Freedom Jumper-Chapter 10: Frozen Rain

Elijah continued his normal routine of exploring the wall and hunting small groups of beasts after dark, even after he had been "banned" from "exploring" after dark.

After his close encounter he learned his lesson to keep his distance as someone who is underpowered. Elijah's affinity is rather special, but it doesn't mean anything in the face of stronger mana.

The volcano to the northwest of the wall has been active to the point of lava spewing out of its center. The light can be seen from anyone that can see over the walls, which would only be Elijah. And anyone who ventures outside the north and west gates.

At the moment the eruption starts, and that's an if, Elijah will use everything at his disposal to get his family to safety as quickly as possible. The only question running through his mind was, where is safety?

Inside the crater? Outside the walls?

The current time of year is harvest season. During the day Elijah and Julian are putting their efforts into hauling the yields to the storage house in exchange for coins, and during the night, are relaxing with family and friends.

The storage house is two floors, while a specific portion of it is meant for small crop deliveries. At the moment, Elijah and Julian had just stepped up to the plate in front of the attendant, ready with the amounts in their heads.

The day was young, and behind him was a line of people carrying similar goods to be sold. "Good morning. I have wheat, corn, and sweet orange potatoes."

A lady with a floral bandana over her head, and suspenders holding up her leather pants replied in amusement. "Haha, your father is bringing in quite the haul this year!"

"Yes ma'am, we got quite lucky this year, everyone got lucky this year!" Julian replied with a wide smile.

The whole kingdom of Astraea truly did get lucky this year. The fields of crops were packed tightly with yield that celebrations were taking place before her eating season even came about.

"Thank the sun and the rain for the blessings!" The lady said as Elijah and Julian walked outside with a bag of coins.

Two grueling months passed by very quickly due to how busy Elijah was. However, something very abnormal was happening at the northwest side of the wall. All types of beasts were running full force and head hitting the wall over and over again till death.

From Elijah's guess it was the volcano, and the beasts were sensing the terror to come and following their instincts.

Running.

Unfortunately for the hunters, this anomaly caused the hunter guild to increase the numbers sent outside the wall. The people at the top were terrifyingly smart and powerful. This much was required to run a kingdom that never ventured outside the walls looking for life and other settlements to trade with.

-{Hunter Guild, Centerpool}-

At the end of a long quartz table sat the Hunter Guild Leader, Monroe Riskwell. A clean cut noble man that grew his way to power, through power. Adjourned with red armor plates, and gray and black leather and cloth clothing, he was a repulsive man to look at from the natural aura he gave off.

"I called this quick meeting to explain why I am about to send more hunters outside the north and west gates. As you may know, beasts are running head first in large numbers towards the wall. Or, they may be running away from something..." Monroe's deep red eyes made the conversation gloom, as almost every captain at the table had looks of fear on their faces. Partly due to the beast situation, but also because of that jarring and ominous man.

Breaking the discomfort of the room, A black haired man with red eyes spoke, lifting his right eyebrow. "The reasons make sense, but you are forgetting that the people do not want to leave the walls. Why don't you send that icy lunatic instead?"

"Hahaha, you make me laugh Ruby, but you do have a point. I will send him immediately. Actually, why don't you Gia? You are his captain after all."

A gorgeous and perfectly fit woman perked up in her seat, wavy blonde hair bouncing against her body from all of the herbs she douses it with. "Yes sir! I will gladly send that lunatic to the walls!"

Monroe Riskwell was the leader of the Hunter Guild, and underneath him stood a large number of captains in the green and cyan core stage.

Unfortunately, with the population just under 350 thousand, no one has broken past the cyan core stage. Nor does anyone know what the next stage is.

This seemingly unbreakable step was something people have tried to get past ever since the dawn of Astraea...

...

-{Outer West}-

"Wow, there is truly a bad storm approaching..."

A fit female figure dressed in brown and black leather garments was looking out the window while holding onto her lover's hand around her stomach.

"We've had storms like this before, and if it really is something bad, we will make a break for the inner city. The barrier will protect us..." Don replied somberly, clutching his loved one within his arms.

Elijah was sitting at the dinner table slowly chewing his steak. When he heard the words, "the barrier will protect us" his heart fluttered in excitement.

"So there is a way to safety!" Elijah muttered under his breath.

Don instantly looked toward him. "Did you say something Elijah?"

"Uhh, you said something about a barrier in the inner city. Can you explain more about that?"

"Not really. I don't know much about it, but if something ever happens, we will find safety in the city."

Not what Elijah was looking for, but it did ease the weight on his shoulders. No one in his family knew of his magical prowess. Let alone his physical combat prowess which is nothing to be scoffed at after decades of putting down the torch.

In Elijah's previous life, he practiced all kinds of martial arts, but found that a mixed-martial-art style suited his desire for adaptability best. Although if he were to compete, he would be breaking rules left and right due to his techniques from other niche disciplines. He stopped combat training at 90 years old due to his wife who didn't want to see him with an injury that he couldn't recover from.

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To be completely honest with himself, he fully expects to be very underwhelmed by his power in comparison to other people – without counting his special affinity of course.

Small raindrops soon turned into a downpour that caused water to leak through the front and side door of the house. Just minutes later a symphony of beating noises were heard on the roof.

'Was it hail? Or something to do with the volcano.' Elijah thought to himself.

"Shit! I think the rain is damaging the roof! Do you hear that noise?! It's more than just rain!" Don was running around the house with cloth blankets cleaning up water leaking from the roof, and blocking water from coming in from under the door.

All Elijah was thinking was how quickly the storm had escalated.

One second they were having a conversation about the weather. And the next they were getting beaten by that weather. Just as he was about to tell them we need to get to the inner city with haste, his father saved him the trouble.

"I know this might sound crazy, but never in my life have I seen this before, we should get to the city as soon as possible." Don quickly exclaimed as he handed his two sons and wife towels to cover their heads.

"What about the carriage? It doesn't have a cover?!" Julian quickly asked.

Don pointed his hands in different directions, concocting a plan to play out. "Don't worry about it, wait here. I'll make a covering for the carriage, and add the weight rune that I have in safe keeping so I can push you guys myself at a fast speed. No horse will be able to bear the pain, and all I have to do is cover myself with a thin layer of stone."

"Donny. Please, be careful!" Phloria had tears in her eyes, but was quickly calmed down by her two loving sons.

"Don't worry about me! Remember, I was rather powerful back in the day. Frozen rain can't stop me." Don gave a warm kiss to his wife before patting the head of his children, and followed by walking into a storm of death while an intricate stone armor materialized around his body.

The carriage was directly outside the side door, so the only task was creating a roof and walls to protect his family.