Chapter 104: Avalanche at Snow Mountain

Lightning returned to the camp tent, took off her goggles and gloves, and stretched her slightly numb hands toward the brazier.

A burning sensation and subtle tingling immediately spread through her fingertips.

Even though nearly half a month of winter had passed, the heavy snow showed no signs of abating, and had even intensified recently. Every time she returned from reconnaissance, she could feel the wetness on her head, and the skin on her face would take a while to regain sensation.

Once her hands had warmed up a little, she moved a stool and sat by the brazier, then took off her snow-soaked leather boots and placed her feet near the flames. She could clearly see white vapor rising from the tips of her cotton socks, and her icy toes felt a touch of warmth. As for the smell... the young girl turned her head away somewhat embarrassedly. After being trapped in her boots for so long, there would inevitably be some sweat.

Now she finally understood why her father had emphasized that a great explorer should be supported by a great team. Without the First Army having prepared the brazier, and even hot water, she would not be able to devote herself wholeheartedly to exploration – just the thought of returning to camp cold and wet, and having to start a fire and boil water herself, was a devastating blow to her enthusiasm for exploration.

But perhaps only His Majesty Roland's team could provide hot water around the clock in the wild... Lightning thought. In her father's adventure stories, taking a hot bath in the middle of winter was undoubtedly a very difficult thing. Damp firewood, snow-covered decaying leaves, and the extra energy required to collect them all became obstacles to bathing. Therefore, most of the time, members of the adventure team only had the opportunity to thoroughly clean themselves after the expedition was over.

But the machines His Majesty built had completely changed all of this - the camp was built not far from the riverbank, and the boilers of the three cement boats had never been extinguished, providing a constant supply of hot water to the entire camp. When needed, all one had to do was grab a bucket and fill it.

In addition, food was the same.

A uniquely shaped cement boat took care of everyone's rations. Its layers were like a mobile kitchen, using steam from the boiler to cook large amounts of oatmeal every day, paired with boiled jerky and salted fish. The rock-hard dry food was nowhere near as good.

By her father's standards, this was probably the best logistics team in the world.

After warming her hands and feet, Lightning took out her notebook and began to record the day's exploration.

"Spring 16th, excavation continues. The thick mountain hindered Sylvie and Maggie's abilities, especially the latter - traveling through rock layers increases magic consumption. To ensure safety, enough magic must be reserved for each search to return, so they can't delve too deep."

"Due to distance constraints, Sylvie can only roughly select a few directions and let Fran xiaojie try to excavate. By the way, although Fran xiaojie looks scary, her personality is surprisingly kind. She eats even more terribly than Maisie. I really hope she can have a day to restore her original appearance."

Since arriving at the foot of Snow Mountain, it has now been the thirteenth day of exploration. The only thing that can be confirmed so far is that there is indeed a huge cavity inside the mountain, and it seems to be connected by many cave groups. However, it is not easy to successfully find the main cave where relics may be left, let alone carve a spacious passage for the First Army to enter.

In this regard, she and Maisie couldn't help much. They could only be responsible for peripheral guard work, or enter those strange caves to explore the deep trenches and mountain faults that the Mana Ark could not easily cross.

Compared to exploring the mysteries of the relics, finding the right path to the destination is always the most time-consuming and energy-consuming task.

Good father always said that explorers are always on the road.

The little girl breathed two breaths of warm air into her palm, then continued to write –

"Finally, the new discovery of Lightning, the most outstanding explorer in Greycastle."

"There are long black shadows moving under the ice layer on the summit of the Great Snow Mountain. It looks like a giant fish. I don't know how long it has lived to grow so big. The taste must be very good. Unfortunately, Anna didn't come, so we can't cut open the ice to fish it out – Maisie's paws can only leave a few scratches on the ice. Using explosives on the top of the mountain is also a big taboo, perhaps we can only find a way to do it when the snow melts in summer."

Writing this, Lightning couldn't help but lick her lips. In order to explore Snow Mountain, she hadn't had charcoal-grilled fish for a while. Maybe after Maisie comes back, the two of them can take advantage of the night not yet falling to hunt something to eat in the Misty Forest? As long as she prepares a copy for Wendy, she shouldn't blame herself, right?

"In addition, there is another not-so-important discovery. There is a phenomenon of Evil Beasts gathering again east of the Misty Forest, but His Majesty's city walls will definitely be able to block them."

After recording these, Lightning stuffed the parchment book into a waterproof leather bag, and then put it back into her backpack - recording what she sees and hears every day is an essential habit for an explorer. Like a captain writing a sailing log, it is not only proof of the explorer's personal honor, but also a beacon to guide future generations. When the owner is unfortunately killed, other explorers can also analyze the reasons based on the log, so as to avoid taking the same path.

At this moment, hurried footsteps sounded outside the door.

Wendy was the one who lifted the tent curtain.

"Agatha and the others are back," her voice was a little anxious, "There was an accident in the cave, Fran is missing!"

"What?" Lightning stood up in surprise and said, "Missing?"

...

When the witches left behind at the camp arrived at the end of the tunnel left by the Devouring Worm, the First Army soldiers had already set up a bonfire and a sentry post, and Agatha was arguing with the Taquila witches.

Lightning poked her head out and gasped. What appeared in front of her was a bottomless pit, with no top and no bottom. She could only hear the sound of water coming from above.

A piece of the tunnel edge had collapsed. She took out a glowing magic stone and bent down, discovering that there was a lot of slippery mucus in the cracks.

"Fran xiaojie fell from here?"

"It seems that way... Sylvie found the right direction, but Fran was unlucky," Itie said, answering her. "She opened up the road to the big pit, but fell to the bottom of the cave due to a sudden cliff."

"Seems?" Lightning noticed the other party's wording.

"At that time, Sylvie and Maggie were searching on the other side, one of them happened to be able to observe Fran's position - according to her, the other party's magic reaction suddenly disappeared from sight." Itie shrugged. "I don't know how your abilities work, but Sylvie xiaojie's magic eye should be able to observe scenes in very far places, right? But when they arrived here, they couldn't see anything at the bottom of the cave."

"Can't... see?" The little girl was stunned.

"Neither the ground nor the Devouring Worm can be seen," Itie spread her hands and said, "Either this cave is unbelievably deep, beyond the range of the magic eye, or something interfered with her observation. No matter which the answer is, it's not good news." She paused and looked at the ice witches and others who were still arguing, "And what they are arguing about is whether to immediately go down to rescue Fran."