Spirit Soul

Slowly, but steadily the Army of the Undead was growing smaller and smaller.

Unfortunately, the accumulated energy of his Nurture ability did not have any considerable increase.

As he was constantly on the run and fighting undead beings,  he had to use it too often.

This was disadvantageous because Kyle knew that he required much more energy to even consider fighting against the Death Knight and Dullahan.

Kyle was no match for their unrestricted strength.

As such, even the thought of him fighting them in his current state was ridiculous.

All he could hope for was that they would at least not kill him.

As such, he didn't stop using his entire efforts to decimate the Undead Army.

Finally, after an unknown amount of time, a large number of the Undead Army had been defeated.

Now, only those undeads that were at the Late Fortification stage were left behind.

However, the number was so small that Kyle was confident in defeating them.

Yet, at the same time, his body seemed to be crumbling.

Meanwhile, his skin had ruptured due to the constant supply and drainage of his energy.

The simultaneous processes that were repeated on a loop frequently subjected not just his skin but his entire body to go through a lot of wear and tear.

Furthermore, he had overstrained his entire body by constantly using the wind affinity and overwhelming amounts of soul force.

Because of that, Kyle was seriously in danger, both on the inside and the outside of his body.

He could barely move because of the invigoration boosts he gave himself from time to time.

All of a sudden, Kyle felt the pressure around him rapidly decrease by a tremendous amount.

As he looked around, he only had to face the sole Black Skeleton that was left in front of him.

Meanwhile, the other Black Skeletons, Large Skeletons, stronger Ghouls, and Zombies were retreating.

This was a strange sight that astonished Kyle.

Despite seeing them step back, Kyle didn't let his guard down, even in the slightest.

He had expected an attack to happen any time. Yet, no undead charged at him.

Meanwhile, the remaining Army of the Undead seemed to have vanished only a few minutes later.

Kyle's sight, which had already blurred a long time ago, only worsened further.

And, he could only rely on his other senses to hear and perceive what was going on around him.

Yet, even that was not helpful.

Only when he heard the rattling of heavy armor and the hooves of a horse clopping against the ground that he looked up.

The horse neighed all of a sudden and its voice echoed through the surrounding.

Kyle hadn't even noticed that his legs had given in, and he was somehow supporting himself by barely holding on to the silver serpent spear.

It was only now that he truly realized what kind of threat he had overcome.

But, instead of receiving some much-needed rest, he was forced to enter the next challenge in a dead-tired condition.

He couldn't even think properly and had trouble putting his thoughts together.

But, somehow, he didn't regret having thrown all the Undead cores he had into the well.

Forcing his muscles to move, Kyle smiled brightly at the two deadly existences approaching him.

Both the Death Knight and the Dullahan that was riding on the Nightmare horse reached him and stopped a little in front of him.

Seeing them, he couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know if I'm going to get killed by the two of you, but at least did I put up a good show for you to watch?"

He had no way of knowing what was going to happen, but he didn't want to show any weakness right now.

In fact, he was weak, whether it was his current state or his peak condition.

And, in face of the beings in front of him, he was but an ant!

"To be honest, it was quite boring to watch...you rely on your unique abilities and nothing else...Your movements were below average and your control over your affinity was trash, to put it nicely!"

Kyle flinched upon hearing the assessment.

The voice sounded artificial, held no compassion, and seemed to come from the direction of the Death Knight.

His Black Armor gleamed brightly, and he didn't even try to conceal his mana fluctuations.

They were freely moving through the surroundings giving him an air of superiority.

The assessment provided by the Death Knight was harsh but correct. This was something Kyle had to acknowledge, even if it was painful.

His movements had improved during the fight against the Undead Army.

But, they were still much worse than that of the Undead Giants.

And the Undead Giant hadn't been perfect either.

As such, Kyle had a long way to go, and it would take him even longer with his wind affinity comprehension.

While the Death Knight's opinion had been disheartening, the Dullahan had a different opinion.

"Considering that your cultivation base is so low, it was quite decent. Even if it wasn't entertaining, in the end, ensuring your survival is the most important thing, and the method doesn't matter, right?"

Hearing about the importance of survival, from a headless undead at that, was not exactly motivating.

It was odd and had Kyle not been tired he would have even chuckled at the irony. It relaxed his coiled muscles and Kyle couldn't help but fall at ease.

It was weird, but the small chance of them killing him dispersed the moment he heard them talk.

Their hoarse and raspy voices didn't sound pleasing to his ears and neither was he too glad to hear their mixed opinion.

But the content of their words made Kyle believe that they wouldn't do anything to him.

However, he remained quiet and didn't answer the rhetorical question of the Dullahan.

Instead, Kyle waited for them to do something, but nothing seemed to happen.

This made the entire situation more awkward than it initially was as he wasn't sure how long could he simply stand and stare at them.

He was also struggling to keep himself from collapsing to the ground after the fight was over.

The adrenaline that had been coursing through his veins during the entire time seemed to have receded.

It was now replaced by a wave of exhaustion that was beginning to drag him down

Because of that, Kyle's entire body began to ache like it was subjected to hellfire.

Though he grit his teeth and tried to endure the pain, he couldn't hold back from screaming out in pain. His body instinctively writhed as overwhelming agony took hold of him.

Unable to control his body, Kyle was not even able to utilize the Nurture ability.

It still had more than enough energy left to invigorate him.

However, it was exactly this invigoration that would draw an excessive amount of Kyle's life force right now, tearing him apart.

As such, unbeknownst to him, his body was protecting Kyle by letting him feel the pain that had accumulated within.

Somehow, it was as if his body wanted to warn him that this would happen if he were to use his Nurture ability in such a reckless manner, ever again.

This caused him to feel even worse than he already did.

And, Kyle could only tell himself to never underestimate his ability, ever again.

Unable to tell how much time had passed, he only endured the pain that seemed to grow with every single second.

He only felt that he had been writhing in agony for an eternity.

And, he could only subtly hear the Death Knight's voice that echoed through his ears as cold metal came in touch with his body.

Suddenly, his entire body was overflowing with mana that eased his pain, making him sag in relief. O

Only a moment later, the mana was retracted.

"His ability exceeded every possible limit of his body. I wonder how he was able to survive all of that… Even beings at the Vitae stage would have died of exhaustion or overstraining of their cultivation energy before eradicating a quarter of the Undead Army…

Just how did he replenish his cultivation energy and body's energy so fast?..."

After the vast stream of mana had eased his pain, it didn't return, even after the mana left his body.

As such, under normal circumstances, he would have collapsed on the ground long ago.

If not for his Nurture ability, he would have been deprived of even the last trace of energy.

But, somehow he was forcing his consciousness to stay awake.

Yet, this force disappeared when he heard the words the Dullahan uttered just a moment later.

"It's probably the weird Fox, and the mysterious ability he has...but I don't know either.

But what I know is that we cannot fight him anymore…"

Saying so, he gave an audible sigh before he continued,

"That means we will have to accept her lecture without having figured out anything…

Maybe, we should just take him with us? It's not like he is willing to die, to begin with. As such, he would be insane to accept Karnias' Inheritance. So he shouldn't be required to pass the remaining 10 trails, either, right?"

Not understanding a single word the Dullahan said, Kyle could only look at him blankly.

Meanwhile, his mind only became foggier the more time passed.

Kyle's control over his consciousness was slipping and only seconds after the Dullahan finished his short speech, he gave in.

As he slowly succumbed to the tiredness that overwhelmed his entire body, his eyes fell shut.

After fainting on the ground, he was left alone with the Dullahan riding a Nightmare horse, and the Death Knight.

They simply looked at the now unconscious young man with golden hair and dirt smudged all over his body.

"The young Lady should really take a look at him. He is young and has a low cultivation base.

But he might meet her other requirements.

His will is unbending, and he seems to have high endurance to pain!"

While the Dullahan agreed to the Death Knight's opinion, there were still several things that bothered him.

Unfortunately, it was impossible for him to figure them out, and instead of sharing them out loud, he simply stated.

"We can bring him to her, but I don't know if the young Lady will be pleased…"

Just at that moment, a blue-colored liquid with faint golden traces gathered behind the Death Knight and the Dullahan. It slowly formed a large portal as a Skeletal being stepped out of it.

It had fiery black soul flames in its eyes sockets making it look eerie.

The densest death aura that existed within the Castle of the Undead was tightly enveloping the Skeletal being that wielded a grotesque-looking staff.

After staring at Kyle for a moment, it averted its attention to the two others that began to retreat subconsciously.

Kyle was thrashing violently under the influence of the death aura that enveloped him.

It was trying to deprive him of his life force, and turn him into an Undead being,

"Lahan, he will be sent to your floor! Now that you already intervened, I want you to test his entire combat potential.

Be thorough, even if you have to be cruel!! Knirg, follow him!"

The sudden command caused Knirg, the Death Knight, to ask,

"Why are the two of us required to test his potential in terms of combat?"

This question was logical because both Lahan, the Dullahan, and Knirg, were the most proficient in wielding a longsword.

As such, it didn't make a difference whether only one or both of them were observing Kyle.

Additionally, Kyle was weaker than both of them.

Yet, the moment Knirg questioned the command he had been given, a tremendous amount of mana began to envelop his head. It seemed to start deforming as the imprint of a hand could be seen on it.

"Quiet down!! The young lady wants you to do as you've been told!!"

At that moment, the Nightmare horse began to neigh out in fear, only for Lahan and Knirg's mana fluctuations to quiver in fear.

"Yes, Sir…we will do as commanded!"