______
Outside the ancient path.
The Darkness Elementalist and his companions persisted in their search. They had been outside for almost one hour now and had searched just over forty people. There were at least around ten to twenty people left in the ancient paths.
This trip was cruel given how high the fatality rate was. Almost one hundred youths were dead, if not even more.
The youths who had been searched didn’t dare to stay around the valley and immediately left after being searched. They had already lost some items to the Darkness Elementalist’s companions, and they didn’t want to lose more.
The blue-clothed youth and his group were the only ones who had stayed behind. Since the Darkness Elementalist was searching for the Great Earth Essence Liquid, there was no way he would allow himself to lose out on such an opportunity.
The allure of the Great Earth Essence Liquid was just too great for him to reject. Even if in the end they couldn’t find it, it was better than not trying. Who knows, maybe they could get lucky, and find the bastard who stole their treasure.
“Stop there! Hand over your bags!” One of the youths in the Darkness Elementalist’s group immediately rushed forward from where he sat and stopped the group who just came out from the door.
The group consisted of three young men and a young lady. Of the three young men, two of them could be said to be in a league of their own in terms of facial looks, but one of them was better looking than the other. The third young man was only slightly above average in terms of looks, but he was taller than the other two young men.
The young lady in the group looked like someone who was still fourteen years old with her hair tied into two ponytails, she had an adorable face with lumps of baby fat still visible on her cheeks. But since she was able to enter the trial land, no one would dare take her for a fourteen-year-old.
The group of four was obviously Grey and his friends. They were still in the midst of laughing after picking on Reynolds during their journey when the young man suddenly came to their front and started yelling like a clown.
Not putting him in their eyes, they didn’t even bother to respond to what he said and just continued their joyful conversation at the expense of Reynolds.
Although they knew the youth looked familiar, they didn’t really know much about him. Other than the Darkness Elementalist who left an impression on them, they didn’t really remember how the rest of them looked. This is expected since only those who make an impact are remembered.
Being ignored, the youth immediately felt outraged but because he knew how strong Grey and his friends were, he didn’t dare to attack them. Instead, he looked in the direction of the Darkness Elementalist.
“Stop.” The Darkness Elementalist said calmly and walked towards Grey and his friends.
“Uh! What do you want?” asked Grey.
“Hand over your bags. Someone stole the Great Earth Essence Liquid, and since you and your friends were part of the group that fought against the protectors and also the first group to escape, I’ll have to check your bags.” The Darkness Elementalist explained.
“Sorry, but that won’t be possible. Why would we hand our bags over so you could search it just because you think someone stole it?” Grey said emotionlessly.
The Darkness Elementalist looked at Grey and his friends clearly a little wary of their strength. He knew all too well how strong they were, especially when fighting together. He had also fought against Grey personally, although there were only two exchanges between them, he lost in both exchanges.
“Hmph! Hand over the bags, if you know what’s good for you.” The blue-clothed youth suddenly jumped into the conversation.
“And… Who are you again?” Klaus asked looking at the blue-clothed youth strangely.
He remembered who the blue-clothed youth was, but he only asked this question to irritate him, and looking at the expression the blue-clothed youth was putting on, he knew he had achieved his aim.
“You…”
“What? You want to fight?” The blue-clothed you were about to shout in anger when Klaus interrupted him. Klaus’s lips curved upwards to form a smirk, and disdain was evident in the way he was looking at the blue-clothed youth.
“You…”
“Move to the side, we don’t have time to listen to an insect.” Klaus interrupted the youth again while waving him away like he was a fly.
“…”
Everyone stared at the blue-clothed youth whose face was turning red from anger. Reynolds could almost swear he was seeing steam rising out of the blue-clothed youth’s head, or, maybe it was just his imagination though, to be honest, he didn’t really know. But he knew he was currently seeing something like that.
Being riled up so much by Klaus, the blue-clothed youth couldn’t take it anymore and immediately attacked.
“Ah!” He yelled loudly.
Swoosh!
“Uh!” The blue-clothed youth exclaimed unconsciously.
Surprisingly, he was currently feeling the wind brushing against his body at a fast speed and hearing the sound of something breaking through the wind. He didn’t recall the place being windy. Also, all he could see was the blue sky. He was previously in a standing position, so the sky should be above him, he didn’t recall looking upwards.
‘How come the sky isn’t above me? Wait, where is that bast…’ While he was still thinking of what happened, everything suddenly went black and he lost consciousness.
Bang!
He slammed headfirst into one of the rocks in the valley and immediately collapsed to the ground, motionless.
In the previous position the blue-clothed youth was standing, Grey could be seen standing casually.
“You were saying?” Grey stared at the unconscious blue-clothed youth before switching his gaze back to the Darkness Elementalist.
The companions of the blue-clothed youth stared at the handsome innocent-looking youth in disbelief. Even the companions of the Darkness Elementalist couldn’t comprehend what just happened. Only the Darkness Elementalist and Alice were able to get a slight view of.
Just as the blue-clothed youth was about to explode out with a terrifying attack. Grey suddenly appeared behind him, he held the shirt of the blue-clothed youth from behind and threw him like he was a spear towards the rock. There wasn’t even any form of resistance, and it felt like Grey just casually threw a normal spear.
Everything happened so fast that the blue-clothed youth didn’t even feel it when Grey threw him. Before he could realize what happened, he had crashed headfirst into the rock, passing out in the process.
“What just happened?” Reynolds asked stunned by his friend’s speed.
“I think Grey just went from there to there in such a short timeframe.” Klaus tried explaining, by pointing at Grey’s previous location and his current one.
“I know, you idiot. I mean how did he move that fast?” Reynolds cursed at Klaus.
And just like that, Klaus and Reynolds started one of their usual cursing sessions.
“…”
Grey, Alice, the Darkness Elementalist, and his companions were all left speechless by Klaus and Reynolds.
Grey shook his head and a slight smile formed on his face.
‘These friends of yours are quite different.’ Void couldn’t help but comment.
‘Yeah, they’re special. That’s for sure.’ Grey replied before trying to break up the duo.
It is quite surprising that even when there was a possibility that they would get into a fight, Klaus and Reynolds could still comfortably start one of their cursing session. This showed they weren’t nervous in any way even though they were outnumbered.
“Guys, we can continue this another time.” Grey tried to stop their bickering, and…
After some seconds, he managed to stop the duo from cursing at each other to cursing at him.
Grey smiled wryly and joined the cursing session. And so, the two-man cursing team turned into a three-man team.
‘They truly are fit for friends.’ Void said.
The Darkness Elementalist and his companions, including the companions of the blue-clothed youth were stunned by the trio’s behavior.
Alice could only shake her head before stepping forward to stop the trio.
Soon, the cursing session ended with Klaus being the final winner.
“Enough of all this, hand over your bags now or prepare for a thrashing.” The Darkness Elementalist said coldly.
“Heh. With the likes of them, you don’t stand a chance.” Klaus pointed at the companions of the Darkness Elementalist.
“I am enough.” The Darkness Elementalist said
“Looks like you have forgotten how our previous bout ended. Let me remind you, it ended with you running with your tail between your legs.” Klaus retorted.
When he remembered the last battle he had with Klaus and Reynolds, the Darkness Elementalist’s expression turned sour.
“Hmph! You won’t get that chance again.” He said coldly.
Both parties fell silent with the atmosphere turning tense.