Ning was surprised at how fast his dash was. For a body that was nowhere close to being as strong as his other one, this was surprisingly great.
Some of the fighters on the enemy noticed him coming out of the massive amounts of sand on the ground and tried to shout at him. But before they could say anything to warn the others, Ning swung his sword while putting as much Essence into the attack as he could.
The sword cut through the wooden carriage as easily as carving through butter. It only stopped when it struck the ground and went nearly half a meter deep into it.
Then, his essence went to work. A massive pillar of stone jumped out of the ground, sending the destroyed carriage into the air. It reached over 10 meters high in just a second, sending the people on it scattering everywhere.
Some landed in the field by the road, some landed on other carriages, and a few fell directly onto the road they were in.
Carlos moved at the same time and arrived in front of Hanson. Before Hanson could do anything, he stuck his water sword into his mouth and started flooding his mouth with water.
The pressure causes the water to come out of Hanson's nose, and at the same time, he breathed in a massive amount of it, filling up his lungs in the process.
Carlos moved towards the others and used his fire swords to attack them. Ning moved as well, killing a few of the others that were trying to find their bows and arrows to shoot at them.
Once they were done, they returned to Hanson, who was choking on the water as breathing was impossible for him anymore. Ning watched awkwardly as Hanson drowned on the dry land and Carlos moved to pick up his sword.
"That was… something," Ning said as he watched the dead man slowly turn pale after death.
"Let's go," Carlos said, not looking back at all. "We need to go to the city fast to warn the boss."
"Well, I don't know how we can do that, with such a long line," Ning said, looking at the carriages that were left behind, causing traffic. "Our own carriage is broken too… and the driver is gone."
"Damn these bastards, causing needless problems," Carlos shouted. "We will need to just run now and maybe catch a ride somewhere far away."
"You really want to run all the way to the other city?" Ning asked with a hesitating look.
"We don't have any other choice," Carlos said. "I need to warn the boss about the attack."
"Argh! Fine," Ning sighed. "I haven't eaten anything this morning really, so I will warn you that I might get hungry."
"I'll put a feast in your name when we reach the city. With the money you get, you will be able to buy as much as you want for yourself too," Carlos said.
"I get it," Ning said. "Let's go save your stupid boss."
The two of them started running away. A few people pointed at them as they ran, remembering them as the two that killed people today.
"Sigh, I'm going to have to get away from this place now," Ning thought. He continued on his way, hiding his face as much as possible.
The road up ahead was mostly empty on one side as the accident from earlier had left it completely open, so the two of them could run on flat land without having to suffer running on uneven terrain.
Ning was surprised at how high his endurance was as he ran hundreds and hundreds of meters without experiencing any shortness of breath. For a body he created about a month ago that hadn't gone through any sort of physical training aside from the Essence rank, he was rather strong.
'I wonder how strong I am,' he thought. It was hard to judge against others he had fought with as they were not in the Physical Improvement realm the same as him.
If he wanted to test himself, he would have to do it with hard numbers, but if he had to guess, he was at least 5 to 7 times as strong as a normal person.
That was judging based on just the speed too. He wondered what other improvement his body had had by now.
"I'm surprised you can keep up with me," Carlos said. "You don't remember how you got this strong?"
"I have no idea," Ning said as he ran.
"After you join the gang, I will help you find out about your past," Carlos said.
"Thank you," Ning said.
"Alright, eyes up front. We'll have to go through this forest for a shortcut," Carlos said.
Ning looked towards the forest around which the road seemed to curve. "People won't be waiting for you in there, would they? They seem extremely envious of that crystal and would go above and beyond for it."
"With such a massive forest, it's impossible," Carlos said. "Still, just keep your eyes out."
Ning nodded and they continued.
Fortunately, there weren't any nefarious people waiting for them in the forest. The forest wasn't that big either, and they passed through it in about half an hour, saving about half an hour had they just run on the normal road.
When they came out on the other side, both of them were finally starting to feel the shortness of breath from running for so long.
Carlos stopped an empty carriage on the street. It was hard to tell if the carriage driver stopped because he was a good person, or because he was afraid of the two random people that had come out of the forest with naked swords in their hands.
Either way, he let them on the carriage and took them on their way to the Gray fire city.
An hour later, the two of them could see the houses grow denser and denser, and not long after that, they saw a river.
They got off and turned toward the river. Just past it, they would find Grayfire city.
