The River

"Mutated elements usually have very special gimmicks, for example, Arel's flames can endlessly get stronger as long as he kills other living beings."

"It also gives him a minor control over the Blood and Fire element, essentially, with one affinity, he has the power of three."

Adonis nodded in understanding then silently continued to watch the ongoing battles.

Hours passed and after a while, Rylo received a message.

"Hm? Ah, it seems it's time. Elder Selah wants to have a chat with you, let's go."

***

In the same tent he'd been in the previous day, Adonis sat facing Selah and Rylo.

"How're you doing, young man?" She asked with a warm smile as she sipped on a cup of tea.

"I'm doing great, Elder."

"That's good to hear, well, let's get to it. I have good news and I have bad news."

She put her cup down.

"The bad news is that we're gonna stop travelling and stay here for a few months. The place is filled with bandits and beasts, it's perfect for our training."

"The good news is that we're not gonna hold you back. I'm aware you have a destination you want to reach and Rylo will be escorting you to it."

Adonis breathed out a sigh of relief. Though the time he'd spent here was rather joyous, he didn't want to tardy anymore than he had already.

"Thank you."

"Don't mention it. So, where is it you want to go?" She asked as Rylo took out a grand map and placed it on the table before them.

"I want to go to the Brimstone River."

Both Saleh and Rylo froze as they heard this.

For a moment, Saleh wanted to dissuade Adonis but in the short time she'd spent with him, she'd gotten a good grasp of his nascent character.

A foolishly persistent child.

"Alright. That's gonna be about six hours of travelling. We'll have to pass by a few bandit settlements and most likely will encounter a few Marah Beast kings but all in all, it should be manageable."

"We can leave tonight if you want."

"That'd be great, thank you." Said Adonis as he stood up and formally bowed.

Saleh sighed.

'Like father, like son.'

Just like that, when the sun set, Adonis and Rylo left, without alerting anyone. Tensions had already begun to rise after the spar between Arel and Adonis, so Saleh preferred it to be this way.

***

Unfortunately, what was supposed to be a six hour long trip, turned into a five day long endeavour. Anything that could've gone, well, went wrong.

By the fifth day, Adonis had lost count of the amount of times he'd nearly lost his life to bandits or herds of beasts.

"Alright, finally, we should be there in an hour or two." Said Rylo as they made their way through the thick foliage of bushes, trees and vines that blocked their path.

Suddenly, Rylo stopped and he raised a finger. Seeing this, Adonis only nodded before he turned around and immediately dashed forth, his spear already in his hand as he thrust forward.

"ARGHH!"

A man hidden behind a bush screamed in pain as Adonis' spear pierced through him.

Adonis twisted his blade, further aggravating the man's wound before he ruthlessly pulled his spear out, allowing the shower of blood to drench the man.

Before the man could even think of an escape plan, Adonis' blade gently grazed his throat, granting him a painful death.

In the distance, Rylo watched this with a narrowed gaze as he too finished off a bandit.

'I can't tell if he's mentally unstable or just growing really fast.'

Flames appeared, coating Rylo's hands as they burned off all the blood on it before immediately vanishing.

"Are there any more of them? Usually they come in groups of five, no?" Asked Adonis as he made his way back.

"The way I see it, they were just sent here to slow us down. As expected, the ruckus we made on our way here was picked up on and a group is probably waiting for us ahead."

Adonis frowned.

"How many of them do you think there'll be?"

"The biggest camp we encountered had about three hundred of them so I'll guess six hundred on the low end and probably a thousand on the high end."

"Fuck…"

"Indeed, it's not looking good." Said Rylo with a smile."But it's definitely manageable. Hold on."

Rylo closed his eyes and instantly, Adonis felt his hairs stand on end as he felt a strange wave pass through him and scan every part of his being.

"Yup, I was right. There's about a thousand of them. Most are in the lower tiers while a few of them are tier eights. To be exact, they have six hundred and fifty nine tier ones, a hundred and fifty three tier twos, sixty seven tier threes then weirdly enough, they have a hundred tier fours with all the remaining being tier eights and sevens."

"How..?"

Rylo merely grinned hearing this. Seeing he wanted to play mysterious, Adonis didn't ask any further on how he'd managed to extend his senses so far.

"Alright, so how do we deal with them? Should we go back to the camp?"

"What we'll do is you take care of the tier ones and I take care of everything else. How does that sound?"

"You…want me to fight six hundred and fifty nine seasoned warriors, at once? I hope you're aware that my first real battle was only a week ago. I'll die if I fight so many of them at once."

Seeing Adonis' grave expression, Rylo's smile turned into a laugh as he patted the latter's back.

"Don't worry, kid. I've been keeping an eye on you these past few days. You're definitely strong enough to handle that many… I think? Either way, even if we die, what's there to worry about?"

"What greater honour is there in life for a warrior than to valiantly die in battle?!"

Adonis sighed.