Chapter 17 Perilous Descent

Upon waking, Alexander was sore all over his body and had a splitting headache as if nails being stabbed into his brain.

The comfort from a long rest seemed to have abandoned him. In some ways, he felt worse than he had before going to sleep.

"Ugh!"

Feeling a sudden sharp pain, Alexander reached towards his left leg, only to find that there was nothing where the sense of agony was coming from.

Despite having lost a part of his leg, his brain was still trying to send signals to the missing part of the limb.

If there was any consolation, it was the fact that Tharildron was still silent. With how awful he was feeling right now, Alexander was not sure if he could take the shadow dragons' voice echoing in his head without snapping.

"And I've still got to climb the rest of the way down." Alexander grumbled, staring towards the precipitous edge a few dozen meters away.

Forcing himself up, he cast the single shadow magic spell that he knew to create an artificial limb to stand on.

Then, while he allowed his body to wake up, Alexander ate the last of the dried foods he had brought with him to replenish his strength.

"Okay! I just need to climb down and then walk a few kilometers to the nearest town. Then I'll be able to get some warm food and sleep in an actual bed." Alexander said, slapping his face with both hands to psych himself up.

Feeling that there would be no better time to get started, he walked towards the cliff's edge.

For a few moments, he could not help but stare down at the ground far below.

An audible gulp left his mouth involuntarily, and an instinctual fear rose up within him. Even if he enhanced himself to the fullest with the orichalcum ring that had been among Tharildron's treasures, he would still die instantly if he fell from this height.

Still, there was only one path before him. To accomplish his desires, he needed to make it home alive. And standing atop a massive cliff frozen in fear would not get him any closer.

Alexander exhaled deeply and turned around so that his back was facing the precipice.

With careful movements he squatted down and slid his lower body over the edge.

When he eventually found a good place for his feet to purchase, he slowly began the long descent down the cliff face.

Carefully, Alexander moved from one protrusion or crevice to the other. Before he would move one limb, he made sure that the other three had a solid purchase on something.

'I didn't think it was going to be this much more difficult going down than up.' Alexander thought, breathing heavily.

While losing the lower part of his left leg certainly was negatively impacting him, the far greater physical enhancements he was receiving from a superior magic tool should have more than made up for this handicap.

Though perhaps the overall poor condition of his body and mind was playing a factor as well.

Unable to see precisely where he was going, Alexander had to either move horizontally, or sometimes even go back up several meters before finding a better path. This took a toll on both his strength and patience.

Eventually, he moved too hastily, and his shadow leg slipped from a small crack in the cliff.

Normally this would not have been a problem, as Alexander's other leg and both hands still had solid purchase on the rock wall.

Unfortunately, the piece of stone his right hand was holding onto broke the moment he lost his balance.

In an attempt to keep himself in place, Alexander tightened the grip his left arm had on the cliff.

Yet, this only caused another unfortunate event.

The area he was in was especially brittle, and the superhuman strength granted to him by his ring allowed him to crush the rock he was holding onto.

Having lost three of his anchor points all at once, Alexander felt gravity's pull on him.

He was in no condition to keep steady and began falling.

"Noooo!"

Alexander shouted defiantly as he was pulled down.

After surviving everything he had within the castle that stood atop this mountain, he refused to be killed by an accidental fall.

Allowing his reflexes to take over, Alexander grabbed one of the umbral steel daggers slid into his belt and jammed it into the cliff with all his might.

Normally this would have been a futile maneuver. Most blades would bounce off if there was not enough force behind it to pierce the rock, and even if there was, the metal would become bent and lose its shape.

Except, being the main weapon of a former Dragon Lord, the daggers in Alexander's possession were of the highest quality.

As if sliding into butter, the blade pierced the stone wall with nearly no resistance. In fact, it cut through rock a bit too well.

Alexander found himself sliding down the cliff with the weight of his body applying enough force for the unbelievably sharp dagger to cut through solid stone.

Panicking, he grabbed the other dagger and jammed it in as well.

Thankfully, this added enough traction for him to begin slowing down, and soon enough, Alexander found a small ledge to place his legs on and came to a complete stop.

Once his mind had finally caught up and realized that the crisis was over, he released a heavy sigh of relief.

Leaning up against the wall, he took his right hand off and used it to wipe away the cold sweat that had drenched his face. For the umpteenth time in several days, he had nearly met his end.

"No witty remarks for my screw-ups." Alexander said bitterly.

He had been expecting his unwanted companion to make some sort of snide comment or give unhelpful advice after the fact. Yet, everything remained quiet in Alexander's mind. Tharildron showed no signs of speaking up.

"Whatever. Your silence suits me."

After waiting a bit to calm down, Alexander began climbing back down the cliff. This time, not allowing any frustrations to cloud his judgment and always moving towards the safest path he could find.