a run. His short legs pumped furiously until he rounded it. Beyond the rock, the view opened wide. Steel Peak, the dwarven village, stretched out before them.

“What the hell. Why is everyone like that?” Maglo mumbled.

Do-Jin had already had his suspicions, ever since they’d stumbled across those dwarf corpses on the mountain. Something terrible must’ve happened here.

That grim guess turned out to be right. Maglo’s home, the stronghold of the Steel Peak Dwarves, looked half-dead. Gaunt dwarves shuffled about like ghosts, repeating the same mindless labor over and over. It wasn’t a village anymore, but a prison camp.