Soul Venerable (Re-written)

 

5th day after the departure from Elestra city, midday.

A one handed warhammer struck the ground, causing a ripple of soil to spread as if a stone was thrown into a calm water surface. A group of dog beasts each having the height of 2.5 meters were swept away, receiving various internal injuries. Followed up by precise sword attacks that cut off their genitalia, these dog beasts squirmed in pain, giving a chance for poisonous bolts to land upon their eyes. A select few were dead immediately, but most survived due to their tenacity. 

These are smoke hounds; a type of fire-path dog beasts whose pores excrete smoke incessantly. Unlike any other beasts, smoke hounds do not eat biological matter but charcoal or other types of fuel. The inside of their body is like a furnace, it could turn extremely hot when they are hungry, generating heat and smoke all over its body.

That process made them even hungrier, pushing the beast to its limit. If the hounds were left in starvation for a few days, they would die due to their cells being consumed as fuel. However, the closer they are to death, the fiercer they are.

With the last attack, most of the smoke hounds coughed boiling blood mixed with ash matter, their body expelled thick black fumes that covered the battlefield. Visibility became very low and the thick smoke also disturb breathing. It was a horrible beast to fight against.

“Savage, you are too far ahead. Green Lake cannot support you.” Shirogane commented as she used her giant katana to incessantly attack the wounded smoke hounds. Black ash covered parts of her body and dirtied her silver hair. 

“You actually followed me? Oh white steel, you are so loyal. Maybe you’ve fallen for me?” 

Kenji’s attacks are brutal and merciless. Although he could not kill smoke hounds in one hit, a successive combo at the same point with his one-handed warhammer could fracture the beasts’ skull. 

“Fool.” She replied, fed up with his antics. “This smoke hound group is strange, we should’ve seen their sign from afar, yet our scout overlooked it.”

The playful light in Kenji’s eyes disappeared, “I know. Someone was leading them to us. We are being targeted by other groups.” 

The wounded smoke hounds become desperate after seeing Kenji slaughtering its kin. They targeted Kenji en masse, surrounding him while breathing out dark smoke. It was so thick that he had to close his eyes unless he wanted to burn his eyes.

“Tsk, this is really annoying. We can’t rely on Sakuya’s fire-path nor Violet’s enslavement-path methods to overcome this beast group. I have to go all out.” Kenji complained.

The black smoke contained scalding ash that would burn the skin. Since Kenji is in the center of the smoke, any skin that wasn’t protected by clothing was burning. Of course, he wasn’t wearing anything other than beast leather pants because the rest was burnt. His wounded upper body was muscular, multiple tattoo-like runes on his body shone in faint white lights, producing acceleration force fields. 

“Strength-path martial art, [Bitter Grit]!” he activated his method as internal energy circulated in his body. 

[Bitter Grit] is a strength-path self-healing method that becomes more effective the stronger the person is. In this case, the word stronger refers to their raw physical strength, as long as their physical foundation was great, this self-healing method is comparable to priest or cleric healing methods. It was a perfect method that compliments Kenji’s combat system, allowing him to fight while continuously mending himself, though the internal energy expenditure was relatively heavy compared to other healing methods.  

His charred skin turned pink as muscle tissue started to mend, he scraped the layers of ash on his skin that hindered his movement. “You should’ve stayed back. Seeing you being dirtied by dog smoke left a bad aftertaste in my mouth.”

“You should focus on yourself.” Shirogane wiped the black ash from her shoulder armor, “The rank 1 accumulating smoke hound is still lurking somewhere, and we haven’t seen the perpetrator who lured them here yet.” Shirogane offered her deduction result. 

Kenji’s face turned sour. Although he wanted to fight a rank 1 beast, it was under the condition of being supported by Sumire and her teammates. Due to Sumire being ‘occupied’ by her own cultivation, group four could not rely on her deduction power, therefore there was a gap of ability in setting up a proper ambush countermeasure. 

He was a genius in combat and strategy, but he still has his own limit. The enemy was targeting Sumire whose name spread wide as a rising enslavement-path expert, after all. There’s no such thing as overkill in dealing with that dangerous woman.

No matter how bitter Shirogane felt however, he never discredited Kenji’s performance. He solo-carried group four through ambushes after ambushes, even fighting against the 100 smoke hounds group head on.

Yes, the smoke hounds they fought counted up to a hundred.

There are several cases when a group of same-rank beasts reaches a hundred members. They either separate themselves from the main group led by one higher-rank beast of it’s variant, or continue accumulating numbers and maintaining the status quo. 

In this case, it was the former. 

This 100 smoke hound beast group should be led by one rank 1 Accumulating Smoke Hound, a far more dangerous variant of the smoke hound. As group four, mainly Kenji and Shirogane, slaughtered this smoke hound group, they realized the numbers actually reached around 110 beasts. With that said, the two were extremely vigilant of the dog beast’s pack leader. 

Even after eradicating this wave of smoke hounds, there was no sign of the accumulating smoke hounds, but they weren't reducing their guards. 

“If my deduction is correct, there shouldn’t be any rank 1 beast approaching our location. The ones we’ve slaughtered are mostly mid-stage and late-stage rank 0 smoke hounds. The accumulating smoke hound should be protected by a group of peak-stage rank 0 smoke hounds, we haven’t met them yet.”

Shirogane nodded, accepting his deduction. “Shall we set up camp and recuperate?”

“Yes. Let’s harvest all the fire-path materials we can get. I’m sure Sakuya can use some of them.” Kenji ordered Green Lake team members to set up parameters. Soon, the battlefield turned into a makeshift fortress as layers of root walls were erected.   

Soon, the campsite was busy helping Sakuya harvest the smoke hound’s furnace organ. According to her, the furnace organ was its most precious body parts: it can be used in spell catalyst or artifact refinement. If all of these entered Sakuya’s pocket, she could progress her research at a rapid pace but since the one who put up the most work is Kenji, she couldn’t hoard them selfishly.

Sakuya’s work was very efficient, she used multiple [Mage Hand] and other fire-path methods in succession that sped up the harvesting process. The furnace organ was also kept in good condition, allowing it to be sold or used in its best state.

“What are we going to do now, Kenji?” Sakuya asked after all of the corpses were taken care of. Due to the multiple ambushes along the way, they have to keep up with the pace. Otherwise, group four would be late in Thunderpeak mountain.

Kenji was pondering about what group four should do when suddenly she received a mental prompt from the information-path artifact in his possession, the hunter association’s ID card. He took it out and activated the runes engraved on the card-shaped artifact. “Ah, I see. Sumire is coming out soon. Let me have a chat with her.”

The Identification card was engraved with a permanent rune that allows him to use an information-path magic spell called [Mind Chat]. Every hunter’s ID card was very important due this particular function.   

It’s a bit troublesome to take it out every time he wanted to communicate with others since he could not use magic spells, but all information-path methods invented by the former Great Archmage were magic spells. There were no martial arts-equivalent of it. Although there are martial arts that mimic the profundity of information-path, it’s security and efficiency are far lower than a true information-path magic spell.

Though, it was proven that true elite martial artists could derive their own method inspired by information-path magic spells. These contribute to the expansion of information-path because its inception in Morgen World was relatively recent, compared to other mature paths.

“I received news from Sumire. She said she will finish her cultivation in a few hours, we just have to hold on until then.”

Just as he delivered the good news, the root walls that protected the campsite explode with blue fiery conflagration. It wasn’t Sakuya’s method because she has no blue-colored fire. “We are under attack.” Immediately, they took a defensive position while Kenji calmly moved towards the source of the explosion.

“Group five: Blue Wave, Scorch Talon, and Undying Forest team… I admire your bravery.” Kenji said the moment he saw the encampment was surrounded by an army on all sides.

This beast army is made up from a creature known as Grass Puppet Soldier, an artificial lifeform made out of various wood-path materials. Needless to say, they were the specialty of Undying Forest, a team full of enslavement-path experts.

Grass puppet soldiers took many forms, but most are humanoid. Their bodies were like ropes, it was a congregation of grass being twisted and knotted into various figures. Some grass puppet soldiers have a grass blade, bark shield, root spear, and wood bow and grass arrow on their hand, creating a comprehensive army composition.

After a brief calculation, Kenji found out their numbers were slightly over one thousand. “Well, well. There is so much cannon fodder here, this is a bit troubling.” He praised as he put his left hand on his pants pocket.

On the opposite side, the master of the grass puppet soldier scrutinizes the encampment. She was trying to find Violet Sumire as if she wanted to show off to her rival. “Wild Savage, your camp is surrounded by my team’s grass puppet soldiers. I can let you go as long as you give us Violet Sword Blaze team members. So where’s that violet wench?” she spat toxic words.

“Sumire? She couldn’t be bothered to come out to deal with some trash.” Kenji retorted with a faint smile, “Ichika, you should stop trying to compare yourself with her. You need to cultivate for a thousand more years before you get the slightest chance of winning against her.”

Ichika, the green-haired youthful beauty who is also Undying Forest’s captain, felt her blood rushing to her head. She was about to order her minions to attack before a red-haired youth with vigorous charm on his face stopped her. The active fire elemental particle fluctuation from his body indicates his identity as a fire-path magic caster.

“Ichika, you need to cool down your temper.” He tried to calm Ichika. In his mind, Ichika was a fool for letting Wild Savage’s words get into her psyche. A competent captain should be able to control their emotions, not the other way around.

Unbeknownst to them, under the concealment of his pants pocket, Kenji’s left hand was activating one of the five rings on his finger: a wisdom-path artifact that affects his opponent’s emotional state. It was highly effective due to the fact that nobody knows about its function. Kenji examined the one that thwarted his effort to make them rush towards their death. “It’s been a while since I’ve seen a slightly competent trash, Izanagi.”

Unlike Ichika’s Undying Forest, Izanagi’s Scorch Talon team was one of the top five teams that ranked slightly above Violet Sword Blaze. Izanagi would know if he was attacked with wisdom-path methods, so Kenji did not even try doing it.

Izanagi revealed a faint smile as if his insult was a warm summer breeze. “Musclebrain, it’s been a while since we’ve converse like a civilized person. Of course, you might be having difficulties because of your backward upbringing. I wouldn’t blame you.”

Kenji replied with a faint smile as if imitating Izanagi’s, “Hahah, I’d have to think with my butthole before I can get down to your level. Your fake civility is making my rectum itch. Anyway, it seems like you’ve successfully taken down an accumulating smoke hound without much casualty. Congratulations!” he did not forget to clap slowly while revealing his deduction result.  

Izanagi’s poker face twitched. If they were successful in baiting the rank 1 beast accumulating smoke hound over towards group four, their situation won’t be like what it is right now. After the hundred-beast group were eradicated, the accumulating smoke hound would be the main vanguard in the attack. It was specifically planned to tie down Wild Savage because his combat potential is too troublesome.

The rank 1 beast couldn’t kill Kenji while he also couldn’t kill the beast in a short time. It was enough for the rest of them to deal with Violet Sword Blaze because Green Lake team couldn’t put up much of a fight.

Unfortunately, the plan could not proceed smoothly as the accumulating smoke hound that was supposed to be lured and manipulated was just giving birth. Izanagi’s team members unknowingly killed the young pups during the process of baiting, triggering the beast’s retaliation. It took their resources, ones that could be poured into attacking group four instead.

Fortunately, Violet Sword Blaze’s captain, Sumire, could not be relied upon for the time being. It was unknown why she secluded herself within her carriage, but the Blue Wave’s captain deduced that she was occupied with something. Probably in a critical juncture of cultivation since one of the carriage was always protected from investigative methods.

After all, not being able to detect what’s happening on that carriage indicates something must be happening. It was the natural conclusion after a few days of probing through various beast groups, the way group four reacted to ambushes were different in style compared to the usual Sumire.

That is why they decided to attack after exhausting group four’s combat resources through a hundred smoke hound beast group. They were yet to recover from the battle. Mages could not battle for a day straight due to their limited spell resources and rank 0 martial artists have limited internal energy reserves. Although group four was not at their weakest, Blue Wave captain’s deduction indicated that whatever happened to Sumire would end soon.

If they could not take care of group four during this critical moment, their chances would decrease significantly.

Kenji used his investigative method to look for that annoying Blue Wave captain, Moriko. Her deduction ability was comparable to a wisdom-path expert despite not being one; it would be best to get rid of her first before others since people like her would become endless trouble the longer they exist on the field. Unfortunately, Moriko was wise enough to counter the ‘decapitation’ tactic.

Kenji couldn’t just simply use brute force to defeat group five. It’s not a problem of lacking strength, but a person of Izanagi’s caliber must’ve prepared a special tactic to handle Kenji’s direct assault. Being one of the top five team’s captains, Izanagi has his own competency. Nobody of their level is stupid.

This put group four in a passive condition. The thousand grass puppet soldiers are not a number that Kenji can ignore. Their combat capabilities are merely slightly above mortals, probably at the same level as an early-stage rank 0 martial artist but enslavement-path battle tactics rely on numbers to fight a battle of attrition. They excel at exhausting the enemy’s combat resources.

Kenji could probably kill five to ten with each ground shaker, but Ichika and her team members could make some more as long as her resources could keep up. Since the location is really close to Azaria forest, there are countless wood-path resources that she can utilize, so it wasn't wise to fight her head on.

“So… what are you waiting for?” Kenji taunted. It would be best if group five’s core members sent themselves to his hammer. They wouldn’t die since Lord Mage Mitsubachi’s invisible wasps are eying them 24/7 from the skies, but enduring Kenji’s attacks would be far more painful than losing a limb.

Of course, them being that braindead was impossible. Kenji predicted that they will use the grass puppet soldier for a prolonged war of attrition.

“Hahah, nothing. Rank 0 fire-path magic spell, [Fireball]!” Izanagi revealed the ten rings on his fingers. Each was engraved with high-energy magic runes; it was a set that replaced the standard magic staffs to counter antimages or swift fighters like Kenji. The ten rings constructed an augmented [Fireball] spell, the signature method of fire-path. Izanagi did not forget to add a catalyst as blue powder and several runes on his rings were expended.

Kenji used his highly trained eyes to deduce the augmentation but Izanagi has his own methods of anti-investigation. It would require a true fire-path magic caster like Sakuya to determine what kind of augmentation it received. Unfortunately, Sakuya was busy secretly preparing a large-scale magic spell to counter the thousand grass puppet soldiers.   

The spell Izanagi activated soon formed, a blue fireball with a diameter of 1 meter materialized. Even from afar, Kenji could feel that the fireball would be able to heavily wound him but he merely sighed. He didn’t want to expose so many of his methods, but Sumire’s absence in group four forced him.

“Rank 0 strength-path martial art, [Brute Force]!”

Kenji made a swinging gesture with his one-handed warhammer. Through raw strength, he produced a force field on his hammer that allowed the hammerhead to attack the blue fireball. It wasn’t his style to defend, an attack against him would be retaliated with another attack. Of course, Izanagi’s fireball was not simple, the core temperature could vaporize most rank 0 metals.

Boom! The blue fireball exploded like a shaped charge after being struck by Kenji’s hammer. Most of the destructive force was redirected to the lower left, the root wall ignited in an eerie blue fire. The temperature rose, but Kenji’s body was more or less unharmed. “You have to try better than that to fight me, Izanagi.” Secretly, Kenji was glad that he made the correct choice.

The fireball was augmented with a wisp of artificial azure dragon fire. Although not a true dragon fire and probably having less than 0.01% of the original quality, it possessed a dragon corrosion nature that cannot be blocked with Kenji’s current method. It was best not to allow it to touch him.

Seeing his prided spell handled so easily, Izanagi frowned. Intel on Wild Savage indicates that he was stupidly powerful, but he never openly showed this method before. “Hmm, interesting. So this is the true power of the one-man team who held the first rank since the beginning of our tutelage in the academy.” His fighting spirit was ignited, showing the quality of an elite.

Making a secret gesture, Izanagi ordered Ichika to attack. The idle grass puppet soldiers began marching upon the root wall. Each of their steps were harmonized, producing sounds of war drums being hit. It was an enslavement-path method activated by the collective of Undying Forest’ members, [Shocking War Drum Steps]. It has the effect of attacking the enemy’s psyche. As long as it is still active, enemy spell-activation sequence would be disrupted or delayed by up to 20%.     

It can be blocked, but one has to expend more telepathic thoughts for every action. It does not affect much, but every little advantage stacks eventually.

While the grass puppet soldiers encroach upon the root wall, Izanagi activates another spell. “How about this. rank 0 fire-path magic spell, [Azure Snake Breath]!”

The spell formation activates in a few seconds, not giving Kenji a chance to disrupt the process. The spell activates as his hand produces a snake of blue fire that burns everything on its path. The 50-meter or so distance between him and group four’s root walls was covered by the blue fire snake within a few seconds. The snake passed through the line of grass puppet soldiers without a hitch, some that accidentally touched the snake burnt into ash in literal seconds.

Then, the snake breathed out a stream of blue fire towards Kenji.

“Smart.” Kenji praised. Unlike the fireball spell which was held together by magical force field, a fire saturation attack cannot be destroyed by his [Brute Force]. Merely regulating internal energy could not defend the blue fire, so he opts the next best option. Dodge.

Jumping highly into the air, he aimed towards Izanagi’s position even after knowing it was a trap. Leaping multiple times forward while leaving the fire snake and the hundreds of grass puppet soldiers behind, Kenji activates the body runes on his legs.

“Dangerous!” Izanagi panicked for a brief second due to Kenji’s unexpected reaction. In his mind, Kenji knows that his appearance was a trap for Kenji to fall into, but someone who knows about the trap and willingly fell would either be stupid or have something under their sleeves. “Quick, activate the traps!” he ordered Ichika.

The grass beneath their feet moved independently as Ichika’s method activated. Large amounts of grass experienced sudden growth while twisting upon themselves, creating countless grass ropes that tried to hold down Kenji’s advances. Each grass rope was as strong as iron wires, their durability could not be underestimated.

The forest of grass ropes slowed down Kenji’s approach, but he wasn’t bothered too much with it. Boom! Boom! Boom! His warhammer cracked the earth, shook the ground and destroyed the magic spells with raw, unadulterated brute force.   

“Bullshit!” Izanagi’s calm façade was broken; he was panicking due to how easily Kenji dismantled their methods. “More! Activate more!”

The speed of the grass ropes being regrown could not keep up with its destruction. After all, spell activation requires time, while Kenji’s strength was inherent. It merely took ten seconds for the protective grass ropes that were as hard as iron wires, to be broken completely.  

However, what greets Kenji when he opens the protective shell is not a panicked Izanagi nor the despair-ridden Ichika, but a red spell circle. “Truly, an idiot who has muscle for brain. Rank 0 fire-path magic spell, [Burning Crimson Stream]!”

Kenji’s body was engulfed under a stream of blood red fire.