Grey attacked the Ape after dismissing the earth wall.

Swoosh!

To the surprise of everyone, Grey charged towards the Ape and threw his fist at it.

Seeing Grey, the Ape threw its huge fist at him.

Under the surprised gaze of everyone, Grey and the Ape's fist collided.

Bang!

The Ape was sent flying when the two fists collided.

Grey coated his fist with the fire element, so when his fist made contact with the Ape's fist, it caused an explosion, sending the Ape flying.

"Wow! Such powerful flames!" The lady exclaimed when she saw Grey was able to actually send the Ape flying.

Very few of them would be able to accomplish this feat of his. The few people who saw him sending the Ape flying unconsciously added him among the people who were favorites to obtain the lightning tree.

One of the reasons they felt this way was because of his insane speed. Some of them had noticed it at the forest when they were attacked by the vines, so seeing him show such strength, added with the speed, they felt he was someone who should be placed at the top with the others at the Peak of the Origin Plane.

'He's gotten stronger,' Reynolds looked on as Grey retreated after sending the Ape flying with a punch.

He smiled wryly, he was happy seeing his friend improving so much, but this placed more pressure on him. Being close to someone like Grey would naturally push anyone to want to improve faster.

The truth was, Grey was actually the reason he decided to leave Eternal City quicker. When he watched Grey defeat that group that was chasing after him, he felt inspired to train further. The weeks he spent traveling had yielded a good result, only, he wasn't as dedicated as Grey.

He couldn't spend all his time training, just like Klaus, he liked having fun sometimes.

"Retreat as you fight!"

The leader of the expedition's voice rang out from the front.

He was a bit stronger than the couple individually, but if the couple fought him as a team, they would be able to defeat him.

Grey already understood this, this was why he didn't chase after the Ape after sending it flying even though that was the best time to kill it.

The couple continued fighting against the leader of the Apes.

After the group at the forefront killed the beasts in front of them, some of them moved to the back, so as to help the people at the back.

"Huh? Where's Roberts?" The Fire Elementalist amongst the triplets asked when he came to the back.

"He's dead, he got careless," One of the fighters at the back told him about the guy who was killed.

They were all familiar with each other, so they naturally knew the name of the guy Grey plotted against.

"How's that possible? I've known him for years, he's not one who would neglect an enemy in front of him," The Fire Elementalist said with a surprised look.

After thinking about it, he decided to keep it at the back of his head since they were in a difficult position. Luckily, the Apes don't usually leave the mountain. So as long as they are able to get to the other side of the mountain, then they would be able to escape from the assaults of the Apes.

Ten minutes later.

The group was still fighting against the Apes, they had already gotten to the top of the mountain, and had been able to kill almost five Apes, but two more from the group had died under the assault of the Apes.

Grey was still amongst the people who were fighting against the Apes at the back of the group while they retreated. Some of the people had changed with others after they started getting tired, but he refused to change with others.

He enjoyed fighting, and long fights are always beneficial to him. He is using these Apes to hone himself, and unlike the others, he hadn't been hurt by any of the Apes.

The couple watched him in surprise, they could almost see his improvements as the battle raged on. What they found even more astonishing was the fact that he hadn't been hit, not by a single strike.

Reynolds was still on the battlefield, fighting against the Apes in the Mid stages of the Origin Plane. Although they were stronger than him, the pressure was exactly what he needed.

After leaving the trial land, he was unable to break through. The thickness of the elemental essence here was lesser than the one in the trial land, so advancing had become a little difficult. Battles like this were exactly what he wanted, he wanted to use them to push himself further.

The group continued fighting against the Apes for almost one hour, and in this time, they had managed to just go past the middle of the mountain. Because of the constant attacks of the Apes, descending was slower than when they were ascending the mountain.

Over twenty Apes had been killed in this time, and five more from the group had been killed. Currently, they were not even up to fifteen. All the people who were still alive were either at the Late stages of the Origin Plane or at the Peak of the Origin Plane, with the exception of Grey and Reynolds.

The leader of the expedition would occasionally throw a glance at Grey and Reynolds, especially Reynolds, surprised that he was still alive. The reason he took this route was to eliminate all the weaklings, and of course, use them as cannon fodders. Some of them knew this, but their greed wouldn't let them stop.

"Disperse!" The leader of the expedition suddenly ordered, ditching the leader of the Apes he was fighting against.

Grey charged over to where Reynolds was fighting against an Ape, he threw a punch that forced the Ape to retreat. After the Ape retreated, he held onto Reynolds, dashing away with him.

Reynolds boosted himself with the lightning element, so it wouldn't feel as if he was being carried by Grey.

The Apes were slower since they were of the earth element which meant they had more strength, but lesser agility.

This was something Grey had grown accustomed to while he was still in the trial land. If he said he came second when it came to running away from magical beasts, then no one would dare say they were the first.

He could almost say thhe time he spent in the trial land was for honing his escaping skill, he wasn't too proud of it, but he knew this was a necessity in surviving.

Grey was able to get to the foot of the mountain before even the leader of the group could.

This once again shocked everyone who went for the expedition, except for Reynolds who already knew Grey.

When they got to the foot of the mountain, they continued heading forward since the Apes would naturally attack them if they stayed there any longer.

Two hours later, the group was once again faced by another challenge, but this time, it was from other humans.

When they got to the entrance of the Chimera forest, they saw two other groups camping outside the forest.

The two groups consisted of around twelve to eighteen people.

Grey looked at one of the groups closely, and he saw a familiar face. The young man he met at the inn when he entered the town.

When he joined the guild for the expedition, he thought the young man would be among them, but to his surprise, he wasn't from the guild.

Grey glanced at the young man for a few seconds, and just like the time at the inn, the young man noticed him, giving him a nod as a sign of greeting.

Grey nodded as well, before shifting his gaze to the other camp.

The first camp was occupied by mostly people in their early and late twenties, but the second camp was occupied by middle-aged people.

It was already almost sunset, so the leader of the expedition decided they should set up camp for the night.

Grey went out at night just like the previous days, he wouldn't slack even for one day.

While he was heading into the forest, he sensed three people following him.

In the forest.

Grey stopped in front of a tree which had a hole in it.

"Come out, I believe we can speak freely here," He turned around.

The young man from the inn walked out from behind a tree, accompanied by two young ladies.

"Such sharp senses, this was why I wanted you to come with me for this trip," The young man said, clicking his tongue.

"Cut to the chase, what do you want?" Grey said casually.

"I'm offering you the same deal, except this time, we'll be sharing it among us four," The young man said.

"And what about your group?" Grey asked.

"They're just here to help us acquire it, but I don't think they'll be enough," The young man said.

"I'll think about it,"