Spirit Soul

Chapter 49 Bounty

The receptionist had yet to look up from her book, but she seemed to be fully aware of everything going around her.

This told Kyle that she always kept her ears open though she appeared to be busy.

He found it interesting to know but even more so was the mission she was pointing at with her index finger.

It was a seemingly ordinary mission requested by the Town chief with exciting rewards, attracting Kyle immediately.

Anyone who would kill a beast from the long list would receive an extra 10% reward!

That was great and Kyle took a copy of the list with overpopulating beasts with him before he thanked the receptionist with a bright expression on his face.

After that, he rushed outside the Guild, quickly followed by Selene, who had yet to learn how to read and write, which irked her a lot.

The said mission didn't need to be accepted or declined.

Rather it was a public mission everyone could simply choose to fulfill.

It had no specific criteria to be met for someone to work on it.

As long as the beasts in the list were killed, people could be rewarded according to the stated price.

This arrangement would be in place until the town chief would terminate the request.

As he explained the situation to Selene, calmly stating the facts, she exclaimed in joy before she increased her pace.

She understood why Kyle was moving so quickly and adjusted her speed to Kyle's.

'I'm quite lucky that the universal language is used both to write and speak...I cannot even imagine how it would be to learn reading and writing again, in addition to the stress I already have…' He thought, happy about his current situation, feeling as if a heavy weight had been carried from his heart.

A moment later, the Emerald Fox appeared on his hand before it jumped off, running to Kyle's other side that was not occupied by Selene.

With a light smile, Kyle averted his attention as he checked the soul particles inside his body.

'Even if we get seriously injured, the Nurture ability should have more than enough energy stored in order to prevent our injuries from worsening.

It could keep us away from mortal danger, at least until we reach the town's healer!'

With that in mind, Kyle felt reassured as they left the town once again, their confidence clearly visible.

In addition to having its special perks, registering with the Guild also helped them save money.

After they had registered themselves at the Guild, they received a slim card with their energy fluctuations imprinted on it.

This card served as their ticket to easily enter and leave any city or town with a Guild inside.

Under normal circumstances, this should even work in times of war between different races, which was quite interesting.

The bonus was that it wouldn't even cost them a single cultivation crystal!

Some cities had an exorbitant entrance fee, but it was relatively less for Guild members.

They might have to fulfill some responsibilities and had given up on their anonymity to register with the Guild.

But that was a small price for the perks they received!

While taking a proper look at the list of overpopulating beasts, Kyle noticed that he wasn't familiar with any of them.

However, he didn't need to fret about it and look elsewhere.

The beasts' average strength and cultivation path were provided as extra information in a neat table.

This was helpful, and both Kyle and Selene unsheathed their weapons to observe their surroundings.

Meanwhile, the Emerald Fox kept a watch on their back, taking care of possible ambushes.

Hopefully, the surrounding area of the Vila town wouldn't have too many beasts.

The group of killer ants would have already been enough for Kyle, his Spirit Soul and Selene to handle had they not worked as a team.

Kyle wanted to see whether the killer ants' corpses were still there or not as he could make a tiny fortune out of them.

Hence, they returned to the place where they had found the children.

Unfortunately, the ant corpses weren't there anymore, but instead, he found a different group of beasts!

It was a group of eight dizzy boars at the Initial Spiral Fortification stage.

His face brightened when he realized that it was listed as an overpopulating beast race.

They were the first beasts Kyle had come across that cultivated with spiritual energy, but instead of being exhilarated, he remained calm.

Even though their name sounded ridiculous, they had an exceptional ability.

They could use their gathered spiritual force to release it at once, causing a painful headache and dizziness to their opponent.

As such, staying alert was important despite their comparatively weak and lower strength.

Unsheathing the ranked black steel machete, Kyle was ready to attack the boars.

Meanwhile, Selene had already overcome her fear of killing beasts too.

She was ready and so was the Emerald Fox.

Despite being a Spirit Soul, the Emerald fox was extremely small.

However, it had the same strength as all kinds of beasts at the Initial Fortification stage.

Owing to its small size, it could be run over easily in a battle.

This was something Kyle didn't want to happen.

Because of that, he ordered the Emerald fox to take a detour around the grazing boars.

They would then attack them from the side after he and Selene would simultaneously attack from the front.

After that, they neared the boars as much as possible while taking cover of the surrounding trees and bushes.

Only when they were just a few meters away did Kyle break through the thicket, entering the boars' view.

Astonished by Kyle's sudden appearance, they gave a startled squeak but quickly regained their composure, replacing their astonishment with vigilance instead of anger.

Their brains had been refined, even if it was only a little bit.

All in all boars as a species were extremely intelligent.

Due to this, their rationality overcame their wild instincts, allowing the boars to face Kyle head-on.

Charging towards him, they made use of their spiritual force to weaken him.

They caused several short bursts of dizziness within Kyle as his mind was being affected by the mental attack, causing him to visibly struggle to advance.

Only a moment later, he turned around in fear and returned to the thicket's cover.

This caused six dizzy boars to abruptly stop and squint their eyes to get a good look at the surroundings.

Sensing that something was amiss, they averted their trajectory.

This prevented them from running into an obvious trap and saving themselves.

But, two of their youngest failed to sense it and follow the rest.

Oblivious to the older boars' change of plan, the youngest was unable to prevent acting recklessly.

Thus, their primal instincts took over and they attacked Kyle when he had entered their territory and home!

Owing to this, two boars ran straight towards Kyle.

But their haste cost them their life. No sooner had they neared him, they were killed by a multitude of dagger thrusts and a black steel machete.

Kyle used all of his blades efficiently to cut and hack through their bodies several times.

Only the sounds of metal piercing through skin, flesh, organs, and bones echoed through the surroundings.

The air was filled with the shrill and painful cries of his prey.

The scent of blood was thick in the air as the sound of death echoed through the area.

Cries of the younglings thundered in the old dizzy boars' ears, making them furious.

Their instincts told them to help their younglings, but their refined brain was certain of the fact that they had already died!

Despite that, their refinement was only subtle as the boars had barely entered the Initial Spiral Fortification stage.

As such, they let rage and the wish to take revenge consume them.

Fueled by anger, the boars ignored everything and stormed inside the thicket.

Meanwhile, Kyle had ordered his Spirit Soul to keep a watch while he hastily grabbed the young dizzy boars' souls.

By the time he was done, the other boars had arrived.

Suddenly, just as the last boar was about to break through the verdant thicket, it was attacked. A small bright emerald colored fox emerged next to it, startling the boar.

Wasting no time, it pounced on the boar's neck as its fangs sunk into the flesh.

A moment later, the Emerald Fox shook its head wildly, tearing out a piece of flesh from the boar.

Using it's small, yet razor-sharp claws, Kyle's Spirit Soul ripped the boar's skin open.

Blood gushed out of the wounds that had torn through an artery of the boar as the Emerald Fox vanished into the thicket, leaving the injured boar alone.

It wanted to pursue and obliterate the small fox, but couldn't do so as it heard the painful squeaks of its brethren.

Kyle and Selene had used the environment to their advantage.

They also made use of the fact that they knew when the dizzy boars would be close enough to attack and kill just in one shot.

Their strategy had turned out to be effective in order to balance out the numerical disadvantage.

Thanks to that, the first dizzy boar was quickly taken care of.

The second boar followed suit only a moment later.

Selene's hands were slick with warm blood as she pierced the black steel dagger inside the third boar's neck.

Exerting a little force, she twisted it, without showing any mercy to the beast that had just arrived in front of them.

Meanwhile, Kyle had decided to finish off the last two boars.

Thus, he instructed Selene to pay attention to the surroundings and the other dizzy boar!

Returning his focus to the last two dizzy boars a moment later, he could visibly see wrath within their eyes.

However, instead of showing any pity or guilt, Kyle pushed himself forward.

Raising his hand, he lashed out with the black steel machete at the closest boar.

He was slightly faster than them because he had been turned into an all-rounder in the fields of cultivation.

Owing to this advantage, Kyle could react the moment both boars shot towards him.

Their tusks and their bulky physique made them look deadly, but that was everything to be fearful of.

While brandishing his machete, it was still possible for Kyle to jump to the side.

He had to strain his arm and shoulder because a thick root was in the way, but that didn't matter right now.

Jumping up with the machete in his hand, he grasped the hilt tightly.

The boars turned around to attack him once again as he charged at them.

Yet, due to their low speed, Kyle had already arrived behind the closest boar.

His agility left it with no time to switch into a defensive position.

This allowed him to attack with the black steel machete, cutting through the dizzy boar's back.

Gritting his teeth, he retracted it before lodging it into the boar's body again.

The blade targeted the exact same position Kyle had inflicted the first cut upon.

A painful squeak resounded through the area, but Kyle couldn't focus on that.

He was fighting the faint dizziness that was trying to overcome him as the last boar arrived next to him.

Pulling out the black steel machete forcefully, he ignored the dizziness and narrowly avoided getting injured.

The wickedly gleaming boar tusks had nearly pierced through his flesh.

Thankfully, he had managed to move away at the last possible second.

Moments later, Kyle used his force to avert the dizzy boar's trajectory.

At the same time, he slowly moved the machete along.

Kicking the boar's head, he hit the side of its tusk, bashing its head into the ground.

This freed the black steel machete that was stuck into the boar's body.

He then immediately swung it at the boar's abdomen before it could block the attack with its tusk!

After seeing a large fountain of blood that spurted out of the severe injury Kyle had caused, the boar knew that its end was near.

As such, it wanted to use its last traces of energy to attack its perpetrator.

It hoped to take its attacker down with itself and fight one last time.

However, at that moment, a faint gust of wind brushed past it as the Emerald Fox emerged next to the dizzy boar.

The little fox pounced at it, biting, and clawing at the boar's hide. Using every single trace of energy within the Emerald Fox, it tore through the boar, ripping it apart.

Selene had also emerged next to the boar and was about to raise her blade when she saw that it had already collapsed on the ground.

She had already killed the boar outside the thicket and was staring at Kyle with a faint smile on her face.

The Emerald Fox seemed to be exhilarated too, only for Kyle to scratch the back of his head.

"I don't want to spoil your mood...but we will have to carry the corpses back to the town...the spatial pouch is not large enough for all the carcasses…"