I Got A Title: Lord Of The Time!-Chapter 48: Climbing the canyon

After passing through countless more catacombs, Lin found himself in a vast underground canyon stretching for unknown kilometers ahead and behind. Below lay a completely black abyss — one too terrifying to fall into — while far above was a multi-kilometer-high ceiling, where Lin thought there might be a chance for an exit from the cave.

At that moment, Lin stood in one of the countless round caves that led into this massive underground canyon, observing everything in a certain awe at its sheer scale.

"The underground world is truly fascinating. Because of the complete darkness, a normal person would be too scared to take even a single step. But to me, these sights are just incredible. Even the Snow Lands weren’t as amazing as this."

Lin smiled slightly and thought about his next actions:

"One thing is clear — I need to climb this canyon to the top if I want any chance of getting out. But... I’ve never done rock climbing before. It’s going to be incredibly difficult for me..." Lin leaned his head out slightly and looked at the stone walls, realizing they were quite uneven. That gave him hope — he might actually be able to climb them.

He stepped back and drank a bit of water from the sheath, which was now only half full. The blue mushrooms — he put one in his mouth, not to eat, but to use as a lantern to light his way while climbing.

Lin drew his katana and tried to stab it into the stone wall to see if he could use it during the climb.

Whoosh!

Chzz!

The katana only went in about ten centimeters before stopping. For Lin, that was enough to conclude the katana could be used, but only in emergencies, since climbing with hands would be easier.

Having decided everything, Lin practiced a bit on the inner walls and tried climbing. To his surprise, it went quite well. He performed various techniques, and when he felt confident in his climbing skills, he headed from the small round cave into the massive canyon.

Lin looked at the canyon and slowly approached one of the walls. He found a suitable ledge, grabbed onto it, and secured his other three limbs. Now facing the canyon with his back, Lin sighed and began slowly climbing upward, carefully choosing every handhold he could find.

Though Lin was a fearless person, he still felt considerable pressure from climbing — mainly from the black abyss below. He didn’t even want to imagine what would happen if he fell into it.

"The main thing is to choose handholds carefully. If one is unstable, I could easily fall..."

Lin kept climbing, placing one hand on a new ledge, then repeating the same with the other, followed by his legs.

With this method, he covered a significant distance from where he first started, but it still wasn’t enough to reach the top.

Minutes passed slowly as Lin continued to climb higher, until he encountered a small cave where he could rest.

"Success," Lin slowly made his way into the small cave and, once inside, sat down, breathing heavily.

"Phew. Even though only about an hour has passed, my whole body already hurts..."

Lin drank some water from the sheath and sat there for several minutes, though he couldn’t tell exactly how long.

When it was time to start climbing again, Lin stood up, placed his limbs against the stone wall once more, and began slowly ascending.

Meter after meter passed beneath him.

Right hand on the upper ledge...

Then, left hand on another ledge...

Left or right foot to the next step...

It was a monotonous action, but one that required close attention — any mistake could lead to a horrific outcome, one Lin didn’t dare think about.

And then, suddenly...

He sneezed.

"Achoo!" Lin sneezed and cursed whoever was thinking about him at that moment!

With an annoyed expression, Lin resumed climbing upward, until he came across another small cave where he could rest.

"Thanks for at least this," Lin eagerly climbed toward the cave, managing to grab its edge with his right hand!

Just as he was about to raise his left hand to grip the cave’s edge, he saw a meter-and-a-half-long bat glaring at him with bright red eyes!

It suddenly darted toward Lin’s right hand and, using its claws, knocked it away!

"Damned bat!" With no way to hold on with the other hand, Lin instantly activated his skill to slow the bat down!

In an instant, a five-meter zone of slowed time appeared and caught the bat, preventing it from attacking Lin again!

But Lin himself wasn’t slowed in the zone, which meant — he began falling!

"Looks like I have one option," the thought struck like lightning in Lin’s head, and he quickly reacted by drawing his katana from its sheath and stabbing it into the stone wall!

Clang!

Because of the incomplete swing, the katana didn’t go in very deep and could fall at any moment — along with Lin!

"I have to act fast."

Lin used all his strength and jumped, standing on the katana with both feet. Because of the instability, it began to shake violently and could collapse — but Lin quickly grabbed on with his left hand and kicked the katana upward.

It flew above him, and Lin caught it with his right hand!

Meanwhile, the skill’s effect wore off, and the bat, unable to see where Lin had gone, began looking around.

Lin was also disoriented, not understanding what was happening. He looked around and realized he was in an unfamiliar part of the canyon with his katana in hand. His memory slowly returned, and he looked up, realizing what had just happened.

"There’s that bat — and it can’t see me... Should I kill it or just keep climbing without resting?"

Lin sighed and made a decision:

"Better to avoid any danger for now." He slowly returned the katana to its sheath and moved off to the side, out of sight of the cave.

Once he was at a good distance from the small cave, Lin resumed climbing upward.

Hours passed as he ascended kilometer after kilometer, until he encountered another small cave.

Sighing, Lin decided to enter it. Once he climbed to it, he leaned against the wall, exhausted.

Opening his eyes, Lin decided to examine the place — and to his surprise, saw a human skeleton.

"A skeleton?"

Lin frowned and stood up, taking the katana in his right hand.

He slowly approached the skeleton and inspected it. The skeleton wore a brown robe that looked extremely tattered. Next to it lay several books covered in thick layers of dust, indicating they had been lying here for a very long time.

Lin slowly picked up one of the books and easily read the language of the Magic World:

"Diary of Shot Darali — Mage of the Third Circle."

This chapt𝙚r is updated by fr(e)ew𝒆bnov(e)l.com