SPIRIT SOUL

The moment Kyle recalled that he was not alone, Arashi emerged on top of his hand.

Within no time two crescent wind blades manifested next to him.

Kyle let out a low growl as he shot the blades at the Skeleton that was right in front of him.

Arashi seemed to understand Kyle's struggle and stepped up to help him.

Kyle was unable to target the Undead core owing to the bear's thick thigh bone.

He was still holding it tightly and thinking of ways to launch an attack.

Meanwhile, Arashi aimed at the wolf's front limbs' bones.

Cutting through the tough bones as if they were made of paper, the wind blades didn't stop as they continued to advance.

After the bones had decreased their speed a little, they shot into the ground where they were stuck afterward.

Through this, Kyle realized that Arashi's wind affinity was much stronger in terms of force than his own.

However, the speed of their wind blades seemed to be roughly the same.

Despite having figured that out, he was unable to waste any time questioning why that was the case.

There were still three Skeletons behind him and a total of ten unscathed Skeletons in front of him.

The ones he had managed to cripple were still trying to lunge at him, but Kyle didn't have to worry about them.

However, what he couldn't neglect was the soul that emerged next to him.

It had appeared from the Undead he had killed before Arashi came to his rescue.

Grasping the soul, Kyle devoured it before empowering his Nurture ability with everything at once.

Simultaneously, he used the remaining energy that was already stored within the ability to invigorate Arashi.

Through this, the Spirit Soul's used up soul force replenished at a rapid pace.

This, in turn, allowed the youngling fox to conjure a few more wind blades.

Nevertheless, Kyle had to pay attention to Arashi's safety while they were fighting the horde of Undeads.

In order to do so, he exerted the Swift Steps technique at the highest mastery.

Simultaneously, he grasped his little Spirit Soul in his free hand.

A single attack could kill Arashi in his current form.

And, it was only the wind affinity that allowed him to protect and support Kyle.

Sensing Arashi's determination to help him, Kyle didn't force his Spirit Soul to return into the soul vessel.

Instead, he thought that it was the best decision to make use of the fact that now there were two wind affinity wielders!

While Arashi's wind blades were stronger, Kyle's were equally fast to his Spirit Soul's.

With that in mind, Kyle turned towards the three Skeletons that were behind him, ignoring the 10 that were charging at him from the front.

His speed was faster than all of his opponents owing to the Swift Steps' movement technique.

With the help of this technique, he could counter the disadvantage of being just two against more than a dozen opponents.

A sly smile appeared on his face as he rushed towards the three Skeletons that were targeting him.

Utilizing the technique in addition to large strides he cut the distance between them easily.

He was now even more excited than before.

Kyle had been as nervous as excited to tackle the Undeads and improve his combat prowess.

But, with Arashi by his side, his confidence received a much-needed boost.

Only now did he realize how lonely he had been since being dragged away to this mysterious place.

It was a relief to know he had his Spirit Soul along with him.

In his past, he had always been surrounded by people, which was not the case since he had reincarnated.

There were only a few people around, and the life of a cultivator was said to be lonely too.

As such, it was the best to have a comrade, just like Arashi, his Spirit Soul by his side, right now!

Kyle was happy that the little fox had completed his evolution.

His appearance had a noticeable difference, mainly his eyes, that held a distinct gleam.

They were no less than polished emeralds gleaming brightly and Arashi seemed to be ready to attack.

Thus together, the two companions clashed with the three Skeletons at the Low Fortification stage at the same time!

Arashi let out a loud bark as both of them conjured a total of three crescent wind blades and two wind needles.

While Arashi had summoned the wind blades, Kyle was paying more attention to his energy consumption.

This was something Arashi didn't have to do and could solely focus on fighting.

This was because his energy consumption was much lower than Kyle's, to begin with.

Kyle had yet to figure out why his soul force was depleting so fast while using the wind affinity, but that could be done later too.

Looking at his opponents, he conjured two wind needles.

Simultaneously, he rammed the thick bone he was firmly grasping in the Skeleton on his right.

Just a moment later, the thick bone crashed against the Hyena's skull.

The impact caused huge cracks to appear on it.

Meanwhile, Arashi shot the three wind blades, each at one Skeleton.

As he precisely aimed at the cores, the three Skeleton's rib cages were torn apart, while the wind blade's barely grazed the Hyena's Undead Core.

However, nothing happened to it and the only thing he heard from the other two Skeletons was weird grinding noises.

A thin wind needle had pierced into the Undead Core, damaging it.

This was already enough to sever the Undead Core's connection to a majority of the Skeletons' bones, crippling them severely.

Under normal circumstances, this would have been enough for Kyle to be overjoyed.

But a frown appeared on his face because not a single Skeleton had died.

As such, there was no soul for him to devour and invigorate him or Arashi.

At that moment, goosebumps appeared all over his body.

He suddenly felt a shiver creep up his spine as if someone was holding an ice-cold blade against his neck.

Because of that, Kyle instinctively knew that the ten Skeletons had arrived.

He felt his breath constrict in his throat when the death aura of ten Skeletons surrounded him.

He gasped a little for air as he struggled to take a single breath.

His grip around the bone he had been using as a weapon loosened. Kyle let go of the thick bone, reducing the weight he had to carry and freeing his hand.

Jumping ahead, he ignored the Hyena in front of him.

A fraction of a second later, he felt a light gust of wind on his back indicating that his leather armor was torn open.

'Had they already reached so close?' He thought.

But, he had no time to ponder over it as he twisted his body and raised his now free hand.

Just a moment later, both he and Arashi manifested several thin wind needles which they shot at the Hyena's broken rib cage.

Without much resistance, the wind needles pierced through the Undead Core.

The Undead Core was punctured several times, as the Skeleton lost its footing before collapsing to the ground.

It stayed there, unmoving and dead as the Core was completely destroyed.

The bones blew apart and some of them flew towards Kyle.

But, before they hit him, Arashi manifested a wind current and blew the lightweight bones away.

Arashi's simple trick proved to be beneficial.

Otherwise, it would take too long for him to escape the chaos of more than a hundred bones falling on him.

However, that was not the case for the Undead Core.

It was too heavy to be blown away by the wind current Arashi had manifested.

Due to this, Kyle could easily devour the soul that had detached itself just a meter away from his position.

Subconsciously, the Nurture ability was empowered as it invigorated Arashi, replenishing the majority of his energy.

With an extremely high energy replenishing speed, Arashi felt confident of fighting.

He now had the ability to shoot multiple more crescent wind blades without the need to bother about his energy consumption.

As such, the fight against the remaining ten unscathed Skeletons that ought to be difficult became much easier.

The only difficulty was to get up from the ground without being pounced on.

Fortunately, there were not many four-legged Skeletons left as they had either been crippled or destroyed.

Because of that, the agility-type Skeletons were not an issue anymore, giving Kyle more time to move around.

Using this opportunity, he was circling around the Skeletons.

While doing so, he also maintained a certain distance from the Skeletons that were rushing towards him at their fastest pace.

To launch a counter-attack, Kyle and Arashi used their wind affinity together.

A large number of wind blades conjured around them as they launched long-range attacks whenever it was possible.

By doing this, they slowly crippled the Skeletons, further decreasing the threat looming on them.

Neither Kyle or Arashi had fought a battle for such a long time before.

Hence they were already sweating and becoming exhausted by the minute.

Despite their combined efforts, not a single of their current opponents had died.

Consequently, no soul was released for Kyle to devour.

Fortunately, they didn't have to fight longer as it was not required.

After what felt like an eternity, the last Skeleton was finally crippled and was unable to approach him.

Now, without a single threat left, Kyle took a relieved breath.

He was drenched in sweat and his shirt was sticking to his skin, as he wiped his forehead with the back of his hand.

Despite the fact that he was utterly exhausted, Kyle kept moving.

Meanwhile, as the adrenaline rush receded, the realization of what he had just fought and witnessed sunk in.

'Without Arashi, I would have died!' He realized with a jolt.

The scenes of their battle were vividly being replayed in his mind.

Nevertheless, he couldn't smile as he caressed Arashi.

Seeing that the fight was over, the little fox jumped up to rest on his shoulder and laid down.

Once he came over the nervousness, Kyle was able to think clearly once again. He decided to finish off the Skeletons one after another. However, instead of invigorating himself, or Arashi, Kyle simply empowered his Nurture ability with the majority of soul particles.

Suddenly, as the last Skeleton's soul was freed from the shackles of the Undead Core, the entire entrance hall began to tremble.

Kyle was panting as he turned around, exhausted due to the fight. He heard a noise coming from the direction of the four doors with cultivation symbols on them.

With squinted eyes that were slowly traveling upwards, he saw that the stones were shifting and moving away. A large hourglass was revealed behind them that was filled with blue, shiny sand grains.

It didn't take long before it flipped around as the empty half was placed below the half-filled with all grains on the upper side. This momentarily distracted Kyle as he heard multiple overlapping noises coming from the walls to his left and right.

Dozens of stones were moving as small wooden planks were pushed out of the small crevices.

A moment later, they were moving upwards, revealing words that had been written on them with black ink.

'Are those….rewards?'

There was more than enough energy in his Nurture ability left.

As such, through the enhanced senses, Kyle was able to see that the signs were connected to something.

'Will I get the reward if I insert my soul force into one of the signs?' He wondered. Only a second later, a sudden realisation helped him connect the dots.

Instinctively, his head turned towards the hourglass, where he saw the first grain trickle down from the narrow gap in the hourglass.

A horrified thought slipped out of his mouth as he mumbled.

"Was that just the first wave?"