A wyvern had appeared, and Ribery, their guide, was gone.
Rest stood stunned for a moment… but he couldn't stay like this forever. After a short while, he rebooted his mind.
"Well… at this point, we've come far enough that we should be fine without a guide. Yeah."
They had already reached the mountain's midsection, and he'd grown familiar with the terrain.
It would take time… but if they proceeded carefully with a safe margin, there shouldn't be too much danger.
"From here on, we need to be extra cautious… the moment we judge there's even a hint of danger, we turn back."
"Sure, I'm fine with that. That said… that wyvern was huge, wasn't it?"
Yuri nodded, his brows dipping slightly.
"That wyvern just now… what a waste that we let it get away. We should have taken it down right there."
"Yeah… absolutely."
The sudden attack had forced them to prioritize defense.
If they'd taken down that wyvern when it attacked, they could have carried their haul straight home.
"Oh well, what's done is done… From here on, let me focus on my presence detection."
Rest concentrated his nerves, expanding the range of his presence detection.
Ten meters, twenty meters, thirty meters — his perceptual range kept growing, and countless presences came flooding into his mind.
The wider he spread his presence detection, the greater the strain on his brain. No amount of mana could change that.
He didn't want to push it too wide… but given the speed of that wyvern, a broader range would put them more at ease.
*Lots of presences from wild animals in there… Filter out anything below a certain mana threshold. Focus only on the presences of strong monsters…* Discarding unnecessary information, selecting what mattered.
Trying to lighten the load on his brain even a little, Rest finally let out a breath.
"All right… let's move."
"Yeah, let's go… …Rest, why are you waddling like that?"
The two resumed their mountain climb, but Rest's unusually sluggish pace left Yuri with a puzzled look on her face.
"Can't be helped. I was burning too much mental energy scanning for monster presences. There's nothing left over to focus on my feet."
He'd hit his capacity.
Pouring too much attention into detecting monsters had thrown off even something as basic as walking.
On flat ground it might have been manageable… but traversing rough terrain was a different story entirely. If he didn't slow down, he'd lose his footing and tumble right back down the mountain.
"Ohhh, I see, I see. So that's how it is."
Hearing Rest's explanation, Yuri nodded as though it all made sense.
And then… she pulled his body close and scooped him up in one smooth motion, cradling him like a princess.
"Then let me carry you! Leave it to me!"
"I appreciate the offer… but could you maybe put a little more thought into the method?"
He felt like something like this had happened before, but being carried this way by a woman who was smaller and slighter than him was a little embarrassing.
"Right then, here we go! Just try to feel like you're riding a mudboat!"
"I'd actually feel safer on a mudboat— Wha—!?"
"Alright, off we go!"
With Rest still in her arms, Yuri broke into a sprint.
She charged up the mountain slope at breakneck speed, climbing higher and higher with every stride.
"W-wait, take it easy— Waaaaaaaaahh!?"
The speed and wind pressure were so intense it felt like riding a roller coaster, and Rest couldn't help but let out a scream.
Hearing Rest's shrieks, Yuri didn't slow down in the slightest. She scaled the slope at a speed that seemed impossible for someone carrying another person.
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!?"
Even so... she wanted to commend herself for not deactivating her presence detection.
After cutting through several encounters with monsters along the way, Rest and Yuri somehow managed to make it near the summit.