John was soaring, this place was not as beautiful as his former sights but still held its charm. The high mountains left a breathtaking view and though the monsters bellow was not particularly pleasant on the eyes, they were full of vigor and always doing something.

John picked a target. For him it would be something that flew, he needed the practice and air combat was generally fun.

Stalking his prey he flew high and above its senses and watched as grey reptilian wings carried the body of a snake through the air.

John dive bombed, hoping for a quick end but was detected. He only managed to scrape its wing before it was able to evade by tucking its wings and rolling away.

John sighed thinking he really needed to work on his stealth approaches but didn’t get much time to think about. The creature was attempting a similar maneuver, mouth wide open and attempting harm.

Thrusting his spear, the fight was over. Well, perhaps calling it target practice session was more accurate.

Then something caught his eye.

It was an earth dragon, which were nice durable targets that though strong, were not capable of fast attacks. They typically kept their fighting capabilities hidden and relied on their powerful hide to keep them safe. Then, when the moment was right, they released an attack of fearsome proportions far beyond the expectations of its opponent. It was not considered a dragon only in name, if an opponent forgot that during the encounter they would stand no chance of survival.

John eagerly wished to test himself against one, he would not be caught up in its tricks and in the worst case, he would just retreat. They were limited to short range attacks.

There was just one problem and John’s eyes went wide from the blunder. That wasn’t an earth dragon… That was an earth dragoon!

Though from afar they may appear similar from affar, there was one clear difference. Dragoons could fire at range and were essentially massive natural anti-air implacements.

John dove knowing what had already begun. If he could see it, good chances were that it could see him.

Dropping his altitude quickly, John dodged a spike of earth he didn’t see coming.

Faster!

John beat his wings faster, pushing him to the edge of his ability.

The sky was soon filled with spikes and though missing their mark, John got to witness glimpses of their destructive nature during his spiraled descent. Part of the forest simply disappeared as the spikes landed in the far off distance while toppling innocent trees.

Safe!

John got below the trees and out of sight just as another spike ripped through the tips of many.

Landing with force, John kicked up allot of debris, making his own little center of destruction. His efforts only kicked up debris and scarred a few trees with none of them falling.

John had no intention of facing that Dragoon and quickly began walking away from where it was. He needed to find a location clear of that monsters range which was likely a few kilometers away.

One step then another he continued on. Releasing a fair share of bloodlust, none of the lesser creatures came close and bothered him. He had no intension of wasting stamina and time on them now that we was forced to walking. But he still found a use for his time as normally he would not be spending so much time in a relatively small area.

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Looking at small plants, fungus and insects he found a few he could use and stored them. Alchemic ingredients were always helpful and would eventually serve a purpose if only to fetch a good price at a market or auction.

Not wanting to get hungry, John slipped out some food from his inventory.

“Minor water summon, water sphere.”

Controlling the water like an apple, John took a bite from it and let that portion loose from his control. The skill allowed him to wash down his food and rehydrate. It was a common spell for those with magic but none the less helpful.

The downside of it was that it was actually spirit water. His body could process it but in experiments, the remnant magic it held from the spirit realm was likely to cause problems. It just had too many energies mixed within it and they could be anything when summoned. One needed to purify it or simply use another source to get water one could use without worry.

John finished the meat and ‘water apple.’

A few creatures didn’t get the message transmitted through the bloodlust and attacked but as expected they fell from the slightest tap of a spear. They were just too weak to comprehend the difference between themselves and what they opposed. He just continued on, they were not worth his time more than a single strike.

One of them that appeared before him didn’t want to kill him however. That one was not a monster, she was an elf.

It was obvious, pointy ears, beautiful figure, and white baby like skin only pointed at one race, elf. And while being well endowed, she was clearly female.

Standing there, her eyes shone fiercely of confusion, desperation, and fear. An arm limp, blood driveling from her mouth, splatters of ripped cloths and dirt everywhere you looked. A dagger in hand, she pointed it a John but couldn’t keep it up as her good arm refused to listen to her will, joining its other limp arm at her side. As it did, her eyes went lifeless, her struggle to stay conscious at an end.

She began to fall but before she could hit the ground, John was there. His wings and legs let him burst forward in one swift motion to be at her side as she fell in his arms.

John sighed. “What’s with me picking up strays…”

He took out a spare potion from his inventory and tried to have her swallow it but failed. She was choking, the blood in her mouth was flowing back into her airways.

Unwilling to let someone die like this in front of him, John commanded magic to draw her blood out and force the potion down. It wouldn’t save her but it would stall the conditions enough for him to get her to his ship where he could.

John with his wings already open, pushed himself upwards above the trees for a few moments and then came down again. Expecting a spike of earth to fly by, nothing came so he took it as a chance to leave.

With an elf in his arms he left, fighting to gain an altitude above the clouds. None of the monsters of this area flew that high and neither could anything below see him to try something else. Something like earth spikes from a particular dragoon.

Up, up and up he went, reaching his intended safe height, with an elf in his arms.