Albedo sighed, pressing a hand to his forehead. He'd known this would happen.
The moment Klee found out what they were doing, she would definitely pester Jiang Bai to bring her along.
As for the letter he had written... It hadn't helped. Not at all.
He sighed again, but since Klee was already here, he couldn't very well leave her freezing down below.
Gathering some materials and ores, Albedo used alchemy to quickly craft a pulley basket and rigged a rope system. Once it was securely tied, he tossed the rope down through the shaft.
It took a while for the rope to reach the bottom, landing with a crisp clink.
Jiang Bai carefully helped Klee into the basket, gave the rope a tug, and Albedo began hauling her up slowly.
The pulley creaked and groaned, the basket scraping harshly against the stone wall as it ascended.
Klee sat quietly inside, watching the darkness around her gradually brighten.
Below her, Jiang Bai and Kaeya climbed steadily up the same path.
Once she reached the top, Klee leapt out of the basket, excitement bubbling over as she threw her arms around Albedo.
"Klee missed Big Brother Albedo so much!"
Albedo's exasperation softened as he looked down at the little girl clinging to his leg.
She's truly adorable when she wants to be... and just as capable of driving people up the wall.
He patted her head and pointed toward the nearby campfire. "It's cold here. Go warm up by the fire."
But Klee didn't cling to him for long—after a quick hug, she let go and immediately started scanning the summit with wide, searching eyes.
"Where's the big spike? Where's the bad, mean spike?"
Muttering to herself, it didn't take her long to spot the enormous Skyfrost Nail.
The cold was instantly forgotten. With quick little steps, she ran toward it—tap tap tap tap tap.
Albedo sighed again and didn't bother stopping her. It was pointless.
"Careful—it's slippery."
But Klee, blessed as always by good fortune, didn't slip once despite the slick terrain.
She ran right up to the frozen monolith, only stopping at the very last moment, skidding to a halt mere inches from one of the massive icicles.
Her nose nearly bumped into it.
Tilting her head back, she stared up at the spike in awe.
"It's huge…"
From afar, it hadn't looked all that big. But now, standing directly beneath it, she could truly feel how tiny she was.
Albedo raised his voice: "Klee, don't throw any bombs yet! We'll set them up together once we've made a plan!"
"Got it!"
After circling the spike once, Klee rubbed her cold little hands and finally headed over to the fire, the initial thrill fading.
Around that time, Jiang Bai and Kaeya also climbed out of the cave, one after the other.
"Whew—" Kaeya exhaled deeply, brushing off the snow.
"That cave is brutal. I was starting to feel like an icicle myself."
"You get used to it after a few climbs," Jiang Bai said. He was in better shape—this was his second time through the cave, after all.
"You're here too, Kaeya."
Albedo looked a bit surprised to see him, though only for a moment.
Klee being here already lowered the bar for what was unexpected.
Kaeya spread his hands. "Yup. Klee insisted on coming—I had no choice but to tag along."
Albedo gave a small nod, not pressing the issue. Instead, he turned to Jiang Bai. "You brought enough explosives?"
"Should be enough."
"Good. No time to waste. Let's head to camp and go over the setup."
The camp had been established by Albedo over the past few days for both rest and research.
While Jiang Bai had been off gathering the explosives, Albedo had continued studying the spike, developing several detonation strategies.
"From here on, it's your show."
Jiang Bai handed leadership over to Albedo without complaint. He'd be the muscle.
Gathered around the fire, the group listened as Albedo explained the potential weak points of the spike and how they should plant the charges.
"To completely destroy the Skyfrost Nail, we'll need to place several rings of explosives around its main shaft. The spike is roughly 17 meters tall. To be safe, we'll set a ring of charges every meter—then detonate them simultaneously."
"But, to prevent the noise and impact from triggering an avalanche, we'll have to evacuate any adventurers still on the mountain. We can't risk anyone getting trapped."
"Isn't there a soundproofing formation we can use?" Jiang Bai raised his hand.
Evacuating adventurers would be a huge undertaking. They had no way of knowing how many were out there—and missing even one could mean tragedy.
Albedo shook his head.
"Soundproofing won't help. It's not the noise—it's the tremors from the blast that cause avalanches."
"What about a vibration-dampening formation?"
"There is such a thing, but the summit is directly connected to the main mountain. We can't fully isolate the shockwaves."
Kaeya rested his chin in his hand, clicking his tongue. "That is a problem…"
"When I first suggested using explosives, I didn't think it through fully," Albedo admitted. "But in the days since, I've run mental simulations and realized this flaw in the plan. Unfortunately, I had no way to reach you quickly—or alert the Knights to coordinate."
He sighed again, clearly frustrated.
His attention had been so focused on the spike that he'd overlooked the broader implications.
Kaeya mulled it over, then took a stick and began drawing a small map of the mountain in the thawed earth near the fire.
"We're here at the summit," he said. "Only this side of the peak has heavy snow. The rest is relatively shallow—even if there's a slide, it won't reach far."
He pointed at a slope he'd sketched.
"This ridge forms a natural basin. If snow does fall, it'll pile up here and stop. All we need to do is make sure no one's in this area when the blast happens."
Jiang Bai wasn't familiar with Dragonspine's geography, so he listened quietly while the two of them hashed it out.
Klee didn't understand much either, but she knew it was important. She sat by the fire like a good girl, roasting her hands.
"…If that's the case, the workload will be much lighter," Albedo said with a nod. "That's a good idea."
Thanks to the ley lines, Teyvat's geology was unusually stable.
Large-scale avalanches were rare. Even if the summit triggered one, it wouldn't affect neighboring peaks.
"In that case, I'll craft a life-detection device. Kaeya, tomorrow you'll take it and sweep the area. Make sure the mountainside is clear."
"We'll stay here and begin placing the explosives."
---
T/N: i forgot how we cleared the way for skyfrost nail in the main story...