Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"We have two healers and two front liners, so we can split them into both groups," Jori declared. "Asche and Rain will go with me toward the South while Reca, Liss, and Terra will head North. We will only move one kilometer in the same direction and then return here. If we don't find any traces, we press onward and do the same until we do."

Asche, Liss, and Terra looked at each other. They didn't like that idea at all, but they didn't want to voice their opinions and make things get awkward. Rain realized that and confirmed that despite being talented, they were still kids. If someone can't deal with questions while they are in a position of leadership, then they aren't fit to be there.

Jori talked without giving room for his allies to express their opinions, and while that passed more confidently than an unsure leader, it was also hard to deal with.

The group split, and then they began to move without wasting time. Rain looked over his shoulder and then noticed that the second group was moving slowly, but soon they sped up since Reca wasn't going slow. In any case, much to Rain's surprise, it didn't take long until he noticed some vibrations on the ground.

"Something is nearby…" Rain said while looking around.

"How can you tell?" Jori asked while frowning.

"The ground is vibrating," Rain replied.

Jori and Asche looked at each other since they didn't feel anything. At first, they imagined that Rain was imagining things, but he was good at earth magic, so perhaps his senses were a bit better than theirs… it didn't take long for them to confirm that was the case. From behind some hills, some creatures rolling in the shape of spheres began to approach them at high speeds… at least ten of them.

That was too much… how many of them appeared nearby when the group didn't find any traces of them?

Rain didn't have time to worry about that since, at the moment, Jori found two monsters in the same direction; he charged toward them without saying anything. As expected… Rain's guess was completely correct.

"Oh boy…" Rain thought.

Despite his recklessness, Jori's footsteps made him cover five meters with every single one of them. He reached the enemies in no time and swung his sword in an arc that Rain had a hard time following completely. Still, the blade didn't cut anything. It just stopped the movements of the monsters and revealed that they were just the carapace of the turtles rolling.

"Those are some weird ass turtles to move like that…" Rain thought.

While Rain was acting like it was nothing, the monsters were two meters long and wide with their carapaces. They should be hard and heavy as well… enough to damage the walls of the capital. Still, Rain forgot about that when he saw the remaining enemies surrounding him and Asche.

With her eyes moving from one side to the other, Asche had a nocked arrow. Still, she didn't know which enemy to shoot down… she also felt that she wouldn't have enough firepower to kill them. Still, she made up her mind about her target when the ground beneath the enemies emerged and made them fly upward.

It didn't take long for Asche to see the holes in the carapace where the limbs and the heads of the monsters would live. In the blink of an eye, she fired two arrows before the monsters could fall, and when the enemies hit the ground, blood began to gush from the holes.

On the other side, Rain made the four monsters on his side fall on earth spikes that he made emerge from the ground. Most of the spikes were destroyed by the carapace. Still, some of them pierced the interior of the monsters, and their heads left their hideout, showing their agonizing expressions.

The monsters looked like really fat turtles, and since they were big, their expressions were clear to see.

The Healer's Path received 50 experience points.

The Healer's Path received 50 experience points.

…

"The amount is small, but at least this confirms that I can get experience by hunting monsters… but why only the path?" Rain thought.

Rain could think of that later, he could hear the sound of some monsters approaching, and then he turned around to check things. He saw Asche firing another arrow and then killing another monster through the hole in the carapace, but another one reached them.

She quickly pushed Rain away and also jumped to the side, but the beast still charged toward Rain after a quick turn… he barely had time to touch the ground and make an earth wall block the beast's path, and when the beast was rolling trying to knock the wall down, Rain made two earth spikes emerge from the sides and pierced the monster from the sides.

It didn't damage the armor, but it slowed down, giving Asche enough time to fire and finish off the beast.

Rain got up while looking at Jori. While the kid was surrounded, he still managed to cut one of the monster's carapace and kill it. He wasn't the brightest guy alive, but he had power and skill… still, the remaining monster was pushing him backward with continuous charges… Jori blocked them with the side of his blade while clenching his teeth.

Rain touched the ground to use his magic, but Asche touched his shoulder and shook her head.

"He will become really annoying if you help him now," Asche said.

"Are you sure about that?" Rain asked. "I don't think that you will like the end result if we do that."

"What do you mean by that?" Asche furrowed her eyebrows.

"The monsters attacked us as soon as we split up, even though we didn't find traces of them in the area," Rain said. "That also means that the others probably are being attacked right now as well."