Crunch Crunch crunch
Hiking down the mountain with the aid of his Hook Blades, Aoni slowly waded through the now waist-deep snow while noting that he had been on the move for 20 minutes or so.
Looking back, he could easily spot the trench he had left in his wake, a walkway of sorts, which was both a blessing and a bit of a curse.
I say a blessing for obvious reasons: Aoni's return to the cave would be much easier since he had carved out a path; however, on the opposite end of the spectrum, the Lad was required to expend stamina in order to cut a path in the first place, causing his legs to get colder and colder as time went on slowly.
His Jeans were already drenched, and even with Aoni's Def and Cold Resistance, he had to admit his legs were starting to go numb.
With the sun peeking through the clouds, the Lad could feel that the temperature had risen significantly from the last time he was outside; still, was there really a difference between -40 and -20? It was still cold as hell and technically dangerous to be outside in.
While Aoni was beginning to feel the bite of the frozen terrain, the same couldn't be said for his Summon.
Nope, Glacia was having the time of her life and had even left her Lord's side more than once to play in the snow.
That was how Aoni found out about her innate ability to traverse the top of the deep snow as if it were solid ground, a fact that he logistically couldn't figure out.
'I mean, sure, she doesn't weigh much, but the way she moves doesn't fit the laws of physics I know from Terra. It's strange, but with the presence of Energia and the fact that she's not a human, who knows what kind of weird stuff she can do as she gets stronger.' he thought while keeping a careful eye on Glacia so as to make sure she didn't wander too far away from him.
Looking over his shoulder real quick, Aoni noticed they had ventured roughly a quarter of a mile down the sloping mountains, and yet, they still hadn't come to the tree line, which he could see off in the distance.
Sure, some headway was made, but Aoni was beginning to realize that the trees weren't really getting closer.
CLINK
'Em, rock,' while lost in thought and using his Hook blades to keep steady on the uneven ground, Aoni suddenly hit something solid; the sound, being sharp and quite loud, shocked him for a moment and even caused a reaction from Glacia, who snapped her head in his direction.
Rummmmmmble
"Huh?" Looking around in confusion at the source of the sound, Aoni began feeling a slight disturbance through his feet, a vibration of sorts.
Unfortunately, by the time his brain registered its cause and source, it was too late.
The snow at the top of the mountain was shifting, and then…it started sliding down the slope; Aoni's little moment of ignorance had caused an avalanche, and he was right in the middle of its path of destruction.
"SHIT! GLACIA GET OVER HERE!" Screaming at the top of his lungs, the Lad felt years of survival training kick in immediately.
And that was when he noticed the world seemed to slow down around me. Whether it was an adrenaline rush or hyperfocus, Aoni had no clue, but time moved in slow motion for him, and he wasn't about to waste this opportunity.
There wasn't much time, and with no idea of how far it would take him and a strong possibility that this avalanche would drag Aoni out of the borders of his territory, the Lad's mind arose with the fact that he definitely couldn't ride this thing down the mountain, causing him to explode into motion.
Dropping to his knees and spinning the Hook Blades, Aoni hacked and slashed at the nearby snowbank as quickly as his stats allowed, clearing out a chunk of snow large enough for Glacia and him to comfortably sit, and went to work.
With only a few seconds before the incoming avalanche washed them away, Aoni did his best groundhog impersonation and dug at a downward angle, using his weapons as shovels, until the rumbling felt like it was right over him.
'Shit!'
"Gaooo!"
With a whoop, Glacia flung her body into the small den her Lord had created just in time for the wave of snow to barrel into the channel Aoni had carved out by walking down the mountain.
With his summon safe and at his side, the Lad leaned forward, crossed his blades, and used them as a shield of sorts, plugging up the entrance to their little 5x5 foot hole in the snow bank.
It wasn't a perfect fix, but it did block enough of the snow from flooding in and burying them.
Once the two of them were out of harm's way, the only thing they could do was wait…as darkness descended and the rumbling continued overhead.
Surprisingly, although Aoni couldn't see anything, he could sense that Glacia was perfectly calm, as if the fact they were trapped under several feet of snow wasn't a big deal for her.
'Must be instincts or something; then again, if her species is from mountainous regions like this, I suppose things like avalanches would be pretty common…wait…why do I feel like she would have been totally fine.' Thinking back to how Glacia seemed to skate across the snow without sinking in even an inch, Aoni couldn't help but wonder if she could have easily surfed the avalanche.
'Eh, that's a test for another time, for now…it seems things have settled down.' Shuffling a bit, he massaged his legs to make sure the blood was still flowing before addressing his summon.
Glacia, who was wrapped around Aoni's chest like a vest, ooed twice and was enjoying her Lord's comforting pets when he took her arm and began explaining that he wanted her to dig a hole to the surface.
One of the main issues they would soon face was the lack of oxygen, so Aoni needed a vent to allow fresh air and some light in.