The orcs were having a great time watching the humans run from their impending doom.
"Bahaha! They're gonna die trying to escape!"
"They are only B-Rankers. There is no way they will survive such a collision with the ground."
One of the orcs then noticed a stone ramp rise further down the mountain.
"Is that a ramp? Wait, don't tell me…"
"Won't they just launch themselves into another mountain?"
The entire region was full of mountains. There were countless high and low points, and launching themselves in such a way would likely result in them just crashing into another mountain.
The orcs watched as the ramp bent and curved until it reached a 75-degree angle. The squad in the barrier then accelerated once more with another stone pillar boost.
One of the orcs watching couldn't help but wonder.
"Even if they do launch over the mountains, won't they die from the fall?"
Another orc nodded. "This will probably be one of the most ridiculous deaths I have ever witnessed. Even Lomreg's death wasn't as crazy as this."
"Wasn't he the one that died from his beard catching on fire?"
The orc nodded. It was an especially unfortunate death because it wasn't meaningful, which meant the unlucky orc couldn't go to the heavenly battlefield.
...
The squad had very mixed emotions as they barreled towards the ramp. Nataly wouldn't let go of Lapis while screaming. Lapis ignored her and braced herself. Aron appeared to have his life flashing before his eyes. Rex bent his knees in anticipation of the pressure from the momentum. Duncan, as the creator of the barrier, reinforced it as much as he possibly could with a dire expression. Sol was still actively compacting the ramp as much as he could to endure their extreme velocity and couldn't afford any distractions, so he ignored the rest of his squad's reactions.
At their speed, they reached the ramp in mere seconds, and though Sol did his best to make it as durable as possible, cracks appeared on the ramp. It still endured, and the next moment the barrier slid across its surface and launched upwards at a frightening velocity.
"Gah!"
"Ack!"
Everyone groaned in pain as they collapsed onto the floor of the barrier. The sheer pressure from drastically changing directions would have crushed any normal person.
Even during the intense gravitational pressure, Duncan managed to maintain the barrier, though it now had many cracks throughout its surface.
The squad soared into the sky and headed forward towards one of the mountain peaks.
Rex, who stood up after adjusting to the pressure, commented, "Looks like we don't have to worry about crashing…"
They kept rising and rising and far surpassed the mountain peak. Soon they were almost a hundred meters above the mountain until their upward momentum began to slow down.
Thousands of meters in the air, the view was incredibly breathtaking. They were so high up that they could even see a few cities, though they were only small dots in the distance.
High up in the skies, Sol paused as he saw the sight, but suddenly he felt a stinging sensation in his eyes. Without warning, [True Sight] activated on its own as his vision became cloudy, and he saw many undecipherable or twisted images bending and contorting.
Sol quickly realized what was occurring. 'Is this a premonition?'
He thought back to the skill's description.
[[True Sight] Lv 6: Open one's eyes to the truth of the world and see what most cannot. Perceive mana and life within a 30-meter radius. Able to pierce through most illusions. Extremely rare chance of obtaining a premonition.]
Understanding what was happening, he didn't try to resist the skill. The vision blurred into view as he saw a similar view as the one he was just seeing from the sky, but it was focused on one mountain in particular. It was much taller than the rest, being almost double the size.
'Isn't that Orna's Reach? The tallest mountain in the world?'
He hadn't seen it before but had read of it as research for this upcoming mission.
He tried to look around for more information but realized he couldn't move his gaze at all. It appeared that he had little agency in what he was being shown. Before he could ponder what it meant, the vision began to change.
The clear blue skies disappeared, and now he was in a dark cave. He was facing the entrance where an orc stood blocking the exit.
'He looks like the A-Ranker before he became the snow giant. Does he corner us there?'
The orc was speaking, but he couldn't hear what he said.
'I can only see… I can't hear what he is saying, and now that I think about it, I can't feel anything either. But from the looks of it, he looks distressed?'
Sol wasn't sure, but from the orc's facial expressions, he appeared to be pleading towards him, but he couldn't understand why.
The vision changed once more, but nothing appeared different. He was still in the cave, and the orc was still standing in the entrance.
'Wait, why is he not moving?'
The orc stood eerily still with his hands outward as if trying to defend against something. The next moment, cracks appeared across the orc's body. The cracks spread through its entire body until it shattered into countless ice shards.
'He died?! How?!'
The orc appeared completely helpless to whatever fate befell him. Once the orc was reduced to pieces, his gaze moved away from the orc and down to his hands in the vision. They were covered in fresh blood.
'I killed him?'
Sol didn't understand how that was possible. Even if he went all out, he had no ability to destroy the orc like he just saw.
He waited as the vision faded, hoping the next one would enlighten him, but no new vision appeared. He felt like he was being pushed out, and that was all he was going to get.
He then heard a faint voice call out to him.
"Captain!"
It grew louder.
"Captain!"
And louder.
"Cap- Sol!"
Suddenly Sol was back to the present, still far above in the sky. He was a bit out of it from the visions and looked to the voice that had been calling to him.
"Huh, what happened?"
Rex, who had been calling out to him, pointed behind them. Two large ice spears were flying towards them with deadly precision.
"We need to dodge that somehow!"