Chapter 72: Sacrilege
Unaware that the dwarves were already preparing to meet them, Leo and Iris continued climbing the Worlds Crown. They had continued climbing at a fast pace, using chi to launch themselves higher and higher. When they would take a break from using chi, they looked as if they were simply running up the cliff on all fours. For hours they simply continued moving up, as the sun continued in its journey across the sky. When it started disappearing behind the distant mountains, Leo called out to Iris,
"Let's make a small cave with mana and rest for the night!" She simply nodded in agreement, and the two then set to carving the rock out of the cliff walls. After the battle at the village Leo learned how to better manipulate rock and dirt, so carving out a place to sleep wasn't a big deal to him. He and Iris placed their hands on the rock in front of them while hanging from their claws, and sent their mana into the rock, carving away he rock hey didn't want.
What they removed from the cliff, they threw out from the wall not caring that it would land on the camps below. The end result was a small cave five feet deep, and ten feet across, more than enough room for the two. Iris crawled forward until she was well inside the cave, and collapsed on the floor. Leo didn't say anything, and looked at her with tenderness in his eyes. He felt horrible for driving her so hard the last several days, but it was a small price to pay for all the lives they would change.
Seeing she wasn't waking anytime soon, Leo decided to stay on watch. They had decided that a watch would still be necessary while climbing, due to the possibility of the the rock breaking and spilling them out into the open air, and flying monsters thinking of a midnight snack. Leo sat back against the wall of the cave, and pulled out some drawing supplies he kept in his pack.
Leo started working on a design that he thought would help the dwarves. If fantasy lovers on earth knew what he was drawing, they would crucify him for his sacrilegious acts. However, he didn't have the luxury of worrying about "immersion" as to him there were real lives at stake. If any people had a problem with what he was doing, he'd tell them to go to hell.
Leo had learned that due to them being unable to use mana or chi, dwarves were considered the "weakest" race. As such any war fought between them and other races usually ended with them losing. They would only stand a chance due to the weapons they made, and used in battle. However these weapons would only carry the dwarves so far, against people who literally trained to manipulate the elements and controlling their own body.
The truth though was actually very different, as without taking man or chi into consideration, dwarves were actually the strongest race simply by physical strength. Leo was actually curious on who was stronger with just brute strength, dwarves or werewolves. As the night continued on, Leo continued working of his design, trying to find the right way to combine it with magic for the dwarves to use. He figured that the original item would actually be considered useless due to chi and mana users being able to defend themselves against it.
As he continued working the sun started rising, taking Leo by surprise that it was already morning. He decided that they could rest for a few more hours, and woke Iris so that he could get some sleep. She was angry at first, thinking that he was skipping his own rest for her. It took Leo a few minutes to explain to her that they weren't going to continue until around noon, she still grumbled about how it wasn't enough time but consented to his plan.
Leo then laid down and closed his eyes, losing consciousness almost immediately. It felt almost as immediate that Iris was waking him up at noon. Leo was obviously still very tired, and Iris said to him,
"You're taking the first rest tonight, you've shorted yourself on sleep the last two days in a row." Leo smiled bitterly and bowed to the words of his wife. After a small meal of the dried meat they had brought with them, the two continued if way up the cliffs. Leo looked at the rest of the distance that they had to climb, and almost felt a sense of vertigo. He almost had the thought that he underestimated the climb, and had more respect for the dwarven Kings that had made the climb with out any chi or mana.
As the day continued, so did Leo and Iris. They didn't have the same haste they had the day before, since they were already out of range of any retaliation from the encampment below. They still ran up the cliffs, just not as intensely as they had before. They repeated this pattern the next two days, as they endlessly tired themselves out. Both of them had torn their hands and feet bloody several times, for the skin to simply knit back together and tear again not long after.
Finally after nearly four days, just as long as it took for them to run to the foot of the mountain, the two reached the top of the mountain. Both Leo and Iris pulled themselves over the edge, and collapsed at the relief of real flat ground for the first time in days. After what felt like hours, Leo turned to stand up, and came face to crave with an entire dwarven army.
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