Spirit Soul

Outside the city walls, there were many more hunters than Kyle initially assumed.

However, that was not all because the number of demi humans that sought asylum seemed to have increased too.

This plummeted Kyle's mood a little bit as he had hoped that the tension between the hostile kingdoms would reduce over time.

"Did you two know that a Forest Guardian Spirit awoke some time ago? Well…it wreaked havoc in Minar, destroying the city in its entirety while fighting against a Dragonic Earthworm that seemed to have destroyed some precious plants, or so I heard!"

Shrugging her shoulders, Yasmine seemed to be rather excited while sharing this and the fact confused the others.

Yet, when Kyle took a second glance at the demihumans that had lined up, they seemed rather relaxed as well.

This was even more confusing than being enraged or sad about their home having been destroyed.

"Does this happen more often?" He thus asked.

"What?" Yasmine wondered while tilting her head to the side to look back at him, without halting in her tracks.

She wanted to enter the depths of the wilderness as quickly as possible and walk on the paths the other hunters wouldn't even dare going near.

"Beasts destroying cities...does that happen often in the Anadra kingdom? I guess the city guards would have easily protected the city, or not?"

Kyle was a little bit confused, but seeing that Yasmine took a moment to come up with an answer made him feel even more intrigued.

"To be honest, territorial fights are quite common, but the awakening of the Forest Guardian Spirit means that something huge must have happened to some plants that are essential to ensure the livelihood of the entire forest.

As such, nobody would have dared intervene in the fight. Furthermore, the Forest Guardian Spirit knows what it has done, so it will compensate the entire city.

And, to be clear, the rewards are certainly worth moving to a different city for a few months!"

While partially understanding what was going on, Kyle couldn't help but be intrigued about what a Forest Guardian Spirit was, and what it looked like.

Yet, instead of talking about the destroyed city, the Forest Guardian Spirit, or something else, everyone turned quiet.

The paths they were walking on were extremely dangerous, and the sounds the other hunters made were slowly quieting down.

Their distance from the city walls had increased, and by turning his head nervously, Kyle couldn't help but wonder if he would be able to find a way back on his own.

He smiled at this thought because they had entered the densely populated part of the forest just a few minutes ago.

Fortunately, Yasmine knew where they were heading to, and the confidence with which she was walking through the forest made it seem as if she had been born and raised in it.

As such, it was only half an hour later that they reached a spot with few trees, many large stones that were of the same height as some of the adjoining trees.

The surrounding landscape seemed to be covered in varying shades of green from soft tones to vividly bright and dark green tones, making it look like an artistic painting.

Further away, Kyle was able to see a small pond with sky blue water inside that rippled with the soft breeze of wind.

A horde of beasts of various kinds surrounded the pond to quench their thirst, while keeping their guard up, vigilant of every single movement some of the predators around them made.

The sight of prey and predator drinking water from the same source looked very interesting, and Kyle couldn't help but fall at ease.

Yet, it was only a moment later that he heard the familiar sound of weapons being unsheathed from their scabbards.

"Just so you guys know, all of these beasts are on the list of overpopulating beasts. Every 50 years we have to kill enough of them to make it seem as if they're going extinct.

This has multiple reasons, but the most important is the fact that the Clyronia Deers absorbed nutrition directly from the ground.

Meanwhile, the Kians Wolves receive the same by hunting and feasting on the Clyronia Deers' meat.

In the end, this is not the problem, but more of the fact that the Kians Wolves convert the nutritions of the soil into a unique 'hue', if you want to put it like that.

Without the hue, everything would be fine, but if you focus on the surroundings, you might be able to sense that everything here looks lush to the extent that we feel like we're in paradise, right?

If you two understand what I mean, take a look towards the east of the pond, as far as your eyes can see. Maybe you two cannot see it right now, but I cannot explain it better than saying that the 'hue' of the Kians Wolves nurtures nature during the daytime.

However, during the nighttime, when they're asleep, their hue changes.

An exact opposite effect causes it to destroy their surrounding, turning it into a barren piece of infertile land.

With only a few Kians Wolves, their hue is beneficial for the surrounding because then it wont turn the surrounding into a completely barren land. However, if their population increases, this would happen.

As such, we have to regulate their population if we don't want to kill them!"

Looking in the direction Yasmine pointed out, Kyle had to insert some of his Soul force in the Nurture ability which enhanced his eyesight slightly.

This allowed him to see what Yasmine truly meant as everything looked similar to the Razkadan castle.

The scene in front of him reminded him of the time when he had been in the life and death room with Nitran.

The wilted plants and surrounding that was drained of all cultivation energies caused Kyle to feel a little bit off, and he couldn't help but feel impressed that the Anadra kingdom didn't want to annihilate them.

After all, the dangers posed by them were most certainly higher than the benefits.

He didn't believe that the hue was great to the extent that it was worth risking such grand dangers looming around them.

However, it was not his business, and judging the decision of the kingdom was not something he should, or would do.

Kyle was in the believe that reigning a kingdom was far more difficult than one could think owing to the numerous important factors.

Instead, he would make use of their decision for his own benefit and earn a little fortune by helping out.

While slowly unsheathing Starbreaker, Kyle was careful enough to make no sound and a subtle smile appeared on his face as he sensed a distinct connection with his newly procured weapon.

It was as if the katana was perfect for him, which was bound to be the case.

Yet, he had never expected to feel as if the rumors about a greatly compatible weapon that served as an extension of one's arm were true.

Kyle felt excited to sense that it was truly like this, or at least close to the sensation of having an extended arm.

'It doesn't feel as if I'm wielding a tool to kill, but a removable part of my arm…does that even make sense?!'

Even if he was slightly confused, Kyle couldn't help but exert the Swift Steps movement technique before he enveloped his entire body with a strong wind draft.

A moment later his body groaned as he used every single muscle in his body to catapult himself towards the large horde of multiple types of beasts.

There were a total of three kinds of beasts, with some of the stronger ones at the Late Vitae stage.

Under normal circumstances, this would have prevented Kyle from attacking the horde.

Yet, rather than being too worried, he marched ahead knowing that Yasmine was more than enough to finish off the few Late Vitae stage beings.

They were following the path of Spiral, which meant that Yasmine had an advantage with her Maest cultivation path though, the Phoenix fire was something that she had yet to learn control.

While the unique constitution of a Phoenix was something that Kyle had no idea of.

Lyon looked eerily similar to a human, but Kyle knew that he was definitely not one. That wouldn't make any sense to him, but he might as well be wrong.

In the end, Yasmine's innate strength, mana control, fire affinity, and unique eyes were more than enough reason to trust her to gain an upper hand in the fight.

Even if she might only be at the Mid rank of the Lique stage, both Kyle and Beatrice had encountered a great surprise when they had first sparred against her.

Not only did she turn overly serious and entered a state of complete focus while sparring, but her combat awareness was shocking as well.

In fact, even her parents would wonder who had helped her gain such great combat awareness all of a sudden because it was higher than theirs.

However, entering a completely focused state was possible only once in a while.

Yet, surprisingly, Yasmine seemed to be able to clear her mind on will, allowing her to condition her mind and body to enter the fully focused state whenever she wanted to.

This was something exceptional and skyrocketed her strength to an unprecedented level.

Nevertheless, at the same time, she could only rely on her fighting instincts, which meant that Yasmine had turned into a mindless puppet whose sole purpose was killing.

Kyle didn't like the state of complete focus during combat, and it was only sometimes that he would love to enter this state.

But that was mostly during cultivation or while comprehending something.

As such, he felt that Yasmine was a dangerous variable of which he had to be careful of.

It would be best if she were to be weaker than him as he would be able to protect himself if she were to throw a surprise attack on him.

However, right now, it was great that she was stronger.

She charged up to him, slowly taking charge of the hunt, and emerged in front of the strongest Kians Wolf.

The beast was growling at Yasmine, baring its sharp yellowing teeth as saliva dripped from its mouth.

At the same time, it released strong mana currents in an attempt to intimidate her.

However, this was useless against the young woman who was already in a fully focused state. Her wings and daggers were enveloped in blazing flames that sizzled faintly.

Her eyes seemed empty, yet full of vigor, and she was fully prepared to end the life of the beast in front of her.

Evading the claw that was densely enveloped in mana, Yasmine jumped ahead.

Twisting her body, she thrust one of the daggers in the front limb of Kians Wolf before twisting it while unleashing even stronger flames that flared up from the dagger's hilt.

Her lethal attack made the Kians Wolf howl in pain. Angered by her attack, it attempted countering Yasmine's attack with the use of its mana which the beast released at once.

Enveloping its body with the mana it had, the Kians Wolf used its specific racial trait, which was the armor it had created.

Yet, instead of being bothered by the additional layer of defense, the Kians Wolf had built up, Yasmine smiled slyly.

Piercing out the dagger she was holding in her other hand, she instinctively released stronger flames. Said flames were instantly compressed, giving them a subtle blue shine before she attacked the mana Wolf armor.

Upon colliding, Yasmine's hand began to tremble as she realized that her attack was not enough to penetrate the armor.

However, instead of giving up or retreating, Yasmine continued to try breaking through the mana armor.

Her sheer will to defeat her opponent, coupled by her unbending desire to emerge victorious out of all battles caused the bloodline of the Phoenix to be partially released.

This didn't happen often, but when it did, chaos descended.

Her wings seemed to enlarge, as blazing flames sprouted out of every single feather, making her look like a living inferno herself.

The flames enveloping the dagger turned completely blue as loud sizzling noises echoed through the surrounding when they licked the blade.

Burning through the armor, Yasmine's dagger advanced mercilessly, stabbing the Kians Wolf that howled out in tremendous pain as Yasmine flames finally reached its flesh.

Seeing that she had defeated the first Late Vitae stage beast, Kyle was glad, yet, seeing the change in her demeanor and appearance made him feel a little bit worried.

This hadn't happened before, but in his opinion seeing her killing the wolf mercilessly was not the problem.

Rather, the worst was that they were currently in a forest and that she was burning everything as the fire devoured everything it touched!

Turning towards the other beasts at the Late Vitae stage, Yasmine's eyes began to glow.

She was ready to see them burn, even if she had to destroy the surrounding scenery to achieve this!