I managed to find solid ground before reaching the cloud line. I look over the entirety of the fracture, and the view is breathtaking. Wisping creatures float around 8,000 feet below me, flying around the mountain without care. The ground and the sky are at constant odds. The sky wants to kill the ground with its wrath, while the ground takes each blow.

I can’t tell where Nelson and the others are. I figured that I would be able to spot them from this high up. On this outcropping where I stand lays a giant nest filled with eggs. I don’t see the mother, and I am not willing to get into a fight with the environment being against me.

I continue up the cliff and enter inside the thundering clouds.

~

It’s surprisingly hard to breathe inside of a cloud. Flashing lights and loud sounds of thunder surround me constantly. I haven’t come across any lightning elementals yet. They must’ve stayed away from the mountain when they are inside the cloud, not that I’m complaining.

Out of nowhere, a massive bolt of lightning strikes Rob and me. I instinctually dumped my mana into my lightning resistance as soon as I felt something was wrong. Not even a millisecond later, a powerful surge of electricity courses through my body. Rob got fucking charred to the bone and destroyed outright.

Even with my massive resistance, the blow bites dangerously into my health. [Bolster Resistance] brought my resistance up to 110.

[Resistance: Lightning 55 > 110

Mana: -28]

BOOM

-640!

Rob must have taken the brunt of the damage because only 750 damage seeped through. My resistance was just enough to keep me alive. My body convulses and steams when the lightning finishes going through me.

I start to fall… but the pain is still not enough to put this guy into catatonic shock. I force my body to move using my powerful Spirit and slam my fingers into the stone. I rapidly start to heal the burns and damage.

-100 mana

+300 health

Now I’m only half dead instead of on the verge of death. I’m still sliding down the mountain. I couldn’t muster the strength to pierce the rock with my fingers. I quickly spent another 50 mana to heal exclusively my nerves, and then I finally was able to move the rest of my body to slow my descent. The taste and smell of ozone still linger in the air. My mouth tastes like dry pennies and blood. A lot of blood.

When I skid to a stop, I realized how close to death I was. I didn’t almost die to a stronger foe, but an act of God. I survived regardless. Creature or nature, it won’t stop me. I smack my head against the wall and get back into the correct mental state.

The thundercloud still surrounds me. I restart my climb, knowing that another lightning bolt will kill me. Instead of being careful not to be spotted by elementals, I fully gun it towards the top of the mountain.

[Bolster Resistance] ends when halfway through the clouds. When it finally runs out, I get a system notification.

[Resistance: Lightning 55 > 60]

My resistance only updated until after the added bonus disappeared. I quickly spend 30 points of mana and reboost my resistance stat to a high 120. It probably won't help too much, but I’ll take everything I can.

A level 10 lightning elemental spots me climbing the mountain. I quickly scare it away using my title [Prey on the Weak]. Hopefully, it runs away for long enough to not spread the word that I am here. I don’t even know if they can communicate with one another. I breach the cloud layer and find myself huffing on a flat plateau.

There is so much more mountain. I can see the peak of the one I am on, but there is an even taller one in the distance. I see another layer of clouds way up in the sky. I’m probably just shy of 20,000 feet above sea level. But Duchess’ evolving conditions are so much higher than that.

The other mountain looks way more imposing than the one I am on now. The sheer height dwarfs any other thing I have ever seen before. The clouds that surround its peak look angrier and deadlier compared to the clouds that are now below me.

At that moment, dozens of lightning elementals surge from the cloud layer below me and land roughly on the mountain. I immediately start my attack against them. I check out their average level,

[Lightning Elemental C lv 35]

I immediately use [Empower] on Flash Gordon, leaving me with only 20 mana left. I charge the first one before it can attack me. It’s also the biggest one, so I use [Donkey Punch].

-255!

I could not kill the elemental, but another quick strick finishes the job.

One of the lightning elementals jumps through me, doing minor damage thanks to my current resistance of 120. I don’t have much longer before it goes back to 60, so I have to do as much damage as possible.

The other elementals start to swarm me instead of blasting me from a distance. Lucky me.

When they get close to me, electricity arcs through their body and grounds themselves to my flesh. The shocks are constant as they keep ‘gnawing’ away at me.

With both hands on Flash Gordon, I keep striking my surroundings over and over until all the elementals die by assisted might of Flash Gordon. It was a blur of adrenaline and pain that didn’t stop until I realized there was nothing left to kill.

I’m surrounded by a few C-Rank Lightning Crystals that I can sell once I leave the fracture. I didn’t realize until I could smell my burnt flesh that I actually took quite a bit of damage from their attacks. My resistance grew another 3 points during the carnage. I take a seat on a rock and try to recuperate my mana.

I go up a little higher until I believe that It’s safe enough for Duchess to be here. I summon her using [Master’s Whistle].

She appears on my shoulders, her favorite spot, and speaks into my head.

[Are you okay? Thisss one was worried for you.]

“It’s all good now, Duchess. The only issue is that I picked the wrong mountain to climb.” I point at the taller mountain. It probably could have been high enough for Duchess’ evolution requirement.

[You picked the wrong mountain in more ways than one, my stupid Master. The trio that escorted us through into the fracture was wondering where you went. They lost sight of you when they were attacked by a giant bird right before you climbed the cliff.]

“How do you know about this?”

[They came across thisss one and set up camp where you started the climb. I summarized what I heard them talk about.]

“What else did they say, Duchess.”

[Nothing much, they just speculated that each mountain has a breeding ground of elementals surrounding them. There are probably even more cloud layers than there should feasibly be.]

“We are already above one, and the second one is still tens of thousands of feet up. How big is this god damned fracture anyway!?”

I sigh and dig through Rob’s pack. “I should’ve just bought a decommissioned weather balloon and risk fighting against the creatures high in the air rather than go into a fracture.”

Inside Rob’s pack is a few potions that Rain wanted me to test on Rob. She wanted to be the first alchemist to make a potion that benefits skeletons. I abuse my low health to summon my tanto for cheaper. Then I drink the mana potions and start healing my wounds using [Heal Anything]. I discovered a spare rib of Rob’s and started to use mana to complete his form without having to summon/reassemble him.

Flash Gordon and I leveled up from that skirmish. I only leveled twice, while he leveled four times. [Status]

~

Name: Ellis Vincere. Race: Human

Nickname: The Last Winner.

Level: 30 340/45000

Class: Master (Rank C)

Titles: Proud Owner of a Rock, Butcher A, On the Edge B, Prey on the Weak B, etc.

Health Points 480/650 (74%)

Mana Points 200/310

Armor Points: 0

~

Might: 51 > 57+5

Agility:51 > 57 +5

Vigor: 50 +15

Mind: 50 > 62

Spirit: 70

Perception: 15

Luck: 2

Unused: 28 > 4

~

Name: Flash Gordon.

Nickname: Flash Gordon.

Species: Spirit Stone (Rare Rock)

Level: 27 4500/25000

Evolution Requirements Not Met

~

Health Points: 700/700

Mana Points: 0/0

Armor Points: 42

~

Might: 0

Agility: 0

Vigor: 125 + 15

Mind: 0

Spirit: 27

Luck: 5

Once again, my Might, Agility, and Mind are all of the same value. I purposely don’t wear my [Champion’s Helmet] because I did not want lightning to target my skull. The balance that my body has brings me great joy. Once again, a suffocating feeling that I did not notice until it was gone lifted from me.

Since I got this far, I might as well go up higher in the mountain and see what's at the peak. I got this far; I’m not going to leave just yet.

~

The top of this mountain is a crater that formed from a terrible impact. The walls are as smooth as obsidian glass. In the center of this recess, a small fragment of metal is crackling with dangerous energy. I use my [Scientific Insight+] on the piece.

[Fragment of ???’s ???]

As soon as my keen eyes lay heavily on the metal, it bursts with energy. A semi-formless entity made of lightning holds a lance. It was formed with the fragment as its core. I recheck my [Scientific Insight+]

[Lighning Maiden Degraded A lv 50]

Holy shit, that's the first A-rank monster I have ever seen. I wonder what degraded means in this context. It notices me. It shimmers for just a second before arriving in front of me before I can move. I just activated [Bolster Resistance] and tried to block the blow.

-74

Its lance pierces straight through my arms and slightly pokes into my chest. No marks except for electrical burns are left on my skin.

Fuck, even with my ludicrous resistance, it dealt way more damage than lightning elementals. It zips back into the crater. It seems to be over six times faster than me. If I show my back, it will try to kill me.

I set Rob on the ground and tell Duchess to hide. Holding Flash Gordon, I make a reckless declaration.

“Let’s kill an A-ranked monster.”