Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

As night fell upon the land, Rain embarked on a solo journey to investigate the surrounding mountains in the area, driven by his desire and determination to uncover any hidden threats. Despite his thorough search, he found nothing of immediate concern in the rocky, moonlit terrain.

Not one to leave any stone unturned, Rain decided to broaden his search, extending it to the site of the other battlefield. When he arrived in the area, he also found a camp there and a lot of movement…

While breathing roughly, thanks to the exhaustion and low reserves of mana, Rain finally took a break right at the entrance… then he proceeded when he saw a lot of people covered in bloody bandages and villagers trying to help them.

Rain approached the largest tent, thinking that it was some sort of commanding room, but he only saw a bunch of wounded people there, being treated by Terra and Rain's sisters.

"What happened here?" Rain asked.

"... I knew that you would come," Terra said and then sighed. "At least you look fine."

Dana, Kei, and Gila looked apologetic and avoided Rain's eyes… It seems that I experienced something really troubling. Then, Rain didn't see Roan and Jori and raised his eyebrows.

"Where are…" Rain said.

"Roan and Jori? They are keeping an eye on the surroundings… they are fine," Terra said. "Still, we barely made it this time… did you fall for some sort of trap too?"

"It depends on what you call a trap…" Rain said while rubbing his eyes.

Rain explained what happened on his side… and Terra said that something similar happened on theirs. However, they chased the enemies to cause more damage and prevent further attacks after fighting for half an hour… they got too close to the mountains and then they were attacked by someone unknown, someone who also used a giant earth spear.

Much like Rain, Dana, Kei, and Gila also noticed something odd and quickly reacted to the attack and created a multilayered ice wall, but that wasn't been enough to stop the attack.

Roan and Jori tried to block the attack, but even with Limit Breaker and Magic Boost, they were knocked out, and dozens of the soldiers were hit by the earth spear… they survived thanks to their equipment, but some suffered heavy damage on their heads… they will survive, but maybe their fighting career is over.

"I won't try to comfort you three with sweet words, and I think it will be better for all of us to use this frustration as fuel to keep improving our skills," Rain said.

That was probably the best thing they all could do… even with Limit Breaker and Magic Boost, and Rain was also overpowered… he also decided to use that for future reference. There were no absolutes in that world, and nothing says that he still is the strongest human. Not that such a title had much meaning in the first place.

In any case, after grabbing some potions, Rain went to talk with Jori and Roan, and they confirmed that they didn't find or sense anyone in the mountains. Still, there was nothing certain regarding the end of that battle… until now, the beast people lost around four thousand soldiers in the war, but now that they had such unknown allies, they might try something else.

"I thought that they were too much on their own thing and never would accept help from outsiders…" Roan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I didn't think that they hated us to the point that they would even sacrifice their own soldiers."

"My image of them makes me think the same way… maybe things are more chaotic than we imagine now that they lost so many of their tribe leaders at once," Jori said.

Rain agreed with them, but in times of war, it isn't unheard of for entire nations to change if they think that they need to accomplish something no matter what.

Deep in his thoughts, Rain began to notice a recurring pattern in the tactics employed by their enemies. The very strategies and maneuvers he had once been used against the enemies were now being mirrored against him.

This disconcerting thought served to strengthen his conviction that their enigmatic opponent was intricately tied to Joanis, likely having imbibed from the same well of knowledge and experience. As this thought crystallized, Rain couldn't help but surmise that Joanis had not left this world without cultivating multiple allies, individuals poised to become persistent thorns in their side.

The notion of lingering threats, hidden like coiled serpents in the shadows, weighed heavily on Rain's mind, compelling him to remain vigilant and unyielding in the face of their impending challenges.

"The enemies are using the advantage that we had in the past against us, so we will have to fight that," Rain suddenly said. "We will have to train harder from now on and things of unusual ways to get stronger as well. If we aren't careful enough, we might be building the very army that will make the enemies much stronger."

"You know that I am grandfather, even though I don't feel that old, but I am starting to think that my bones won't survive your idea of training harder," Roan furrowed his eyebrows. "It must be young and full of vigor."

Rain honestly thought that he was trying as hard as he could to become stronger for everything that he cared for, but he was starting to think that he needed more… he needed the same desire to improve himself that he had years ago, perhaps even more, but just investing more time on training wasn't enough, it was about time for him to start being smarter about it.

Before morning, Rain returned to where he left his team and then proceeded to work on repairing the buildings that had been damaged… some of his soldiers were from there, so they didn't hesitate to give a hand.

"Giving a hand, huh?" Rain thought.

THIS CHAPTER UPLOAD FIRST AT NOVELBIN.COM