Chapter 135 - Rolling Off the Cliff!
Chapter 135: Rolling Off the Cliff!
On Frostsnow Island.
On the snowy white gigantic peak that towered into the sky, a mountain pathway that was less than five meters wide wound all around the mountain all the way up like a giant snake.
There was no cavern below the peak of the snowy mountain, nor was there a “monster square” that was similar to the small snowy valley. That made Qin Ruo, who had predicted and assumed, to feel a little strange. Fortunately, there was no one around or the others would have laughed and made fun of him.
After wasting half an hour exploring and familiarizing himself with Frostsnow Island, making sure that there was no sign of any Yeti and Ice Python around, Qin Ruo was forced to set foot on the only path that would eventually lead to the top of the snowy mountain. The small mountain path was filled with freezing winds.
After walking a short distance, Qin Ruo moved over to the side of the cliff and cautiously took a quick glance down from the peak.
Before he could look down, with a vision filled with white snow and the feeling that his line of sight was falling, a dizziness came over him. Qin Ruo was deeply terrified that he quickly retreated.
‘Phew… if anyone falls from here, that person would surely be as good as dead. If I could just go a little further up…’
“Definitely no more.”
Qin Ruo smiled bitterly and quietly predicted whatever possible situation that might arise during the second segment of the quest.
If he did not guess wrong, the Yetis should be just ahead on this narrow icy pathway. Even though the terrain of the icy pathway could be used to limit the number of Yeti he had to fight at a time, he still considered the threats that may be present—there was no sign of anything that could act as his safety net. If he got pushed off the cliff or if he lost his footing, it would be like a serious high altitude suicide.
As expected.
Walking along the mountain pathway for a few minutes, Qin Ruo had finally discovered the shadows of the Yetis within the effective range of his Elemental Perception: Water just as his MP was about to run dry.
Two gigantic Yetis that were three meters tall, with a thick layer of long white fur all over their bodies, stood on the other mountain path, halfway up the mountain like two door gods. Qin Ruo had to take a turn at the junction in front of him before he ran into them.
Noticing that the Yetis did not seem to know that they were being watched by someone, the anxiety and nervousness that Qin Ruo previously felt had calmed down quite a bit now. He held his breath and walked about ten meters forward. He gradually moved into a closer range behind the two Yetis.
Even though they were Yetis, they were behaving extremely cautious in this perilous environment. On the narrow path of the snowy mountain peak, there were more Yetis behind those two Yetis that Qin Ruo had discovered. They were lined up, two of them side by side in each row as they blocked the mountain pathway. Each row was approximately five meters apart from each other. They looked just like a small army of Yetis strictly guarding the mountain path that gradually leads to the peak of the snowy mountain.
Qin Ruo took another closer look at every part of the Yeti’s body. He even looked at “certain” parts of the Yetis. Unfortunately, other than their heads, the entire body of the Yetis were completely covered in a thick layer of white fur. He could not find any weaker spots to attack. Their ankles were as sharp as blades while their feet were sunken into the ice and snow, gripping the ground tightly.
As for the Yetis’ heads, Qin Ruo did not dare to imagine. While he was back in the Snow Domain, he had heard rumors that one must never touch the head of a Yeti. Never. Not only were those things as tough as steel, touching their heads would also possibly trigger the anger of the Yetis.
Once the Yetis entered their Berserk mode, their Attack and Speed would increase tremendously. In the past, many players who did not know had launched their attacks at the Yetis’ heads in the Snow Domain. Because of that, they ended up fleeing from the giant gorilla creatures that went Berserk and went after them with projectiles of gigantic snowballs.
Qin Ruo was not stupid to repeat the same mistakes those players did in this circumstance because he knew that it was completely possible that a Yeti that had gone berserk would tank against his attacks in a one on one combat and kick him straight off the cliff. Qin Ruo was not going to taint this beautiful scenery with his blood.
After some thinking, Qin Ruo deactivated his Aquamorph, sat down and started meditating.
***
When his MP was fully recovered, Qin Ruo had been revising a few strategies to handle those Yetis. Everything that he came up with had a lot to do with the terrain in this area. But it remained unclear as to whether he would succeed or not. After all, the specific Attributes of the Yetis were still unclear to Qin Ruo, His knowledge about the Yeti was limited to word descriptions and whatever he could find on the forums. He did not understand the Yeti as much as he understood the Snow Wolves.
Cautiously casting his Aquabarrier and Aquashield, Qin Ruo got around the mountainside and quietly stuck his head out to let the two Yetis in front see him.
That was his first plan. He wanted to lure the Yetis batch by batch where he could take on two of them at a time.
However, the depressing thing was that, the moment he revealed himself to the Yeti, the eyes of the one that saw him widened and then it wailed. A gigantic snowball with a diameter of one meter appeared out of nowhere in its right hand. Qin Ruo felt a chill down his spine when he saw what happened. He panicked and went back to hiding.
Whoosh!
* *
The gigantic snowball came with a piercing cold wind as it brushed pass the tip of Qin Ruo’s nose and pass him as it continued its journey toward somewhere behind Qin Ruo. Qin Ruo’s eyes followed the movement of the flying snowball.
Boom!
The moment he turned over, he was almost scared to death. With a loud bang, the giant snowball suddenly exploded in midair behind him like a firework. The high impact that was mixed with heavy ice and snow came at him like a strong current of air blowing his face.
‘F*ck! That was really bizarre. One goddamn monkey has such intelligence!’ Needless to say, its arm strength was so impressive that could make such an ice explosion.
“Ice!”
Without even the slightest negligence, Qin Ruo quickly moved backward a little, rapidly followed by the emergence of a Frostrampart of two meters wide from the ground. All the solid ice shards that were shot out from the explosion hit the surface of the Frostramparts.
AoE Attacks usually did not carry very powerful penetrative effect. Only some of the ice shards that were very solid were able to penetrate through the Frostrampart, leaving a few small holes in the Frostramparts and hitting the Aquabarrier behind it. But then again, the amount of damage dealt was so low that it could almost be overlooked.
Even though Qin Ruo was not able to block that wave of attack, when he turned around, he noticed something that rendered him speechless—‘that goddamn Yeti!’ Not only did it almost put him trouble, the Yeti had also used the ice shards from its Frostburst to lay down a layer of ice spikes that were densely packed over the ground behind Qin Ruo. That area was like an area of death over ten meters wide.
Qin Ruo rolled his eyes. His heart became much heavier. The feeling of “do or die” rose from the depth of his heart. At that moment, even if he could “forfeit” all of those solid ice, the delayed time was enough for the Yeti to charge at him and shred him into pieces.
“The first and the second plans have been forced to abort. It seems like I have to carry out the final plan now.”
With his heart sinking in disappointment, Qin Ruo aimed at the two Yetis which were running from the other side of the mountain wall. The moment they stopped running, Qin Ruo controlled the Frostrampart beside the two Yeti and roared out with a loud command, “Explode!”
The Yetis which were charging at him ran wildly. They were not alert against any unexpected incident that might be caused by the inner side of the Frostrampart of the snowy mountain. With a loud bang, cracks appeared quickly on the inner side of the Frostrampart. One Frostrampart with a diameter of two meters suddenly exploded! Due to the fact that they were currently on the inner side of the snowy mountain, the effective force instantly gushed toward the two Yetis that were running in from the outer side of the snowy mountain.
Boom!
The ice and snow filled the air while the snowy pathway trembled.
***
Having the intention was unintentional. That was Qin Ruo’s third plan—as long as he could make use of the impact and the ice and snow caused by the Frostburst on the inner side to blast the Yetis that were running wildly toward the sharp cliff and tall overhanging rocks and push them over the cliff. Even if the Yetis had extremely high Defense, they would still become a pool of flesh and blood if they fell from that height.
But then again, that plan was also the plan that Qin Ruo had the least confidence in.
The first reason was that the impact caused by the detonation of the Frostrampart was not powerful enough. The second reason was that Qin Ruo was not clear about how the Yetis would react toward the impact and the situation when that happened. So, at the moment of his attack, Qin Ruo did not behave like an arrogant prick who assumes that the Yetis were definitely eliminated if they fell from the cliff.
The moment the word “explode” was said…
“Ice!”
Frostramparts rapidly emerged from the ground in front of Qin Ruo one after another. The defensive fortresses appeared between him and the Yetis.
Because his opponents were Tier 4 Water-elemental monsters, Qin Ruo did not dare to miss a step as he swiftly levitated three Frostramparts before him into the air.
“Rawgh!!!”
At the moment when the third ice wall rose up from the ground, two fierce roars suddenly echoed from the opposite side. Qin Ruo felt that his heart sunk all of the sudden. As expected, that two Yetis did not fall to their demise. Nothing had happened to both of them.
The moment that flashed across his mind, the sounds of the Yetis echoed like the sound of shells being blasted from a cannon as their roars came at Qin Ruo.
“Ice!”
Boom! Boom!
Three Frostramparts were smashed into pieces by two huge snowballs almost at the same time. All three Frostramparts had been blasted into hundreds of pieces of ice shards at the same time. Only then the attacks landed heavily onto the fourth Frostrampart, which Qin Ruo just cast before him just in time.
How was the Frostrampart able to withstand a Tier 4 Attack?!
With a loud bang, the fourth Frostrampart was also blasted into pieces just like the previous three Frostramparts—shattered!
Qin Ruo cried out in shock. Without any ways to evade the attacks, he was forcefully blasted by the gigantic snowball that broke through the wall and was tossed away with his Aquabarrier all over his body. He rolled unintentionally across the narrow snowy pathway. Then, he fell off the edge of the snowy pathway…
***
Fortunately for him, the giant snowballs tossed by the Yetis were huge enough. Only one of the two snowballs had hit the target. That was why Qin Ruo was not instantly killed. But then he was on the brink of losing his life after being hit by that powerful blast of attack. His eyes remained narrowed as he was puzzled. He could feel nothing beneath his body, it was empty. He then felt that there was a strong sinking feeling pulling his entire body downward. Qin Ruo, who was confused, suddenly felt a tremble across his entire shocked body.
Oh crap! That was a cliff…
*Divine guardians of doors and gates in Chinese beliefs, used to protect against evil influences or to encourage the entrance of positive ones.