I closed my eyes, activating my soul vision, numerous souls appeared in my vision. There were hundreds everywhere I looked. The only frustrating thing was how far apart they were from each other. Some were on their lonesome while others formed groups of hundreds. However the only ones that were close to us were the ones in groups of one to five.
Luckily there was a group of five nearby. I left the two to their talk not caring if they could catch up or not.
The only reason that I had even agreed to hunt with them in the first place was because they had potential. When I first looked upon them I was surprised, Gabriel's soul was actually half as bright as Tama with Naomi's soul being maybe a quarter the size of Tama's. Either way they both had potential.
If they were agreeable when we were hunting I would invite them back to the territory but for now I wanted to push their limits. To see if they were worthy of being allies.
It seems like my disappearance had shocked the two out of their conversation as they had quickly dashed forwards trying to catch up to me.
I deliberately left my speed just above what the two could put out so that I would stay slightly ahead of them. If they got lost while following me then they were not worth the effort either way.
…
I stopped in a clearing, in front of me were the five veiled guards that I had seen. Behind me the duo had finally caught up.
"Hah" "Hah"
Though both were panting in exertion. I had not taken it easy on them. Once we had made it about three quarters of the way to the enemies I was heading towards I had kicked up my speed a notch. It was enough of a speed boost that there was no way for them to follow.
However I hadn't done this mindlessly. I had deliberately left tracks for them to find and follow with.
Looking at the two I point out three of the veiled guards and point to them.
"Those three are mine, you two take the last two."
With speed typical of that of a tier 8 I dashed. I could have ended the battle in an instant but I still wanted to blow off some steam hence the tier 8 speed.
*CLANG*
The veiled guard blocked my attack but wasn't able to block the follow up leading to me piercing the guards origin.
Behind me another tried to back up its fellow guard but it was useless, the second that I was done with the first I had already turned around and found the origin of its soul.
In just a second I had killed two of them, the third not even able to reach me before they were dead.
I saw it contemplating something before it suddenly turned tail and ran. I wasn't going to let it though. With a burst of speed I dashed from my spot and stabbed it in the back.
Done with the fight I checked the system messages that had rang while I was killing the veiled guards.
[You have killed a remnant of the veiled guard.]
[You have gained comprehension and a fragment of the veil(8/1000)]
…
After checking the notifications I looked over to Gabriel and Naomi. They had not moved an inch since I had told them who they were going to kill. Not that I could blame them, after all it had not even been a second since I had initially told them who to kill.
Soon enough they broke from their stunned silence and went to fight the remaining two.
Naomi manifested ethereal wings and a halo on top of her head as she unsheathed her sword and shield. Gabriel on the other hand didn't seem to prepare at all. However that was only the truth if you did not look at the aether she was manipulating.
It seems like that fluffy tail of hers gave her excellent control over her aether as even though I could see countless shards of ice form behind her there was no waste of aether from what I could tell.
It could have been that Gabriel was just naturally talented in aether control but even then it had only been a couple of days and all of her pathways were unlocked, something that did not happen to either Darwin or I until we had advanced to the fifth tier.
Clearly whatever talent Gabriel had awakened allowed her immense control over her aether.
Going back to the battle Gabriel had unleashed a wave of ice shards at the two veiled guards however weirdly enough they were not aimed at vitals deliberately. Instead they were aimed at the limbs.
'That's why' I thought to myself.
The shards that Gabriel shot were still in her control, which was why she didn't aim for the vitals. Gabriel was aiming to make restraints on the guards so that Naomi could take them out easily.
Clever.
The shards on the ground that the guards had disregarded started to coalesce into chains. Slowly without their notice as they were busy fighting Naomi, they slivered onto their ankles.
*bang* *bang*
The sound of the veiled guards hitting the ground echoed out.
Naomi took advantage of this and with two swift stabs killed the two.
…
Sitting on a stump the duo approaches me. However I don't say anything, I just look at them questioningly.
"Are you sure that you won't join us, you would be a great boon to our forces. You could even take us as subordinates."
Naomi's eyes widened at that, her soul reflecting the turbulent emotions that she was feeling.
"No, I will not join you, have I not made that clear?" I glared at them, even if I was planning on offering them a place in Darwin's territory did not mean that I was willing to entertain their insistent requests.
Not only was my mood bad but the annoyance of being asked to leave Darwin would have made me snap even if I wasn't in a bad mood.
Though they were only getting off with a glare because I saw potential in them and didn't want to kill potential subordinates.
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