Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Just as Rain had expected, the new path came at a high level since Encyclopedic Knowledge came at level forty-five… while the breathing technique wasn't something that advanced, the other things that he taught were the fundamentals of many skills, after all.

Once that recruit began to stand out, the others began to work hard on the training, and soon, one by one, they began to show some results.

"I guess they will be able to fight against a large army at this rate… but not for long," Rain thought. "The stone shields are useful, but I guess I will ask Lotto to make some lighter and more durable ones."

"Things are proceeding well. What is the next step?" Jori asked while he was carrying two of his kids on his shoulders.

Before Jori's kids would be pulling his hair in that situation, but they began to behave lately… Rain wondered if it was because they could feel that the atmosphere was serious and they couldn't cause too many problems or if It was because they noticed that Rain's kids behaved better than them.

"The next step will only start when we win a real battle against the beast people," Rain said. "At the very least, it has to be a battle where they outnumber us ten to one."

"... Those are some dangerous odds," Jori said. "I suppose you wouldn't want us to fight that hard in that situation."

"You can fight as you see fit. We need to get stronger as well, after all," Rain shrugged. "While I say that they need to win a battle with those odds, they don't have to defeat ten of the beast people each."

"I see… you still didn't say what is the next step, though," Jori said.

"The next step will be to transform them into a real army," Rain replied.

That was easier said than done… Jori couldn't even see most of them as soldiers yet, it would be hard to see an army of greenhorns being taken seriously.

In any case, the next attack of the beast people happened three weeks later after the last one. Rain wondered if they were being cautious or if they were waiting for his group to drop their guard during that period of rest.

Either day, Gila came to inform Rain that they were twenty kilometers South of the previous location… probably because they saw the recruits coming and going to the mountains every day lately.

Dana and Kei stayed there to make sure that the enemy wouldn't split up like before, and that was exactly what happened… but around fifteen hundred beast people were still crossing the fissure and preparing for another battle…

"They immediately began to go down the mountain," Kei said while grinning. "They are so easy to understand."

"Attack only the back of their formation this time; don't get our troops involved in the chaos," Rain said when they arrived with everyone. "Listen here, you lazy bones! Today, the mission is to wipe out all of the enemies. Not a single one of them can escape, do you hear me? Do that without suffering a single loss, and then I will teach you another useful technique."

"WOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" All of the recruits roared in excitement.

"It seems that Rain had a knack for leading others. Maybe it is because he is pretty famous, but everyone is already following him without hesitation," Roan said while nodding in satisfaction.

"It helps that he is harsher on himself than he is on others," Jori said while showing a difficult expression.

Jori was worried about Reca… she was already seven months pregnant, so he couldn't help but worry that the war might last even after his fourth kid was born… he could imagine Reca trying to join the battles even after just one month after the birth.

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In any case, Jori put his head on the game when the beast people began to charge at them before their lines could be completely formed… that was another smart thing to do. Still, thanks to their hurry, they didn't see something waiting for them… and getting closer was also dangerous for them.

Around eighty percent of the line was completed when the beast people attacked the recruits… some of them began to emit a lot of steam through their bodies, and when they punched the shields, the impacts pushed away the users… to the point that their formation was breaking down even before it was completed. Still, the recruits recovered and dashed forward while keeping their shields raised.

Some of the beast people moved to the sides of the formation to attack, but then when lightning bolts began to emerge from their bodies, they suddenly saw something vanishing behind the recruits' lines… they didn't even have the chance to realize that the same thing happened… on both sides, someone used Impulse, Limit Breaker and Magic Boost to attack them… when they realized that something was off, their necks began to sting and bleed.

Roan and Jori didn't hesitate to get rid of the lightning-fast tigermen. Jori knew how fast they could be, so he alerted Roan when they were to show up. Since they would avoid Rain's attacks, it was obvious where they would come from.

In the end, the beast people couldn't help but hiss in annoyance… they knew that things wouldn't be easy, so they quickly made the decision to cut their losses… they learned something new this time, so it was valuable information… However, they didn't have the chance to do so.

An ice tornado, giant and cold, emerged with an eerie grace behind the turning-around beast people. Its appearance sent shivers down their spines, and the frigid air emanating from it gnawed at their flesh, chilling them to the bone. The tornado's core was a swirling vortex of icy winds, a mesmerizing play of blues and whites, as it drew nearer to their ranks.

They immediately felt their bodies flinching thanks to the insane cold of the ice tornado...