Just like its name suggested, the Huge Stone Rocky Mountain was extremely rugged from all the rocks that covered its surface. It also had several peaks piercing through the clouds to the skies.

“Huk, huk! Huk, huk!”

Furthermore, the word ‘rough’ didn’t begin to describe its roads. The mountain’s wildly curved ridges were full of sharply protruding rocks that caused more than a few difficulties when running.

“Uuaaaaah!”

Not even five minutes had passed since Seol Jihu started running, but he was already screaming as his feet kicked off the rugged ground. The slope toward the mountain peak wasn’t any different. If anything, the added steepness only made it worse, greatly exacerbating the burden placed on his thighs and calves.

‘This isn’t running…!’

It was practically impossible to rein in curse words, but he was too busy gasping for breath to let them escape his mouth. Just moving one leg forward took two seconds. It was more fitting to say that he was climbing the mountain rather than running on it.

That wasn’t all. Since he didn’t know when a monster or a wild beast would pop out of the woods, he had to stay mentally alert at all times….

“!”

Did he lose his focus for a moment? Just as he was about to reach the mountain peak, he lost his footing and slipped.

“Aaaah!”

The hands he threw out to balance himself grabbed onto a rock. He pulled himself up to the peak clutching this rock like a straw, and then he finally heaved out the breath he’d been holding back.

It was so miserably dreadful and tiring. He was panting rapidly as if he was on the verge of taking his last breath. When he turned around with his raspy breathing, his gaze pierced through the foggy clouds around him and landed on the starting point in the distance.

Seol Jihu’s face contorted. He bit his lower lip hard enough to leave a clear mark, then started to make his way down.

People who rock-climbed for fun all said the same thing - that the descent was far more exhausting than the ascent. In other words, Seol Jihu couldn’t ease up on his run just because he was going downhill.

Because of the steepness of the slope, he accelerated naturally. Speeding down a rugged terrain was no different than committing suicide. One would normally have to control themselves so as to not gain too much speed, but the current Seol Jihu found it extremely difficult to do this.

“Keeeu!”

Each time he stepped on the ground and forcefully suppressed his momentum, his feet felt like they were on fire. Because there were too many things going on at once, he lost his focus and fell forward from the burden on his body.

Thankfully, he was able to get back up without major injuries, but he couldn’t do anything about...