บท 47: Stampede
The two didn't have to speak to each other to figure out what to do. The answer was quite simple.
Run.
They both used Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track - Siduo used her first soul ring as well. They ran in a single direction, opposite of the five man group. The most simple yet most viable solution.
The five man group quickly followed. Soul rings lit up. Three of the soul rings in the whole group were purple. They most likely had three Soul Elders. The two were fucked.
Thankfully, the fight against the tiger was easier than expected, as it was overconfident and needlessly reckless. It was interesting to see the various influences the Rebellion Period had. More stubborn in the case of the Screeching Lammas. Stronger, but wilder in the case of the Shadow Tiger.
Well, they made an opportunity out of it. They weren't even close to being exhausted yet. They could run at full speed.
There was one agility system soul master among the soul elders. He was quite fast, but Siduo with the combination of technique and soul skill was still faster. ON the other hand, Karni couldn't fill the gap in speed with Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.
Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track was mainly an agility technique, to move in any direction like an illusory shadow. While it had speed, it was secondary to flexibility.
The agility Soul Elder didn't need to think much on who he targeted. He went after Karni.
Karni saw a golden shape overtake him from the side, and he activated his Purple Demon Eyes. He smoothly dodged a piercing point from the side. It was a type of rapier.
In the next moment, his second soul ring shone and he managed to force it onto the Soul Elder quite smoothly. His Spiritual Realm didn't seem bigger than his. Karni was already in the upper echelons of Spirit Connection Realm.
The pursuer clearly faltered and looked around in confusion for a second. In that short while, Karni made further distance, while Siduo circled back and attacked him.
Hundred golden shapes hit the miserable agility system. He couldn't make heads or tails. He was really trying to fight against this golden world. Suddenly his legs disappeared. One of them was cleanly cut off.
The sharp pain got him to his senses, but he couldn't move anymore.
"Damn it! Get revenge for me!" He shouted before quitting. He was supposed to be the scout, not a burden to his team. He also trusted his companions. They might not truly catch up, but they had tricks of their own.
Karni and Siduo ran off, but they still followed. The group of five, now four, were all following their footsteps and their trail, even though it was greatly hidden.
The duo was experienced at running without leaving a trace. The trees were a great way to do so, and both of them were light on their feet. They didn't really leave footprints.
Meanwhile one of the Soul Grandmaster's of the group had a lantern that was clearly lighting up the way to follow them. Despite being a tad slower, they were progressing after them steadily.
Siduo deactivated her first soul ring. It didn't serve as much help when Karni was slower. Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track was enough. Not to mention she'd have to keep on reactivating the soul skill. The soul power consumption wouldn't be very efficient.
Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, they could constantly feel the familiar presence in the distance behind them. This was thanks to Karni's soul ring. After about 20 minutes of running, the group of four was still on their trail.
Karni activated his Purple Demon Eyes again. He looked back, his vision and senses amplified and combining with each other. He frowned.
"They're still following us. Looks like one of them has a martial soul that's capable of tracking us."
"Shit."
They both went into thought. What are they to do? Using Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track constantly wasn't wise either, but if they didn't use it, those guys might catch up.
The two Soul Grandmaster's were likely of the supportive variety. One could clearly track, then what about the other? That person might've made them faster. That's why they were able to keep up.
Karni could tell they weren't exhausting much soul power. None of them looked tired. Thankfully, only the first guy had an actual agility system. He was just caught off guard by the ten year olds.
"Hey Kiki. We were visited by one old friend, but there is another." Siduo suddenly thought of something, a villainous smile appearing on her.
Karni thought for a second before his eyes went wide. A similarly twisted smile appeared on him. "The duke."
"The duke."
If they weren't in a forest full of angry soul beasts and soul masters, they would be laughing like maniacs right now.
"I guess there's no use for conservation then." Karni said, fully using his soul power for Ghost Shadow Perplexing Track.
This forest was like their home now, they knew where the group of Raging Buffalos gathered. They were a giant horde after all. Once you find them, it would be hard to forget where they were. Sure they moved at times, but it wasn't exactly hard to follow their trail. You just had to look for the unnaturally wide path of fallen trees.
There were multiple ways to rile up the Raging Buffalos. The first was to kill the ones on the outside. Good. Now you enraged the whole pack. Second way was to challenge the leader directly, but in doing so, the leader would be much more ruthless than in a group and you would have to face him in a one vs one combat.
It might be more accurate to say that the group would fuel the powers of the leader when it is fighting alone.
This wasn't very useful at the moment. It would've also been dumb. It guaranteed suicide. Imagine the power of all the Raging Buffalos in a single individual. There was a reason this species was compared to the Duskgold Dreadclaw Bear.
It wasn't hard to choose which option was correct. They had to aggravate the whole group right now.
… … …
The other group suddenly had frowns on their faces.
"They changed directions and sped up? Be on your guard. We don't know what they'll do. They already got one of ours, we can't let any more of us fall."
"What if we stop hunting them? This might turn out as a waste of time. They've long since absorbed the spiritual energy."
"This is about revenge now. We can't let people mess with our brothers and sisters."
Karni and Siduo didn't know about the conversation, but they wore smiles when they saw that the people didn't stop following them. The group even put in some effort now that the two of them became faster.
In a matter of another 10 minutes, the two saw the steppe in the middle of the forest. They've arrived. This was the nesting grounds of the Raging Buffalos, the most popular one anyway. Even before stepping in, the whole steppe was filled with giant buffalo-like creatures. At the moment, everything seemed peaceful, only a few of the buffalos noticed Karni and Siduo.
"The cruel approach. Kill the babies first. It will have the biggest effect." Siduo was about to dash.
"Hey now. We don't need to go that far."
"They aren't actual creatures Kiki, they are a bundle of Spiritual Energy."
"Yeah. I know. And I don't care. We're not doing that."
She was quiet for a bit and sighed. "Fine."
Siduo dashed and killed the first buffalo on the outside, the other buffalos were clearly surprised. Anger was the immediate response. They weren't called the Raging Buffalos for nothing. The closest group immediately attacked Siduo in a semi coordinated fashion.
Karni now intervened. First with the second soul ring, and secondly with his bo staff. A few Stacks were already built up since they decided on this plan.
A few buffalos stumbled into each other. Karni took the chance to kill another one himself.
The group quickly fell into chaos. Siduo attacking either the heads or the legs either made them fall into each other or kill them. On the other hand, Karni applied the second soul ring ability on many of the bisons temporarily.
Soon, the wider group was riled up, and in just the right amount of time.
"What are those two doing?"
"I don't know, but we wait. Looks like they're in a pickle, let's not be reckless. We can wait for them to run."
It was a good plan, if these two were reasonable people. Karni and Siduo moved deeper. Riling up more of the group. A third of the whole horde was already angry. Meanwhile, the other two thirds were spectating right now. This included the Raging Buffalo Duke.
Despite their name including rage, the group as a whole and the one who commanded it were quite calm before getting riled up. They would let their closest handle the intruders. If they couldn't, then the true battle would begin.
Yet the size of the group worked against it. They were all clustered together, and they were all huge. Karni and Siduo were tiny compared to them, now that they've learned to proficiently use their Tang Sect techniques, they were very hard to hit in such tight spaces. It was like that mosquito that simply died once hit, but the hitting part was always the most frustrating part. They were mosquitoes.
"Kiki! Do you have it ready?"
"All Stacks ready to go!" Karni passed one of his fully charged drumsticks to Siduo, who held it with Mysterious Jade Hands. She could feel the vibrations through her hands. If not for the technique, her hands might've become numb, or worse, lose all function all together.
She dashed across the top of the buffalo's backs. They were huge and there were many. It wasn't hard to jump from back to back, when those were almost flat at the top.
Her first soul ring shone brightly, and she vanished with speed, then appeared in the air close to the Buffalo Duke's group. She threw the bo staff with full force.
The duke noticed her at the last second. He wasn't capable of reacting to the incoming projectile. It hid his mangled left side with the missing eye directly.
The duke just shook its head then looked with the remaining red eye at Siduo. When he saw who it was, he released a terrifying howl. This wasn't an issue of a challenge. This was a mockery. A mockery of the wound that Siduo inflicted on him.
"That's right you big one-eyed loser, remember me?"
When the howling began, the whole horde suddenly howled with the duke. Rage. Bloody rage was seen in the whole group.
Siduo ran back towards Karni. "Run."
"Already on it."
The pursuers outside the steppe looked weirdly at the howling, then saw the whole group turning their way, more correctly, they saw the two children running in their direction.
"Get ready." One of the Soul Grandmasters said.
"No! Run! They're bringing everyone with them!" One of the Soul Elders shouted.
The rest of the group finally realised it too. The two children passed under their tree. A whole horde, no, a stampede followed in their footsteps.
Before the people chasing them could react, their tree was destroyed. Karni and Siduo heard the screams from behind.
"Are we the bad guys?"
"Nah."
"You did try to murder the babies."
Siduo rolled her eyes. "Sorry. Won't do it again."
"Again?"
"Damn it! I didn't mean it that way!"
The two were quite relaxed. With a group so large, if they were up front, they could actually run faster than them. The ones on the outside were slower. The faster ones were in the centre of the group.
Unfortunately, the trouble wasn't over yet. Karni looked behind. He saw that the duke was steadily making its way to the front.
The rumbling of the deep footsteps ruffled up the whole Spirit Ascension Platform. No matter where one was, they could hear that something huge was moving through the forest.
The weirdest part among all of this was perhaps that some spiritual energy of the soul beasts got onto Karni and Siduo. This energy was slowly gathering while the two were running.
The stampede was slowly catching up. The two moved to the ground. They were faster there than among the treetops.
"Group to the far left." Karni said, his Purple Demon Eyes deactivating.
The two moved a little to the left and made a sort of half circle. Soon, they were upon a whole group of Wind Wolves and a group of people fighting them. Both the wolves and soul masters stopped and looked in the direction of the rumbling.
Wind Wolves were a type of soul beast that once bothered the protagonist of this age, a friend of his protected him in a moving scene of courage and comradery. But right now, they saw a stampede running towards them, with the small figures leading them up front.
The wolves started running. The soul masters started running. Karni and Siduo ran directly behind them.
In such a moment, Karni's ability truly shined. Slowly but surely, he confused people with his second soul ring. Tripping a wolf in the front and with it tripping the wolves behind.
Next it was the soul master's turn. All Karni could hear were curses. They didn't care, the rich energy gathering on them was their reward for these actions.
Soul beast after soul beast, soul master after soul master. If Karni and Siduo were closeby, death followed right behind them.
… … …
"Yes sir, it's not a mistake. Yes. Yes, we're sorry, we won't let it happen again."
The Spirit Pagoda was in a state of panic right now. The great amounts of energy dispersing wasn't good at all. They'll have to refill all of these soul beasts somehow.
Whether it was Siduo, Karni or any other soul master that managed to survive in the vicinity, they were all getting a massive boost of their cultivations from the Spirit Ascension Platform right now.
The worker put off the phone and looked towards Teacher Ye.
"Your students really put us in a pickle."
All Teacher Ye could do was smile awkwardly. Who could've predicted they would do this? It was basically a guaranteed death sentence for anyone, even them. It was only a matter of time. They couldn't run forever, and while the stampede wouldn't last forever either, it would surely outlast them.
If it weren't the Rebellion period, it wouldn't be much of a problem either, but the soul masters populating it at the moment genuinely made this a catastrophe. They will need to do damage control of the public opinion after this.
"We'll have to zone off the Raging Buffalos in the future. While it's unfair to those paying. It's the only way." That was the decision that the Spirit Pagoda came to.
… … …
Karni and Siduo were dodging wildly. By now they've been playing between the buffalos' legs as well. The duke was chasing them with unrelenting rage.
The stampede has mostly stopped moving, only the members catching up were still part of it. Technically, the stampede was going around in a small circle right now. It didn't stop. They were only chasing after Siduo and Karni. The two couldn't move far. They weren't fast enough.
As soon as they tried a straight line, the stampede would catch up quickly. They didn't care about the trees. They didn't see them. For them, it was just some annoying trash to kick while chasing the enemy.
This left them with few options. Right now, they were just stalling to get in the last bits of energy from the platform. While in a pickle, the two were happy. They were sure that with the amount of creatures the stampede killed, they were guaranteed to become Soul Elders today.
"Hey. One last bout with the duke?" Siduo asked.
"Sure. You lead."
She did. She sped up, Karni followed right behind. She activated her second soul ring to cut up a few more legs of the buffalos. With the strong buffalos in the front, the two basically fit beneath them whole. They were small enough for that.
Siduo suddenly stopped and showed Karni that she'll throw him. His Stacks were built up to the max.
He hopped on her hands and she threw him with full force towards the duke's head.
The duke saw Karni and howled, pointing its spiral horns in the way. But Karni wasn't just any old soul master. He had Tang Sect Techniques as well. Using Purple Demon Eye to follow the movements closely, Karni hit a crack on the left horn.
The Raging Buffalo Duke clearly stumbled, but interestingly, the horn didn't have any new cracks. Behind Karni, Siduo was fast approaching. Her two white and black energies were fusing as her second soul ring was shining. She was using the Mysterious Jade Hands as well.
The duke regained consciousness and saw her move. It reminded him of what happened last time. This time, the woman was aiming for the other eye. He would not let this happen. He was angry just thinking about it.
The horns shone in blood red, the cracks on the left one lighting up like fireworks. Then the whole body turned bright red. A roar of pure rage. A roar without any semblance of sanity remaining.
The body enlarged, sturdier. The roar itself released terrifying waves of force. Before Siduo could even approach, the pressure of the howl knocked both Karni and Siduo away.
Even if they were Soul Elders, they were sure they wouldn't stand a chance. At least not as they were. This roar made them completely hopeless, yet the increase of strength was still clearly there. This was just the opening move. Not only that, they weren't facing the duke alone. The horde was still after them. Trying to get them even as they were pushed away.
"I think we did well." Karni began. "We've absorbed all the energy as well. How about we leave this guy hanging? Come say hi when we're strong Soul Elders in a few years?"
"You know what? I can agree with that."
The buffalo started charging. It's body seemed like it wanted to pop with all the veins pulsing through his body. The muscles were unnatural.
Yet, just as it wanted to destroy these two mosquitoes, they vanished. Smirks on their heads.
It howled. They disappeared again. Again! It will remember them.
… … …
The two woke up and noticed the staff. They had unfriendly looks on their faces.
"Should we not have done that?" Karni scratched his head.
Teacher Ye just sighed.
"Well, maybe they should've prevented it from happening." Siduo retorted Karni.
Some of the staff clearly wanted to beat her up when she said that, but they couldn't. They were guests and children above all else. And besides. She wasn't really wrong, even if the delivery could've been more subtle.
The three, teacher and two students, left. On their way out, a few of the soul masters were giving them side eyes as well. Many of them remembered the two figures leading the stampede.
They decided to fasten their paces.
"Say. I wonder what our third soul rings will be." Karni began.
"Yeah I…" She yawned. "Wonder… too…" She almost fell over. Teacher Ye caught her.
In the next moment, she had to catch Karni too.
She had a satisfied expression on her face right now. This was a show that their spirit souls evolved. When they wake up, they'll become true Soul Elders.
… … …
Karni woke up in his bed. Then his eyes brightened. He quickly sat up, meditating for a second to analyse his own body.
Yes. He was a soul elder. He summoned his martial soul. Three purple soul rings with great energy pulsing through him.
This feeling. It felt magical. He felt… strong. There was no better way to explain it.
He summoned his Spirit Soul, he wanted to see how Hope had changed. So far, he rarely needed the Spirit Soul, as it was only a hundred year old one. Not very useful, yet he wondered what changes it encountered.
A pitch black coiling snake came out of the martial soul. The scales themselves had no more yellow spots, nor stripes. Only blackness. Between the scales now flowed a bright gold-yellow shine.
The eyes turned to look at Karni questioningly, they were now completely golden. Even the slits seemed to become one with the rest of the eyes. It was a bit uncanny.
He couldn't admire Hope for long though, as he heard a knock. He opened the door and Siduo greeted him. A gleam of excitement in her eyes.
"Let's go try them out." She voiced before he could ask. She pulled Karni outside.
The two quickly reached the field.
"Say, which rank are you now?" Karni asked.
"I'm 33rd rank right now. I think it's mostly because of all the energy we absorbed. I think I'd be 32nd rank without that. What about you?"
"Same." Karni gave a cheeky smile. "I caught up."
Siduo ignored him and positioned herself on the opposite side of the field, ready to try out her new found powers.
"Alright," Karni said, "at the same time."
The two activated their third soul rings, purple colour filled in the air.
Siduo's right arm became strange, full of black energy, then that energy formed a blade.
Meanwhile, Karni could feel control over some sound. The two looked at each other. Karni swung. Siduo cut the sent sound.
Then they both had a weird expression.
"Are you sure you did it right?" Siduo asked. "I felt nothing. Like… Just a normal sound."
"I… I don't know." Karni said, thinking about it.
He sat down. Activating his soul ring again. He didn't know what to do. For all he remembered, his martial soul should go very well with sound. The drums, the heartbeat, the rhythm, shockwaves. Everything pointed in that direction.
Meanwhile Siduo was swinging the blade formed from her fingers. Her hand. She thought of something.
The blade changed its colour a little. It was still black in the centre, but it had an icy colour all around. She swung her arm again and the shade of icy blue disappeared mid swing.
She concentrated on the feeling of Mysterious Jade Hands. She didn't want to envelop the energy. She wanted to fuse it. Fuse…
The colour started to change. The icy blue and black now flowed with one another, though clearly still having some strong opinions of the other.
Suddenly, Karni jumped up. Incredulity in his eyes. He activated his third soul ring.
"Inside. Go inside. Insiiiide…"
The bo staff started humming. Then it suddenly transformed. This wasn't humming anymore. What was this sound? Was it a song?
Stacks? What Stacks? What even were they? This sound. This melody. He couldn't compare it to anything he did before. 40 Stacks? He couldn't actually count it in such a way. He could only call it sound.
There was still some room to add more, but for that, he'd have to take some gradual steps to understand everything. A lot of things made sense now. The drums. The Stacks. It was all sound. But this wasn't a normal sound. Just what was it? What was it that now made him clearly feel the arrogance in this melody.
He looked at Siduo. She looked at him. Hearing this melody, a smile appeared on her. She showed her blade, wavy pattern of icy blue inside the black energy. She swung it through the air. The blade felt incredibly sharp.
She readied her blade to the side, clearly in a combative position.
Karni smiled, putting his bo staff above his head.
"3." Karni started.
"2." Siduo continued.
1."
Karni swung. Siduo slashed.
ความคิดของผู้สร้าง 
AzKoPo
AzKoPo Today was a long day. Start of Uni (again). From what I saw with the schedule, I shouldn't have any trouble keeping up with the twice a week release. Though there might be a chance of me changing up the day of the release for the chapters. That is still pending. At least monday will stay the same though.
Enjoy!
สถานะพลังงานรายสัปดาห์
-- การจัดอันดับด้วยพลัง 
-- หินพลัง