"Hah... Hah... Hah... Hah..." Theo kept breathing hard while sitting on the ground.
Just a few meters away from him was a crevice where falling would potentially mean instant death.
Elias and Clara were on their feet but still huffing like madpeople. They had run at full pace continuously for God knows how long.
Only the baron seemed fairly unfazed, calmly looking down the gigantic hole with a composed expression.
When Theo moved his head a little forward to look in, he saw just how much distance there was between them and the wall.
The hole was so big that Theo glanced at the baron, not even knowing what to say. When he said he used a little too much strength, he didn’t know what the scale would be this high.
After finding yet another rock that provided shade, they stayed there for a few minutes before finally deciding to move down.
Theo stood right at the edge of the hole and looked down. The height difference alone could make a sane person dizzy, and Theo could already feel it kicking in.
"Rule number one while looking down a cliff," the baron spoke. "Don’t look down a cliff." He joked, trying to pull Theo out of that fearful state.
Theo nodded with a forced smile, and they started moving toward the wall, which took them a few minutes of walking.
When they finally reached it, Theo looked down along the wall and felt much more relieved.
"It has a lot of holding spots. This is a great wall." Theo spoke after crouching down and gripping a large bump to test how rough it was. A small smile formed on his face, until he glanced down again and stepped back.
"If you don’t mind, my lord, can I summon my beast right now? It could be a lot more helpful in this situation." Elias spoke with respect making the baron perk his face up in realization.
"That Petrastone Ape, huh? Go with your gut."
Elias quickly released the ape from the beast space, and when it landed on the red ground, a small roar of excitement burst from it.
But soon, when it realized how hot the sun was and that there was nowhere to climb yet, its expression flattened, and it stared at Elias with judging eyes.
"Pfft... hahahahaha! That’s an intelligent ape!" the baron roared with laughter, watching the ape repeatedly tap Elias’s head, clearly demanding to be sent back.
"We’re not staying up," Elias told it, "We’re going down." He pointed below, which made the ape freeze for a moment before letting out excited "Oooh! Ooh!" noises.
When it looked down the hole, its eyes flashed with excitement.
"My apologies for its actions, my lord. It’s ready to go down with us." Elias said with a lightly embarrassed chuckle.
"Do not fret," the baron replied with a grin while looking at Elias. "You can suppress a beast’s nature all you want, but it will always remain. And sometimes, they’re just too adorable like this."
He walked closer and patted the ape’s shoulder, prompting it to make affectionate noises before rubbing its head against the baron’s armor.
Elias tried to stop it, but the baron simply placed a hand on the ape’s head and continued patting it with a smile.
When Theo looked at Elias, he saw a completely astonished expression on his face. It seemed he hadn’t expected someone to interact with the ape so casually.
’I’ve never even touched the ape’s head...’ Theo thought, before realizing the height difference was simply too much.
With the baron, however, it was as if the ape was the same height as him.
"It can carry all of us down one by one along the wall. The wall is of really good quality, so it should be fast, my lord." Elias spoke, making Theo realize how naturally Elias had been conversing with the baron since entering the gate.
’Is he my attendant, or his?’ Theo thought, before dismissing it as childish. His younger body still caused such thoughts to surface sometimes, even if his mind tried to suppress them.
"Get Attendant Clara, yourself, and Theo down with its help. I’ll go down on my own," the baron said as he walked to the edge of the wall.
"The ape could carry you too, my lord... And it’s too dangerous on your own." Elias said while averting his gaze, which only made the baron laugh even harder. He knew the ape couldn’t carry the baron down the wall by any means.
The baron slid his hand through a small opening in his armor and rummaged briefly before pulling out a pair of metal gloves.
Theo watched as he put them on within seconds. The baron then looked at him with a grin before jumping straight off the cliff with that same wild smile.
The moment he disappeared from sight, Theo rushed forward in shock.
Elias and Clara did the same, only to see the massive baron falling with his arms raised above his head.
Theo could still make out that grin before the baron suddenly slammed his right hand into the wall, digging deep and tearing through it as debris fell below.
The baron continued descending like that, grabbing, breaking, releasing his hand, before pushing off and repeating the motion further down repeatedly.
"How is he so stable in the air?" Theo exclaimed in disbelief, barely able to make out the baron’s silhouette now. He was already almost down to the ground.
"He’s level 16 for a reason, young master." Elias replied, his eyes sparkling. "After breaking through level 10, even the weakest bodies become naturally reinforced. And he’s far beyond that."
"You’ve been smiling quite often since we entered the gate," Theo said with a grin. It was the first time he’d seen Elias like this.
"How could I not be excited, young master?" Elias replied, "I’m learning from the best, and traveling inside a gate I never thought I’d experience in my lifetime. This is the best time of my life."