Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

The human army kept firing those massive boulders toward the camp. Rain was able to stop them midway until the magic people became ready to receive them. The water snipers bombarded them with their water spears, but it took a while for them to make the projectiles explode… the next explosions almost reached their camp, and the blasts destroyed their tents.

"It seems that only heavy things can make those explode…" Rain said while looking at Josar.

The golem masters weren\'t there, but they would be able to use high-level earth magic to copy Rain… without any other choice, Rain took that role again until the sun began to rise, and they realized that all those attacks had only been a distraction… they had filled the holes that Rain had created around their camp, and now their base was moving to the south.

"What is their goal this time…" Rain thought while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.

The most obvious option was that they wanted to avoid Rain\'s traps… they knew that he couldn\'t have set them all around the city. Another one was that they wanted to fight when and where they wanted… that would keep the magic people on their toes.

"Do you think that they found some sort of weakness in the other areas, even though they don\'t have direct routes to the council hall and they didn\'t fight in those locations?" Terra asked.

"I don\'t know… they probably know something that we don\'t," Rain said, and then he looked at Josar, who looked more nervous than usual.

Rain knew that Josar wouldn\'t do or say anything that would put the magic people on the spot… he probably was thinking that Rain would abandon them at the first sign of trouble. Those thoughts were more or less confirmed when he saw the human army stopping moving while they faced one of the cornerstones of the magic people capital… that was a weird spot to stop.

After thinking for a while, Rain realized that the humans now would be able to fight on two fronts and send help to the western side and southern side of the battlefield with more speed… they wanted to increase their chances while betting on two fronts, instead of just one which Rain could defend.

The other possibility was the fact that, in fact, the humans wanted to keep an eye on the eastern side of the city… which was the direction the dragons could come from.

"I guess this is it," Rain thought. "They will Invade at the very moment they see the dragons coming… the magic people wouldn\'t be able to defend themselves against two all-out attacks from two different directions. They will rush to take over the capital and defend themselves with their red crystal and prepare to face the dragons eventually."

That was one hell of a campaign… Rain was honestly surprised that the king heard that and agreed with the plan. They might not try to subjugate two species but secure a large territory and then kill or perhaps capture some dragons that would give them what they needed to keep increasing their strength.

Still, Rain wondered how the king and Joanis sold that campaign to the regular soldiers… keep Fighting or defending their territories for months, if not years… that sure will wear them down.

"We can\'t rely on the magic people, I didn\'t trust them to begin with, but the fact that they want to keep hiding information from us only proves that they eventually will turn against us," Rain thought while rubbing his chin. "I will use them to get stronger and weaker our enemies and then get out of here. No point in risking my skin for them."

"What are we going to do?" Terra asked when she noticed that the air around Rain had changed.

"The same as usual, get in the way of the enemies as much as possible," Rain said. "I will be more reckless now, so I will trust you to heal me when I return. Don\'t expose yourself."

"Understood," Terra nodded.

Terra also knew that there was time for everything, to help and to be helped… to take chances and to fall back and run away from risks. While she fought the magic people, she didn\'t know much about them until now, and she grew weary of their unreasonable actions.

Before long, the human army began to move, and Rain kept an eye on them, but he didn\'t see any of the special soldiers. They were hiding to do Joanis\' binding in the shadows…

"It can\'t be helped…" Josar said and then raised his hands toward Rain while holding some crystals.

Rain raised his guard and then readied himself to pierce Josar\'s heart and then escape with Terra, but nothing happened. The stones in his hands cracked and became dust, and then Rain felt the power inside him growing.

"... My apologies for being so indecisive until now," Josar said. "The magic of my tribe is to create these crystals, and when we use them, we grant some power to those we use them on. The crystals that I just used will increase the power of water and earth magic for half an hour."

Rain couldn\'t see that on his Status, but he could feel it… even without his coral spear, he could tell that his control and power over water magic had increased a lot. It seemed that Josar and the magic people were more cornered than they thought… perhaps the dragons would arrive in a few days.