Chapter 178: The Final Test, Part Fourteen

Running away from a bunch of ravenous phantoms was one thing. Rin may have been able to handle that with almost no issues, given her newfound speed and conditioning that she'd achieved through her training. Running away from a bunch of ravenous phantoms *while one of her legs was just about numb*, however, was another thing entirely.

One that she was struggling to do, at the moment.

[Come on, come on!] Rin pushed herself. [Keep going!]

Elisa was ahead of her. Her partner probably could have just left Rin behind if she wanted to, but, instead, Elisa stayed just close enough to where, if anything happened to Rin, she could intervene. Such as, for example, if Rin were to fall down as a result of her sleeping lag catching on a particularly large rock that she hadn't noticed.

Which was exactly what happened.

Rin tripped on it and hit the dirt. Immediately, the shrill cries of the fiends chasing her became much louder in Rin's ears. Maybe it was the dangerous position she was now in making them more noticeable or maybe they saw her fall and decided that they'd be eating well tonight. Either way, Rin wasn't on the ground for too long, as Elisa quickly came and scooped her into her arms.

"Keep moving!" Elisa told her.

[You think I'm not trying?]

"I think we're almost out of this place, come on!" Elisa told her.

Rin wasn't too sure what she meant by that because, to her, there didn't appear to be any exit in sight. Though, maybe what Elisa was referring to was that bright white light up ahead. If that light was an opening of sorts, then, maybe they were almost saved.

Clinging to that notion desperately, Rin tried to keep her balance and just narrowly avoided a ghost's claws aimed at the back of her neck as she kept running. Her heartbeat thudding loudly in her ears slowly began to drown out the sounds of the growls, snarls, and animalistic screeches the ghosts were giving off.

The two of them drew closer and closer to that light until, finally, they reached it.

And, thankfully, Elisa was right. It was, in fact, an exit.

Suddenly, they were no longer walking on dirt. Instead, their feet pounded against snow as they made their escape from those dark woods. The sun had returned, shining down on their surroundings, though, somehow, the air had grown even colder. Rin spared a look back, just to see if the ghosts were still chasing them.

What she found was a line of spectral figures all angrily watching from the treeline that separated this new snowy field from the forest area they'd just been in.

[They can't move past it?] Rin noted as she collapsed onto her knees. [Is it done?]

"Holy shit," Elisa said, coughing. "Wasn't ready to go for a run like that. Are you good?"

"Yeah, yeah," Rin replied, without taking her eyes off the ghosts up ahead. "Do you see this?"

"Yeah... Pretty fucking creepy. I wonder what's stopping them."

"Same..."

"Anyway," Elisa said, getting in front of Rin and kneeling down as well. "I think we're just about halfway up the mountain. You can almost see the peak from here. Are you ready to keep moving?" She asked.

"Yeah, let me just..."

As Rin attempted to stand up, however, she quickly fell back down. Elisa caught her before she could hit the snow.

Rin looked down at herself, then, understanding what had just happened.

As soon as she did, Rin felt anger swelling up within her.

[You've got to be joking,] she thought, staring at her leg. [Just from one hit from that stinger? Seriously?]

Frustrated, Rin punched the snow.

[I guess I messed up more badly than I thought I had. Crap.]

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Upon seeing Elisa's confused expression, Rin told her what was going on.

"My leg's gone completely numb," she stated. "I can't even move it anymore."

"... Shit," Elisa muttered, as she took Rin's left arm and wrapped it over her shoulders, getting Rin to stand.

Naturally, Rin's eyes went to the peak of the mountain. Like Elisa had said, she could almost see it from this position. If Rin's leg had held out for a few more minutes, maybe they could have gotten much closer to it before this happened. Instead, at this halfway point, Rin couldn't walk forward anymore.

Resigned, Rin lowered her head and said:

"Um... Maybe you can leave me here and keep going?" She asked. "I mean, there don't seem to be any monsters around so... uwagh!?"

Without warning, Elisa simply picked Rin up and began to carry her in a piggyback style. Her greatswords pressed harshly against Rin's breasts, but she was able to get her in a comfortable enough position.

"Don't even joke about that," Elisa scolded her. "I can nearly see the top of the mountain from here. We have to be like halfway or something." 

As the surprise faded, Rin nodded and adjusted herself so that she could better wrap her arms and legs around Elisa. The swords on Elisa's back made it slightly uncomfortable, but still, Rin managed it, with help from Elisa's strong hands. 

[... I wasn't joking, though,] Rin thought, as Elisa proceeded to carry her forward.

This part of the mountain, albeit brighter, was no less unwelcoming than the previous section. The way Elisa's legs pushed against the snow let Rin know that it took no small amount of effort to simply walk through this place. The freezing temperature, the sheet of white around them that seemed to stretch endlessly. Rin wondered what they'd be seeing here.

"You know," Elisa spoke up, "I haven't seen this stuff in a long time."

"Huh? Seen what?"

"Snow," Elisa replied. "I haven't seen it in a while. It's... It's pretty. Have you seen snow before?"

"Yeah," Rin answered, instinctively. "A lot, actually. Back home, I mean."

During the winter in Dren, it would snow all the time. The walks back to her house from the Silver Rose were usually pretty annoying thanks to this.

"... Right, where did you live again?" Elisa asked.

"Dren," Rin answered. Sighing into the back of Elisa's neck, Rin closed her eyes. "It snowed all the time back there."

Then, Elisa stopped walking for just a second. She threw a look over her shoulder, trying to get a look at Rin, before she kept going and asked:

"Didn't you say you were from Alcalira?"

[Oh, crap. I forgot.]

Despite how she scolded herself just now, in truth, Rin couldn't care less anymore. The fact that her role in this mission had all but ended thanks to one mistake she'd made at the start had taken the wind out of her sails. Not only had she not gotten to show off much for her crush, but, at this point, she'd been reduced to little more than a burden.

So, to put it simply, she did not care about whatever lies it had been that she fed Elisa to keep her from remembering who she used to be. She doubted Elisa's image of her would improve after this terrible performance anyway.

"I did?" Rin asked.

"Pretty sure, yeah."

"Well... I'm not. Sorry. Dunno why I lied about that," Rin said, lying again. "I'm from Dren."

"... Right," Elisa said, chuckling. "Right. Understood."

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