Gods Aren't Perfect - OFFICIAL

Chapter Twenty-Two: The Not-So-Beloved Return, Again

...with a few minutes to plan out the route so they didn't venture into other areas with potential avalanches, and then a few more minutes so the gods knew what they were doing and the basic climbing, and then another few minutes to hand out equipment and get everyone properly suited. All that aside, the trek began at one in the afternoon, as a nearby sundial told them.

The Dammos formed a line, with the gods in the middle, and began to hike upwards. For safety reasons, they pulled out a very long rope, making sure everyone would hold on to it during difficult regions of land.

Tronso, who had a lighter coat thanks to his natural cold resistance, stood at the very front of the twelve, whip in hand. Every now and then, he would turn to make sure everyone still stayed behind him, and nobody had careened off a cliff or something. The Dammos, too, made sure nobody hurtled off. Whenever someone slipped, if the God of Ice didn't catch them with his whip, one of them would already be there to break the fall and steer them back onwards.

With the long rest and the health-replenishing soup, each of the deities already felt some of their magic returning - although for how long, nobody knew. That didn't stop them from using it to help one another up. Faceless had fashioned some sort of very long toothpick out of a pot, using it to help pull himself up to higher areas - while Koumei just jumped past him, accidentally kicking snow into his face. Or lack of a face. We've had this discussion in the comments already.

When the going got tougher, Ophelia would stab her sword into the ground, having her Green Thumb grow a bunch of easily-climbable vines - but at the cost of some of the natural terrain. However, it did help with moving the most dangerous areas out, such as an oddly placed giant snowball trap - a thin wall of snow blocking the giant ball of frost, which the vines quickly made fast work of. After smashing the snowball into a massive pile of useless, which was then pushed off the mountain, the group continued forward.

"That's... really weird." Tronso shrugged.

"Isn't this, like, that natural phenomenon where hail rolls up in snow to make a massive snowball?" June poked it. "Iunno. Maybe it's a weird coincidence."

The next leg of the trip went through a bit of a valley before twisting around into a cave, sharp icicles standing above. Walls of frozen water blocked their left and right, leaving only a narrow passageway to walk through. The ceiling seemed thick enough that the translucent material wasn't enough to let in even a glimmer of sun. And to make matters worse, the Dammos' five-foot diameter and height meant they blocked off any view of the exit and entrance, so they walked in near-total darkness. That was until Atticus used their photokinesis to light up the room... just in time to see an icicle flying down at them.

While the Light Deity managed to melt the one threatening them with a stronger light concentration, this extra heat only led to more of the icicles' bases melting - and them coming down as a result. The Dammos' thick fluff quickly captured them before they could make contact with the climbers' bodies, but the gods on the other hand didn't have that advantage.

"Heads up!" Lizzy yelled, using her sketchbook to shield her head. "Good thing I got this around." An icicle then melted into the paper, ruining some of her drawings. "Noooo!"

Now that the other gods knew of the issue, they quickly took action. Ophelia first sliced through falling shards with her trusty Leafblade, shattering them into harmless sprinkles - albeit somewhat annoying ones that got stuck on several peoples' glasses and Faceless's mask.

Rosa heated up her dagger and June his chopstick, both slashing through icy projectiles and the Thunder God also firing bolts of electricity at them. Tronso then kicked a wall, causing spikes of ice to grow out the walls for a protective cover. Koumei finished it with a Wind Barrier, the other gods taking a rest for now and just urging the Dammos in front to move faster.