Martial Arts System

357 Nature's Challenge.

The sky on top of Glazeland started getting darker, with more and more snow beginning to fall down.

The snowstorm finally arrived, and it made visibility extremely poor.

The streets were emptied, families ran in a hurry to their homes, and cars disappeared before it was too late.

But, currently.

A young man with heavy winter clothing was walking in the middle of the snowstorm!

Every time he blinked, the visibility became even poorer; he barely could see his hands, let alone see in front of him.

His walking didn't seem to be smooth; he was limping forwards, which made it apparent that he must have had an injury of some sort around his right leg.

''Urgh…'' Ichiro grunted in pain after a sudden blast of wind pushed him to take a step backwards.

''Force of nature is indeed terrifying thing…'' He muttered under his breath, but every time he opened his mouth, snowflakes entered his mouth, making talking and breathing more difficult.

He put his hands in front of him and pushed himself forwards; his legs slowly started moving forwards.

His body felt weak, but slowly, yet steadily, he started moving forwards.

He couldn't even see the City of Glazeland or the airport, where he came from.

He didn't even know how long he had walked. It felt like hours, but it also felt like he started walking a minute ago.

His mind was tricking him, and he wasn't even sure that he was on the right path!

The snow hills surrounded the road that made him feel like he was trapped, with no way out.

''Grr…'' Ichiro gritted his teeth and took a decisive step forwards.

*Crunch*

Once his feet landed on the ground, it was quickly surrounded by snow.

''Fucking… Snow!'' Ichiro's scream of anger rang in the snowstorm, but no one was close enough to hear him.

The sound of wind and snow falling also made his scream very quiet.

Soon, the cold air and wind made Ichiro's ears, and cheeks change shades until they were red in color.

His sensitive ears started having a tinge of pain, which soon started spreading from his earlobe to the cheeks.

Even the hood he was wearing couldn't protect his body from getting cold.

*SWOOSH!*

Suddenly, a blast of wind appeared right before him and pushed him back.

Ichiro staggered backwards a couple of meters, and instantly, the steps he took with hard work vanished into nothingness.

''Damn it…'' Ichiro covered his body with his hands, trying to stabilize his body, but something about this weather wasn't normal.

The wind and snow seemed much stronger than anything he had ever faced.

*SWOOSH*

Another blast of wind knocked Ichiro off from his feet, which caused him to land on his butt.

''Argh!'' He rubbed his painful butt and tried to stand up, but it was like gravity was fighting against him.

''Grrr…'' He lied flat on the ground and started crawling forwards, slowly, but surely he started moving forwards.

The snow kept piling up in front of him, making crawling very difficult, but he was moving forwards at a languid pace.

At first glance, it would look like he would never reach his destination, and it might be true.

It took him one minute to cross a five-meter distance.

''Ahh… Ahhh…'' Ichiro stopped moving and faceplanted on the snowy ground. He felt the coldness of the snow spreading all around his face, which made him feel more energetic.

His fatigued eyes started slowly opening, and the strong wind that was assaulting his body didn't seem that strong anymore.

Slowly, Ichiro went into a kneeling position, and from that, he slowly stood up until he was standing straight.

*Crunch*

A step forwards was all Ichiro needed to start his rhythm again.

With similar rhythmic movement, he started making his way forwards.

Now, to cross five meters only took him ten seconds.

But those ten seconds seemed extremely long.

*SWOOSH*

Ichiro's ears perked up, and he heard the terrifying sound of wind swooshing.

He knew that another attack by nature was about to arrive.

He crossed his arms and lowered his body, ready to defend against the force of nature.

*SWOOSH!*

The wind blast assaulted his figure, making his hood fly out of his head.

Ichiro was almost again knocked back by the sudden attack, but barely, he managed to keep standing at the same position for thirty seconds until the wind once again calmed down.

Once the wind was calmed down, he started making his speed in a hurry before the wind once again arrived to assault him.

Even quicker than before, he crossed the five-meter mark in only five seconds and started making his way forward with unbelievable speed.

To many, it would still look like a snail's speed, but he was fighting against forces of nature while moving forwards, and if it was anyone else, there was a high chance they wouldn't be able to move even one meter, let alone move rapidly like Ichiro.

''Haahhh…'' Exhaustion was catching up, and Ichiro understood that this couldn't continue.

He needs to have a break before he is too tired to continue, even after the storm has calmed down.

But, finding a shelter in the snowstorm was easier said than done, and Ichiro had given up on looking for it.

But he had hopes that he would reach Glazeland, but soon that hope was crushed.

His footsteps halted as he arrived at a sign that was covered in snow.

He went to the sign and cleaned the sign from the snow, and finally, the words could be seen.

[Glazeland - 1.7km]

''Impossible…'' Ichiro felt his body feeling even heavier; he knew that airport was only 2 kilometers away from Glazeland, which means he has only traveled 300 meters.

''Fuck…'' He slammed his head into the sign.

He wasn't aware of how long he had traveled, but knowing that he wasn't even halfway there made him genuinely depressed.

But then, he gritted his teeth and shouted, ''I will keep going, shit!'' His scream was aimed at nature, telling that mere wind won't stop him and that nature needs to work harder if they want to stop him.

*SWOOSH!*

The wind started blowing even harder.

Nature answered to the challenge.