Affinity:Chaos

'*Sigh* Once again, I'm running away.' Grey sighed, a little dejected.

If anyone asked him what he did the most in the trial land, then his reply would definitely be 'running away'. He had been chased so many times now that his physical speed had unknowingly increased by a lot. He's currently faster than his stage, that was without using any movements techniques or boosting his speed with the elements, if he were to use either one, then his speed would increase by a great margin, he might even become faster than people who are four stages ahead of him. That kind of speed was unheard of!

Grey has unknowingly started to grow accustomed to running away, but getting used to being chased wasn't a great feeling, other than the few Lightning Apes he killed alongside Void, he had not been able to get back at any of the beasts that had chased him.

Void looked at Grey and he couldn't help but shake his head, finding their current situation very familiar.

'I must say, you're quite good at escaping.' He said mockingly.

'You think?' Grey asked with a self-depreciating smile.

'I really need to get out of here.' He thought internally.

If he stayed here any longer, he was afraid he might get into another situation that would require him to run once again, and that was something he didn't wish to happen.

"Guys, run faster!" Grey said as he gradually closed the gap between himself and the duo.

Klaus and Reynolds who were previously over three hundred meters away from him were now only within fifty meters of him, and from the look of how things were going, it wouldn't be strange if Grey were to breeze past them.

"You bastard! What did you do?" Klaus asked.

"Nice to see you too buddy." Grey said with a smile while waving at him.

"What's chasing after you?" Klaus asked hastily.

He had sensed Grey's stage and knew it would be difficult for anyone or any beast even in the Sixth stage to cause any harm to him. But what he found strange was that he hadn't seen anything behind Grey, anybody not for the serious expression Grey had on when he told them to run, then he would have thought he was only messing with them.

Grey went on to describe the beast to the duo.

"Have you seen a beast like this before, or even heard of it?" Grey asked, hoping to get some information about the beast from either of the duo since he was clueless about it.

"No, this is my first time hearing of a worm with fins." Klaus said looking back at the fin which was visible in the moving bump on the ground.

"Actually, I've heard about a beast similar to this." Reynolds who had been quiet all this while spoke up.

"Oh, really?" Grey and Klaus turned their attention to Reynolds simultaneously.

"Yeah, it's said to only be found in the Southern Desert, ruling the sands there. But according to its description, the one found in the Southern Desert doesn't have a fin like this one." Reynolds told them what he knew about it.

Grey and Klaus fell silent, they had also heard that there were a lot of rare beasts that were only found in the Southern Desert. Unfortunately, it was a place they couldn't head to because it was located in the Azure empire.

Soon, Grey had caught up with the duo, creating a good distance between them and the beast that was chasing after them.

"So… What have you been up to lately?" Reynolds asked after the trio fell silent for some seconds.

"Nothing much, just, you know, running here and there. How about you guys?" Grey glanced at the bump that was slowly getting smaller, before switching his attention back to his friends.

Before he caught up with the duo, he had sensed the stage they were in and discovered they were both in the Third stage of the Origin Plane, with Klaus' aura being the stronger of the two, which indicated that he would be breaking through to the Fourth stage anytime soon.

'Since Rey is in the Third stage, that means his Elemental Warrior will be at the Fifth stage now. Amazing!' He exclaimed inside.

The sooner one becomes a summoner, especially in the case of an Elemental Warrior, the better. Had Reynolds become a summoner at the time he was in the Fusion Plane, then his Elemental Warrior would have been three stages ahead of him now. Even Grey felt a little envious of Reynolds, but since he had the Fusion State as well as elemental fusion, he wasn't too bothered. Not just that, but there was also a slim possibility that just like Reynolds, he might be able to become a summoner someday, although, the chances were very slim.

"Well…we've actually been…" Reynolds paused and took a glance at Klaus.

Grey looked at the duo and laughed, "Stealing pants?"

Klaus and Reynolds were taken when they heard him, not expecting him to easily guess they were the ones who had been stealing pants.

"What I don't get is why you actually decided to start stealing pants? And even from the ladies as well." Grey looked at the two curiously.

"We got bored, so when we heard someone was going around stealing pants, it sounded fun, so we decided to join in as well." Klaus explained.

'Tsk, if only they knew why you started stealing pants.' Void said with a chuckle when he recalled the way Grey walked after stealing the pants of the youth from the Starlight Academy.

On hearing Void, Grey also remembered that day and he couldn't help but feel grateful that he didn't encounter Klaus and Reynolds then, even Void was still mocking him about it, so it's easy to guess what Klaus and Reynolds would do to him.

While the trio was speaking about the pants thief, Grey suddenly heard the usual creaking sound that the ground makes when the beast is speeding through it. He couldn't help but turn to the source of the sound and realized it was coming from their right, and he recalled the one chasing after them was behind them.

"Guys, there's another one." Grey quickly signaled the others about the arrival of the new beast.

"Oh shit! How could I have forgotten about that." Reynolds suddenly exclaimed.

"What?" Grey and Klaus asked at the same time.

"Wherever there's one of this particular beast, there's bound to be more, a lot of them." Reynolds said with a serious expression.

The trio was already over seven kilometers from the rocky mountain and was currently within two kilometers of the forest that was ahead of them. But they soon started seeing more bumps chasing after them, with some being faster than others. There were even two charging at them from their front.

Boom!

Grey immediately slammed a two meters earth mace on one of the bumps.

When the mace slammed into the ground, it sent a shockwave into the ground which easily hit the creature that was moving below it. The creature was only about half a meter in the ground, and although the shockwave couldn't kill it, it didn't have a problem hurting its soft body.

Seeing that it was effective, Grey quickly did the same thing to the other one that was in front of them, thereby clearing the way for the trio to make a getaway.

By the time they got to within a kilometer of the forest, there was already more than ten bumps behind them, all the ones that had appeared ahead of them had been taken care of by Grey, although, there was a time when one got close to them and came out of the ground with its mouth wide open, trying to eat one of them. But unfortunately for it, the only thing that went into its mouth was Klaus' huge ice needle and Reynolds lightning bolt.

When both attacks connected, the creature was fried by the lightning from the inside out, but it quickly cooled down from Klaus' ice needle, before turning into an ice sculpture.

Klaus had gotten increasingly better at using the ice technique 'Sub Zero' he got from one of the fifty-four paths, now he could even occasionally get the ice needle to the freezing level.

With the trio working together, they were able to fend off the beasts while edging increasingly closer to the forest.

Grey initially planned on using mud to stop the beasts before killing them, but then he remembered something, Klaus and Reynolds didn't know of him having the water element. Stuck in a dilemma, he quickly improvised.

'Instead of making mud, I'll try making lava instead, it shouldn't be too hard.' He thought.

"Once we get into the forest, keep some distance away from me." Grey ordered as they were about to enter the forest.

'You too Void.' He transmitted to Void.

Immediately after giving out the order, they entered the forest, the others immediately created a small distance between them and Grey.

"Phew… Here goes nothing." Grey breathed out heavily as he channeled his fire essence to his leg, then into the ground.

The others all watched him curiously, waiting to see the outcome of what he was about to do.