Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Light traveling from air to water: When light passes from air, a less dense medium, into the water, a more dense medium, its speed decreases, and it bends or refracts towards the normal line perpendicular to the water's surface. This change in the direction of light is responsible for making objects submerged in water appear displaced or distorted.

That was interesting and all, but it wasn't time for Rain to think about that since numerous water spears emerged from the river and flew toward him.

"I should have known that those guys would be in a tribe like this as well," Rain thought.

Somehow, the water spears could move even faster than Rain, so charging ahead wasn't an option. Still, he instinctively knew the weakness of such fast attacks. Rain jumped to the side and spun in the air to avoid the projectiles, and they hit the ground while making it tremble.

The weakness of fast magic projectiles was the fact that they couldn't be controlled that well. The casters could only make them fly toward a location and hope that would be enough…

The enemies opened their eyes widely when they saw that, but they didn't stop… when Rain landed, they tried again, but the next time, Rain was able to reach them with Impulse. One of the enemies controlled the water in the air to create a spinning barrier and then sent it flying toward Rain. Still, he protected his head with his forearm guards.

The rest of Rain's body screamed in agony thanks to the impact, but he persisted and reached the enemies. One of them was sent flying away after colliding with Rain's body, and then Rain took two steps and then punched the enemy's skulls… Rain didn't realize how strong he got in the next few months; thanks to that, the front of the enemy's faces was completely smashed.

Rain didn't have time to worry about that as water spears flew toward him, and he hid behind the corpses. Still, even those only lasted for two attacks before being split in half. Without any other choice, Rain blocked the other attacks with forearm guards, and the impacts made his whole body tremble to the point that his skeleton cracked a little.

Still, soon he had the chance to charge toward the enemies as well and then punched them in the guts.

An Unknown skill leveled up.

The Brawler Path received 200 experience points

An Unknown skill leveled up.

The Brawler Path received 200 experience points.

…

"I guess they were weaker than the guys we faced in the war… even though their offensive powers were insane, it was limited by the terrain," Rain thought.

Rain knew that capturing them would be a waste of time. The enemies would just use the water in the air to kill themselves. With that much resolution, interrogating them for information was useless. It was a pity, but it couldn't be helped.

"Only five… is that all of the enemies in the area spying on us?" Rain thought. "There are no signs of monsters as well, so this feels odd…"

The soldiers were on the other side of the river, so Rain had to bring the bodies to them in order to dispose of them. Rain wondered why those guys didn't have magic weapons. Relics that could enhance magic power existed, so he wondered why they didn't use them… they could become a lot more troublesome in wars with them.

"In any case, if there are others like them, they will keep their distance for now, and they will leave us alone to work," Rain thought. "I suppose I still need to send Branden a message about this."

In recent years, Rain did some research about magic people, so he wasn't surprised that he saw those guys attacking him like that. Their transparent cloak spell was something to be never heard of, though.

Aside from the heat sorcerers, the quicksand executioners, the golem masters, and the water snipers, the magic people had other tribes with troublesome powers, like the Plant Manipulators. This tribe has a deep connection with nature and can control plant life. They can make vines and roots come to life, creating a living barrier or using them as weapons.

The Plant Manipulators are adept at manipulating the environment to their advantage.

Or the Acid Alchemists. The Acid Alchemists can produce and control corrosive substances. They can dissolve materials, including armor and defenses, rendering their enemies vulnerable to further attacks.

There were also the Sound Manipulators. This tribe can control sound waves and use them to disorient, confuse, or even deafen their opponents. They can also create powerful sonic blasts to shatter objects or incapacitate enemies.

There were also tribes like the Chaotic Siphoners. Chaotic Siphoners can absorb and redirect the magical energy of others, using their opponents' spells against them and growing stronger with each attack they absorb.

While they were small in number and hard to meet, they were extremely dangerous. Hence they were known. People believed that they wouldn't appear until their own territory was in danger, but they had to be cautious…

After three days of peace, Rain finally received an answer from Branden. He sent a rider to bring the letter as soon as possible. The poor guy had to ride for a full day on a horse, so his ass was probably Killing him.

'Thank you for your hard work, and well done. We expected that some of those guys would show up eventually instead of the monsters; that was why we were planning to send some mages to stay as guards alongside some soldiers in those villages. After seeing the enemies in action, do you think that this is the best plan of action?'

"We? Is he being considerate of someone else, or did he not have the chance to plan things like this by himself?" Rain thought while furrowing his eyebrows. "Also, don't ask such troublesome questions when I am working here…"