SPIRIT SOUL

Once they reached the forest, Kyle took a deep breath.

Despite his exhaustion that made him feel like a living undead, he forced himself to keep marching ahead and his steps never stopped.

He knew that if he were to halt in his tracks even once, everything would be for naught.

It took him every ounce of his energy and willpower to not collapse on the ground.

While Kyle felt already as if he would lose consciousness any moment, Selene felt as if she had no control over herself.

Her body had stopped working the moment they pushed themselves through the thicket of the forest.

This forced Gaby to store the bow she had been holding firmly as she supported Selene.

Gaby looked fierce with one hand holding Selene, who was barely considered being conscious and another holding a dagger.

This limited her potential and the force with which she could wield her dagger. With Selene so close, she was unable to release even half of her combat prowess without possibly injuring Selene.

The pitch-black mist was still being released out of her body.

However, the amount had visibly decreased. Now, it was only subtle and hardly visible.

Kyle, whose eyesight was already blurry, had trouble focussing on the surroundings.

He couldn't see anything except the outlines of things around him.

Not being able to rely on his vision forced him to focus mainly on his other senses.

Unfortunately, those weren't in very good shape either.

The entire mission had taken a toll on his body, drastically restricting the other senses as well.

The entire situation was rather chaotic, but the only good thing was that the heavy armored earthworms had ended their pursuit.

Had they followed them in the forest, Kyle didn't think they would have survived.

Without the fear of being attacked, their small group was able to follow the large crowd of Lohars unproblematically.

Only their exhaustion wore them down as even Felix was slowly being drained of his energy.

The adrenaline pumping through his veins had receded.

This intensified the pain in his body, making it almost unbearable for him to move.

Felix knew that his condition was far from better.

But, after having been invigorated by Kyle's mysterious ability while consistently healing himself, he had assumed that he would feel much better now.

Unfortunately, that was not the case, and every single muscle in his body groaned in pain.

It was only his sheer willpower that made him drag himself through the forest.

Healing himself by utilizing his mana was more efficient than using his mana otherwise.

This way he could at least improve his situation to some extent.

However, in the end, Felix clearly knew that he owed his life to none other than Kyle.

Coincidentally, he had assumed Kyle to be the weakest among the adventurers who had participated in the mission.

'I was too rash in my decision making today, and overestimated my own capabilities while taking my opponents too lightly…

I didn't expect the Blood Nasga to be able to manifest a blood affinity, and that definitely took me off-guard!'

Felix did a self-appraisal in his mind.

It was just his good fortune to have survived the mission.

Now that he had realised his mistake, he dropped his act of being a leader.

There was no pretense or air of superiority in his behavior.

He only followed the others quietly after gulping down a few vials filled with a faintly glimmering red liquid.

Nobody knew for sure how much time had passed until the small group reached the crowd of Lohars.

They were terrified and only followed the crowd wherever it went.

But oddly enough, a small bunch of them was able to control the large crowd.

It took some effort and time but in the end, it was possible.

As such, those who could gain control over the large crowd of Lohars stepped forward.

Together they stopped the crowd from scattering all over the forest.

Kyle was glad that he didn't have to play shepherd dog anymore.

All his energy was being spent on keeping himself conscious and not giving in to his exhaustion.

The only things he noticed were the exhaustion itself and a weird, particular feeling erupting from deep within himself.

Kyle had yet to figure out what exactly this weird feeling was, but he had an assumption about it.

Nevertheless, he had to keep his calm and the only thing he could do was to run.

Unfortunately, he was already imagining all the worst possible things that could happen to them.

He was barely able to keep his mind and body under control and prevent anything worse from happening.

Owing to the distracting thoughts, Kyle didn't even realize that they had already caught up with the Lohars.

At the moment, Kyle's mind was fighting off the exhaustion and simultaneously working hard to understand what was happening to his body and mind.

Everything around him felt weird, and the moment he reached the crowd of Lohars, Kyle lost track of the situation.

His mind was blank, and his body was barely moving. It was as if he was in a trance, using every ounce of strength to reach home.

The group continued to run with the large group of Lohars and the low number of adventurers.

Despite all the exhaustion wearing them down, this small group fulfilled their responsibility of protecting the more than 3000 weakened people all around, four days passed.

Several beast groups had attacked the large crowd on their journey through the forest.

It was only because some of the stronger Lohars were regaining their strength that only 200 Lohars had died.

Without them, more than half of the group would have been annihilated.

When the large group finally reached Vila town, they received a rather lukewarm welcome.

Most of the citizens were not pleased to hear that the group of Lohars were supposed to stay inside the town to rest and recuperate from their injuries.

Laila, who had already expected such a scenario, had already made some preparations.

She clearly stated that as a Guildmaster she had received the permission of the Guild to grant the Lohars refuge.

Going against the direct orders of the Guild was not something a small town like Vila town would be able to afford.

Thus, they reluctantly accepted her announcement and approved the Lohars, to some extent.

It was better than nothing, even if one couldn't say that it was a great achievement!

In the end, Kyle didn't notice anything that had happened while Selene was still unconscious even after four days.

She stirred a little, but the moment Kyle stepped inside the town, his body collapsed on the ground.

For a fraction of a second, a faint green-bluish hue enveloped him.

It disappeared as quickly as it had appeared so he didn't even notice it.

Gaby was already exhausted after having protected the crowd of Lohars for days on end.

She had also burdened the responsibility of carrying and paying attention to Selene.

The little Lohar had stopped releasing a darkness mist which was a relief.

However, Gaby saw Kyle collapsing in front of her.

Nevertheless, she was not worried about him because it had only been a matter of time before he would faint.

Ever since Kyle had devoured the soul of the Blood Nasga at the Krysal stage, many things about him, and Selene had changed.

She knew that he had just wanted to invigorate and help Felix, so that they had a better shot at survival. But in the end, this had caused many issues for him and Selene.

The young Lohar had just awakened her Darkness affinity seed, even before she broke into the Vitae stage.

Awakening an affinity seed at the Vitae stage was already an extraordinarily great feat.

However, doing the same at the Fortification stage was exceptional, close to a miracle, if one was not born with an awakened affinity seed!

Unfortunately, with that great feat came a greater responsibility.

The burden of the awakening was not to be taken lightly.

From what Gaby could tell, Kyle had no other option but to release the energy bubbling inside his body to prevent his body from bursting like a bubble.

As such, he had directed the energy towards Selene, only to invigorate himself and Felix afterward.

In the end, Selene's darkness affinity was also much stronger than Gaby had assumed.

This only made it much harder for Selene to cope up with the changes in her body.

'Just who the hell are you two?' Gaby wondered while bending in front of Kyle to pick him up.

However, before she could even do so, Felix had already arrived next to him and helped Gaby.

During the last four days, Felix had been able to heal himself at a rapid pace.

Because of that, one could say that he was amongst the adventurers with the most strength left in their body.

Nevertheless, his mana had been sucked dry, and he even had to overexert himself to prevent collapsing on the ground after the second day.

Still, he was doing fine now, and after picking up Kyle, he smiled lightly at Gaby and asked in a calm tone.

"Did he lodge a room in the Guild or he is living elsewhere?"

It seemed as if he wanted to help sincerely.

All his earlier arrogant demeanor had disappeared into thin air.

This astonished Gaby, but before she could say something, her eyes spotted something.

It was two overly familiar silhouettes at the end of the street that were inching closer.

When she realized who it was, a shocked exclamation escaped her lips.

"Kyle, Selene!!!"

Mell and Gard who had been expecting their students' arrival, rushed forward on hearing Gaby's voice.

They ignored Felix, Gaby, and the huge crowd of Lohars that was looking at Selene as if she was some sort of goddess.

With the awakened darkness affinity, she had been fully accepted as a noble by the Lohars.

Now, they would obey every command of hers even without the golden seal of chivalry,.

The others didn't know this, and right now, they couldn't care less.

Selene's condition was not that bad.

Her only issue was adapting to the changes in her body after having awoken the Darkness affinity.

Currently, her Maest cultivation base was still at the Initial Fortification stage!

It was way too weak to endure the pressure of an affinity seed awakening, not without being harmed in one or another way!

This had caused her to lose consciousness as it was the best way for her mind to shield itself.

With her mind partially shut down, her body accepted the darkness affinity seed within her.

As Mell arrived in front of Gaby, who was still holding Selene, she ignored Gaby.

Instead, Mell lifted her head while releasing her mana to sense what was going on with her student.

"She awoke an affinity seed? At such a weird time at that?" Having no one to answer her questions, she had to reluctantly talk to Gaby.

Even Gaby wasn't certain of what had happened and before she could open her mouth, Mell just added.

"Just what happened?"

Only a moment later, Gard, who had taken Kyle away from Felix's shoulders remarked,

"Kyle...feels weird to...does his incomplete vessel create an..affinity too? No… it seems different...I don't know…"

Gard was confused about Kyle's state more than anything else as she felt herself incapable of figuring out what was going on.

It was a lot to process and both the masters were unsure of what was going on with their disciples.

Nevertheless, he was breathing and still fine.

There were no signs of any external injury, though his insides were squirming as if they wanted to break free of the body that held them together.

"His body was almost torn apart from the inside?"

With squinted eyes, he looked at Gaby while demanding an explanation.

He ignored the surrounding people as his eyes turned ice-cold and asked angrily.

"Just what in the name of God happened at the settlement!?!"