Chapter 249 The Last Titan (1/2)
CHAPTER 249
THE LAST TITAN
Lino and Hannah were currently standing in front of the tallest mountain either had ever encountered in their entire lives. Far from being able to see the mountaintop, they were unable to even see the halfway point of the mountain which was already well over thirty thousand kilometers tall. Standing at the mountain's bottom felt as though they were staring at an entirely new world, as the sheer size of it easily encompassed the size of a fairly large island.
Entirely new species of flora and fauna could be found throughout the mountain that were non-existent elsewhere within the Titan Realms. The purple-domed trees of trunks as thick as entire buildings, shrubbery that made both of them feel like the tiniest of ants, and strange herbs whose petals would flutter, occasionally closing up and opening, radiating different colors each time they did so.
It was a spectacular sight to behold, especially so once they realized that the mountain contained even more diverse biome, the bottom end being forest-like, yet just above it a scorched wasteland of black rocks and soot and volcanic ash. Nothing living inhabited it, just a line of rising hills of sorts. Due to the sheer size of the mountain, the uphill climb was eerily flat, as though they were climbing a small, house-sized hill rather than an entire mountain.
Beyond the scorched wasteland lied frigid tundra, with iced spikes shooting out of the ground for over a hundred meters up, and frozen bodies of water as large as medium-sized lakes elsewhere. No matter where they stepped, they felt incredibly small; the two had, uniformly, began doubting as to how the world actually fitted the entire Titan Race within its confines.
The reason why they were climbing up the largest mountain they'd ever seen was due to Ataxia, as he'd finally told Lino it was time he headed toward the Realms' center, following his instincts. It was exactly this mountain that stood at that center, and his instincts told him that whatever he needed to see was inside the mountain itself. Rather than digging his way through, Lino decided to slowly explore with Hannah and find a natural entrance.
”Ataxia hasn't told you what we're looking for, right?” Hannah asked suddenly as they slowly began living the frozen biome.
”No. Yours?” Lino asked back.
”She's eerily quiet...” Hannah sighed. ”Usually she never shuts up, but right now? Nothing. Zip.”
”Eh, whatever it is, we'll handle it.” Lino shrugged, looking around. ”But seriously... this mountain... I kind of wish to turn it into a Flying Artifact and make it my permanent home. Can you imagine?”
”You ruling over something this large? No.”
”Eh? What do you mean?! I'd make a great ruler, I'll have you know!”
”You know nothing when it comes to ruling, Lino,” Hannah rolled her eyes at him. ”You'd not only cripple the economy before it even, well, developed, you'd most-likely instigate every war possible within the first year, and every single one of those you ruled over would grow to resent you and would eventually band to overthrow you.”
”... that's one grim estimate of my leading capabilities.” Lino frowned.
”Leading and ruling are two different things,” Hannah chuckled. ”Why do you think Kings need Generals? If charging forward was all there was to leading, couldn't they do it themselves?”
”Aren't Kings mostly just cowards?” Lino asked.
”You'd be surprised,” she replied. ”But, no. To rule, it comes from here.” she poked his head. ”But, to lead... it comes from here.” she poked at the center of his chest. ”And, I'm sorry to have to point this out for god knows which time, but you've got very little of this,” she once again poked his head. ”But excess of this.” she ran her finger down his face and pressed it gently against his chest, smiling.
”... ah, I see you've mastered the art of the underhanded compliment. Very nice, very nice indeed.”
”Eh, I learned from the best.”
”I am the best, aren't I?” Lino grinned, suddenly stopping to look around as they'd finally left the frozen tundra, having entered an eerie sort of a marsh. Bones, skulls, carcasses, skeletons... of all the things to decorate the landscape with, Lino mused, this was by far the worst. ”Then again, I could leave the ruling to you, and you can leave the leading to me.”
”Hoho, that's the best idea you've had yet.” Hannah chuckled. ”I'm an excellent ruler.”