KINETIC

[Wind Bullet]

The Wind Bullet shot out from Leo's hand and collided with the creatures head. Due to its small size, Leo believed the creature wouldn't be able to survive the attack and he was right.

As the creature was struck its head caved in as the force caused its body to spin and fall to the ground. 'That's the first time I've used this on something living, it's stronger than I thought it was.'

[Imp Killed]

[10 000 XP Rewarded]

While Leo was admiring the strength of his new skill, the entire horde of creatures turned to look at him after noticing the death of the small creature.

Leo turned to run just as the horde started charging towards him. Sending Energy into his legs he was able to increase his running speed.

He also activated his Aura so he wouldn't need to look behind him to see if they were catching up to him. It was through his Aura that he felt something small and in a ball shape approaching him quickly from the air.

He moved to the side to dodge the object and watched a ball of fire slam into the ground beside him and slightly explode.

'What the fuck! They can use fire attacks?' Leo had barely finished his thought when several balls of fire were launched towards him from the air.

[Dash]

Leo started weaving from side to side and increasing and decreasing speed where needed so he could avoid getting hit.

Looking back to see how many creatures were able to shoot fireballs, Leo noticed that the only ones attacking from a distance were the small flying creatures.

The horde consisted of three different types of creatures. There were the small creatures with wings that almost looked like hairless monkeys, the larger creatures with wings that looked a bit like flying apes and then what looked like an identical copy of the larger creatures, only they had no wings and were running rather than flying.

'Monkeys and Apes... Sure, if they crawled out of hell they might look like that.' Leo questioned his own minds choice of comparison for the creatures and continued running.

He had managed to create some distance between himself and the horde now and they were slowly falling further behind by the minute.

They weren't able to launch their fireballs far enough to attack Leo anymore, which he was grateful for. The fireballs weren't especially difficult to dodge, the problem was how many there were.

*Ding

[Sudden Quest]

[Continue to lure the horde away from the mountain and your friends for the next 12 hours]

[Reward]

- 100 000 XP

- Skill point

'Running from these creatures isn't going to be very difficult, so why are the rewards so good? The XP alone would have been adequate but a skill point seems like over kill.' Dreifus said with a curious tone.

'While I do agree, I'm happy to take the skill point anyways. Although it does make me wonder, what criteria does the system use to determine the rewards?'

'I always assumed it had something to do with the difficulty of the quest given. If you're fighting someone it would be easier to run away rather than win the fight, so when the system gives you a quest to defeat your opponent, then it's rewarding you because you've chosen the more difficult course of action.' Dreifus put forward his explanation with a hint of certainty in his voice.

'I'm not so sure about that. If that were the case then wouldn't the quest be for me to defeat the creatures rather than have them follow me for twelve hours?'

'Maybe the system won't give you an impossible task and this is the next best thing.' Dreifus said.

'Don't you think the quest and the rewards could be determined depending on the strength of the opponents?' Leo asked.

'In some cases, sure. But this quest isn't even combat based so I can't say I agree with that.' Dreifus' tone displayed his complete rejection of the idea.

'Yes but there are creatures involved in this quest, maybe it's their strength that caused the system to decide on a non combat quest. Remember when I fought that cultist with those red energy lines? The quest I was given was to survive, not win. If the system can tell that I won't be able to win because my opponent is too strong, then it gives me another option.' Leo explained.

'I suppose that could be the case... But more likely than not, it's a combination of all our theories.' Dreifus replied.

With the conversation over, Leo focused on running and managing his energy as much as possible. 'This is going to be a long twelve hours...'

***

Cain had been running towards the mountain for a while now, trying to put some distance between himself and Leo.

It had been a few hours already and Cain was starting to get tired. Rather than running until he was too tired to continue, he chose to rest whenever he started to feel his Energy getting too low.

He did this so he would have some Energy if they were attacked while resting. Stopping to rest, the two of them quietly sat on the ground while having a drink of water and some food.

Rene suddenly broke the silence "Earlier when I used my ability and gave you some of my stamina, I realized that my ability has more uses than just healing. If you don't mind, I'd like to use it on you again and see if there's anything else I can do with it."

Cain thought about it for a second then shrugged his shoulders "Sure, I don't mind."

With his permission, Rene placed her hand on his shoulder and closed her eyes.

The different colours appeared in front of her in the form of energy that took the shape of translucent ribbons.

There were three different colours that she could see with the first ones being white and green, the colours representing health and stamina.

The remaining colour was blue. She tried to do the same as what she did with the green ribbon and imagining filling it but after a minute of trying she realized that nothing was happening.

'The green energy appeared as the shape of a well, something that felt empty and I simply filled it. Maybe I need to the shape of the blue energy in order to affect it.

She tried concentrating on the green ribbon first and it felt as though she had been pulled inside of it. I front of her now was the well she had seen before, only this time it wasn't completely empty.

She took herself back to the original space that allowed her to see all the ribbons and she then focused on the blue one.

She began to move inside the blue energy but it felt as though there was something blocking her way, an invisible wall of sorts. She tried putting in more effort and started to move forwards slightly.

As she did, the wall only felt stronger and the force pushing her back was more intense. She felt herself being flung backwards from the energy and in the next moment she opened her eyes.

Her Energy had been completely drained and she was breathing heavily. Her hand was still on Cains shoulder and he was looking at her with a concerned expression.

"I'm... Alright. I just....need some...time to catch...my breath." She said between breaths. "Did you figure anything out about your ability like you hoped?" Cain asked.

After catching her breath she replied "Not exactly. I think I'm going to need more time to figure it out but it takes too much out of me. I'll look into it more when we get back to somewhere safe."

Cain nodded in understanding but seemed slightly confused while doing so. The two of them continued to rest until they decided it was time to continue moving.

***

Clay and Nila had been traveling for several days and had finally managed to reach the city. As they approached the city gates, one of the guards held out their hand and Clay stopped the carriage.

"Who do you have inside that carriage?" The guard asked as he approached the carriage doors. "Lady Zogarth." Clay answered with a smile.

Upon hearing the name of a noble family, the guard stopped trying to look inside the carriage and immediately backed away.

He lifted his arm and shouted out to the other guards "All clear! Let them in!" Clay drove the carriage through the gate and into the city as he let out a sigh of relief.

'I don't know why that felt so stressful, it's not like I'm some kind of criminal...or am I? We did disobey the militaries orders so I suppose at the very least we are probably considered deserters. It's a good thing Nila told me what to say to get in quickly.' Clay felt slightly disheartened at the idea of the military considering them all deserters, but he felt their reason for leaving was justified.

Nila stuck her head out the carriage window "Head for my house first, if my father is there then we can talk to him directly about the cult. If he isn't there then we can at least drop the child off with my butlers before we head to the military headquarters."

'I really hope your father is at home then. I don't want to find out what the military thinks of us just yet...' Clay thought with a tinge of anxiety.