40

I'm a little crazy. The thought struck me suddenly. I was willing to risk death for a slight possibility of a reward. God, my bonded must think I'm some sort of sadist. I was glad I didn't get many headaches anymore or this line of thought would have given me one.

It didn't take the two of us very long to pack. I ran parallel to Sekka's bird as we headed out first. Leaving the rest of the procession behind as we headed out. Tonight I was going to rob a few of the other merchant groups that had left the city. I spent most of our lunch creating a double to take my place from just inside of the forest.

Taking the time needed to erase my presence from that spot in time before sending the double back to Sekka, and moving on alone. Sekka moved on without me quietly. I kept on erasing my presence as I ran back toward the city. I didn't want them figuring out my connection to Sekka. The pressure of the spell made me feel as if I was slowly being crushed mentally speaking.

The mana cost was ridiculous as well. There was only so much I could handle. It didn't take me long to make my way around to one of the other city entrances. I ran along the road with the intent of catching up to the group that left that gate. I dropped the spell that erased me from time, and dedicated that mana to enhancing my physical ability.

As long as this group didn't get attacked by Vytra as well then I should catch up to them in a couple hours on foot. Blinking allowed me to jump ahead hundreds of feet with minimal mana. Spatial dominance allowed me to do such feats with ease. I wondered if there was something past spatial dominance. I didn't think so with how hard it was to advance dominance.

I felt a subtle shift in my elemental abilities. I was on the verge of leveling up one of my elements. I could feel it. I accelerated even further. Blinking a few hundred feet ahead over, and over again.

I would have just teleported straight to the group, but I didn't know where they were nor did I know this road well enough to just do such a thing. I was burning through more mana then necessary. I planned to keep on burning through mana either way. I would have time to regenerate mana between caravans. My ability to remove the slave collars was something that the elves would not be given time to combat.

Spell breaking was a useful skill at the very least. The runic patterns on the slave collars was the same as a normal spell constructed by overlapping runes. I smirked to myself as I ran. The fact that the elves had not realized this yet only made me feel even more amused. They thought they're little slave collars were perfect.

The only ones that might know about the fatal flaw in the collars were one of the people that made them. I dove into the forest when I spotted the caravan up ahead. My feet found purchase on the forest floor with ease. The speed at which I crossed the distance between us was incredible. I rushed out into the road, and stopped right in the center.

All the mana around me rushed toward me as I filtered out the poison in the mana. Refilling my core at a decent speed as I waited for them to notice that the fox that had attacked the city was waiting for them. I smirked beneath my mask as I waited confidently with my arms crossed behind my back. Without the protection of the city guard this caravan was child's play for someone like me to deal with. Only the richer merchants could actually afford some competent help.

They would always place them emblem of their company on the outside of their wagons. That kind of show of strength was a good deterrent for most. Most. I didn't plan on pushing them too much at first. The bigger merchants might just hire someone troublesome to come after me after a while.

I folded my arms over my chest, and glanced up at them as the carriages came to a stop. The beasts that pulled them were uneasy. They didn't appear to want to get closer to me let alone pass me. I watched one of the guards launch a few arrows at me. I stopped the arrows with some powerful winds.

The two cones of wind were more then enough to stop the two arrows. It was a focused block that didn't take much mana. I wasn't all that surprised by the attack. I expected an attack of some sort. He was disturbed by the ease at which I stopped his attack.

He launched another attack anyway. This time the arrows were different. They were bursting with some kind of enchantment. I briefly saw the glowing of the runes as they activated. Then the two arrows turned into over a hundred.

All tightly packed, and headed right for me. Too bad I was already behind him. My hand rested gently on the back of his head. He screamed, and dropped his bow as the gauntlets made of white scale amplified the affects of the poison I'd just stabbed directly into his head. Blood poured from his eyes, nose, and ears in a torrent.

Blood wetted his pants as it poured from the openings downstairs as well. I remembered the first time I'd come into contact with this particular poison well. My high immunity to poisons was one of the reasons I'd survive. The other was my immense size. The beast that had tried to kill me with this poison simply wasn't big enough to give me a lethal dose.

I was more upset about the fact that I'd assumed I'd be fine when I bit into the little snack only to end up bleeding for over an hour afterward. Constantly having to heal myself just to keep myself conscious as I lost a great deal of blood.