K2
The K2 Arc is the final, grand finale of the manga.Mori prepares to tackle the ultimate, unclimbed route: the deadly K2 East Face. Unlike his past expeditions, his life has shifted. He now has a wife and a child, meaning he finally has human connections and something to lose. He joins a national team for the expedition, but things quickly go south. High up on the mountain, extreme weather conditions and severe mistakes trap the team. As disaster strikes, Mori faces a massive psychological and physical crisis.The climax uses heavy, surreal imagery to depict Mori fighting through frostbite, severe hallucinations, and near fatal exhaustion. The final stretch becomes a battle between his old urge to vanish forever into the mountain and his new desire to survive and return to his family.It concludes his entire journey, shifting focus from a pursuit of pure death-defying isolation to a hard-won realization of the value of human life.
