Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"Ugh, you can kick too?" Jori asked while Terra was healing him. "Why don't you cover your knees as well then?"

"That is a good way to catch others off guard," Rain said. "They will never expect that kind of attack. Still, did you wish to be hit like that? I am surprised,"

Actually, Rain acted by instinct. He wasn't used to using kicks yet, and he had decided to focus on punches as well. Still, his stance at that moment only let him target Jori with a side kick, and since he was too close, he got a knee attack on his stomach.

"I won't be caught off guard next time," Jori said and then got up.

"You still want to go again?" Rain asked.

"Of course, we have plenty of time to kill," Jori replied.

Rain wanted to ask if Jori was on some kind of diet where he wanted to lose all of his lunch again. Truth to be told, that was a waste of time. Rain could tell that Jori was still growing, but his attacks were too obvious, and they weren't that heavy. Rain didn't even move backward when he blocked the attack. He knew that he wasn't using all his strength, but still…

"I will try a bit harder this time," Jori said while swinging down his sword faster.

Rain could only see a kid trying to show off in front of girls… the situation was weird since he wanted to show off while defeating an eight years old kid. In any case, Rain accepted the offer… that would serve as a good lesson for the kids to understand that they couldn't get ahead of themselves yet, considering that they have been receiving a lot of praise lately.

Those two assumed their fighting stances again, and then Jori charged. He did it slowly this time, but when he got close enough, he swung down his sword quite fast. Rain didn't have time to dodge, thanks to his weight, so he blocked the strike with his forearm guards. The attack had been light, but soon Jori attacked again and again.

"Speed this time, huh," Rain thought. "His sword will break at this rate.

Jori's consecutive overhead strikes were more than fast… they began to push Rain backward and break his stance; before long, Jori lowered his stance and attacked Rain with a body slam. While Rain blocked the attack with his arms, he was left wide open to the sideway slash that Jori launched afterward.

However, before he could finish the attack, Rain used his earth magic and pushed himself forward, and body slammed against Jori. He was caught off guard, and before he could do anything else, Rain punched him in the gut, making him lose the rest of this dinner.

"I guess this is enough, right?" Terra asked.

"Why are you asking me?" Rain furrowed his eyebrows.

"Ugh, alright… I admit my defeat," Jori said while he was getting up and massaging his stomach. "I guess Rain is one of a kind, just like Lord Branden. Let's spar tomorrow as well."

"Fine by me," Rain said.

Sparring was always a good thing; Rain confirmed that Jori only wanted some good training sessions as well to improve his skill, so he was fine with that; there were no ill intentions involved.

"I want to join as well," Reca declared. "I will be sure to pose more of a challenge than Jori."

"Getting carried away, aren't we?" Jori asked. "Your head will cool down easily once you get one of those hits in the stomach."

In any case, the group prepared for another night of guard duty. They split up as they had planned, and some farmers looked quite troubled when they saw Rain being the only one left in the second village. They had heard that a short kid defeated all of the monsters in the third village before anyone could have gotten hurt, but they didn't expect that Rain was that kid. He didn't look reliable at all.

Much to everyone's annoyance, that night, no village was attacked. While the farmers looked thankful for that, it was only because they couldn't see the big picture. As long as the monsters keep coming, they can decrease the enemy's strength, but if they keep coming sporadically, then it will be hard to achieve that goal.

"Well, we are earning per day of work instead of kill, so I guess it is fine…" Jori said when morning came.

"I don't like this; we are basically letting the enemies do what they want," Reca said while showing an annoyed expression. "We should look for them tomorrow if they don't show up tonight again."

"... Let's decide that after we rest for a bit," Jori said while he was scratching his cheek.

Rain was thankful that they had time to do nothing during the mission. He used all the extra mana to use his wind magic… learning Fly would be useful, but he wondered if there was some earth spell that would come in handy. Improving that would improve all senses of his fighting style, after all.

While Rain was thinking about that, he wondered if his wind magic improved at all and decided to fire a wind bullet toward a random leaf on a tree. While he controlled the spell, the attack completely erased the traces of the leaf upon contact. When he aimed at the three, he made a hole a few centimeters deep in the trunk.

"It is as powerful as a bullet, and it is hard to see as well… this can be very useful," Rain thought.

The group heard the sound of the tree shaking, but they didn't hear the sound of the attack, so they looked around, confused. It was the kind of spell that would be excellent for assassination corps… so Rain wondered why he had never heard of it being used in wars. Maybe they were used, but no one realized that people were dying because of them…