____
Boom!
A tree exploded into bits after being struck by a powerful fireball.
“Ah! Where are they?!” Quinn could be seen with frustration all over his face.
He had been searching for Grey and his friends for almost six hours now, and the lack of results was starting to irritate him. Since none of his companions have released the signal yet, it meant neither of them have found Grey yet.
What was more frustrating was that he was already starting to tire out since he hadn’t gotten a good rest since the prolonged battles. Although physically he was quite okay after taking some tonic that helped restore his essence, he was feeling tired mentally, and the only way to solve that was to rest.
Walking out of the woods, he saw a ruined building. This was the sixth building he had come across since he started searching for Grey and his friends.
It was a five-story building with at least twenty-five rooms.
‘If I don’t find them here, I’ll rest a little. After recovering, I’ll continue the search.’ thought Quinn.
Getting closer to the building, he didn’t sense anyone on the first floor, being too tired, he didn’t bother to search all the floors after not finding anyone on the second floor of the building.
He randomly picked a room on the second floor before going in. After entering the room he set up some defensive measures and immediately sat in a lotus position. If he didn’t rest for even a little, then even if he finds Grey, he might not be able to even fight against him. After getting into a meditative state, he carefully hid his presence just in case.
Unknown to Quinn, Grey and his friends were in this building. Only, they were all situated on the fourth floor and were all fully engrossed in recovering.
____
Two hours later.
Grey was the first amongst the group to awaken from his state of cultivation.
He walked out of the room he occupied, leaving the still cultivating Void alone. He initially wanted to wake Void up, but when he remembered how he disrupted Void’s cultivation the last time when he refined his body, he dismissed the idea.
‘I remember sensing someone, but, looks like the person didn’t stay for long.’ thought Grey
When he was cultivating previously, he sensed the presence of someone walking inside the building, but after some time, the presence disappeared. He initially wanted to go check it out, but after not sensing the person again, he stopped himself and focused on cultivating.
He assumed it was probably one of the geniuses who came into the trial land.
Although this looked careless, he was very safe. Being an Inscriber means he’s naturally good with arrays. He had placed multiple arrays in not just his room, but also the rooms of his friends.
If anyone were to carelessly charge in, then, they’re in for a rough time. Although the attacks from the arrays aren’t strong enough to kill them, they shouldn’t have any problems hurting them.
With nothing to do, he decided to look through the other floors. In no time, he had already looked through the other two empty rooms on the fourth floor and was on his way to the fifth floor.
Some steps on the stairs were missing for some unknown reasons, there were holes in the walls, and when Grey got to the last floor, he was greeted by the moonlight shining through the roofless building.
The end of the passageway was destroyed so there was a huge hole in the wall. Grey walked closer to the hole and looked through the hole, observing the compound, and also the forest that was not far from the building.
“Huh!” Grey saw a familiar shadow walking out of the building.
‘What’s he doing here? Could it be that he followed us here?’ Grey pondered when he saw Quinn leaving the building.
‘Well, since he’s here, then I’ll play with him for some time.’ Grey jumped through the hole in the wall.
He was bored and since a prey had appeared for him to have fun with, then he wouldn’t mind playing Quinn to death.
Using his wind element, he slowed his descent, so the impact of the landing wouldn’t spread far.
He planned to kill Quinn slowly, first, he’ll break him down mentally, before killing him.
____
Quinn who just stepped out of the building felt his ear twitch.
‘Someone or something is following me.’ He thought coldly.
Compared to other humans, Quinn’s ears were more sensitive to sound just like that of an animal. Although it couldn’t be compared to an animal’s hearing, it was better than that of regular humans.
So even when Grey tried to be as silent as possible, he still made some sounds which Quinn surprisingly picked up from over fifty meters away.
Quinn raised his vigilance and continued walking without looking back. He didn’t want to alert whoever, or whatever was following behind him.
The only thing that made him slightly worried was the fact that he didn’t know the strength of his soon-to-be opponent. If he could find out, then he’ll know what measures to take.
He reduced his speed and focused hearing on what sounds he could pick up. From the light footsteps he was hearing, he was able to confirm it was a human that was following behind him, but he was still unable to sense the Plane or presence of the person.
‘To think someone would follow me. Hmm, I’ll know who the person is soon enough.’ thought Quinn.
Had it not been for his impeccable hearing, then there was a chance the person following behind him would be able to successfully sneak attack him.
Thirty seconds later.
“Show yourself!” Quinn turned around sharply and exploded out with a sea of fire that spread out in all directions.
The power of the flame was quite weak due to it spreading in such a large scale, but Quinn didn’t plan on using it to kill, he wanted to force out his stalker.
____
‘He sensed me, to think he knew I was following behind him.’ Grey casually waved his hand and an earth wall appeared in front of him that blocked the flame.
But after blocking it, he climbed up one of the trees. With the aid of the wind element, it didn’t take him long before he got to the very top of the tree.
It hadn’t even been close to two minutes since he started following behind Quinn, yet he was discovered. He felt quite embarrassed at how poor his stalking was.
He just finished creating the first symbol but he hadn’t made it appear yet. But he knew there was no way Quinn would be able to sense it.
‘I originally planned on using two symbols, but…whatever, one should be enough.’ Grey thought and attacked with the symbol while still hiding in the trees.
After the symbol sent out the attack, unlike before when the symbol would remain visible, this time, after the first attack, it disappeared, like it was never there.
‘Let the fun begin!’ Grey laughed happily inside.
Bam!
Quinn managed to dodge the attack, but after looking around, and not finding anyone, his face turned sour.
“Come out and fight like a man!” Quinn roared.
Grey wanted to shamelessly retort and say he was a lady, but after some thought, he decided it was best to attack him again. If he were to speak, then there’s a chance Quinn might figure out which tree he was hiding on.
Quinn slammed into the tree that was closest to him and his hair turned into a mess.
Another minute went by with him not seeing his opponent, or where the attack was coming from. Only a fool wouldn’t realize what was happening, his opponent was toying with him.
“I’ll kill you!” He almost dragged his hair out from annoyance.
Why was this happening to him? Who was so bored to follow him and start tormenting him?
The most annoying thing was that his opponent wasn’t trying to kill him, and was currently playing with him. He had tried escaping multiple times, but he was met with assaults that had nearly taken his life.
The first person that came to his mind when the assault started was Grey. But then, after seeing that the assailant was using the wind and water element, he removed Grey and his friends from the picture.
He remembered Klaus was a Water Elementalist, but he knew none of them was a Wind Elementalist.
He tried burning the trees, but the person would put out the fire with the water element. Even though he knew the person was in the trees, there was nothing he could do to get the person out.
“Who are you? Come out this instant!” Quinn ordered.
Grey hearing this felt like Quinn wasn’t as smart as he thought he was.
‘Does he really think I’ll come out? I think he has a screw loose or something.’ Grey shrugged and continued his assault.