"Bang! Bang! Bang!" Ryu suddenly flipped out of his bed taking a defensive position on the floor. The crashing thuds on his door had startled him awake. "Come on kid! We are burning daylight." Jinsoku yelled outside of his room. He sat down on the ground slightly frustrated at his master as he snapped back, "Can you not wake me up like a normal person! I will be downstairs in a few seconds." He quickly put his gear on before heading to the dining area. As he walked down the steps from the second floor, his head was still pounding from all of the drinking the night before at the celebration party. Luckily, Kasai had a stack of pancakes and orange juice waiting for him at their table. Upon seeing the delicious meal, he suddenly found a pep back in his step as he sat down. He started to devour his breakfast as if it was going to be his last. Jinsoku chuckled at the sight of his student being hungover as he said, "That attaboy! You will need that tenacious spirit for our next level of training today." Ryu attempted to reply with his mouth full, but it just came out sounding muffled and undiscerning. Kasai angrily karate chopped his head while saying, "Have some manners! Do not speak with your mouth full."
He apologetically bowed as his teacher turned away in an attempt to not break out into an uncontrollable laugh. As he wiped a tear from his eye, he started to explain what the two of them would be doing this morning as he said, "We are going to head to the Guild Hall and accept a variety of missions to kill curse beasts and demoniods as soon as your done kid. We are going to take a few of the more difficult request which means rank B & A." As Ryu finished his meal, he thanked Kasai before getting up from the table. He had recovered his usual upbeat energy as he headed for the exit. He turned back while beckoning Jinsoku to join him as he said, "Let's go! I am excited to have the chance to use my gear and fight something I have a chance to beat." Jinsoku cracked a mischievous smile as he thought about all the satisfying beatdowns he had given his pupil. He quickly followed him out to the street as they made their way across town. As they entered the guild, they noticed it was rather empty. Without realizing it, the two of them had snuck up behind Chisai while she was putting missions up on the board. As they came to a stop, Ryu cleared his throat, "Uhm." She screamed as her tail bristled, and her face went pale. They both stepped back uncertain of what was going on as Ryu concernedly said, "Is everything okay Chisai?"
She grabbed her chest as she turned around. Her cheeks were puffed up as she frustratingly said, "You two are so mean for sneaking up on me and scaring me like that!" They glanced at each other unsure of what to say, so they both bowed while saying, "We are sorry." She huffed as she asked them, "What are you two idiots here for anyways?" Ryu was stunned that the girl he believed to have been timid in nature had such a rude side. Jinsoku decided that he should answer the question as he said, "We are here to take any Class B and A missions you guys have to hunt cursed beasts and demoniods." She flipped her hair as she walked back toward the front desk while saying, "Grab the ones you want and bring them over to me, so I can assign them to you." Ryu watched as his master read the different quest fliers for several minutes. Once he had all of the ones he thought they needed, he made his way over to her with a small stack of papers. She started to sort the requests based on their tier requirement. Ryu counted four total sheets with two for each rank. As she worked on updating the guild books, she curiously asked, "Are you guys doing all these today?" Jinsoku laughed as he threw his arm around Ryu's shoulder while saying, "If this kid was half of what I am, we would easily complete them by today's end. Unfortunately, he is only about as strong as my pinky, so it will probably be two or three days before we finish them."
She giggled as she watched Ryu agitatedly argue with Jinsoku because of his blatant rudeness towards him. As she finalized the last quest, she picked up the stack and smacked it on the counter to get their attention. Ryu quickly shrugged his teachers arm off of himself before sticking his hand in his face. Jinsoku was instantly annoyed by his pupils asinine behavior as he swiftly ducked under his guard. He used his momentum to twist Ryu off balance and throw him across the room towards the exit before he picked up the stack of papers. He bowed to Chisai before turning around to leave. He had a smirk on his face as he passed by Ryu, who was picking himself up off of the floor. As they made their way out of the city, Jinsoku handed Ryu one of the Rank B quests for him to review. As he scanned the information, he found the details he was searching for amongst the description. It appeared the objective was to slay a cursed beast. A demonic lion had been terrorizing the forest outside of a town a little north of Unmei. After several minutes of walking, he decided to finally ask how long their journey was going to be as he said, "Have you been to this village before Jinsoku? Is it far away?" His teacher slightly looked back at him before saying, "It is about a three hour walk there. I have completed a few quests for the residents of Nogyo in the past, but it has been a few years. After we fulfill their request, we will rest there for the night." Ryu nodded as they walked in silence for a while. He was nervously thinking about if he was ready to fight something powerful when they got there and if he would be able to kill it.
As they entered the small town, one of the farmers instantly recognized them as adventures and swiftly went to go get their mayor. As they neared a small fountain toward the center of the settlement, the man returned with their leader. The representative of the village was a stunningly gorgeous Elven women with curly black hair stretching down toward the middle of her back. Her piercing dark green eyes gazed at them as she approached. She was wearing a light green t-shirt with light brown pants padded in different spots with leather armor. She had a light brown quiver on her back filled with arrows that had dark black feathers for the fletching's. She was holding a magnificently carved ebony longbow in her hand as she said, "Thank you for responding to our request Jinsoku. I have never seen you travel with another person before. I am shocked to see somebody who is actually able to put up with you." He was clearly agitated by her words as he "tsked" under his breath before saying, "I am surprised to see you are still walking around so easily considering you are over a hundred years old now." Ryu could instantly tell it was going to be a struggle to get these two to cooperate with each other. The tension and animosity was thick in the air as he attempted to defuse the situation by introducing himself, "We received your request for aid to slay a cursed beast. My name is Ryu Seki, and it is an honor to meet such a beautiful leader. We were hoping to gather any information you guys have on the creatures location, so we can swiftly dispatch it."
The Elven leader blushed from his compliment as she completely forget about her hate for Jinsoku. She threw her hair to the side while saying, "It is nice to meet you Ryu. My name is Yajirushi Mori, and it is a miracle to see an actual gentleman traveling with this barbarian." That comment was the tipping point for Jinsoku as he started to pull his twin swords out of their sheathes. His student quickly tried to stop him and calm him down while Yajirushi quietly giggled with her hand over her mouth. While Ryu continued to struggle to restrain his master, she started to answer his question, "If you go about a half mile west past the edge of the town, you will find a thick forest. The cursed beast is lurking in the shadows there." As his teacher scabbarded his blades, he turned and started to walk away toward the west while saying, "Make sure you have a room ready at your place for me and the kid when we get back you old hag." She angrily activated her magic, which was the first time Ryu had ever seen a pink aura. In one fluid motion, she fired an arrow at lightning speed. Jinsoku used his swiftness to move slightly to the right in a blink of an eye. Her shot whizzed past his head as he grinned to himself while continuing to walk away. He was very pleased to have had the last jab at his hated rival. Ryu quickly apologized to her for his teachers behavior before running after him.
It only took them roughly forty five minutes before they were deep into the heart of the woods. Jinsoku suddenly stopped walking as he turned to face him. He pointed at him while saying, "I want you to lead now. I will follow you and observe your ability to find the beast and slay it. I advise you to try your best because I will not assist you in your battle with it. I will only observe whether you succeed or die." Ryu shook his head because he was not surprised even a little bit that his master would let him die if he could not come out victorious. He closed his eyes and utilized his Detect spell to see if he could pick up any traces of the sinister magic that is left behind by demons. After several seconds, he discovered a possibly trail of cursed energy about fifteen feet to the right of them. He simultaneously casted Conceal and Dash before quietly moving through the dense underbrush of the forest floor. He suddenly stopped before ducking behind a small tree. His objective was about twenty feet in front of him walking slowly in his direction. He stealthy unsheathed his dagger and morphed it into a katana while creating a clone of himself. His copy rapidly ascended into the air while moving to the left of the cursed beast. It made sure to hide its presences as it settled into its hiding spot. With his duplicate in place, Ryu ordered it to cast a high level fireball at the lion. The creature was instantly alerted by the sudden appearance of magic as it hastily turned toward it. The black aura surrounding it managed to deflect the attack allowing it to take minimal damage from the fire. It suddenly roared before going on the offensive and jumping toward the clone. With the animal airborne, Ryu reacted with lightning speed from the shadows. He unveiled himself to the beast, but it was to late for it to react. In one fluid motion, he used Dash in combination with his sword skills to cut the inflicted animals head clean off of its shoulders.
As its lifeless body crashed to the ground, he flicked his blade toward the grass before sheathing it. His teacher walked over to the corpse and picked its head up off of the earth. He let out a quick whistle in admiration at the tactical and clean strike his student had managed to land to instantly end the fight before it had really begun. Ryu had a huge grin on his face as he started to ask, "What did you think of that? I was awesome wasn't I?" Jinsoku waved his pupils self-compliment off as if conquering the beast in the fashion he did was not impressive. As his teacher started to walk back in the direction of the town, Ryu followed feeling giddy from his accomplishment. He asked his master again, "Come on Jinsoku. I know I impressed you back there with that attack. The blade Mr. Tetsu and I made at the forge cut through that creature like butter." His teacher continued to ignore him because he did not want to acknowledge that his pupil had amazed him. Ryu decided to take a jab at him since he was feeling confident as he said, "I might be able to land a strike on you at this point." Jinsoku suddenly stopped as Ryu barely avoided running into his back. As he slowly turned around, his magic was lapping off of him like angry waves in a hurricane. He had a devilish grin on his face, and his tone was furious as he said, "You must love getting your ass beat by me because it sounds like you are trying to pick a fight with me."
Ryu's blood ran cold as he quickly bowed and apologized for his rudeness. His master laughed before saying, "That is what I thought kid. Remember your place before getting a big head." Ryu awkwardly rubbed the back of his head while smiling weakly. They continued back to the town in silence mainly because he was slightly fearful of angering his teacher again by saying anything that could annoy him. As the two of them reentered the village, the sun was starting to descend toward the horizon. They both suddenly stopped as they sensed a cluster of demonic energy toward the middle of the settlement. A blood curdling scream broke the silence as a massive black fireball struck a house in front of them setting it ablaze. The two of them swiftly ran to the center of the community where they discovered five demoniods and two lower demons attacking the citizens. Yajirushi was fighting two of the cursed humans while the other monsters appeared to be attempting to kidnap anyone they could find. Ryu could tell the leader was trying her hardest to fend off the creatures she was locked in battle with, but she was slowly losing. He could sense her breathing was becoming labored, and she had multiple cuts and bruises on her body. As she turned to the side, he also noticed a pretty decent size gash opened up on her stomach.
As they drew closer to the action, the demonoid in front of Yajirushi attacked with its claws. She managed to block it at the last second, but she was unable to move as the other one casted multiple conjured black blades at her. Ryu acted swiftly as he disappeared from Jinsoku's side and hastily moved between the leader and the spell. He quickly casted a dual layered Barrier that effectively blocked the strike before turning and summoning an Earth Wall that knocked the other one back from her. Upon seeing that reinforcements had arrived, the two lower demons decided it was time to retreat with the three people they had caught. They took off for the forest on the opposite side of the town with their lackeys following closely behind them. Jinsoku suddenly sprang into action and used his incredibly speed to catch the withdrawing party before they could reach the tree line. In a flash, his blade cut deeply through the back of the closest demonoid. As he acrobatically maneuvered between them, he sliced the second minions arm clean off while the last one reacted quickly enough to block a fatal shot. He had still managed to cut its hand off though as he came to a stop. The bosses of the raiding party paused momentarily as one of them gave the other the human it was carrying. With their exchange completed, the one with all the people continued to swiftly flee the area. The other demon turned and faced Jinsoku with a smile on its face as it said, "You are fast for a fleshy. I will grant you my full attention since you believe you can stop us." Jinsoku grinned while saying, "You think you can beat me?"
Before it could respond, his twin blades started to glow as he cut through the black Barriers of the two lackeys before they could react. There was only a slight shimmer of his image from how fast he had managed to move as he severed the head off of the shoulders of the handless demonoid while slicing its armless companion clean in half. It almost appeared that he had not advanced at all from his spot as black blood spewed into the air, and the two creatures lifeless bodies fell to the dirt. The lower demon was barely able to follow his movements as it watched the deadly strikes. As sweat started to drip down its face, Jinsoku's tone turned frigid as he said, "Now I can give you my full attention." The monster quickly manipulated his black aura and created a dark longsword before lunging toward him at a rapid speed. As the two of them began to cross blades, Yajirushi fell to one knee behind his pupil back in the plaza. Ryu swiftly created two clones of himself to occupy the demonoid behind them while blocking another barrage of magical daggers from the one in front of them. His ability to cast multiple spells simultaneously had improved tremendously from his time at the forge as he utilized wind magic to carry Yajirushi several feet away from the fight. As he unsheathed his dagger, he morphed it into a spear while the cursed human in front of him materialized a copy of itself. They started to cast multiple spells at him to prevent him from closing the distance to land a strike. As the fireballs rapidly approached him, he was forced to leap into the air to avoid the hell fire. A volley of blades were waiting for him in the sky as he quickly casted Barrier while using the wind to thwart the attack and land back on the ground.
The monster was determined to keep the pressure on him as it split the earth open underneath him. To avoid being swallowed up by the dirt, he swiftly utilized his Dash ability with a Speed Buff to move out of the way to the right. A brief opportunity was available for him as he conjured an Ice Prison around the replica while launching a fire lance at its master. This forced it to block the spell itself because its clone was stuck melting the icy walls it had been confined inside. As the smoke dispelled around the barrier, Ryu appeared in front of it with his spear angled at its heart. Before the copy could get free to jump in front of the strike, his weapon pierced through its magical shield impaling the cursed human through the chest. As he threw its lifeless body to the ground, he pivoted back around to face the one that his clones had been keeping distracted. One of his duplicates had already been dispatched, and the other was about to receive a blow that would destroy it. He morphed his spear into a short bow as he watched his copy leap into the air to attempt an axe kick on the creature. Its claws pierced through the spell effectively dispersing it, but Ryu had timed his shot perfectly with the particle cloud caused by his summoning being destroyed to fire a powerful wind arrow at it. The inflicted human was able to distinguish the attack fast enough to move to the left to avoid a fatal blow, but the projectile exploded off its right arm. As the darkling fell to the dirt, Ryu swiftly moved in front of it with his weapon morphed back into a katana. He delivered a diagonal slash that sliced right through its torso and heart. Black blood spewed from the wound as it collapsed face first into the dirt. He quickly turned and took off in the direction of the tree line were Jinsoku was engaged in his battle with the lower demon.
As he approached, he saw the other three demoniods had already been slain, and the lower demon his teacher was currently fighting was close to being defeated. It had multiple lacerations on its body, and it was struggling to breath. As he came to a stop a few feet behind his master, he listened as Jinsoku asked, "Where did your buddy run off to with those people? If you tell me, I may spare you from any further suffering." The beast attempted to laugh, but it started to cough up black blood instead. As it wiped its mouth with the back of its hand, it snarly said, "You dare try to show mercy to me. I was there the day the infamous Hero of The Twin Blades ran away like a scared little puppy after…" Before it could finish speaking, Jinsoku used an attack Ryu had never seen before till today. With incredibly speed, he utilized his Wind Blades spell in combination with his two swords to cut the darkling into a bunch of pieces that fell to the earth in a heap of flesh. He disgustfully threw its blood off of his blades before aggressively sheathing them. Ryu was uncertain of what their next move was as he asked, "Are we pursuing the other one?" Jinsoku was clearly frustrated as he turned to face his pupil. He did not answer his question as he shouldered past him while marching his way back toward the center of the village.
Yajirushi was being treated by the resident doctor in town as they approached. She started to struggle to her feet as Jinsoku angrily lashed out at her as he said, "Look at you! I cannot believe you are this weak! Do you even comprehend what you just let happen here. In case you missed it laying around, you let that garbage stroll into here and take your people." He was right in her face now fuming with outrage. He appeared to be getting ready to tear into her with another set of insults. Ryu quickly pushed him back away from her as he stood between them. Before his teacher could rip him a new one, he said, "Back off Jinsoku! She tried her hardest. You can tell by how badly she is hurt that she tried everything to stop them." His master gripped his sword handle on the left side of his back as he gave her a closer look. As his hand dropped back to his side, he kicked the grass in frustration as he let out a loud "Tsk!" Her eyes were watery as she asked, "Where you able to stop them from getting away? Were you able to save my people?" Jinsoku ignored her as he tried to calm himself down a few feet away. Ryu struggled to tell her as he stared at her face that was filled with sadness. He finally shook his head no answering the question she feared to know the truth to.
As she collapsed to her knees, she covered her face with her hands. She started to sob uncontrollably in guilt from not being able to protect them from being taken from her village. Ryu attempted to comfort her, but it was to no avail as she continued to cry for the next few minutes. As she finally stopped weeping, she sat there broken from the emotional pain while staring off into the distance. Jinsoku had cooled off and had been patiently waiting for her to finish before issuing a command to his pupil as he said, "Pick her up and follow me kid. Some rest will do all of us some good." Ryu nodded as he gently picked her up. He noticed they were approaching a decently sized house on the north side of the town that had a beautiful dark oak wood finished roof. There was a window set in the cobblestoned walls to the left of the front door. Jinsoku entered the home while waving in the direction of a room to the left while saying, "Go put her to bed." Ryu slowly opened the door to the bedroom before putting her down as softly as possible since she had fallen asleep during their walk. He tried as gently as he could to take her armor off. He also took her bow and quiver off before placing them on the table next to her bed. Luckily, she was wearing a tank top and shorts under her gear as he laid her head down on the pillow. He pulled the blanket up over her before quietly exiting the room while closing the door behind himself.
Jinsoku had already made himself comfortable. He was sprawled out on the couch eating an orange he had found in the kitchen. Ryu shook his head in disappointment at his master's lack of manners as he started to ask, "Where am I supposed to sleep?" His teacher pointed to the door on the right near the entrance as he said, "That room is all yours kid." As he entered his chambers, he was pleasantly surprised to see it was another bedroom. His eyes lit up with excitement as soon as he noticed it had a restroom with a bathtub in it. He ecstatically took his armor and clothes off as he started to fill the bathtub up with his water magic. Once it was brimming, he switched to a spell to heat it before climbing in. As he slide down, he happily said, "Ahhh, that is nice." Before long, he had fallen asleep. He ended up slumbering for several hours as the sweet bliss of the warmth comforted him. As the water started to turn cold, he suddenly awoke from a nightmare. As he calmed his breathing, he climbed out of the tub. His skin was all pruney as he dried off and got dressed. As he flopped down on the bed, he started to drift back to sleep. He started to think about Yajirushi and the events earlier today. He could only hope that she would feel better tomorrow.
The next morning, he was awoken by a loud splash in the other room and his teachers yelling, "Time to get up you old fossil!" Ryu quickly scrambled to his feet and out of his bed. As he entered Yajirushi's room, his face turned red at the sight of her. She was sitting up soaking wet with her shirt sticking to her body. Him and Jinsoku swiftly looked away in embarrassment. As his teacher turned around to leave, he said, "Come on woman. You got to get it together. The rest of the townspeople still need you." She perked up a little as she thought about the other villagers. He started to shove Ryu out of the room as he continued, "We will go work on getting breakfast made. I expect you to get out of bed and join us in a bit." As he shut the door, he pointed to the kitchen while ordering his student to get to work. As Ryu walked over to the counter to start, he said, "Of course I have to do it. You are completely useless outside of combat teach. Wait till I tell Kasai you made me do everything." Jinsoku laughed as he laid back down on the couch while saying, "Good try kid. She will prolly only give me a good whack which is nothing really." Ryu annoyingly started to crack the eggs on the pan before whipping the batter together for the pancakes.
He was putting the finishing touches on their meals and placing their plates on the tables as Yajirushi emerged from her quarters. He noticed her in the corner of his eye as he asked, "How you feeling chief? Still in pain from that fight yesterday?" She shook her head no as she sat down before saying, "Thank you for making breakfast Ryu." He was about to respond that it was no problem at all, but Jinsoku rudely cut him off as he said, "About time kid. Your cooking skills are equally as slow as your movement on the battlefield. I thought I was going to starve to death before you were done making our meal." As Ryu frustratingly took his place at the table, Yajirushi surprised both of them as she suddenly scolded Jinsoku, "You are still the same immature asshole no matter how many years pass. He worked hard to feed the two of us this morning. The least you could do is be appreciative and give him one of those pancakes." His teacher had a smirk on his face as he did as he was told before saying, "That is more like you." She blushed for a second before devouring her breakfast to avoid any further conversation. Ryu and Jinsoku looked at each other before laughing. They were both relieved that she was no longer in such a somber mood. The meal was a delicious success as Ryu leaned back in his chair completely stuffed. Unfortunately, he was not afforded a moment of relaxation as his teacher got up and grabbed him by his shirt. He pulled him out of his chair and dragged him toward the living room while saying, "Time to get ready kid. We are burning daylight, and we still have a bunch of requests to complete." As he finished talking, he dropped him on the floor. Ryu was embarrassed from being manhandled so easily as he swiftly got back to his feet.
While the two of them packed and got dressed, Yajirushi worked on cleaning the kitchen up. She was washing the dishes when she asked, "Where are you guys heading to from here?" Jinsoku was strapping his swords onto his back as he said, "We are heading north of here to the village of Hana to cull a pack of cursed wolves. After that, we will journey southeast to the town of Rota's to slay a pair of demoniods." Ryu had a confused expression as he looked up from tying his shoes and asked, "I thought we had three other requests?" As his master opened the door to head outside he stopped to answer. He glanced over his shoulder as he said, "One of our A rank missions was to eliminate a group of demoniods lurking in the forest along the roads from this town to Rotas. Those two lower demons utilized that group to orchestrate that attack yesterday." Ryu nodded as he hurriedly followed him out of the house ready to begin their travels. She trailed behind them out of her home before stopping. She deeply bowed before saying, "Thank you both for protecting this village yesterday, saving me, and getting my spirits back up. I am extremely grateful the two of you responded to my flier." Jinsoku paused for a moment before waving his hand. He was acting like it was no big deal as he continued walking. Ryu was blushing as he stopped and turned back toward her. He smiled as he rubbed the back of his head and said, "No thanks needed Yajirushi. We can call it even since you provided us with a place to stay and food."
As she stood back straight, Jinsoku paused again while saying, "I have no doubt you will still be here leading these people for years to come, so next time I travel through let's not be so gloomy and have some fun." She started to tear up, but she quickly wipe them away before nodding. She had a smile on her face as she watched the two of them depart. Ryu made sure to turn around one more time to wave goodbye before they were out of sight. He had a grin on his face as he nudged his teacher with his elbow. He started to tease him as he said, "You were actually nice to her back there. Who knew you had a heart." As he smirked, Jinsoku summoned an earth wall right in front of his path. With no time to react, he crashed into it and fell to the dirt in a heap. His master laughed as he continued walking. Ryu was annoyed and slightly embarrassed from the sneak attack as he quickly got back to his feet and dusted himself off. After an hour of walking, he finally broke the silence and asked, "Can I see the paperwork for the next request?" Jinsoku casually threw the piece of paper over his shoulder toward him, but the wind suddenly blew catching the parchment. As it lifted into the breeze, he was forced to utilize his magic to propel it back down. He swiftly snagged it out of the air as he sighed in relief.
As he read the details of the B rank mission, he was glad to see that no deaths had occurred yet from the pack of four wolves, but several farm animals had been mauled. He folded the sheet up and put it away in his bag as they continued on. He eventually noticed they were getting closer to a mountain in the distance as they ventured far north of Unmei. An hour went by before Ryu decided to finally break the silence to ask, "How much further is it to Hana?" His teacher pointed toward the base of the peak that they were nearing while saying, "About thirty more minutes kid. A view of the town should break through this tree line shortly." A ray of sunlight broke the canopy of the trees a few moments later allowing Ryu to catch his first glimpse of the village as they suddenly stopped. The sinister aura of the pack was suddenly filling the air. Jinsoku grinned as he said, "It looks like the greeting party is here so don't let me down kid." Ryu nodded as he slowly drew his dagger and activated his magic. The wolves had encircled them before they had revealed themselves with their deadly intent. He could only roughly sense there locations in the dense underbrush from his Detect spell. He quickly glanced around but was unable to locate them in the surrounding shadows. Jinsoku used his blazing speed to disappear before concealing himself, so the focus of the pack would solely be on his student. Suddenly, one of them leapt from above forcing him to utilize his wind magic to counter. He managed to push the beast off its trajectory while it was still airborne. It landed to his right just as the wolf behind him rushed out from under the shrubbery to attack his legs.
He countered by rapidly summoning an Earth Prison that entrapped the creature. Before another attack could be launched at him, he went on the offensive by firing a barrage of Ice Shards into the shadows to his left forcing the hiding beast to dodge the assault. He simultaneously created a copy of himself before launching toward the two wolves to his right. As he neared the first one, his clone appeared next to him and fired a streaking Lightning Bolt at it. The demon was forced to go into a defensive stance to block the strike with its dark magic. With the wolf planted in place, Ryu whizzed right past it to the last remaining hidden member of the pack behind it. The beast anticipated the attack late forcing it to dodge. It failed to notice through the leaves on the forest floor that the ground around it had been iced. As it slipped, Ryu summoned an Earth Fist that punched it off the ground. With it vulnerable in the air, he transformed his dagger into a katana and performed a sword art technique called Wave of Five he had learned as a skill after levelling up his swordsmanship. In a blink of an eye, his sword moved in a flowing pattern cutting the wolf in five different areas like a river flowing down a mountain. Its body hit the grass in a bunch of chunks as he turned back toward the other three wolves while changing his weapon into a bow. As he drew the string back, he noticed his clone had been defeated by the other two wolves and the last wolf was still imprisoned.
The walls of the earth prison suddenly shattered into a billion pieces of dirt. He quickly fired a wind arrow that sliced through the air past the heads of the two closest creatures. The trapped demon had distorted it's line of sight unaware of the attack hurling toward it. The arrow found its mark through the cloud before the demon could react. It pierced right through its chest killing it. As it fell over, Ryu morphed his bow into a spear as he prepared for the remaining two beast to attack. They mounted their assault in unison as the two of them split apart moving to the right and left of him. As they both closed in, they suddenly leapt into the air. He quickly casted a powerful Speed Buff in combination with his Dash spell. He instantly vanished from in front of the falling demons before reappearing behind them. He was locked in a crouching stance with his weapon facing downward as they landed back on the ground. A line began to form through their midsections as they both broke into two halves and fell to the grass. Ryu had performed a spinning spear attack executed in mere seconds at an incredibly high speed. As he stood back up straight, he resheathed his blade as Jinsoku came down from a branch high above and landed behind him. He started to aggressively pat Ryu's back in approval as he said, "That was pretty nice kid. You were holding out on me about how fast you are now. Good job." He grittily smiled through the pain of the smacking as they continued on to the forest edge. As they emerged from the trees, Jinsoku started to wave toward a giant oak to their right while saying, "Go rest up over there Ryu. I will let them go know real quick that the task has been completed. It may still be early enough for us to make it to Rotas before nightfall." He nodded as he sat down while leaning back against its base. A gentle breeze was brushing his cheeks as his sweat turned cold.
A minute went by as he sat there breathing in the fresh air before opening his eyes again. He glanced around and noticed Jinsoku was nowhere in sight, and he was all alone. He was enjoying the peaceful break as he quickly nodded off. He was completely oblivious to the world as a pile snow of suddenly fell onto him twenty minutes later. He swiftly got to his feet staggering backwards feeling disoriented as he tried to assess his surroundings. Jinsoku was red from laughing so hard as Ryu realized that the attack had come from his returning master. As his teacher tried to gather himself, he coughed several times before saying, "I do not remember telling you to take a nap kid. We are all done here, so let's get going to Rotas before it gets dark." Ryu frustratingly shook the snow out of his hair as he started to follow him. It took several hours of walking as promised from Jinsoku before he could see the houses for the village of Rotas in the setting sunlight. His master suddenly broke the silence as he said, "We will rest tonight and finish the last quest tomorrow." Ryu was exhausted from the day journey as he happily nodded. The leader quickly welcomed the two of them into their town relieved that assistance had finally arrived to eliminate the threat of the demoniods that had fallen upon them. The mayor provided them with lodging for the night as they both quickly made their way to bed. As Ryu's head hit his pillow, he gladly accepted rest as he drifted off fast asleep in less than a minute.