Infinite Paths: The Raging Phoenix

"That is not fair. This place is one of my homes, too," Seara protested.

"I know, but you can't let them think that they should attack your brethren at sight, too," Rain said. "Relax. I will make things easier for everyone, so you won't have to worry about letting them do all the heavy lifting."

"... How are you planning to do that?" Seara asked.

"Hehehe, that is for me to know and for you to find out," Rain grinned from ear to ear.

"Don't smile like that when our kids are around," Terra frowned.

"Sorry… Anyways… just trust me, okay?" Rain said. "Although I am a bit rusty, the ideas are returning to my head now that there are some problems that I need to solve. Wait for a bit until I prepare myself."

Although Rain said that, he immediately headed to the mountains using the underground paths. Still, once he arrived there, he just sat down and began to meditate. Everyone thought that he was just recovering the mana that he had used, but in fact, he was doing some mental training while envisioning what he

Night came and passed without anyone realizing what Rain was doing, they only noticed that something was off when the sun began to rise and they noticed that the area was still pretty dark… when they went to check the outside, they noticed that the entire area was quite cloudy… they were in the middle of the summer, but the mountains were completely surrounded by dark clouds.

"Is he going to zap everyone with his lightning bolts?" Jori asked while he was swinging his sword and frowning since his form was a mess. "I trained as much as possible in the last three years, but what the hell is this?"

"Rain is the type that will attack first to warn the enemies and then only kill them on the second moment," Roan rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "I don't think that he will do something like that so soon."

— —

It was mid Summer and since the beast people had good senses, they knew that Rain was plotting something… still, they couldn't feel any bloodlust or ill intentions in the air, so they decided to ignore all that.

Eventually, it began to snow in the area… something that never happened before. The beast people began to hide in their tents and waited until the snow could stop falling… even Rain wouldn't be able to keep that spell forever and it was clear that he just wanted to buy time, but so were the beast people, they needed more allies for their invasion and more of them were coming.

One week later… it was still snowing… the beast people now had ten thousand people on their side, but they didn't look so confident anymore… now that a single person covered the mountains in snow.

"Move all the snow to the fissure!" The beast queen shouted. "Whatever he is planning, he won't be able to do much if we get rid of the snow."

Some people were touched by the snow, and they didn't feel anything in the last few days, so the beast queen assumed that they would be fine working outside.

It was a pity that they didn't have high magic skills to dispel all the snow, but they made up for it with their physical strength and soon they began to clean the whole mountain that they were camping… despite that, the snow never stopped falling. Even if it was just a bit at a time like usual.

Eventually, when they had twenty thousand warriors on their side, the beast queen decided to make their move. She called the new leaders of the tribes to give her orders.

"I want you all to split your tribes in groups with ten warriors and cross the fissure in different spots," the beast queen said. "I don't smell a lot of warriors here, so they won't be able to stop us all. We can't cross the fissure while carrying supplies, but this area produces a lot of food. Gather what you can do,re enough for a moment, and destroy the rest.

It is time to make them pay for letting such disgusting beings run wild."

Even though she was their queen, it was rare for the tribes to follow such orders without voicing any sort of complaints. That showed how much they were interested in the cause they were.

Still, as soon as the whole group began to leave that mountain at night, something worrisome happened. Their bodies started to get cold and they began to shiver… it was night and the temperature dropped, but not that much. Moreover, it wasn't windy… they didn't feel any spell being activated either.

When the beast queen realized what was happening and that her soldiers were unable to move behind the mountain, she quickly left her tent and approached the fissure, only to see Rain and his friends there. Less than fifteen people, and yet, they weren't afraid of a confrontation.

"Give the order for your soldiers to fall back," Rain said. "If they try to make any move that makes me think that they want to cross the fissure, they will die."

"I will not," The beast queen said while clenching her fists and teeth.

As the fissure split the two sides of the mountain, some of the beast people, daring and furious, attempted to leap across the chasm in a single leap to attack and rip Rain's throat. He could easily feel their bloodlust…

With their strong, powerful legs, they launched themselves with incredible force. However, as they crossed through the air, something weird happened. A numbing chill descended upon them, and their movements slowed unnaturally. In a matter of moments, their entire bodies were encased in a shimmering layer of ice.

These once-daring individuals became entrapped in frozen, coffin-like forms, suspended mid-air, their audacious leaps forever stilled.

In the next moment, they began to fall to the darkness of the fissure, and no one heard the sound of them hitting the bottom of it…