Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Chapter 149: For the future (5)

The captain left without waiting for an answer, and Jori bit his lips and clenched his teeth in annoyance... he needed to work on his patience.

"Is this like this all the time?" Rain asked.

"Every single damn time... there is always someone making light of us," Jori replied.

"And you react like this all the time?" Rain asked.

"How else should I react?" Jori asked.

"It must be exhausting," Rain shrugged.

"Anyway, let's set our camp and then work on our schedule," Terra said when she noticed Jori's eyebrow twitching. "The terrain is pretty even, so we won't have to worry about obstacles getting in our way. Shall we make some bonfires around to improve our field of vision? At least if they are extinguished, we will know that the enemies are nearby."

That wasn't a half-bad idea, but the enemies could also try to use that or wear them out. They had to consider that kind of thing, but everyone was fine with Terra's idea. Instead of dropping the mood with such possibilities, Rain decided to let such a thing happen if necessary to make everyone learn a bit.

There were some trees around, and the fortress also had some firewood to be used, so the group soon made the campfires. Everything in an area of three hundred meters west of the fortress could be seen, but the enemies still could attack from south and north.

"Asche, you keep your eyes and ears open in the north, and Rain can do the same in the south, right?" Jori asked.

The group knew that Rain had become famous thanks to the last mission protecting Lorene, and he also defeated a bunch of enemies that were being controlled, so he wondered if he should hold back a little instead of showing his true strength.

While Rain was thinking about that, Jori stepped in toward Rain and swung his sword. Still, at the last minute, he jumped to the side and began to run in circles around Rain. He was pretty fast, so it was a pain to follow him. Making his trip while he was carrying his sword could be dangerous, so Rain just waited.

When Jori was right behind Rain, he stepped in to attack again, but Rain raised his arms and blocked the sword with his forearm guards. Rain quickly moved them to the side and then turned his body while lowering his posture; after a while, he kicked Jori's leg and made him fall. Rain clicked his tongue since he kicked a metal plate, and that hurt quite a bit.

"No progress, huh?" Jori asked while looking at the blue sky with his back on the ground. "Figures."

"You have gotten faster and tried to use your head and surprise me, but you still took the first chance to attack when it was too obvious," Rain said. "I could see your movements even without using my eyes. At the same time, when you went on the offensive, you didn't leave any room for change or improvisation."

"Hmm... I guess so," Jori said and then got up. "I feel like taking my time will only make me waste energy, but I guess it is better than suffering such a counterattack."

"My turn now," Reca said while stepping in.

Reca was strong, but she focused more only on speed, so Rain wanted to see how much she changed in the past year. Once she assumed her fighting stance, she quickly charged him and then trusted her spear with all her might... that was dangerous, but since the attack was too obvious, Rain blocked it with one forearm guard.

In the next moment, Reca quickly recovered and then swung down her spear... she was smart... she wasn't getting too close, so Rain didn't have the chance to counterattack since her spear had more range.

Still, when her weapon collided against Rain's forearm guard, he quickly punched the side of the weapon with his other hand and almost forced Reca to let go of her weapon... that didn't happen, but she broke her fingers by resisting.