Affinity:Chaos

Grey glanced at the Fire Elementalist as they stepped back into the formation. He had already guessed what was going on, and he had made a few decisions, and one of them was that this guy was not going to make it back from this expedition.

"Wow, it's nice you're alright, pretty boy," The lady came over and said with a smile.

Grey forced out a smile, he wanted to tell off the lady that his name wasn't pretty boy, but seeing that she was a little concerned about them even though they didn't really have any previous relationships, he decided against it.

"Yeah, someone seems to be doing a really bad job at keeping the vines out," Grey said, making sure the Fire Elementalist heard his statement.

He made the mistake of thinking it was an accident the first time, hence he let his guard down. But now that he knew it was being done on purpose, he wouldn't let this happen again.

"Of course, what do you expect from these half-assed Fire Elementalists?" The lady said, looking straight at the Fire Elementalist.

Most of the people in that area could tell that the Fire Elementalist was targeting Grey and Reynolds, but it had nothing to do with them. They all came here for the treasure, the lesser the people, the better their chances.

After seeing Grey's display a few minutes ago, they all knew they couldn't count him out of the picture.

The vines could withstand the attack of a Late stage Elementalist, and although Grey's fire was super effective against them, it didn't take out the fact that it was powerful.

The Fire Elementalist didn't speak against them because of the couple who were with them.

The couple stayed with Grey and Reynolds as the group continued heading further into the forest.

One hour later.

"*Sigh* We're finally free of those hateful plants," Reynolds sighed as the group left the forest.

After spending just over one hour in the forest, the party was able to exit the forest. A few more people were snatched away by the plants, but luckily, most of them made it out.

Grey estimated that about eight or ten people died during this one hour, which was a high number, given the fact that there were just over thirty people who came for the expedition.

"They're not that bad," Grey said with a chuckle.

"Yeah, easy for you to say. You're not the one whose attacks don't have any effect on them," Reynolds snorted.

"You're alive, that's what is important, right?" Grey asked.

"I guess so," Reynolds said. He felt a little scared after almost being eaten by the plant.

Even if he wanted to die, he didn't want to be killed by a plant. If Klaus were to find out about him being killed by a plant, he would definitely mock him, even in death.

The leader of the expedition addressed the group after they left the forest. Apparently, this was only one of the few dangerous routes they would pass through before getting to where the lightning tree was located.

According to the leader, there were two more places that were as dangerous as this forest, if not even more. After going through these routes, they would also have to face the dangers that were lying in wait in the Chimera forest.

Grey felt at least half of the group who started the expedition would most likely be killed before they even got to where the treasure was. He wanted to object on the path that they were taking, but seeing that the mercenaries weren't complaining, he shut his mouth.

After the leader finished speaking with the group, they continued their journey.

They didn't face any challenges for the rest of the day, after it got dark, the group made camp at an open field.

Grey realized these people were already very familiar with the routes, so they seem to be calculating their movements, always stopping at an open field, surrounded by trees.

This time, the couple stayed closer to them. Grey stayed with Reynolds and the couple for a few hours, before heading into the forest.

He still had to train on the Great Void technique, so he couldn't stay and chat with the couple.

The couple were stunned when they saw Grey heading into the forest, after asking him what he wanted to do, they were even more surprised when he said he was going to train.

After walking through the forest, Grey saw a cave.

"This should do," He said, but after taking a step forward, he paused, "No, no, I'll find somewhere else,"

Growl…

Hearing the growl, Grey knew the beast was at the Late stages of the Origin Plane. Although he could kill it, he didn't want to go through the hassle.

And not just that, but since he got close to Void, he had a change towards magical beasts. Unlike before when he would kill the beasts without any remorse, he now had a slight difference in attitude towards them.

He retreated from the entrance of the cave and started walking in another direction, before long, he saw another cave, this one was luckily empty. When he walked in, he could sense that a magical beast lived in the cave, and it seemed like it went out to hunt for the night.

Without wasting any time, he created some arrays around the entrance of the cave, to make sure the beast didn't enter while he was engrossed with his training.

He was still in the first phase of the training, simultaneously creating two space tunnels. With the experience he got from the previous day, he felt a little more confident in being able to at least create the tunnels today.

The next morning.

Grey walked to the entrance of the cave, only to see a white tiger, lying outside the cave. The tiger was in the Early stages of the Origin Plane.

"Hmm, sorry, I had to make use of your home. But you can have it now," Grey said to the tiger which stood up as soon as it saw Grey.

Grey released a bit of his aura, to scare the tiger from attacking while he spoke with it.

The tiger watched him as he left the cave, walking back to the camp.