Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

Cheers and applause erupted from the crowd as they celebrated the victory, their voices ringing out in a joyous chorus. Children and adults alike marveled at the dragon's massive form, touching its icy scales and feeling the chill of its breath, now forever stilled.

The town's residents expressed their gratitude to the brave group of warriors who had not only protected their home but had also brought back a tangible trophy from their battle. Still, it was too soon to celebrate.

"We have to send the word to Lotto to come here," Rain said when Terra began to heal Jori and Reca.

"He is already coming," Terra said. "We passed by his shop when we were in the capital."

"Should we call the recruits to make them help him?" Jori asked. "We can't wait one week to get a single weapon, right?"

"I guess we can do that… the harpoons will be even more effective if they are made of dragon bones," Rain said and then nodded. "Well then… I guess I will look for another dragon's to hunt, I want 99 more killed today, after all."

"You said that we were going to work together," Seara said.

"We are and we will," Rain said. "I don't intend to move that far away, but if the port town is attacked while I am away, you will have to use that same method to make those two morons fight like that. Besides, you and Terra are working on something, right? Then you need to focus on that as much as possible."

"... I guess so," Seara said.

Seara's inner turmoil weighed heavily on her mind. She had always possessed a natural talent for magic and had made significant progress in honing her skills over the years. However, she couldn't help but feel the immense gap between her abilities and Rain's combat prowess.

Even though she had grown stronger and had been a valuable support in battles, she had little fighting experience before the war six years ago.

It had been her hope that with time and effort, she could eventually catch up with Rain's level of strength. But as the battles grew more challenging and the enemies more formidable, she couldn't shake the feeling that reaching his level was an impossible feat.

Seara knew that she couldn't just rely on becoming an excellent support mage, forever playing the role of a healer or casting protective spells from the backlines. She felt compelled to find other ways to contribute to the group, to step out of Rain's shadow, and to become stronger in her own right. She had her own pride as well, after all…

When Rain left, Seara looked at Terra, she knew how to fight at close range and while she wasn't as good as Rain or even Jori and Terra, she didn't mind in staying behind them in terms of attack power, she was more worried about making sure that they would survive the wounds that they received on the battlefield.

"You are really the type who thinks and worries too much, don't you?" Terra said while frowning. "It has been a while since you have been with us, but thanks to your position, you still worry about unimportant things."

Terra was younger than Seara, so being read like that so easily by someone younger truly troubled her. In any case, she decided to put those thoughts aside and just focus on their newest project.

— —

Once again, Rain started slow and then increased his search range when he left the port town. Eventually, he found some more recent traces of mana that came from dragons, but they were in the ocean… the sea Dragons were invading the sea folk territory more and more.

"I did well in hiding that shield… otherwise, the sea dragons and the ice dragons would be targeting me right now," Rain thought while looking around.

While looking for ice Dragons, Rain wondered what would be the best option for him. For the sake of efficiency, he has to use more close combat techniques when he faces one dragon alone, but he will have to focus on magic when he faces more than one.

Keeping improving the Frost King path seemed the best option in terms of efficiency for his power, but not that much against dragons, unless the difference in power was that insane.

All of a suddenly, Rain felt a shiver and then raised his guard… in the next moment, he saw something in the corner of his vision… it was flying spear passing by his side… if a dragon had fired that, they had missed for quite a bit.

"... Son of a bitch!" Rain opened his eyes widely when he saw the direction the attack was heading too.

Rain used all of his skills to the limits and then chased the ice spear… the projectile was one hundred meters long, but it still could fly faster than a dragon… Rain barely was able to reach it before it reached the port town. He punched it so hard that the projectile was smashed to pieces and the impact created a hole in the ocean that lasted for a while before water filled in first.
Experience tales at empire

"Assholes… so you want to play like that, don't you?" Rain asked while massaging his fists. "If you want to do that, then be my guest."

Rain had the understanding of the dragons' strategy. They seemed intent on keeping him on his toes by forcing him to defend the port town, distracting him from their true intentions of freezing the ocean. But Rain had his own plans and was determined to outsmart them.

While the dragons believed that they could toy with him and keep him occupied, Rain was not one to be underestimated. He saw through their tactics and was determined to make them regret their choices. He knew that he had the power, skills, and knowledge to turn the tables and deal with their threats head-on, he just wanted the best way to do so and make them regret it.