Aozaki Aoko [517-519] (Patreon)

Chapter 517: The Abandoned Camp at the Summit

Aoko’s team quickly found the missing male yeti, though not because they searched particularly hard.

As soon as their group exited the cave, they were confronted by a yeti at least three times bigger than Edgin.

Seeing this yeti, Garrett instantly started trembling in fear, completely at odds with his tough-guy demeanor, while the halfling Perio fainted on the spot.

But no one blamed them. After what they’d endured, it was only natural for them to have some PTSD towards the yeti; no one mocked them for it.

“Who’s up this time?” Edgin asked casually. In his eyes, though this yeti was strong, anyone in their party could handle it easily—the difference in power was just too great.

This male yeti was a variant called the “Abominable Yeti,” about three times stronger than a regular yeti, but ultimately still just a CR (Challenge Rating) 9.

“I’ll do it,” Aoko said. “I’ll try to make it quick. After all, there might still be someone at the summit who needs rescuing.”

She raised her staff, aiming the sapphire tip at the massive yeti. The crisp clink of metal rings collided, further enraging the beast, which immediately charged at Aoko.

Mystra’s Wisdom—Evocation Blessing, Arcane Reservoir, Triple Metamagic (Empowered, Silent, Quickened): Fiery Shroud!

In secret, Aoko’s arcane tricks had amplified this fifth-circle evocation spell to an outrageous degree. In an instant, the charging yeti tripped and fell, letting out a scream of intense agony.

A massive shroud of magical flame enveloped the yeti, burning away its tough hide and reducing even the flesh beneath to layers of charcoal. Its pain nerves were almost entirely destroyed. “No matter how big they get, yetis always retain their weakness to fire. It’s the price for their cold-based abilities,” Aoko explained calmly. Her teammates took it in stride, but the two guides were stunned—none of them had ever seen a mage of this caliber.

The charred remains of the yeti offered little in the way of loot. Perio collected some of Mojingo’s belongings, and the group left the cave, heading up toward the camp at the summit.

As they approached the top, a wide, deep crevasse appeared before them. In its depths, Aoko spotted a collapsed tent, half-buried in snow at the cliff’s edge.

They hurried over, sliding down the slope to reach the tent, and immediately found a shivering figure.

Below the collapsed tent, a person in cold-weather gear sat huddled, knees drawn to their chest. From beneath her hood, two horns peeked out—a tiefling.

“Asterix!” Perio rushed over, channeling positive energy to warm the nearly frozen tiefling mage.

“P-Perio!” Asterix croaked, her voice hoarse with a mix of surprise and joy—she had survived after all. “Sob... thank goodness... you really came to save me...”

Perio’s healing energy wasn’t enough to fully restore Asterix, so Aoko stepped up, casting spells from Endure Elements to Cure Light Wounds for the tiefling mage.

Asterix soon recovered enough to stand but immediately collapsed again—she had gone too long without food, surviving only by eating snow to stave off thirst.

Aoko handed her a piece of nut chocolate. Asterix, forgetting her image, thanked her and devoured it ravenously, eager for the precious calories.

“Mojingo was eaten,” Perio said sadly. “I was trapped in the cave too—Garrett was the one who went for help. That’s why we were finally rescued.”

“...I see,” Asterix’s relief quickly faded into sorrow. “What about the yetis?”

“They were all killed by these adventurers,” Garrett chimed in with a sigh. “I’ve climbed mountains half my life and never thought I’d almost die here.”

As the old friends talked, the dwarf guide Jasrah dragged a body from the collapsed tent—the headless body of a shield dwarf in blue boots.

“It’s Bassam’s body,” Jasrah said sadly. “Looks like that beast beheaded him here but didn’t take the body. We should bury him here.”

They lit a campfire at the abandoned camp, dug a grave for Bassam Hammerhome, and ate some warmed food.

Aoko sipped her drink, contemplating the details of their adventure.

Except for the unlucky Mojingo, the others had been rescued in time—tiefling mage Asterix had been the closest to death. If they’d been half an hour later, the poor girl might have frozen to death.

“Thank you all for saving me!” Asterix bowed deeply to the group. “Because this expedition failed, I don’t have much money left... but I still want to repay you!”

“No need,” Aoko shook her head. “Rescuing you was just part of the job—our commission was from Garrett’s wife, so you don’t need to feel burdened.”

“E-even so, I want to thank you!” Asterix blushed but insisted. “I see you two are mages—I can let you look through my spellbook. I don’t have many spells, but a few are pretty rare!”

Aoko raised an eyebrow and took Asterix’s spellbook to browse. Simon walked over too, curious.

“There are a couple I haven’t learned yet,” Aoko admitted. “I’ll copy Tenser’s Floating Disk and Scorching Ray.”

The tiefling girl relaxed—she’d thought someone as powerful as Aoko would have no need for her paltry spells. In fact, Aoko already had higher-level versions of those spells, but it was nice to fill in the gaps.

Simon, who learned most of his spells from Aoko, copied them too and thanked Asterix.

In exchange, Aoko gave Asterix a Fireball scroll. Partly, she didn’t want to take advantage of a young mage, and partly she sensed Asterix had recently broken through to third-level spells—so giving her a third-circle scroll was a blessing.

Another tiefling, Doric, quickly befriended Asterix, and the two shared many little secrets only female tieflings would know.

Chapter 518: Hated by All—The Duergar

“Duergar? I didn’t see any...” Asterix said thoughtfully, taking a bite of bread. “If there are duergar near Kelvin's Cairn, it’d probably be below the cliffs here.”

“That matches what we suspected,” Edgin stroked his beard. “Simon, Aoko, any way we could go straight down from here?”

“There are ways,” Aoko mused, “but I checked from the edge just now and didn’t see any duergar traces.”

“I’m sure the tracks we found near the base camp were left by duergar,” Jasrah insisted. “I think there’s a secret tunnel from the base leading to the north slope—we just didn’t spot it before.”

“That does make sense,” Aoko agreed. “Caer-Konig is to the south; since there are duergar tracks between the town and the base camp, there must be another passage.”

“...In that case, we should return to town first,” Edgin decided. “If we’re going to deal with duergar on the north slope, Jasrah and Garrett don’t need to come with us.”

Jasrah stayed silent, clearly not eager to go north. Garrett wanted to protest, but Holga stopped him.

“Think of your wife, Garrett,” Holga advised. “She was so worried when she found us—you want her to keep suffering?”

That convinced Garrett, though he insisted on giving them the payment left in Caer-Konig in advance as part of their reward, which Edgin gladly accepted.

Since most enemies from the southern base to the summit camp had been cleared by Aoko’s group, and all the missing people found, they could use Teleport to return straight to their inn rooms.

But with two more rescued, there were nine people in total, so Aoko had to use a higher-level metamagic Teleport to bring everyone along—the normal spell only allowed eight.

With a flash of magical light, the environment shifted to the guest room at the Northern Light Inn. Most of those rescued breathed a sigh of relief—they were finally safe.

However, since they’d checked out before leaving, Aoko’s group had to find the Shorard sisters to get new rooms.

When a group of nine came downstairs, busy Allie was surprised, but quickly realized Aoko’s team must have used magic to return.

“You actually brought them back?” Allie was amazed—she’d thought Garrett’s team was long lost.

“It’s a miracle,” Aoko shrugged. “Their will to survive kept them going until we arrived. That’s what they call ‘helping those who help themselves.’”

“Haha, that’s wonderful news,” Allie smiled. “To celebrate your safe return, I’ll give you a 10% discount on rooms and meals, how’s that?”

And so, after rebooking rooms (Garrett paid for Perio and Asterix), the group held a small party in the inn.

As they ate and drank, patrolman Trovus dropped by, joining in with a grin.

“I knew you’d save them!” Trovus laughed. “By the way, did you find any trace of those thieves?”

“We saw footprints on the way to Kelvin's Cairn,” Edgin replied between mouthfuls, “but not a sign of duergar on the southern slope or the summit.”

“I see...” Trovus pondered. “What’s your plan now?”

“Rest a day, then find the secret passage to the north slope,” Aoko said. “We promised to find the thieves—no reason to quit halfway.”

“Then on behalf of Caer-Konig’s people, thank you all,” Trovus said, eyes bright despite his drink. “I’m too old to fight, but I still want to help my people.”

—Divider—

The next day, Aoko’s team didn’t set off immediately but rested in Caer-Konig, each doing their own thing.

Perio and Asterix went to contact Mojingo’s tribe to return his belongings and said their temporary farewells to Aoko’s team. Jasrah returned to her shop.

Garrett wanted to go back to Targos, but the journey was too far and dangerous alone. Edgin and Holga discussed it and asked Aoko to help teleport Garrett home, which she agreed to—she had time to spare.

Thanks to Aoko’s repeated Teleports, Garrett was quickly sent back to Targos.

However, as an ordinary person, he wasn’t used to teleportation magic; the tough middle-aged man promptly vomited on landing, as if Aoko had bullied him.

When Garrett’s wife came to fetch him and saw his pale face, she burst into tears again, and it took a long time to comfort her.

On her way back, Aoko updated Edgin’s wife Zia and their daughter Kira on the situation in Caer-Konig, telling them to stay safe at home.

Kira’s cold was much better—she could get out of bed again. After some reminders, Aoko checked and updated all the magical warnings and protections at Edgin’s house, then teleported back to Caer-Konig.

“Caer-Konig has another thief problem,” Doric told Aoko when she returned to the inn. “Someone saw duergar for sure this time—they stole the last sled from Jasrah’s shop.”

Chapter 519: The Secret Tunnel Hidden by Illusions

The next morning, Aoko’s team set out again, heading to the newly discovered duergar tracks, farther east than before.

“These are clear,” Edgin said, crouching to examine the footprints. “Dwarf-sized tracks and sled marks—no doubt about it.”

“Let’s follow them and try to find their route to the north slope,” Aoko said.

They followed the tracks on their sleds, keeping their speed slow enough to monitor the marks, diverging from their previous route toward the eastern base of Kelvin's Cairn.

But just before reaching the east base, the duergar tracks suddenly vanished—no sled marks, no footprints, nothing.

“What’s going on?” Edgin frowned, jumping off the sled to inspect the spot where the tracks disappeared. “Why are they gone?”

“They have a spellcaster,” Simon observed. “Someone used magic to erase the tracks. What do you think, Aoko?”

“I can see lingering auras,” Aoko said, examining the spot. “Simon’s right. They didn’t just use one spell—multiple magics were used to erase all traces and make it look natural.”

“If they went to that much trouble, they must be hiding something big!” Edgin stood up confidently. “Let’s check the base of the mountain in that direction!”

After about twenty minutes more by sled, the group reached the eastern base of Kelvin's Cairn. The far east was a frozen forest; dense trees and rough terrain meant no sled could possibly pass through.

“Doesn’t look like there’s a secret passage,” Holga muttered, surveying the area. “Sure you’ve got the right spot?”

“Not sure,” Edgin replied, “but if the duergar are moving stolen goods by sled, they wouldn’t go through the forest.”

“Someone used illusion magic here,” Aoko said, approaching a giant boulder and feeling around. “Let me see... It should be right here.”

Edgin stared in surprise as Aoko’s arm sank into the boulder, encountering no resistance, as if she’d put it into water.

“Looks like I guessed right,” Aoko smiled at the magical illusory rock. “Time to unveil the curtain... Dispel Magic.”

With Aoko’s spell, the magical illusion vanished, revealing a massive cave entrance.

Inside, the tunnel was clearly man-made—smooth enough for a sled to pass, despite some snow and ice.

“There’s a stink here!” Doric wrinkled his nose. “Like something rotting or moldy.”

“Remember how I said the duergar might have a necromancer controlling undead?” Aoko said. “The air here doesn’t circulate as well, so the smell lingers.”

“In any case, stay alert. Let’s go,” Edgin returned to the sled. “We’re close to the enemy—let’s find their lair before they spot us!”

The sled traveled through the mountain tunnel for over forty minutes. Even Aoko had to marvel at the duergar’s ability to build such a passage with their technology and magic.

She found many places where the tunnel walls had been magically reinforced—if it were dug by hand alone, it would have collapsed long ago.

Magic allowed Faerûn’s people to achieve wonders far beyond their civilization’s level but also stifled their progress—ultimately, all constrained by greater powers.

The realms of the heavens are like a delicate bonsai made by the overgod Ao—mortals are the tiny creatures in the bonsai, gods are just the tools Ao uses to tend it.

If mortals ever go beyond Ao’s limits, the excess gets pruned by his mechanisms.

Aoko didn’t feel indignant for Faerûn’s mortals—after all, the Nasuverse Earth wasn’t much better. All its science and technology rested on material projections fixed over the planet.

If that projection vanished, mortals in the Nasuverse would fare even worse—as seen on the bleached Earth timeline in FGO.

In any world with rampant supernatural forces, scientific progress always faces this risk.

The existence of magic proves that basic physical laws must have loopholes, and some vast, incomprehensible beings might use those to topple fragile technological civilizations.

As both a high-level spellcaster and a math PhD, Aoko understood this better than anyone. That’s why she chose to study math at university—she believed math was the least likely to be overturned at the fundamental level.

She didn’t complain or bemoan the world’s unfairness but worked vigilantly to understand its laws and lessons.

If she ever faced this kind of oppression herself, how would she respond? That was the real question.

After this train of thought, Aoko’s sled finally exited the long tunnel, returning to the outside.

Dim sunlight filtered through the Everlasting Rime, barely lighting the land. Aoko’s team had reached the northern base of Kelvin's Cairn.

“Look over there!” Simon pointed to the northern slope. “There are buildings!”

The group looked where Simon indicated—a crescent-shaped cluster of buildings, carved into a massive, ugly rock, stood out starkly on the barren slope.

“Looks like an outpost,” Edgin offered his professional opinion. “We can’t see inside from here—any way to scout it out?”