The Soul Keeper

At dawn, everyone was in a deep, yet clearly uneasy sleep. I sat not too far away from my flames blocking the path and opened my status panel. How many creatures I had killed through the night, I didn't know. It was in the hundreds, if not thousands.

'Kai Friseal – Level 93 Soul Keeper | Exp: 32467/110000 - - Souls 100/100 + 1970- - Mana: 2070

Fallen Grace Lv. 5 | Death's Scythe Lv. 5 | Dark Bolt Lv. 5 | Soul's Respite Lv. 5 | Keeper's Haven Lv.1 | Explorer | Crystal Sage

STR: 10 – CON: 10 – DEX: 100 – INT: 100 – WIS: 91'

I glanced at my stat points. 20 available points were all I had. I furrowed my brows. The system had started giving them in a somewhat uneven way. I pondered a moment, then shrugged. There was no point in pondering about this.

I allocated my points, then sighed. My stats looked a bit more…sensible now:

'STR: 20 – CON: 11 – DEX: 100 – INT: 100 – WIS: 100'

Well. Maybe 'sensible' wasn't the right word here.

A loud howl interrupted my thoughts. I sprung up to my feet and looked at the horde of monsters. Something was coming this way.

"Guys!" I shouted. I couldn't protect all of them while they were asleep. 

"What is it?" Alex was the first to wake up. She lifted her head, heard the distant howls and immediately woke Rina and Vincent up. Moments later, everyone was wide awake. "Something is coming." I said as my wings appeared on my back. 

"What do we do?" Vincent asked. I could hear the fear in his voice. 

"We defend until reinforcements come." I replied. I could feel Asher getting closer. Considering his speed, he must have used his flight spell. One hour was my assumption. We just needed to hold on for one more hour.

"Erik! Defend the bridge over the chasm." I pointed at the stone path that was engulfed in flames. "Alina, keep an eye on Erik – heal him if anything happens!"

She nodded with a pale face. She glanced at the distant mountaintops again. She probably wished we could just fly away from here.

"Vincent, support Erik. Keep an eye on the cliffs, it's your and Joshua's job to kill anything that climbs up." I glanced at Rina and Alex. "Alex, help Erik. Rina, you're with Samantha." I glanced at the sky. The sun was dawning – we'd soon have better visibility.

"Kai, what will you do?" Alina asked. I grinned. "I'll find what's coming our way." With those words, I leapt into the air. I let my wings carry me towards the source of the howl. Soon, it was within my sight.

Large creatures that reminded me of trolls and orcs were there. Hundreds of them, if not more. "What the hell?" I mumbled to myself. So far, all the creatures we'd seen in this world were somewhat unique. I couldn't help but feel like these trolls and orcs didn't belong in this world. Why the hell were they here?

I sent a volley of dark bolts their way, just to see what would happen. When the bolts hit them, the creatures didn't even flinch. That didn't mean they didn't take any damage – some of them had lost their limbs and one of them even died. They just didn't seem to notice their wounds.

Worried, I headed back to the others. Alex and Erik were standing by the wall of fire I had created. I landed behind them and quickly described what I saw.

"I don't think they feel any pain." I said, shooting a worried glance that way. They were probably almost at the peak. "So, don't take any chances with them, ok?" As I said that, I glared at Alex and Erik. They both nodded, though Erik gulped in what I assumed was fear.

I flew up again, casting dark bolt after dark bolt, hoping to wear them down before they reached us. But the more trolls and orcs I killed, the more of them seemed to appear. Eventually, after about half an hour later, they had reached my wall of flame. 

They passed through the fire, not caring as their skin got charred. As they passed through the wall of flames, Alex and Erik were there to meet them. 

Alex was the first to strike as soon as the first creature entered their view. She swung her tail, hitting the creature's side and sending it to the depths of the chasm below.

"Smart." Alina said. Her voice was emotionless. Her focus was on Alex and Erik.

Samantha climbed on a rock, way in the back. She hooked an arrow and aimed for the next creature's heart. As soon as she released the arrow, Rina enhanced it with lightning. 

Minutes passed as more and more creatures fell to the chasm or were outright killed by Samantha and Rina. I waited, floating in the air, ready to strike in case anything happened.

I couldn't help but feel uneasy – my flames prevented the wolves from crossing the chasm and reaching us, so they slowly began to leave. Why would they even do that? Were they intelligent enough? Why had they waited the entire night to leave? Something felt off.

It took me a moment, but as I watched another troll die, I figured it out. I couldn't see its soul. I narrowed my eyes and watched carefully as Samantha's arrow pierced the next troll's forehead. It fell on the ground and got pushed into the deep chasm by the next creature.

They had no souls!

I had some clues as to what that meant, but I didn't have the time to think about it right now. It did explain why they felt no pain though. I gritted my teeth – where were these creatures coming from?

"Kai!" I heard Asher's voice in my mind. "I'm still a bit far, but Lucius is saying he can see a dark brown wave of monsters scaling the cliffs around you!" 

My eyes widened. I beat my wings and flew to the edge of the rocky area we were standing on. Sure enough, monsters were climbing the steep cliffs. What on earth were these? They looked part spider, part wolf.

"Vincent! Joshua!" I shouted. "Cover the sides! They're climbing!" 

The two Kestler brothers rushed to the opposite sides of the area while I took the very back of it. I raised my hands and let my flames cascade down, burning the stone and the rare plants. 

I glanced at my mana.

1800/2070

Not too bad. My flames used up very little mana. My battle with Vixia was an exception as I had poured every ounce of my being into those crimson flames. 

With a deep breath, I let the flames spread to the cliffs surrounding us.

"If anything gets through, kill them." I said, looking at Vincent and Joshua. They nodded, their faces pale. Joshua couldn't help but constantly glance at the far away peaks. He probably wished he weren't here. Vincent's sight was fixed on the wall of flames. His eyes filled with determination, he waited patiently.

I landed by Samantha and Rina. "You guys need to take a more central position." They were standing too close to one of the cliffs surrounding us. "There won't be much we can do if they get to you."

Rina's face went pale as Samantha nodded. She climbed down the rock and followed me to a slightly safer spot. 

"Kai." She said, grabbing my arm just as I motioned to fly off again. "Can't you fly us out of here?"

I shook my head. "I'm sorry," I said, looking away, at the wall of flames surrounding us. My wings simply weren't strong enough. My hope was that Asher would be able to fly everyone out of here. His spell was stronger than my flight in that aspect.

She let go of my arm in disappointment as I once again leapt into the air. I flew around the peak. As I watched the creatures scaling the cliffs, I couldn't help but feel like we were fighting a losing battle. There were so many of them!

I cast Dark Bolt and fired it to the largest group I could see. They didn't even make a sound as their spider-like legs snapped. They fell to their doom, crashing into others as they fell and taking them along to the bottom of the cliff.

Yet, more took their place. They came crawling from the forests surrounding this mountain. I clenched my fists. How was I supposed to stop all of them?

"They're here!" Vincent's shout snapped me back to the present. I turned back to see him just barely roll out of the way of a spider-wolf abomination. It crawled on the ground, trying to get to him. A magically enhanced arrow pierced its head, putting it to rest. Samantha had gotten to work. 

I floated above the battlefield, taking it in. Erik and Alex were still fighting off the trolls and orcs. Alina was standing an arm's length behind them. Her gaze leapt between them, Vincent, Joshua and Samantha.

As I watched, Rina created a shield around herself and Samantha. Lightning leapt from her fingertips to the monsters slowly passing through the flames. Despite their charred bodies, they didn't hesitate to attack.

"We can't keep this up forever!" Erik shouted glaring at me. "I know that!" I shouted back. But… what was I supposed to do? I clenched my fists and used Fallen Grace.

I landed by Joshua, who was having the most trouble. His daggers weren't giving him the range he needed to take these creatures on. As more and more of them gathered around him, I came from the sky, striking them to the ground. My scythe cut through their skin and flesh with no resistance. 

I glanced at the others. They couldn't hold the creatures off. Erik and Alex were slowly being pushed back. Vincent was facing off against a handful of creatures and Samantha's arrows couldn't take these creatures out fast enough.

"Get the others and gather near the centre!" I shouted. Joshua hesitated a moment, then did as I asked. 

As everyone pulled back, I stood before them and released my flames. Only a few more minutes was all I needed. 

Black miasma spread from my scythe as my eyes let out a purple glow. A hint of purple appeared in my flames just before I let it explode like a supernova. 

Nothing gets past me!