Elaith saw Laeroth and Vamir strode away and approached them. "Senior brother!"
The both of them turned around.
"Oh. Junior brother Elaith, how have you been?"
"Nothing much," Elaith replied. "Are you busy, senior brother?"
"Not really," Vamir said. "We'll just about to hang out in the tavern."
Elaith shook his head. "I suggest you don't go near the norms, senior brother."
"Why is that?" Laeroth asked.
"The norms now have a weapon that can kill us."
Vamir couldn't believe his ears. "What? Is that true?"
Elaith nodded.
Laeroth sighed. "I leave this kingdom for a decade and it has already changed so much."
"You don't seem very surprised," Elaith said.
Vamir chuckled. "When we go out and travel, we have seen many things. This is not the only place where norms found a way to defeat us, cultivators."
Elaith widened his eyes. "What? The norms in other kingdoms actually found a way to kill cultivators?"
Laeroth nodded. "Most of them use gunpowder to hurt us."
"That's exactly the same thing they use to defeat us,"
"Well, you're lucky then," Vamir said. "I have seen someone throw a liquid at a cultivator, and his face melted to the bone."
Elaith shivered. "I can't believe it's that bad. The norms can't be underestimated."
Vamir grabbed his shoulders. "The world is filled with weird stuff. Norms hurting cultivators is just one on the list. And it's not that bad, actually. If you reached stage-3 cultivation then the norms couldn't hurt you."
"That might take a while for me."
"What are you talking about," Laeroth said. "You're the most talented disciple we have. Come on, let's just hunt some magic beast in the volcano."
"Ahh, I was about to ask you for that, senior brother."
Vamir released his hand. "Go ask the others if they wanted to join. The more the merrier."
"Wow, where did you find that saying?" Laeroth asked.
Elaith left their side and went around the square inviting everyone for a hunting trip. Most of them agreed immediately the moment they heard that two senior brothers would accompany them. After gathering a few dozens of apprentices, Elaith returned.
"Senior brothers, this is every one that wanted to join the hunting trip."
Vamir nodded. "Let's go."
Elaith and the hunting group exited the temple and strode towards the crater. The volcano was very active today. Thick smokes billowed out and lava burst into the sky before falling to the ground. It then slide down, bringing in spirit crystals and other minerals.
Tens of norms with a straw backpack approached these crystals and collect them. These were the slaves that the Nefarious Swords used for obtaining the spirit crystals.
"I've been wanting to ask," Elaith said. "Why don't we build our sect near the Boiling Crystal Mine?"
"To understand that you have to know our history," Laeroth said. "A long time ago, when the first sect master found this mountain, he saw an opportunity to occupy its rich spiritual crystal mine. At first, he stumbled upon a large chunk of crystal on a large mountain. He dug the crystal by himself, one by one, but as he found that the crystals seemed endless, he started to use norms to dig it for him. Years of digging later, the mountains turned into a large hole. Using tens of thousands of norms, they turned the biggest mountain the sect master had ever seen into nothing. Curios, the sect master told them to keep digging until now."
"The norms can move an entire mountain?" Elaith asked. "I truly have underestimated them. But senior brother, that didn't answer my question."
Laeroth smiled. "I was about to continue. The sect master had actually built the sect in that crater. The crater was filled with rich spiritual energy and an abundance of large spiritual crystals. But the sect master found out that the crater has an anomaly."
"What anomaly?"
"Every year, the Boiling Crystal Mine would explode with high spiritual energy. The energy entered the body of every living creature and exploded them. Hundreds of elders died, and thousands of norms burst into dust. The sect master is the only one that survived."
"Are we still mining the crystals?"
"Of course, thousands of norms collected the crystals and brought them to the Master Temple. If you are curious, I can take you there sometimes."
Elaith nodded. "Thank you, senior brother."
"Senior brother, I would like to join too."
"Me too."
"I also want to see the Boiling Crystal Mine."
The junior brothers and sisters flocked to him like ducklings.
"Alright, alright. I will bring all of you."
"Yayyy!"
The hunting group continued their journey. Sometimes they stumbled upon a weak magic beast but the juniors swarmed them and pounded them before the seniors could explain anything. As they walked upward, the magic beast they faced became stronger and tougher.
When they faced a group of crimson werewolves, the juniors were pushed back.
The crimson werewolves stood on two feet just like humans. It had the face and mouth of a wolf with bulging muscles of an ape. Its claws were deadly and vicious just like their eyes.
Vamir watched as the juniors fought the werewolves with difficulty. "I can't stand this sight. I will tell you a great tip to defeat them. The weakness of the crimson werewolves is isolation. If you don't understand that much then tough luck."
The juniors understood immediately. They isolated one werewolf and attacked it as their friend protected their backs. When one wolf fell, the juniors repeated their strategy and killed all the wolves.
Vamir smiled when he saw his juniors getting stronger and better as they fought. But when he turned his head to the side, he was shocked at what he saw.
Elaith fought two crimson werewolves by himself. Using unmatched speed and strength, he blocked and pushed the wolves. One Wolves growled at him and pounced.
Elaith raised his sword as a distraction then punched its jaw. The punch knocked its face back and he used that timing to cut its neck.
The other wolf dashed and clawed him, but Elaith reacted quickly by grabbing its hand. He squeezed and broke its arm before he stabbed its heart.
Elaith pulled his swords, and the wolf fell to the side.
"Now that's what I call a true prodigy," Vamir said.
"I'm very sure he could fight three at the same time," Laeroth said.
"You're in luck," Vamir said. "There are six more coming after him."
Six crimson werewolves rushed towards him and attacked. They leaped with supernatural strength and bared their teeth and claws to kill him.
Elaith shoved aside two wolves with his kick. As the other wolves closed in, he tucked and rolled. The beefy wolves approached and clawed him.
He blocked their strike with his sword and punched their stomach before parrying another claw to his face. A wolf slashed his back, and it burns with pain.
Elaith grunted. His feet fluttered as he retreated and deflected their attacks.
"You can do it, Elaith!"
"Kill those wolves!"
The wolves charged towards him. The wolves were too many for him. He couldn't isolate them even if he wanted to because they had great teamwork.
Elaith raised his sword, it glittered in his right hand. Suddenly, he slapped a rock on the ground. It shot forwards, straight towards the face of a wolf, and slammed its mouth.
The other wolves also got hit, the rock struck their face, and the moment they turned their head to the enemy—the sheen of the blade was right in front of their eyes.
SLASHED!
At once, Elaith's blade cut through the neck of the wolves. Blood spurted out of their red fur and they fell with a thud.
"He makes it look easy," Vamir said.
Laeroth crossed his arms. "That's a very smart trick. Using rocks as a distraction and then attacking them. I might have to copy that."
"To be honest I expect the fight to be a lot longer than that," Vamir said. "I guess Elaith is just too talented."
"He's too strong compared to us when we were at stage-1."
"Do you think he will be ready when they come?" Vamir asked.
"Let's just hope he is."
Elaith flicked his blade and all the bloodstain disappeared.
His brothers and sisters approached and flocked to him.
"Elaith, you are so strong."
"So fast too."
"How did you do it."
"Teach us, Elaith."
"Yeah, teach us!"
Elaith was helpless in their pleading. "Okay, we will train when we are back at the sect."
"Yayyy!"
Vamir turned his sight at the crater. "Let's test him with stage-2 beast."
"Are you sure? He could get hurt."
"We are here to protect him. Nothing will happen," Vamir said.
"In that case, I will bring the banefreak," Laeroth said.
"Uh… are you sure?"
"You're the one who suggested it first. Why are you doubting yourself, now?"
"The banefreak is a speed-type monster. Who knows what it could do before we react."
"It's fine. I am faster than any banefreak in the world."
"Braggarts. Go do it, then."
Laeroth dashed towards the crater. His feet left dust and dirt behind.
"Show off. He could have run without the dust."
A few minutes later, Laeroth run back towards them. A humanoid monster was chasing him from behind.
It looked thin and skinny. There were blades that seemed to be made out of bone, protruding out of its arms, shoulder, and other joints.
"Elaith!" Laeroth shouted. "Try to fight this guy. If you can win, I will give you a level-2 magic sword."
The juniors were shocked. Level-2 magic swords were expensive and hard to find. A lot of stage-2 swordsmen in the Nefarious Swords only had level-1 magic swords. As for the elders, they had level-3 magic swords with them. The sect used all of its resources to obtain these weapons. And they had to because they don't want to shame the elders.
Elaith raised his sword. He actually didn't need the level-2 magic sword from Laeroth because the elder already promised to give him one. But he was grateful for the act. "Don't turn on your words later, senior brother!"
Elaith leaped towards the banefreak. He raised his sword above his head and swung down.
The banefreak noticed him and blocked the attack with the bone-like blade on his arms.
"You are such a weird creature," Elaith said.
The banefreak seemed to take offense in that. It roared in his face, showing its rotten teeth and spiky tongue. It kicked Elaith in the gut, throwing him back tens of meters away as he rolled on the ground.
Elaith groaned in pain. That one attack made his internal organ throbbed.
The banefreak landed in front of Elaith and for a moment, Elaith saw three banefreak came slashing at him. He was confused about which one was the real one. He tried to block the one in front of him, but it seemed like that was a fake as his left shoulder spurted in blood.
The banefreak kicked his chest again, throwing him back. The creature seemed to be playing with him. It was not the human and pet type of playing, but the predator and prey type of playing.
Elaith regained his feet. His left shoulder suffered from pain and it was hard for him to use it. This would be a hard fight.
He raised his sword in a defensive position as he stood in a crouch. He waited for the banefreak to attack first. His red robe was covered in dirt, but he didn't have time to care about that.
The monster attacked. It rushed towards him with unprecedented speed, zig-zagging as it moved like a blur.
It snapped forward, swiping Elaith's face with the blade on its arms. Elaith had the advantage of reach because of his sword. He leaned back his head and stabbed forward. But he banefreak easily twisted its waist and spun around to cut his cheek.
Blood flowed to his lips.
The banefreak was fast and there was no way Elaith could match its speed. He didn't know what to do. Being reactive meant that Elaith would slowly be defeated. He had to take the initiative to attack.
Elaith grabbed a handful of dirt. He raised his sword and charged forward. As he feinted to attack with his sword, he threw the dirt at the creature's face, dropped the blade, and went behind it for a chokehold.
"If I can't defeat you with speed, then what about strength!"