Chapter 18

While I may have agreed to help, I severely doubt whether this creatures intentions are pure. Even if it can tell I'm a reincarnator, my body is that of a four year old with very little training. That is not someone you send to deal with animal poachers, never mind people who can capture mana beasts. Secondly, I doubt this spirit has had a positive experience with humans, no matter where, there are always greedy humans, case and point the animal poachers. Thirdly, it has blocked all communications with elves, cutting off any potential aid. The reality of it is, the spirit is most likely trying to get me killed.

Wading my way through the shrubs and brushes I'm listening to the directions of the spirit, it's been a rough 30 minutes of walking, and with each passing minute the sky darkens, increasing my chances of encountering a mana beast.

"You wouldn't happen to be trying to get me killed, right?" I question, a slight gleam in my eye as I circulate mana through my body. My basic body enhancing will not be as great as those in the enhancer class, but at this point, I'll need all the fighting prowess possible.

"Why do you think that?" it replied coyly.

"... No reason."

With that, I walked in silence for another ten minutes, before hearing howls of pain.

Crackling whips whistled through the air amidst the rattling of cages. I once again formed sharp icicles with grooves to aid in my climb up a tree. I then perched on a branch roughly 40 metres of the ground, camouflaged by the foliage.

".. I count 5 none mages, 3 non noble mages and one... Raijin family mage" I muttered to myself as I strained my eyes to look at the colour of their irises. The Raijin family is the family that is known for its purple eyes, otherwise known as the lightning mages. Non-nobles have a dull amber colour, and have one element of either: fire, water, wind or earth. None mages have black irises, and will most likely be the easiest to take out unless they're skilled fighters.

"Where's the nearest pack of mana beasts? Preferably ones that are strong and slow"

"Roughly a kilometer west, why?"

"They'll cause a little turmoil for me.." I replied, chuckling a little. From what I can see, the beasts they have captured don't seem too strong, I wouldn't be able to beat them myself but they are most definitely low on the food chain.

I sprinted in the direction specified, making sure to make as little noise possible as I jump from branch to branch, occasionally using the crudely shaped ice picks when I miss judge the distance. Finally, I'm above the pack of mana beasts. Thick grey skin with ivory spikes lining the spine. They had relatively short yet thick legs, and wicked claws jutting out from their feet. An elongated neck making it so they look down on a good majority of humans as they stand at an average of 6'2. Due to its wide frame I would say it weighed roughly 400 pounds.

"They should do nicely" I mumble.

Climbing back down i stand in front of the pack, form a jagged edged sphere of ice and throw it at the animals, avoiding them all while also making it close enough to seem like I'm a threat. Then sent a stream of lighting, shattering the ice, sending chunks out hitting some of the animals, but only enough to graze them. I didn't want to scare them off, not that I could do much more damage.

My attack seemed to get their attention, as they charged slowly at me. Circulating mana through my body again, I boost my speed enough to the point I'm ahead of them while I'm also not out of sight, occasionally throwing a block of ice the size of a tennis ball so I don't lose their attention.

Finally I arrived at the camp filled with howling mana beasts, which seemed to only enrage my pursuers more, as they completely forget about me. They charged through the camp, destroying their supplies carts, tents and even damaging the cages, causing havoc.

My plan seemed to work as the non-mages isolated themselves in attempt to prevent any more destruction to supplies. There were 8 of those creature that chased me here, and they were currently being held off by the mages. Quickly, I took note of the amber eyed affinities, one water mage and two earth mages, which was smart as fire wouldn't do well in forest areas for obvious reasons.

Silently making my way to the first non-mage, I covered my hand in lightning and placed it on his lower spine, the highest place I could reach, hoping to shock his nervous system. He collapsed to the floor a few seconds later, foaming at the mouth. The fight between man and beast subdued any noise I could make, as I approached my second target, repeating the process of shocking his spine.

This continued until I had incapacitated 4 of 5 non-mages, however the last one seems to notice his missing companions.

"Crap" I cursed as I employed something I had only thought about doing. I streamed lightning natured mana through my legs. Lightning magic has a side effect of speeding things up even when it is only coiling around the object, however lightning natured mana, is just that. It is not actually lightning magic, but what I would use to produce lightning. However, I'm attempting to trap it in my body, or more specifically my legs to maintain that secondary effect of speeding me up.

In a burst of miscalculated speed, I crashed into my target before he could warn the others, but now I had to fight him head on.