ShadowBound: The Need For Power-Chapter 580: The Ascent

As the group began their ascent along the route they had chosen, every step was taken with extreme caution. Their pace was slow, deliberate, and measured, each movement calculated as they remained acutely aware of their surroundings. Nearly an hour had passed since they first started climbing, and by then they had managed to reach roughly halfway to the peak.

During that time, their progress had been anything but smooth. It felt as though the mountain itself was constantly weighing whether to allow them passage, testing their resolve with every stretch of unstable ground. Advancement came in short bursts, frequently interrupted by moments that forced them to halt completely. Each pause stretched longer than the last, not from indecision, but from necessity.

There were moments when a single misstep sent a pebble skittering loose, clattering down the slope far longer than it reasonably should have. Every time that happened, the entire group froze in place, eyes tracking the pebble’s descent as their hearts pounded, waiting to see if it would disturb something larger hidden beneath the surface.

Instinctively, Liam and Asher raised their shields over the group, muscles tensing as they braced for impact. They held their positions, unmoving, listening—waiting. When nothing followed, relief washed over them, but it was shallow and fleeting. They all knew better than to relax. The mountain had noticed that mistake, and from that point on they were trapped in a constant state of near-impact anxiety. Every sound—stone scraping against stone, gravel shifting underfoot, wind tugging at loose debris—felt like the first whisper of disaster.

Yet it was that very anxiety that kept them sharp.

As they continued upward, Liam’s thoughts churned endlessly. Part of him couldn’t help calculating how much faster he would have finished this trial alone, unburdened by having to match the pace and safety of a group. And yet, despite that frustration, he found himself paying close attention to Sheila. Watching her adjust, adapt, and learn in real time was something he knew mattered—something she needed. That alone kept his impatience in check.

So even though the climb was far slower than anything he would have attempted on his own, there was still value in it.

’That aside, holding this shield with the added weight is really starting to get to me,’ he thought as he continued moving steadily just behind Charlotte.

’Sheila and Ariana are helping support it, but still... my arms are starting to go numb,’ he noted, shifting his gaze between the path ahead and the slope below. ’Complaining now would be pointless. We’re almost there. And luckily, nothing really—’

He cut the thought off immediately.

’Let’s not jinx it.’

A few minutes later, Liam noticed something else. They had begun encountering other students along the mountain—some using the same route, others branching off along nearby paths. They even passed a few of them. What struck him as odd, however, was what they hadn’t seen.

No one was coming down.

’Is something happening near the peak?’ he wondered. ’Something that’s preventing those who reached the top from descending?’ He paused internally, considering another possibility. ’Or maybe they’re just resting, regaining their strength before continuing. That would make sense.’

He was still lost in those thoughts when a sudden impact snapped him back to reality. A small chunk of rock struck the side of his nose, forcing him to gasp sharply as his head jerked upward. His eyes widened instantly.

"Rocks!" Liam shouted.

Without hesitation, he forced Ariana and Sheila to help him lift the shield high, positioning it over their heads and Charlotte’s. At the rear, Asher reacted just as quickly, Max assisting him as they raised their own shield over themselves and Dylan.

The group came to a dead stop, anchoring their footing as best they could beneath the shields. The first wave of falling rocks slammed into them, the force reverberating through their arms and shoulders as the shields absorbed the impact. Pebbles, chunks of stone, and larger rocks rained down indiscriminately, battering the wood without mercy.

The bombardment continued for nearly a full minute, the relentless clatter echoing across the mountainside. Even when the sounds finally began to fade, no one moved. They held their shields in place, muscles screaming, unwilling to trust the silence just yet.

After a tense moment, Charlotte carefully leaned her head forward, peeking out from beneath the shield to check above.

"I think we should be good... for now," she muttered calmly, her eyes still scanning the slope.

Slowly and cautiously, the others followed her lead, lowering their shields inch by inch. They looked upward first, searching for movement, then down toward the path below to assess the aftermath of the rockfall.

"Guess this mountain really wants us dead, huh?" Max muttered, staring at the scattered debris below.

Asher clicked his tongue sharply, his expression darkening as he frowned. "This wasn’t the mountain," he said with clear irritation. "It’s those damn fools above us." His gaze lifted sharply toward the slope.

The others followed his line of sight, spotting fellow students higher up the mountain—figures barely visible, moving with a mix of caution and reckless carelessness, unaware or unconcerned with the chaos they had just caused below.

Asher’s jaw tightened the moment his eyes locked onto the students above them. The tension that had been coiled in him since the rockfall snapped all at once, his hand clenching into a fist as he took a sharp step forward. His chest rose as he drew breath, anger flashing hot and immediate across his face, words already forming on his tongue—sharp, furious, and absolutely unfiltered.

"Those brainless—" he started, voice rising, shoulders squaring as if he were ready to shout the mountain down itself.

"Asher."

Sheila’s voice cut through him cleanly, firm without being loud, carrying authority that left no room for argument. She turned toward him fully, her expression calm but unyielding. "That’s not something to get heated over."

Asher snapped his head toward her, disbelief written plainly across his face. "Not something to get heated over?" he shot back, frustration bleeding into his tone. "They nearly got us killed. If we hadn’t reacted fast enough, we would’ve been buried under that rockfall. Completely crushed." He gestured sharply toward the debris-strewn slope below. "That’s not a small thing, Sheila."

"I know," Sheila replied evenly, not flinching under his glare. "And you’re right about one thing—we could have been buried." She paused deliberately before continuing. "But we weren’t."

Asher opened his mouth again, but she continued before he could interrupt.

"We weren’t because we planned for it," she said. "Because we moved carefully. Because we expected this kind of danger from the start." Her gaze flicked briefly toward the mountain above them before returning to him. "Whether those rocks fell naturally or were caused by careless students doesn’t change the outcome. This is a mountain ascent. Rockfalls are part of the risk. Something we all knew to expect."

She took a small breath, steadying herself. "Wasting energy yelling at people above us won’t change anything. What will matter is keeping our focus and moving forward."

Asher stood there, breathing hard, clearly wanting to argue further. "But—"

"Sheila’s right," Liam added quietly from beside Charlotte, his tone calm but certain. "We prepared for this exact scenario. That preparation is the reason we’re still standing."

Asher’s teeth clenched as he stared at the ground for a long moment, the anger slowly draining from his posture. He exhaled sharply, clicking his tongue in irritation before finally turning his head away. "Tch... whatever," he muttered, letting his arms drop. The fire died out as quickly as it had flared, the matter left to rest.

Just then, Dylan suddenly straightened, glancing upward as he wiped his face with the back of his hand. "Uh... guys?" he called out. "We should probably move. Like, now."

They all looked toward him.

"I just felt a few droplets hit me," he added, glancing at his palm. "More than one."

That was all it took.

Understanding spread through the group instantly. Rain—real rain—on a mountainside like this would change everything. Loose gravel would turn slick, stable paths would soften, and the risk of landslides would skyrocket.

"If we don’t pick up the pace," Max muttered, "this place is going to turn into a nightmare."

Sheila didn’t hesitate. She turned to the front of the formation immediately. "Charlotte," she called out, raising her voice just enough to carry. "We need to move faster. Still careful—but faster."

Charlotte glanced back over her shoulder, a sharp grin spreading across her face despite the exhaustion. "No problem," she said easily. "I was getting bored anyway."

She surged forward, her pace increasing noticeably as she took the lead. The rest of them adjusted immediately, tightening their formation and matching her speed as best they could. Footing became more precarious as the incline steepened, several of them nearly slipping more than once, hands catching on rock and root to steady themselves.

For nearly twenty minutes they pushed upward like that—lungs burning, legs trembling, concentration razor-thin. Mist crept in as the sky darkened overhead, the first real drops of rain beginning to fall with growing insistence.

And then, suddenly, the slope leveled out.

They broke past the final rise and stepped onto the summit just as the rain truly began to pour, heavy drops crashing down around them as if the mountain itself had decided they had earned no mercy for cutting it so close.

Behind them, the storm swallowed the path they had climbed.