Chapter 43 - Aftermath

Alex was panicking.

The sled wagon was going way too fast for him. He couldn't even change its direction or brake!

After some seconds of panic, Alex reached the even ground, but the sled didn't seem to stop at all.

It just kept on going!

"Jump down!"

A powerful shout came from the city walls when Alex had still been over a kilometer away. Alex didn't even think about how loud that shout had been to be heard from such a long distance.

Alex looked to the side at the rapidly passing surroundings.

How was he supposed to jump off something that's moving so fast?!

However, Alex's mind, which had gotten used to stressful situations, quickly came up with a solution.

Alex gritted his teeth. 'Let's hope this works!'

Alex put his left hand to the Ice Wood behind him for two seconds. In these two seconds, Alex absorbed a lot of Ice Mana, and the familiar feeling of bursting appeared.

Then, Alex took a deep breath and jumped to the side, protecting his head with his arms.

Everything seemingly moved in slow motion for Alex.

BANG!

Alex hit the ground, and his body was violently thrown around. Alex spun several times in the air, and he felt the centripetal force pulling his arms away.

BANG!

A second hit, and several of Alex's bones broke.

Alex completely lost his sense of direction, and he had no idea where he was going.

BANG!

Alex hit something, but after a brief moment of resistance, it gave way. He felt himself nearly puke at the force that hit his body just now.

BANG!

Alex hit the ground again, and his shoulder broke.

BANG!

He hit another thing, which quickly gave way beneath his force.

BANG!

BANG!

BANG!

After several more hits, Alex eventually stopped.

Alex lay on the ground, and he felt like he was dying. Yet, while everyone else would feel despair at being in such a state, Alex only looked with shock at the sky.

'I'm still alive!'

Alex knew that he would survive since he had gone through similar experiences. He knew that the Mana would heal his body.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

Alex heard the sounds of something incredibly powerful hitting through something, and he knew that this could have only been the sled wagon.

'I'm in so much trouble.'

BANG! BANG! BANG!

More explosive sounds followed, and Alex didn't want to look at the damage he had caused.

After two more sounds, it stopped.

Alex only continued lying there.

'How am I supposed to pay for all that?' he thought. 'Would they take Ice Wood as payment?'

'How many people got injured?'

'Speaking of, I think I just killed one of those bandits.'

Silence.

Alex only looked at the sky as he tried to come to terms with what had just happened.

After about of minute of just lying around and thinking about what he had done, Alex slowly stood up.

Clank, clank, clank.

Alex heard the sound of approaching, armored footsteps, and he looked at his surroundings for the first time.

He was in the forest on the side of the road.

'So, the things I punched through were trees,' Alex realized as he saw several destroyed trees. 'If I still had a normal body, the first tree would have killed me.'

Alex had left behind a trail of destruction in the forest.

"Oh, you can move?" a gruff voice said with surprise and a bit of amusement.

Alex looked over, and he saw five men. One of them stood at the front, and he wore bright-silver armor. The four men behind him wore grey, iron armor.

"What damage did I cause?" Alex asked.

The leading man had anticipated the question, but he hadn't thought it would be the first one.

"Nothing," the man said with a smirk.

This immediately dumbfounded Alex.

For a while, Alex wasn't even sure if he had heard correctly.

"Nothing?" he asked for confirmation.

"Yes, nothing," the leading man answered with a rough chuckle.

"How?!" Alex shouted.

The four men behind the leading man were silent, but the leading man laughed loudly. "Earth Mages are very useful," he said. "Also, do you honestly believe something like this hasn't happened before? Merchants lose control over their sleds all the time."

"However, I have to say that your case was the most notable out of all of them. You had over a ton of Ice Wood on your sled wagon, and it took four Earth Apprentices to stop it. They even had to ingest some valuable pills to stop it. Of course, you have to pay for them."

Alex was still perplexed.

How did they stop something like that?!

"What about the three men that I ran over?" Alex asked.

"Oh, them? Don't worry about them. They've been a plague for a while," the man said. "There's even a bounty for them."

Alex had expected something like that, but he was still a bit surprised that the guard even laughed about the fate of the bandits. "Did they survive?"

"One of them died on impact, one of them got finished off by us, and the last one fled. We are currently chasing the last one," the guard said with delight. "You've done us a great service, but you also have to pay for our help. The pills the mages had to ingest were a bit more expensive than the reward, but I'm willing to cancel the debt out with your reward. These three guys have annoyed me for way too long."

Alex felt a pressure in his chest when he heard that he had killed someone.

Alex had killed plenty of beasts, but killing a human still felt different.

The guard noticed Alex's expression. "Oh, was that your first kill?" he asked.

Alex slowly nodded.

"Man, you're lucky," the guard said with a snort.

"Lucky?" Alex asked in shock.

What was lucky about that?!

"Yeah, lucky," the guard repeated. "Not only was your first kill an accident, but you also killed a bandit. That's way easier to come to terms with than killing another soldier or civilians. In comparison to your lucky ass, my first kill was an execution."

It was still difficult for Alex to come to terms with taking another human life.

"Oh, come on," the guard said as he stepped closer. "You'll get over it. This was actually a good thing for you. It will help you in the Warrior Academy."

Alex's eyes widened. "How did you know that I wanted to go there?" he asked. Alex was still a bit perplexed by everything that had happened.

"You're young, you have a very powerful body, judging by the fact that you are still alive after all of this, and you are traveling with a ton of Ice Wood toward the southeast. That Ice Wood is obviously for the special exam," the guard said with a smirk. "Also, you kind of feel like a student of the Warrior Academy."

"Come," the guard said, turning around and gesturing to the street with his head.

The guard passed his men and continued walking away.

After some seconds, Alex shook his head and followed.

Some seconds later, Alex saw the slope again, and his eyes widened.

Alex saw a figurative mountain of rubble strewn across the slope. The entire slope was covered with grey stones.

"Our Earth Apprentices created several walls made of stone," the guard explained while Alex looked at the aftermath. "Your sled wagon punched through seven of them before being stopped by the eighth. That's a new record! The old record had only managed to get through three. Quite impressive."

When Alex heard how the town had stopped his sled wagon, he was surprised.

If they had stopped it with walls of stone, how come Alex didn't see any pieces of wood anywhere?

"Come," the guard ordered again as he walked to the end of the slope.

Alex followed the guard, and eventually, the group arrived at a small wall made of grey stone. However, the wall wasn't straight but tilted.

"Oh?" the guard said with surprise. "Would you look at that. The last wall wasn't destroyed, but your sled wagon managed to break it off at the base. I think we can count it as having broken through eight walls then."

"Look," the guard said as he walked to the piece of wall.

BANG!

The guard lightly kicked the piece of wall, and the wall flew for over two meters.

Obviously, the kick hadn't been as light as it had seemed.

Alex looked over and saw the front of his sled wagon, and his eyes widened yet again.

The front was bent but still in one piece!

How?!

"How is it still in one piece?" Alex asked in shock.

The guard laughed and lightly kicked the sled wagon.

BANG!

An explosive sound resounded throughout the surroundings, but the sled wagon only turned to the side a bit.

It was still in one piece.

The guard turned to Alex with a smirk.

"Ice Wood is hard. To think that you would actually have a sled wagon made of Ice Wood. That's about one of the most extravagant things I have ever seen," the guard said with a laugh.