God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

180 meters...

\'Fuck this!\' Stomping against the ground, Cain dislodged his blades. Since {Black Claw} was very long, he chose to carry it across his back. {White Claw} was attached to his hip for easier drawing.

Fully geared Cain began his deadly dance with death again...

His feet moved with the grace a crane used to dance on the clouds. He dashed through the air, letting an arrow loose every second. With almost every shot he made, a dull \'thunk\' sound would follow. That would be quickly followed by an angry shout.

Just like that, Cain managed to kite the creatures, dealing damage at them, while avoiding direct physical confrontation.

100 meters...

Thirty minutes in, Cain realized he had killed only three of the blasted creatures while he had managed to hold all of them back at the 100 meter mark. However, it was at this moment things got a bit deadly for him.

Once there was 100 meters between them, the {Lythoran Wyrms} could finally attack as well.

Full of rage, one of the creatures let loose a roar that echoed through the nearby mountain range. A torrent of air swirled all around, creating a miniature sandstorm. Seeing an opportunity, Cain shot an arrow straight at the creature\'s throat.

A flash of blue could be seen in the creature\'s eyes...

It swung its claws forward and jumped back to dodge the incoming projectile...

The sharp beams of energy struck true at Cain. Seeing that they were approaching, Cain drew the {Black Claw} on his back to parry them as the {White Claw} was a bit too short to get the job done by itself.

Just as the energy was approaching, a feeling of impending doom washed over Cain like a waterfall...

However, since he couldn\'t stop now, he chose to parry the attack all the way.

BANG!

He was thrown a few meters backward due to the sheer intensity of the Ki beams.

\'So powerful!\'

However, the beams of Ki still looked like they had a lot left in them as they kept pushing him back. The other {Lythoran Wyrms} weren\'t idle as they fired their own beams of Ki at Cain as well.

In just a few seconds, Cain was face to face with a net of about thirty dangerously sharp Ki slashes coming his way.

Sensing the danger, Cain a smirk accidentally made its way across his lips...

\'Damn it! I\'m smiling again!\'

"Come On!"

With a loud cry, Cain decided to activate his skills as well. Not wanting to be outdone in the slightest, he circulated his thick Ki, revolving the Ki Plundering Technique over and over again...

"Abyssal Dragon Blade: Dark Dragon Orbiting..."

Holding his blades horizontally, the ground cracked under the sheer force emited by the being standing on it...

A plume of black flames burst out of {Black Claw} and a stream of Crimson flames smoldered around the {White Claw}. Spinning both beautiful in his hands, they made a beautiful arc as they carved a beautiful image in the dreary world...

The phantom image of a dragon was produced from the interaction between dark and red. The red created the eyes of the dragon, and the black created its defensive scales.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

With finesse, Cain smacked all the incoming Ki attacks out of the air with Dark Dragon Orbiting. The essense of the blade technique was a defensive one. By rotating his blade around him at high speed whilst making sure to cover his blind spots, he created an almost impenetrable defensive technique that could stop a majority of physical or Ki attacks.

"My turn! Abyssal Dragon Slash!"

His blades still bubbling with activity, ready for action, Cain smashed both forward, creating a huge dark and crimson gash across the air, instantly killing two more {Lythoran Wyrms}.

Seeing that half their numbers had been decimated, the {Lythoran Wyrms} grew even more furious. They were a proud warrior and hunter race. Running from the enemy wasn\'t something that was going to be done.

Their always fought to the last man. This racial instinct embedded in them was what drove them into near extinction...

Sheathing his blades, Cain drew his blades once again in one smooth motion and readied it at the beasts. He could tell from their angry gazes that the fight wasn\'t over yet.

However, instead of attacking immediately, the creatures backed away slowly whilst attempting to surround him.

\'Trying to create an encirclement?\' Cain couldn\'t deny that he was exhausted. He had expened a lot of physical energy and Ki to deal with just five of the creatures. Handling the other five would be a hassle, but he might be able to get it done. However, an encirclement would just make things harder for him...

Just as he was thinking of how to breakthrough, one of the {Lythoran Wyrms} did something that caused his heart to sink to his stomach.

It threw its head back and let out the loudest and most terrifying howl he had every heard in his life.

There was a momentary pause before another howl could be heard in the distance...

And from the looks of it, the {Lythoran Wyrm} that created the response howl didn\'t seem very far away...

"Reinforcements?!" Cain stared at the beasts who were obviously proud they could call backup.

"Damned cowards!" Cain yelled angrily.

Knowing that the odds were totally against him, despite the blood and sweat he would need to expend to defeat the creatures before him, he knew he could do only one thing...

Run...

Run as fast as he could and as hard as he could...

Throwing his blades back into his inventory, he pulled his bow up and socketed another metal attribute mana shard into his quiver.

Like a rabbit running from a pack of hyena, he turned on his heels and sprinted for dear life. There was a {Lythoran Wyrm} that had gotten behind him. The beast stared at him with a toothy grin and tried to stop him from leaving by slashing its claws forward. When it saw that Cain hadn\'t drawn his bow and was fully intended on engaging in melee combat, its face stretched out into a grin.

Its sharp claws protruded even further as it prepared to grapple Cain to the ground. Just as Cain and the creature were within arm\'s length of one another, Cain snapped on his heels.

With a jump, Cain slammed his head into the creature\'s jaw, stunning it temporarily. Holding onto its shoulders, he used the beast as leverage to leap up. Raining down a few punches onto the creature\'s eyes for good measure, he stomped on the beast\'s head, using it to push himself up and away from the group of stunned creatures.

Rolling on the ground, he didn\'t come to a pause even once as he immediately resumed his running once he was back on his feet.

Although they were stunned for a while, the creatures quickly recovered and hurriedly chased after Cain...

Pushing all the power he could muster to his feet, Cain turned into a machine that relied solely on willpower and his nearly depleted Ki to push himself forward.

He ran straight for the mountain range he tried to avoid. That was the only way he would be able to survive as he noticed the creatures had way more stamina than him. Outrunning them was a pipe dream.

Getting closer, he could see that the entire mountain range was covered in a thick mist. Not only that, but from where he stood, he could see an active volcano deep within the sea of rocks.

Quickly saying a prayer to whatever would listen, Cain rushed forward without hesitation...

***

"How much longer do we have to wait?!" Li said as he shadow-boxed the air in front of him, bobbing and weaving, while throwing a few jabs and hooks here and there.

"Idiot, you\'ve only been waiting for like thirty minutes." Blaze said as he tapped at rings of fire that revolved around him. They slowly changed their structure and shapes into complicated looking sigils and magic runes before exploding into sparks, causing Blaze to let out a grunt of frustration.

"Thirty minutes is way too long. We would have been long gone from here by now... There are so many important things to do, and the time to do those things is all being wasted here." Li snapped back.

"Li, calm down. Don\'t make things more complicated. Beside, we have access to unlimited food here. We can also level up by hunting the sea mutants." Stan said in hopes of easing Li who looked like he was about to pop a vein.

"Leave the fool... He\'s probably just too excited." Sue said with a snort. She had her back against an ice wedge and was picking at her nails leisurely. Despite her lackluster attitude, one with keen magic senses could tell she wasn\'t idle at all.

Tendrils of mana spread out all around her as she engaged in whatever magical act she was so invested in.

"He\'s right. I\'m dying for some action right now." Manny said, his pupils dilating as he tapped on the edge of his sword rhythmically. Anyone could tell that he wanted to fight something, so they all gave him a wide berth...

"All this will come together soon. Have faith in my boss." Vincent said, a huge fish bone in one hand.

"Why is he taking so long?" Jenny couldn\'t help but say. A sigh leaked from her lips, causing her heavy assets to quake, drawing the attention of one or two perverts.

"In hindsight, I couldn\'t say I didn\'t see this coming." Li said in a cold voice as he stoped his shadowboxing momentarily.

"What do you mean?" Jenny asked curiously.

"You know exactly what I mean, Jenny. Conflict of interest. Bigger fish swallows smaller fish..." Li said cryptically.

Jenny\'s eyes narrowed...

"Kill that line of thought, Li. Thinking like that won\'t solve anything. Remember, out primary goal is to survive and protect them." Jenny said, her gaze shifting to Stan and Sue.

Li also shifted his gaze before letting out a sigh, "I guess you can never change, can you..."

Tearing his gaze away, Li silently continued his shadowboxing with more ferocity than before.

SPLASH!

Suddenly, there was a splash. Jumping out of the water, Hunter had a huge red fish struggling to escape from the fangs he bit into its flesh.

"Damn! You animal!" Vincent pointed at Hunter and said with amusement in his voice.

Completely ignoring him, Hunter quickly lit a fire, and began cooking the fish. Licking his lips, he stared at the fish cook with rapt attention, his tail swishing violently behind him.

As soon as the meat was cooked enough, he threw the entire thing into his mouth, bones and all, and chewed, swallowing only a few moments later.

"Sigh... Didn\'t even make a dent..." Hunter rubbed his stomach, a sad expression on his face as he lamented over his terrible condition. Since his body began to change, his appetite had changed drastically as well.

Now, he needed several pounds of fish hourly to keep his hunger at bay. The others simple stared at him like he was a monster...

Just as he was considering either going back to the ocean, or just eating the fat fool sitting beside him, he sensed a presence...

"Dan? What\'s the news?" Hunter said all of a sudden.

The air shimmered to produce Dan who carried Old Man Ling as though he was a sack of potatoes. Dropping the poor Old Man onto the cold, icy ground, he turned to Hunter and said seriously,

"The Ice bridge has been completed..."