Nico's expression was neutral after I said that. He then sighed and spoke, his tone oddly balanced. His control over his emotions was nothing short of extraordinary.
"Let me hear it."
"…."
"I don't have any plans at all, so I guess any should work."
There it was. I knew he was as desperate as I was to get off this mountain. Behind us was a great chasm that was crawling with unseen horrors. While ahead of us was the same thing…with the chasm was not in the picture. I would rather take my chances with the foggy path ahead and its horrors than look down at that chasm ever again. The thing gave me literal goosebumps from just thinking about it.
"The clones. I can make three exact clones of myself to fight the fog creature while the two of us make a run for it. I'm sure we can outrun it if you remember the route you were on."
"But I thought you didn't have that much fighting skills?" Nico now stared at me with a confused expression.
Well of course I don't have much fighting skills. But the clones were to serve the purpose of decoys to buy us time as we escaped the fog creature.
"I do not. My body is weaker than most of yours. If I was a hunter, I would belong to the E rank." I laughed at my misfortune, expecting Nico to laugh along with me.
As expected for a normal person, he didn't laugh back. My situation was just bad, so he pitied me and patted my shoulders—his eyes obviously telling me "There there, you can cry now". I was offended by this by the way.
"I will help you out," he said with a trembling voice that he struggled to suppress in his speech.
I nodded, pretending not to notice his fear. We were only teenagers, being brave was not a factor we could have all the time.
After that, we spent the next thirty minutes coming up with a plan to outrun the creature in the fog. I created two other clones of myself and equipped the first one with the bone spear. As I poured more and more purpose and star energy into the [Mind Walker], the clones gained more and more personality.
Soon, they were no longer lifeless and their faces carried different expressions at times. Though they were incapable of speech.
The second clone was given a long sword with a saw-like blade that Nico provided. While the third was given a short dagger made from obsidian rock—the dagger was a last-minute creation by me. Honestly, I was impressed by my growing craftsmanship skills.
'Those survival classes really came in handy.' I smiled seeing the crooked blade I had made. It wasn't perfect of course. But I was proud anyway.
"Oh. If a clone gets destroyed, you can't summon a new one until its full of energy again." Nico pointed out. He was knowledgeable about magic artifacts because it had always been his passion to study and make them. Most of his friends usually complained about how much the four-eyed kid liked to blubber about artifacts and alchemy.
I was sure he chose each item he had in his inventory after giving it some heavy thought.
"I will take that into note." I nodded and I proceeded to send a mental command to each clone. It was strange using telepathy to communicate to myself. It felt like I was talking to myself.
Anyway, once the clones received the commands, they all took special positions that would ensure our safety. The one holding the spear was in front, while the other two took the sides to form a triangular defense wall. Me and Nico stayed in the center as we approached the path he had just come from.
The fog only got thicker as we entered into the scarier parts of the mountains. We were careful not to make a sound other than the occasional whispers he gave me when we had to change direction or stop. I would then send these directions to the clones and they would act accordingly.
We didn't talk for about thirty more minutes before we finally made it to the area Nico claimed they were attacked from. Shortly after we made it there, the creature must have identified the blood on Nico because we both noticed something move within the fog. It moved at an incredible speed that we almost missed if it wasn't the the shifting fog.
There was a gentle flash before a gladius appeared in Nico's grip as he and I prepared ourselves for the fight.
The clones too got into battle positions. If I could share their sight with mine…
I didn't finish that thought because Nico suddenly lunged forward and swung his sword at the fog. His blade swiftly cut through nothing. The fog only slightly moved from the force of his attack.
I was about to blame his paranoia when my entire body froze and all the hairs on my body stood up as every cell suddenly started screaming at me.
'DUCK!'
Without saying a thing, I sent a mental warning to all my clones right before I grabbed hold of Nico's hand and yanked him down with me.
In the seconds, the air around us tensed as something large moved above our heads and cleared the fog above us in one motion. Lucky for us, the fog closer to the ground wasn't cleared away. So we remained hidden from its gaze…
For now.
Nico's arm was trembling as he fought to remain silent through all of this. I tightly held onto his arm as I instructed him to keep his panicked gaze on me. When he did that, he slowly started to recover from his short-lived episode.
Whatever was above us moved once again and the fog returned once again. The fog seemed to follow its will. Because, in what felt like five minutes, the fog had hidden the creature once again, proving to us that it wasn't our ally in the first place.
After those five minutes, we waited for five more before we began crawling against the ground right under the fog just to stay sure of our safety. It was a straight path so the fear was trailing off wasn't there for now.
As we moved, I kept noticing the smell of blood that hung in the air. I avoided mentioning it because Nico was already suffering after coming back to the same place his friends had been brutally slaughtered.
'He said he survived with someone else. I hope he makes it out if he's not dead already.'
We crawled for a while till Nico was sure we were somewhere near the end of the rocky path leading out of the Death Mountains. This wasn't the only exit, but this was the only one we could take at the moment.
I then commanded the clones to stand up.
We were careful not to look at the fog as we crossed the path silently. I was also trembling from the tension in the air. I know I had agreed to die in this world but I was already second-guessing my choices. Dying in the maw of a terrifying creature was the opposite of what I wanted.
I wanted something peaceful and quick like quickly being shot in the head or instant decapitation. Anything that saved me from pain.
The clones led the way for almost an hour without anything attacking us through the fog. Many would have seen this as luck. But the absence of creatures could mean a lot of things. Something worse ruled these parts, and the weaker creatures were avoiding it. Or something stronger had taken out the weaker creatures.
If I had to place a bet, I would bet on the latter.
As we approached the end of the fog, I finally sensed something powerful gazing down at us.
Nico must've sensed it too because his eyes quickly pointed ahead of us.
He pushed me back and said, "Stand behind me." His voice was both calm and authoritative as he pushed me behind and he made himself a shield for me, as if I needed one. This was the place where his friends had died…
His paranoia was really messing with his mind.
My clones also stopped and they all prepared to fight back at whatever was approaching us from the fog. I summoned Trusted Dagger and kept scanning the fog with my eyes. The weapon felt so strange in my hand due to how light it felt.
Before we could jump into action and attack our hidden adversary, I lost connection with the clone on the right. On following that, the Nexus system whispered in my ear.
[Your clone has been destroyed]
Once I heard that…all hell broke loose as something emerged from the fog….