Mystery of Argaman
As Ryker continue to climb higher and higher, the unease and the feeling of wrongness keep returning , filling him with trepidation.
"Why am I feeling this way?" he exclaimed loudly, the silent help echoing his voice around the empty mountain.
"I keep on finding great treasures," his storage ring is a testament to that. "I can also cultivate in peace and becoming stronger," considering how close he is to the peak of 7th Stage, it could considered an understatement.
"I don't even get... attack... by beast," Ryker immediately realized why he was feeling this way.
"This place is a literal heaven for beast, why are there none around here?" he asked, though his question bound to not be answered, as he was the only one around here. Which make the silent mountain more eerie.
"There should be some higher, right?"
-x-
His thought, while might be true at the other peaks, did not hold it against the highest peak, for there is no sign of any beast, not even tracks or a portion of the fruits and herbs being eaten.
He also did not find any carcass or bones, telling him there is no beast die recently, or if there is, the predator likely consumed them whole.
"At least all of this are good stuff," he exclaimed, taking the fruits and herbs lying around, waiting for someone to take them.
In fact, he found a single stalk of Lightning Reed, a herb that would be useful to help him comprehend the Law of Lightning, and Breeze Dandelion, a herb with high Wind energy, which would be helpful in helping him master the Law of Wind.
A part of him want to search for more treasures, while the more conservative part wish to get away from the peak, the unease creeping them out. However, the boldest part of him wish to explore the highest mountain in Argaman.
The last part argues over the fact there could be some impressive treasures hidden. Or there could even be powerful beasts killing the other beasts, a part of him reminded.
Whatever the reason for the lack of life in Argaman Range is, Ryker intend to find out.
-x-
"There seem to be nothing on top," he exclaimed loudly. Soon, he heard grass rustling, as Ina came to view.
"Nothing here either," the brunette shook her head, not finding anything in the area.
"Same here," Era said, coming from the north. None of them find anything of interest, though it might be because of bad luck or something similar.
"Let split u-" whatever Ryker was about to say was cut off by a large rumbling. It took their entire capabilities to not fall face first from the shaking.
"W-what is that?!" Era asked in shock, dazed and surprised from what happened.
"Everyone, looked!" Ina urgent's tone cause them to look at the direction she pointed at. They could not help but gasp, as eerie red light seem to emit from the mountain.
They all hold their breath, waiting for the light to disappear. To their relieve, it did, the mountain stop glowing and looking a like a normal mountain again. Though, it beg the question what caused the situation.
"W-what are w-we going to do?" Ina asked in a shaking tone, Era holding her back. The experience shocked them, clearly causing them to have second thought of continuing this line of work.
"I am going to investigate. You will remain here," Ryker ordered, his voice as stern as it could be. The others looked like they wanted to argue but he hold firm.
The two women then sighed before returning to the Hidden Ancient Mansion, waiting for him to finish before they could join him back.
-x-
The first thing that came to his mind is the fact there should be an opening at the top of the mountain.
The second thought is that he would not scale the sheer cliff, unless he possess the ability to fly.
With one possible pathway into the centre of mountain, he need to think of another way.
'Maybe there are opening, caves that lead to the centre of the mountain,' he thought. It is highly likely and would be better than scaling the mountain, which would be near impossible due to how vertical it is, almost parallel to the ground.
Looking at the sheer cliff again, he swore he would find the cave as quickly as possible.
-x-
Thankfully, he had overestimated the difficulty of finding the cave, though the eerie light coming out of it did make finding them to be incredibly easy.
Though, it did not detract how creepy the cave look.
He push the fear away, knowing it would not help him at all. He focused instead on pushing through, and finding the answer to the mystery of Argaman's highest peak.
As he entered, he could see the red light batuing the cave wall with eerie light, making it even spookier. Thankfully, his heart is strong enough and horror did not scare him that much, at least not anymore.
He could not help but shiver, remembering the horror story his Father once told him when he was just four.
As he accidentally enter memory lane, his instinct is the only reason for him to be alive as he dodge a claw to his back.
A quick turn reveal the source, a lizard beast at Tier 4 in Genesis Grand Realm. And from the aura it emitted, he estimated the beast is at the middle level, which will make it hard for him to win, even with his current strength.
He is confident in facing against a low-level Tier 4 Genesis Beast, not middle-level. However, since he is stuck here, he need to kill the beast.
Thankfully, despite the beast powerful cultivation, it seem the beast is not used to it's power, rarely using qi attack. He dodged another leap, before taking his sword. Water qi surround the blade as he unleash a Technique he learned a few days ago.
"Tide Devouring Sword," he uttered, the water qi forming into a sword before flying towards the lizard beast. To its credit, the lizard beast used its qi to defend itself, but it was not enough, the Lizard killed by a simple attack. Ryker stab the beast for good measure before he put the carcass inside his storage ring.
After making sure there are no sign of struggle left behind, Ryker used the Shadow Traversing Step, merging with the shadow and head deeper. After all, he did not know if there are more lizard beast or not.