The trial plain didn't have the concept of night and day like the real world, but the weather conditions were a different story. Weather could be different according to the circumstance of the trial scenario and raise difficulty by many folds.
The snow mountain range was icy as the snow kept falling without any hint of stopping.
It's been two days since Jacob and Geko started moving towards the tallest mountain in the vicinity. Although they weren't affected by the cold, the snow was a problem because it affected their vision and smell.
In these past two days, they both had encountered the same snow monsters that Geko killed on the first day in the trial plain. Despite being only around the level of epic tier-1~3, they were extremely difficult to deal with because they took full advantage of the surrounding snow, and because of his special fur, the snow works like camouflage.
Furthermore, those snow monsters were abnormally fast on the snow, which is why both of them had to be on their toes all the time.
"We'll die of exhaustion at this rate!" Geko growled in an enraged tone as he seemed exasperated. He was hoping to spot some other members of his team or the unit, but except for those blasted snow monsters, there was nothing but whiteness around them.
Furthermore, their destination seemed quite far, and Geko found it even more maddening. The most annoying thing was his companion, who was like a statue and didn't talk much. Every time he spoke, his question was always about some deep secret that Geko couldn't tell just to anyone.
This made Geko even more wary of Jacob, but he had to admit Jacob was too strong, and even he wasn't sure if he could take him on without experiencing grave injuries. That's why all he could do was to complain.
"You seemed pretty fine to me." Jacob impassively replied as he didn't show any discomfort despite walking in a layer of 2 feet of snow.
He found that the snow was getting thicker as they moved toward the tallest mountain while the falling snow was turning up, and as far as he could tell, they might experience a blizzard soon.
Furthermore, there were no woods around to light a fire or a place where they could rest. They could've dug down, but they discovered that under the layer of soft snow was an unmeasurable layer of ice, and after examining the surrounding mountains, they discovered a terrifying fact. It was that the mountains were made out of ice, not solid stone!
This was the prime reason that Geko was being restless, and those snow monsters just made it even worse.
Although this entire place was strange, in a sense, terrifying even, Jacob didn't give in to fear and move forward. But now, this big lizard was getting under his skin, and he even wondered if he should eat him.
But he controls himself since he now knows Geko was one of the top ten mercenaries of the bank and was directly under Lucy's command. That guy revealed it himself the other day while bragging.
Jacob could've also used the parasite gem, but he didn't because he was feeling uneasy about doing it right in the open for some strange reason.
"What do you know? I'm not a hermit like you, and this place is not making it easy either. I should've never fallen for that bitch's trick!" Geko retorted while gritting his teeth in hatred as he cursed someone.
"I didn't know you could be tricked into something like this. Are you sure you're not just dumb?" Jacob couldn't help but spread salt on Geko's wounds, which only made Geko even more indignant.
"Are you picking a fight?" He showed his sharp fangs, "Hmph, I guess I can't blame you for being ignorant. If you ever encounter our manager, you'll understand just how vicious she could get. She can trick you to kill yourself and make it look like you're sacrificing your life for the greater good. Only later would you realize that all she's been doing was to use you as a pawn." He sighed helplessly.
Jacob's eyes narrowed as it was Geko's first time he spoke about Lucy, and he clearly wasn't a fan of her. If anything, he seemed to hate her.
He asked curiously, "Why don't you just leave if she's a vicious villain?"
Geko sighed ruefully before coldly replying, "And go where? If only it were so easy to abandon your people for your own sake…"
Right at this moment, Geko suddenly stopped, and Jacob also twisted his head. A black sword appeared in his hand, and he slashed it vertically, creating a small wind wave.
'Smack…'
A metallic sound rang, and something strong clashed with Jacob's sword blade before it reflected to the side. Upon looking, it was a 1.4-meter-long arrow made of white metal.
On the other hand, Geko had a pale expression as a gray wind barrier was in front of him, and the same type of arrow was stopped just an inch away from his forehead.
"Arches!" He cried in alarm, "Don't tell me those furry bastards can even use weapons!"
Jacob's expression was also grave as he took out his other sword as well. Just like Geko, he wasn't expecting this sort of ambush as well.
"There are no archers, but just an archer. You see, they are not just simple arrows but crossbow bolts, and they are at least advanced epic rank. Even my blade wasn't able to chip the bolt, and they were fired from a single weapon. Whoever shot us has a very powerful weapon, and they're not attacking us mindlessly like those fur balls." Jacob quickly gives his assessment with a very bad feeling.
Geko's eyes widened as he knew what Jacob was trying to imply, "You can tell all this just by looking at an arrow? And you're suggesting the attacker is something from Epic Plains?"
"I'm 70% sure, or we are tricked by those fur balls," Jacob stated as his eyes darted around to spot the attack, but to no avail because of the snow, and he was pretty sure that whoever attacked them was hiding in the snow. As a sniper himself, he knew how this kind of attack worked.
"Motherfucker! If you're from Epic Plains, then show yourself. This is no place to fight among ourselves!" Geko furiously growled.
"There is no use if the attacker wanted to team up; I'm pretty sure there are better ways of greeting than shooting two sure kill shots. So, calm down and start crawling under the snow. This way, whoever is watching us won't be able to tell where we are!" Jacob scoffed at Geko's naivety and found his action absurd still. He needed the guy to spit more secrets so he couldn't afford to lose him, and having him around was akin to having a meat shield.
"Crawl…" Geko wanted to retort before his heart palpitated and quickly ducked, and thereafter, another volley of crossbow bolts brushed past his hair.
"I'll fucking kill you for his humiliation!" He roared with anger, but his action was quite the opposite as he quickly dived into the snow like Jacob.
"Now start moving slowly, and be wary of those fur balls. They also crawl under the snow." Jacob's grim voice rang.
Around 1000 feet away from Jacob and Geko's positions, a three-meter crossbow was hidden under the layer of snow, and only a scoop and bolt were revealed.
A sharp voice sounded amused, "Interesting..."