Strings Of Domination

The group of four were walking now about five hours straight without halting and taking a brief rest. Naturally, it was all because Nash and the rest wished to get to Crimson Mountain as soon as possible as they did not want to waste their precious time.

They were currently inside a huge and dense forest, one with a very unique appearance. The trees were about a hundred meters tall while their trunks which had a deep yellow color was more than two meters wide! The leaves that one could only see if one raised their heads completely had a swarthy orange hue with a mixture of a metallic cluster, indicating they were no ordinary leaves!

There were also numerous plants with different weird shapes and sizes either in the distance or on the trees, but luckily they were only ordinary plants with just a small portion of consciousness and were not dangerous at all.

As Nash followed Stormlight while scanning the surroundings, he could hear the occasional roars of beasts in the distance which made him slightly nervous, but as he saw no shadows approaching he was able to relax his scarcely tense muscles.

'I wonder why no beasts are lurking around this region. Is there something special about this path?' Nash pondered as he took a glance to his left where Miles and Amy were walking, the former still reading his book without any care about the outer world around him.

Time passed slowly, and as minutes gradually turned into hours after a little less than two hours the group finally reached the edge of the forest, arriving before this huge bridge that looked incredibly long but the same time old as it extended into the far distance above a seemingly vast sea or some sort of huge lake.

"Here we are... The Abandoned Bridge!" Stormlight showed a smile and glanced at Nash, "Once we cross it, we will finally reach the northern region. From there, the Crimson Mountian will be only a casual jump!"

Nash nodded and without saying anything began to walk toward the bridge.

The bridge was about 50 feet, around 15 meters wide while its length was at least several miles as despite squinting his eyes Nash failed to see the end of it. However, the bridge was not empty as one would think as the surface of it was grown in by vines and grass while a few vehicles and items from several hundreds of years ago could be seen here and there.

The name Abandoned Bridge was indeed a great name as it entirely described how it looked.

"Are you sure we won't meet any beasts?" Amy, who felt a little skeptical asked, her eyes sharply scanning both the bridge and the waters below it.

"Don't worry, I am pretty sure. Beasts on the lands prefer woods or caves while making sure they are as far away from lakes, seas, and oceans as possible." Stormlight explained as she began to cross the bridge.

"Why?" Amy asked as she followed.

"Because of Aquatic Beasts," Miles replied nonchalantly without raising his head from his book.

Stormlight nodded with a smile and said, "Indeed, because of Aquatic Beasts. Although they have the same strength on the same Rank as any other, because of their ability to move and live freely underwater they are considered extremely terrifying species."

Amy seemed to understand what Stormlight was talking about and took a step toward the middle of the bridge, making sure she was as far away from the edge as possible.

Stormlight just smiled and didn't say anything. As she was a merchant who was a member of the Legendary Owl it was only natural that she had been on many planets and seen many things, including events considering Aquatic Beasts. She even saw how a being on the Warmaster Rank got shredded into pieces by several Warrior Rank beasts just because he accidentally fell into the water.

"Don't worry, until you are on this bridge, you don't have to fear neither Aquatic Beasts nor Land Beasts," Stormlight reassured Amy and quickened her pace.

The four walked on the bridge with quick but cautious steps and only talked when Stormlight started a conversation out of nowhere. However, except that, the only thing that was heard was the constant sound of their feet getting into contact with the ground and the gentle breeze that appeared from time to time from the west, blowing their clothes and hair gently.

After walking for an hour, the group finally crossed the bridge and what emerged before their sight on the horizon was a vast wasteland with a single, seemingly tremendously massive mountain that was covered in the color of crimson!

"And here we are, the northern region with the Crimson Mountain in its full glory!" Stormlight smiled and was about to open her mouth when suddenly her eyes narrowed and her guard was raised.

"?" Nash seemed to notice the sudden change of behavior in Stormlight's behavior and he too raised his guard, but just as he thought she was wrong and beasts emerged, it turned out he was wrong.

'Gorgers?' Nash thought calmly as he saw several shadows emerge from the sides, each holding different weapons and a greedy look on their faces, almost as if they were looking at not other living beings but treasures filled with wealth!

Amy and Miles seemed to notice the change in atmosphere around them too, and when they saw how 10 figures appeared from both sides their complexion turned solemn and took a step closer to Nash.

"Freaking bandits..." Stormlight cussed and summoned a dagger into her hand.

However, although she showed she was brave, her complexion was slightly pale as she knew their chances of escape in one piece was very slim; each and every creature around them were either at the Middle Phase of the Warrior Rank while a single one was even at the peak, half a step away from breaking into the Warmaster Rank!

"Kehe! Boss, it seems we finally have a catch! And it seems they are full of goods too!" a creature that had a thin frame with a height of two meters swung its bone machete in his bony hand, causing its loose skin on its body to sway from side to side while its ugly face formed a huge grin, revealing two rows of yellow teeth that seemed to be rather sharp.

"Yeah, and not only that... They even have beauty among them too! Kehe! Boss, this is indeed your lucky day!" another creature with the same appearance nodded and glanced at the creature on its side that was slightly bigger than him.

However, in contrast to the other 9 creatures that looked weak and fragile because of their bony appearance, this one was filled with bulging muscles while in his hand was a huge iron axe whose massive tip was pointing toward the ground.

"Yeah, she is indeed a flower worth collecting." the creature nodded with an ugly smile and waved his hand, "Capture her. As for the rest, just kill them."

"Yes, boss!" each creature screamed up with joy, and with bloodthirst in their eyes, they leaped at the group of four simultaneously.

Stormlight watched as nine Warrior Rank creatures were jumping at them and began to think what she should do when suddenly a figure stepped before her with a book held gently on his right palm.

"You?" Stormlight's eyes widened and watched as Miles began to draw golden symbols into thin air with quite a terrifying speed; compared to the last time against the Diamond Beast, his mastery over forming symbols grew at least three folds!

"Just kill the ones coming at us and leave their boss alive." Nash said indifferently which at Miles nodded and once more than two hundred symbols were formed in front of him he mumbled, "This should be enough. Mystic of Breeze Domain... Slice!"

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!...

The sound of air getting cut appeared the very moment the symbols before Miles flew and formed several smaller circles below the creatures' feet, their bodies getting sliced into numerous pieces by small but sharp wind blades!

Their bodies literally became butter before hot knives in a mere instant!

Blood, split organs and shredded bones and flesh fell on the ground everywhere, filling the air with the putrid smell of iron. The sight around the four quickly turned into one that could easily make anyone throw up from sheer disgust.

"Great job." Nash patted Miles on the shoulder as he knew that the attack he has just performed must have drained 3/4 if not more of his essence in his body.

"I will take care of the rest. Try to recover until then."

Miles nodded and without caring about anything else he quickly sat down into a lotus position and began to cultivate silently.

Stormlight was stupefied when she saw how easily did Miles kill 9 Warrior Rank beings and became even more shocked when she saw how casually did he sit down despite still having one more enemy before them!

The way he was acting at the moment was literally saying come and kill me, my guard is completely lowered, you are free to take my head!

'Did he go insane or does he have so much faith in him?' Stormlight wondered and while lowering her weapon watched as Nash walked closer to the creature with steps that held not even the bit of fear or nervousness.