Night time came and everyone decided to build a camp a distance away from the village. No one wanted to stumble upon them and turn into dust.
Aldred sat in his tent with Bartrem, Mary, Mira, Sophia, Mareona, and even Maverick. Pongo lay on the floor, sleeping.
"What is our next step?" Maverick asked.
"Don't take any risk," Bartrem said. "We will wait for tomorrow and see what happens. If not, Aldred, you can order your undead to climb the cliff. We will see what happened to them."
Aldred shrugged. "I can lose one or two of them."
The next, day. Aldred and his the others were looking up at the cliff in front of them. The adventurers were staring as well. No one tried to climb it like yesterday.
Bartrem tapped his shoulder. "Do it."
Aldred summoned his undead. One Silver Rank human warrior. "Climb up." He pointed at the cliff.
The undead bowed and clawed his way up. When he reached twenty meters, he was turned to dust. Aldred tried to summon him back, but he couldn't. His undead was truly dead.
"I cannot summon him back."
Bartrem crossed his arms and frowned. "What are we supposed to do?"
A few days passed, the adventurers looked around the village trying to find a way to climb. They avoided the villagers, and some even sneaked into their house. It was empty. Devoid of any bed or furniture.
One day, a group of adventurers ambushed a villager using arrows and magic. Their projectiles turned to dust before they could hit the villages.
"Just what the hell is this place?"
The adventurer became restless and they looked for clues. Rumors started to spread.
"I say that they were not turned into dust, but teleported to the next part of the mountain."
"So you're saying we should just climb?"
"Yeah, this mountain must be trying to scare us. If it was impossible to climb, then why are the astrolabe here?"
A lot of people were convinced and the next day, around a hundred of them climbed the cliff. Just like before they turn to dust when they reach a certain height. Some started to hesitate, but they kept going after seeing everyone did so.
Aldred frowned. "Should we climb as well?"
"I don't think that's wise," Bartrem said.
After a lot of them turned into dust, the next wave of people started falling onto the ground. They all stopped climbing and stared at the man below. His eyes were empty. It was like something pulled his soul out.
They all looked at each other and hesitated. They could accept that turning into dust might be teleportation, but the body was there for everyone to see.
They all quickly climbed down in fear before staring at the body. Nobody wanted to touch it. One man braced himself and pushed the body with a spear.
"It's frozen hard."
"Is it because of the cold?"
"He wore magical clothes, so that shouldn't be the case."
"I am climbing it. I don't think this man died because of the mountain."
He quickly climbed up and when he reached the height, he fell down. His back slightly bounced when he landed.
"It's true. The mountain killed them."
"How do we climb?"
"There has to be a way."
Suddenly, the villagers walked toward them. The adventurers stepped back in fear, but they quickly slid a small box out of their sleeves and handed it to them one by one.
One walked to Aldred, and he was ready to blast with his fire spell.
"Wait, Aldred. It's not dangerous."
A hand-sized dice came out of the sleeves, and it was handed to Aldred. "What is this?"
Bartrem rotated it around to see what it was about. The dice was carved with intricate yet weird carving all over.
"Look there's writing on one side of the dice," Aldred said.
Aldred read it. "Tis thing kill the hardiest of man, tallest of mountain, largest of lake; it ends the liveliest of worlds, and drain the strongest of stars."
Aldred raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"
"Maybe the dice asked us to find something," Bartrem said.
"What can kill the tallest mountain?" Mareona asked.
An adventurer inspected the dice up and down, and then threw it to the ground. He raised a large hammer and slammed it. The box was intact with no sign of damage or scratch.
"How is this possible?"
After seeing that, everyone tried to crack it open.
"Blazing flame!" The dice was thrown into a large flame. After a few minutes, the flame died yet nothing happened to the dice.
A group of earth magicians lifted a gigantic boulder above the dice. It fell. They were sure the dice was destroyed, but after lifting it up again, the dice was sunk slightly into the earth, but still intact.
Maverick bared his fang and bit. It clang against his teeth and he got a toothache as a result.
"Aldred, try to destroy it," Bartrem suggested.
The boy took a deep breath as he put the dice on the ground. He summoned Will and Nicky.
"Destroy it for me."
Will's tentacle squirmed in the air and then they all came whipping at the dice at rapid speed.
Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam!
"It didn't work Nicky, you try."
The giant velobra opened its mouth and gagged as a clump of green acid started filling his mouth. After a few seconds, he spat at the dice. The acid melted all the snow and burned all the dirt around it.
The dice was still intact.
Aldred sighed. "My turn."
He materialized 'Blazing Serpent' and pointed the staff at the dice. The red crystal on the serpent's mouth shone bright.
"For all the milfs and incest in the world, I call upon your name to give me strength. Answer my call and have seggs for eternity!"
A large blazing flame appeared around him before condensing at the tip of the crystal.
"Explosion!"
It burst forth and shot at the dice.
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