Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"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.

"No problem," Rain said.

"That is really helpful… it is too tiresome to stay on guard and watch two different directions," Asche said.

"It must be hard to be the only tracker of the group," Rain said. "By the way, do you only feel the sound of the enemy\'s footsteps, or do you use other things to find them?"

"Why do you ask? Can\'t you do the same?" Asche asked while furrowing her eyebrows. "I prefer to hear their footsteps, but if the wind is against me, I focus on my nose. It is hard to use it, though. Since spies are used to erasing their scent."

Rain nodded… he was hoping to learn something useful to improve his tracking skill, but he didn\'t know how using his sense of smell would help him with that. It seemed that the best option was truly to focus on feeling a magical presence. Still, even with Terra and Liss nearby, Rain couldn\'t feel anything. Just like his mother, he would be able to tell if they used some mana, but that wasn\'t enough.

In any case, the whole group stayed on guard on the first night, but nothing happened… It was clear that the enemies noticed that some reinforcements had arrived, but it was hard to imagine that such a thing had been enough to make them give up on attacking.

"Now we can finally rest. Let\'s make sure to recover in order to train as much as possible once we wake up," Jori said. "It has been a while, Rain. So this time, I will kick your ass."

"That is a weird way to ask me to spar," Rain said and then sighed.

The area was pretty hot since they were close to the sea, and it was summer, which was why they had a hard time sleeping well during the day. In any case, after having a quick meal once they woke up, Jori and Reca asked to spar against Rain.

"Well then… how should I proceed with this?" Rain thought.

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.