Spirit Soul

Ignoring the arrows that flew past him, Kyle rushed towards the closest wooden hut he could find…or what was left of it.

He believed it used to be a hut because only two walls were left of it, the rest had been destroyed.

Selene followed him quickly, only to see large streams of blood oozing out of his abdomen's injury.

At the same time, the arrows that were still lodged in his arms shook with every rapid movement Kyle made.

It was only when they had left the open street and distanced themselves from the melee that he stopped for a short moment.

Shielded by the wooden walls, Selene looked around in the other two directions, while throwing furtive glances towards Kyle.

He looked ashen and worn out, while his breathing was growing labored, which worried Selene extremely.

She had never seen him so injured or out of breath and her heart ached to see him suffer.

However, there was nothing she could do, except paying attention to the surroundings.

The fact that she could do nothing to help him ease his pain frustrated her to no end.

She felt that she was a good-for-nothing Lohar and just a burden to Kyle.

Her uselessness was tormenting her on the inside, and Selene willed herself to not cry out in frustration.

Unfortunately, Kyle was in no condition to calm her down and was looking for a safe escape route.

She knew that if she were to start sobbing, it would only further worsen their situation.

Thus, she swallowed back tears and began thinking of a way to end his pain.

Meanwhile, Kyle took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pulled the two remaining arrows out of his hand in one quick motion.

The pain that shot up from the wound went straight to his head.

But he bit on his lips to endure it and stifle a cry.

The last thing he wanted was to give away their hiding spot to the merchant or the hyenas.

Subconsciously, he had bitten so hard on his lip that it had begun to bleed.

It was only when he tasted blood that he freed his lip but he had no time to dwell on it.

Thus he quickly began to rummage inside the spatial pouch, feeling the shape of the vials with his hands.

When his fingers closed around them, he took out the anti-inflammation paste and recuperation serum he had bought from the pharmacist.

Earlier he had thought that this purchase might be a waste of money and just a means to be on the safe side.

But now he realized the importance of having some first-aid with him while traversing through unchartered territories.

Kyle somehow managed to take his shirt off while trying not to wince.

It took him a minute but he finally succeeded and he told Selene to tear out one of the sleeves.

With that, he had two pieces of clothes which Kyle turned into bandages.

Gritting his teeth, he applied the serum and anti-inflammation paste on the wounds before he tried to bandage himself with the torn sleeves.

It was difficult to do that with just one hand and Selene came over to help him.

Less than a minute later, she had wrapped the bandages around his injury while Kyle had continuously used the Nurture ability on himself.

Despite being temporarily taken care of, he knew that his injury would worsen over time.

He could not afford to take it lightly because his cultivation base was simply non-existent!

With the sheer mass of soul particles he had absorbed today, his Spirit Soul would have long since grown up and fully mutated.

But right now, Kyle knew that staying alive was more important than nurturing the Emerald Fox.

Fortunately, he was not forced to additionally absorb his body's nutrition or the soul force that had merged with his body.

For now, the souls were more than enough to maintain his current state.

Finally, after the bandages were firmly tied together, they were ready to depart.

During the last few minutes in which they tended to his injuries and secured the bandages, the sound of death and destruction had filled the entire village.

The village was completely destroyed, and not a single building was unscathed.

The scent of blood was thick in the air and corpses littered the ground.

It was a shocking sight for both Kyle and Selene but they had to get their act together.

Dozens of beasts at the Fortification stage were now roaming through the destroyed village.

They were attracted by the screams of anguish and the smell of blood that permeated the air.

After he was hurt, Kyle was forced to stay closer to Selene because she was in a much better physical state.

She was unscathed and had a higher cultivation base from the beginning.

Thus, having her around was an advantage.

The pain he felt was distorting his thoughts, making it extremely difficult to come to a decision.

Nevertheless, Kyle was forced to play the decision-maker as Selene's confidence and will were on the verge of being hopelessly crushed.

There was no need to plan anything down to the finest detail because unforeseen incidents were likely to happen, all the time.

And given their current situation, it only made sense to improvise as they went ahead. With that thought in mind, Kyle laid out his plan in front of Selene.

"Most beasts will protect the prey they have hunted, and won't attack us. Other than that, beasts engaged in a fight will not care about us as long as we don't show signs of attacking them!"

Kyle quickly explained the most basic things, and Selene just nodded her head in response.

Despite knowing everything it was somewhat reassuring to hear it from Kyle, to know that she wasn't in this mess all by herself.

Her mind might be calm right now, but the disgust of having killed several living beings without hesitation just a few minutes ago was slowly creeping up her thoughts.

Meanwhile, Kyle's injuries were restricting him from moving freely.

Thus, he had to take a calculated step with every movement, while Selene remained quiet.

She obediently followed him as he left the wooden walls' cover.

Selene had wanted to take a look at the Jar couple and see if they were okay.

But, with Kyle's injuries, it was clear that it wouldn't be helpful for them, let alone herself.

The village was not large, but the beasts were pouring in like a tidal wave, making it difficult to even cross a street.

Fortunately, some wooden walls were still standing firmly on the ground, helping them hide to some extent.

However, this advantage was also employed by intelligent beasts that lurked behind walls.

They were patiently waiting for the perfect timing to ambush their prey.

Because of that, Kyle and Selene couldn't lower their guard even for a quarter of a second.

The slightest mistake could become a deciding factor between staying alive or being killed.

His eyes were faintly glowing because he was forced to keep the Nurture ability continuously activated.

The Nurture ability had received a rich supply of the souls of several Nasga at the Fortification stage.

Thus, Kyle invigorated his body with small portions of it.

Had he not done that, his body and mind would have already given in, leaving him unconscious in the middle of a death zone.

His only advantage was that he could see a multitude of hues all around him. This was enough to make him see the faintest traces of certain hues through walls!

Thanks to that, Kyle figured out what paths they should avoid.

Holding the ranked steel machete in his unscathed arm made him feel a tad bit more confident in facing certain beasts.

With Selene behind him, this confidence increased further.

However, in the end, it was important to leave as quickly as possible without causing a commotion!

While slowly advancing further with the pace of a turtle, they avoided every possible area with the types of beasts he wanted to steer clear of.

Hence it took them more than half an hour to reach the last wooden house inside the small village.

Everything behind them had been destroyed, and the surroundings were filled with dust and rubble.

Now, the loud outcries of pain, anguish, and anger were replaced by an eerie silence.

After reaching the outskirts, the biggest problem was to figure out a way of entering the woods that were a few hundred meters away from them.

The area in between the village and the forest was a small grass field right next to farmland.

It was a vast expanse of open land with nothing but grass for as far as his eyes could see.

In the end, this meant that they had no means of hiding while crossing the grass field if they were to face an attack!

Without Kyle's injury, this wouldn't have been a problem.

But neither could he force himself to dash through the plain, nor had he enough energy left to run.

"If you want, you can go ahead. I cannot run anymore. Even if I won't be noticed, it's better to have the least sacrifices!"

Kyle had assumed that Selene wouldn't listen to him, but he felt better after having said what he had in mind.

At least, he wouldn't feel guilty if something were to happen to her!

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that she just shook her head without saying anything.

Kyle took a proper look at his surroundings, trying to see if there were any beasts that might spot them.

Seeing that the coast was clear he took a deep breath to calm himself.

In a split second, he made a decision and rushed ahead with fast strides.

Every single step made him wince in pain but it was bearable, and it didn't take long before they had already crossed half of the grass field.

The forest was just in front of them, and Kyle hoped that they would make it through.

Suddenly, a thunderous roar echoed through the air.

Selene froze in place, while Kyle's body instinctively followed suit.

Just a moment later, a three-meter tall panther broke through the thicket, running past them.

However, instead of pouncing on them, it ignored their entire existence as if they weren't even there.

This was a relief but as it rushed past them, the dense electric currents that enveloped the panther brushed Kyle and Selene's arm, electrocuting them.

This caused their hands to loosen their grip around their weapons which fell on the wet soil with a faint splash.

A light burn appeared on their arm, but fortunately enough, it was not a major injury.

Kyle already had to endure the pain from a severely injured arm and the wound in his abdomen.

Because of that, he was more than glad not to receive another injury.

He wasn't sure if his body could take another blow.

Luckily, after the sudden panic the lightning panther had caused, nothing major happened.

The panther was at the Vitae stage, with terrific high combat prowess.

So they were relieved that it hadn't stopped to turn them into a quick snack.

It wouldn't be a problem for it to defeat the entire pack of bullhorn hyenas at the same cultivation base so Kyle and Selene were not even worth mentioning!

Fortunately, they crossed the huge patch of grass and entered the woods without any more issues.

Panting heavily, the two took a moment to catch their breaths while Selene could only sigh as she stared at Kyle.

She wanted to say something but was unable to find the right words.

Her mind was void of a plan about what they should do right now, but one thing was sure.

Staying near the village would be foolish. As such, they had to leave and the more distance they put between themselves and the village, the better it would be.

But at that thought, Selene's worry began to surface once again.

'If we walk for several hours, just to increase our distance from the village, he will certainly die!!'

She frowned, and Kyle could clearly tell what Selene was thinking even without her saying anything.

As such, he just raised his faintly scorched arm and tried to reassure her.

"I am aware of my situation...let's just walk a little bit…"