Chapter 459 - Day MCMXXX, Part II

All of the researchers suddenly looked my way.

- Can you do that? - asked Vladimir Fedorov.

- Uhm... a... ym... Technically...

- Oh for the love of God! Just do it - Nadzieja snapped.- You are wasting our time for no reason, and you are pissing me off!

- Ok, fine... Calm down, grandma.

She sent few daggers at me with her eyes and then turned her back to me.

I grabbed the closest people, and just shadow walked them to the other side and repeated it with the whole caravan in the span of few seconds. All that was left on the side we all just were was a cloud of smoke, quickly disappearing in the air.

- Wow! - said Sudarshana Patel. - That was amazing!

- Yeah, yeah, yeah - I quickly cut her off. - Let's go.

She caught the suggestion and closed her mouth. We resumed our journey, and made it past the next part of the forest, slowly closing the distance between us, and the center of the valley. To get to the other side, though, we still needed at least a few days.

The situation with water elementals repeated itself when we approached the second river on our path. This time the joined forces of hunters dealt with them, and I, again, shadow walked the whole group past the obstacle.

On the other side, we took a break to eat and then kept pushing on to arrive at one of the lakes. Some researchers had doubts if we should approach it, and not just walk around, keeping a decent distance, but the hunters had different ideas.

Our mindest was set on engaging with the monsters, to kill them and earn the crystals. People were usually strong enough to easily clear the hunting ground they went to, to avoid any injuries, or even death, which meant that one opponent from a more difficult place, wouldn't usually be a problem.

Besides, they all knew I'm behind, and I can do some crazy stuff.

What we found in the lake, was more water elementals. The hunters rushed to deal with them. Surprisingly, maybe not the strongest, but definitely most useful was Andy. His water control allowed him to stop the movements of the monsters. Sometimes even lock them completely, which was of big support to the rest, since almost all of them were more physical fighters.

The battle appeared to be going smoothly, even with several monsters. They couldn't do much damage, since Andy was doing such a great job to stop them at any given point. Still, their bodies were very difficult to destroy because of their nature.

When the last one fell, the waters of the lake stirred up. I noticed it first since I was more focused on our surroundings than the hunters themselves. Completely contrary to the researchers, who were very eager to watch flashy fights, and shows of inhuman strength, dexterity, or speed.

- Hey, guys... The lake - I said, pointing ahead of me.

They quickly turned to withes, as the waters retracted forming something giant. The form was similar to the elementals we already saw, but the size was absolutely massive. This thing was rocking around sixty to even eighty meters, which was making Martin look small in comparison.

- We are gonna die - said Vladimir Fedorov with despair painted all over his face.

- Do something - said Tihana, as she slapped my arm with a serious expression on her face.

- Bawk! - Tam agreed with her.

- Peter! - shouted Nil.

- Yeah, yeah, yeah... Just hold it for a moment, and run when I'll tell you - I said to that.

Then I sighed and extended my hand to gather some mana, and for a ball of swirling flames in the air a bit ahead of me. The heat quickly hit people, and they had to step back.

- Andy! When I tell you, stop that thing for as long as you can, so the rest can run the hell away - I instructed him calmly.

- O-ok - he agreed. 

I didn't have much time, since one slam of a giant water fist knocked all of my friends down, except Ki'rai, who managed to transform and flew away. The monster rose his water hand again, to deliver a second punch. I in the meantime, gathered even more energy in a sphere of raging flames, so hot, that I barely could look at them.

- Now! - I shouted.

Andy reacted immediately, putting all of his willpower into freezing the movements of the giant elemental. People picked themselves up and started running. Then I released my fireball.

Mage growled as blood came rushing out of his nose. He just couldn't hold the enemy for longer, and collapsed on one of his knees, just as my fireball git the target, and vanished in the waters, hissing angrily.

- We are gonna... - started Vladimir Fedorov again, but he didn't finish.

An explosion ripped the monster to shreds, spraying the water everywhere alongside a shockwave that knocked down running hunters. Everybody got wet. Some people lost their hearing since their eardrums got damaged.

So I took a stroll around, healing people's ears, and admiring the bras, visible through the wet clothes of the women. I started with Andy, since he really did great with assisting me, and took some damage, because of exerting himself. I dropped a 'Cleansing' in addition to that on him, to get rid of his exhaustion at least somewhat.

Then I continued my journey, spending more time with Sudarshana Patel and Mika Sawamura than I should, and finished with my friends, who technically should be in the worst condition, but because of their tough bodies, they were actually fine.

Nobody picked the crystal left after the giant elemental, since it was in was sunken in the lake, that quickly returned to its normal form, supplied by the rivers. 

It was slowly getting late, so after a short break to get some food, and a bit of rest, we resumed our journey, to get as far from the lake as we could, and set up a camp for the night.

Nobody said anything about what I did. Researchers probably because they got a bit scared of me. My friends, because this was a normal thing for them in their everyday lives as a hunter.

The day came to an end with 24 330 290 points remaining on my account, and 21 class points.