Chapter 51. Escape
Rey was standing ten meters away from the bustrich. He held the broken sword and took a stance. He was not facing the bustrich but he had his back at it. He took in a deep breath and his muscles clenched so hard that veins appeared on his head.
"INFERNAL FLAMES: THIRD FORM, VANISHING SPARKS," Rey said as he breathed out. His eyes were glowing and deep down one could see the red flames burning. The entire process took five seconds even as he shot forward.
Even if the bustrich realized what was happening, he would long be lost and it would have already forgotten about him the speed was frightening. Raring that of a second plane lightning elementalist.
He knew that the technique was very much exhausting and also due to his suppressed pain, he knew that it would do more harm if he extended the time limit. The time limit for him at the moment was one minute.
Because of his injuries, it lowered to around 45 seconds. This was enough to escape the bustrich. The technique took him to a distance of almost 3 kilometers before the time limit knocked in.
The technique itself was not an escape technique but due to its explosive speed, he compromised. Also, in order to maintain the technique, he had to keep holding the sword.
He lay on the ground on his back without any care in the world. Having lost the bustrich he was safe. Well, not entirely safe. He was now in the regions habited by fifth stage beasts...
He had lost all sense of direction and had dived 3 kilometers deeper into the woods. Also, the regions were habited by beast close to breaking into the sixth stage and some weak sixth stage plane beasts. His luck had really expired before this mission.
After catching his breath, he sat up still holding the sword. If he lost the sword, he would lose all his escape chances. He stood and as he walked, he found out the beasts he came across did not bother to attack nim.
Whether it was a good thing or not he did not care at all. As long as he could leave alive, he was not going to attack another beast. His lesson was learnt the hard way. Also, he had vowed that he was one day going to wipe out all these beasts and burn the forest. He was going to remember all the injustices he had suffered and get true vengeance.
When he gauged the cultivation level of one beast, his heart dropped. Was his luck really this bad? He was at the zones habited by beasts of the fifth stage. He could only thank his gurdian angel for always protecting him.
The beasts saw him as zero threat. This was a good thing for none bothered attack him. His only prayer was that he would not come across a hungry beast. It was not going care whether he was a threat or not. He did not walk blindly though. He was all ears and he scanned everything.
He also was ready to get into a stance and use the third form of the INFERNAL FLAMES. He would then shoot out at a blinding speed and only a desperate beast would run after him.
After all he was in the first stage and he could barely satiate its hunger. He knew that also the beast would not be foolish enough to run after him to the outer regions. He also knew that if he did reach the outer regions, the beast would let him go and chase after a beast in the fourth stage.
With this in thought, he would hide behind trees when he saw a beast. Though he knew that the beasts could probably sense him, without high cultivation, he was no more of a threat. Just an ant not worthy of their time.
He was rejoicing in his inside but he knew that when he got to the outer stages, the beasts would not ignore him. He was going to use the technique to gross past these areas and leave the forest.
Also,he was not planning on visiting any time soon. This was if he left the forest safe and sound. His chances were low but not zero. He was willing to count on that 0.001% that he was going to leave alive.
Soon, all fifth stage beasts ignored him. He realized that he could just rest in these areas since no beast was going to attack him. He found a cave and rested there the rest of the whole day and night.
Early the next morning even before the sun had risen he was standing at the mouth of the cave stretching. He had been resting and he could feel all his internal injuries had been healed. It was his fifth day and he was not going to waste so much time.
He started running and on his way, he was confronted by a fourth stage beast. He just used the third form and lost it. He had now gained his strength back and he could last a minute. He stopped at the third stage zones to catch his breath.
He did not even last five minutes before he was attacked by another one in the third stage. He could use the technique consecutively five times. He was confident that he was only going to use it utmost two more times, including this one.
He disappeared from the vicinity of the beast but he regretted later. The beast was a lightning wasp. It caught up with him in less than ten seconds. He cursed but he was glad.
The technique would always leave him sapped so he was glad it had caught him early when he still had some vitality in him.
He was in a predicament. How was he going to escape it?
Wasps were fearful of fire but he knew that his flame was not going to have any effect on it. Its body was a meter long its wings half a meter long each. Its rear had a pointed needle. It was bloody red and he was sure that it was carrying instant kill poison in it.
He could not allow it to sting him. He could only laugh self depreciatingly. Had he just escaped fourth and fifth stage beasts just to get killed by a third stage? Okay, he did not escape from the fifth stage beast, they let him pass for he was weak.
But what mattered was the results. It was a win on his side. Well he had thought that it was going to be easy to escape because of his technique but what were his chances? Just a 0.001%. But he could not agree to die when he was almost there.
All he had to do was to escape the lightning wasp and he would leave the forest. One could say that he had woken up with fresh luck today. The fourth stage beast he had been running from was a fox. It had been following his scent and came just right on time.
"Perfect timing," Rey said giving the fox thumbs up. The wasp suddenly shivered when it felt the fox was in the fourth stage. Its beastial instinct told it to run away but it was not every day that it woi ld find a weak human to feast on.
The wasp stood between the human and the fox. It was confident on its sting. Only one sting was enough to kill the fox. The fox howled and looked at the wasp with fiery eyes. The wasp flapped its wings so fast such that they appeared to not be moving.
Rey coud only take his chances. He also had the fox to thank. When he came next he was going to make sure to give it a fast death. Using the third form, Rey vanished.
The wasp turned to run after Rey but the fox decided to use bloodline suppression. The foolish wasp had dared to stand before it and its prey? The wasp was wrong if it thought that it was going to escape it.
The wasp's wings started slowing down as it cowered and fell on the ground. The fox rised it right front leg and using its claws, it sliced the thin part of the wasp at the belly separating it into two leaving it dead as it walked forward past it. Taking a deep breath and sniffing in the air, it followed the direction of the scent and disappeared from the scene.
Rey stopped after almost 4 kilometers. He was already in the second stage zones and was almost leaving to enter the first stage zones. After catching his breath again, he realized that the fox was stiil behind him and that he could not afford to rest for long.
He sprinted again and ran to the zones with beasts with no cultivation. He had miscalculated. He thought he only had needed two moves but it turned out to be three and he would leave the forest. After catching his breath again, he sprinted out of the forest and stood a kilometer away from the forest.
Origin forest was usually 5 kilometers away from origin city.
Rey looked at himself but he could not bother with his appearance. At the moment, what he wanted most was to take a shower and get another good sleep. He also needed to use one of those First Grade recovery pills his father gave him.
He walked fast and after a while, he could see the city in his vicinity. He sighed as he happily sped up headed towards the gates. He showed his school badge to the guards at the gates. The guards never allowed allowed beggers into the city.
The guards looked at him for a long time but gauging from his age, he was not lying. They could also tell that he had been in a life and death battle with probably some beasts. On his way to the academy, he could feel the gazes on him.
He had some call him a begger as they ridiculed the guards for allowing one in. Rey looked at himself and he really had only one shoe and it was soleless. He really looked like a begger. He ignored them all and hurried to the academy. Around fifty meters away, he saw a sight of two.
He cursed. He did not need to get closer to know who they were. He could only curse at his luck again. He could forget about peace for the next few months or even years. He was also not sure what was up between the two.
Rey knew that the two never hung out together alone oftenly mainly only during array classes. He was always with them most of the time outside classes so seeing them headed outside the academy was new to him. Aurora was wearing combat clothes and Alaric was wearing as casually as he usually did.
Where were they heading. Alaric could not have decided to make his move after four years, right? He saw them stop almost fifty meters away and he negated his hypothesis when he saw the two axes on Alaric's bag. Could they be going to a mission? And together?
He reached them and he could see that Alaric was going to break into tears soon. Not due to crying but due to laughing. Yes. Laughing at him when he was forced to recount his adventure. As he thought about it, he could only classify it with one word, "thrilling".
He was led by Alaric to the wall as he told them what had happened. Aurora was sympathizing with him at some points but she was getting carried away when Alaric's laughters erupted now and then.
Alaric almost cracked his ribs when he heard about all the ash Rey had created. He also laughed when Rey was describing the bustrich and how he had invented a name. Rey also shared his thoughts about the bustrich to Alaric who was now shedding tears together with Rey who had joined him.
Aurora did not understand what was funny about it though...