Keith went Natasha and woke her up from her slumber. Her eyes fluttered open and she glared at Keith with a look that said, 'Why the hell did you wake me up?'. Keith ignored the look on her face and told her to keep quiet for a few minutes. His ears suddenly twitched as he could hear some faint footsteps but he couldn't discern if they came from soul beasts or from other awakener.
He sent his soul essence toward his ears enhancing his sense of hearing. With his sense of hearing enhanced he was able discern that they belonged to soul beasts and they were a lot of them. "A beast horde coming from the south and a majority of them are soul soldiers. Normally I would run away but this could help that kid by making her grow stronger. A strong ally is better than a weak ally," he thought to himself.
"Hey kid what is path, rank and level?" Keith asked in a slightly polite tone.
"My path is the soul path, my rank is soul soldier and level 10," she said but she was rather confused on why he needed this information.
"Okay, there is a beast horde coming from the south. Most of the soul beasts are soul soldiers. The best course of action is to run away from them," he said. "But I want you to grow a little stronger because I don't want be stuck babysitting."
"Huh," she muttered in surprise. "Are you crazy. If it's a beast horde, shouldn't we just runaway to ensure our survival since they outnumber us."
"Don't worry I'm not gonna force you. It's entirely your choice to make. We can run away and you'll stay weak or you can risk it and become stronger than you are right now."
Natasha started thinking which one should she choose. The first option was indeed safer and her life won't be at risk. The second option though would put her life at a higher risk and she wasn't confident if she'll survive but if she did survive, she'll would become stronger. So, her only options were to either run and save her own life or gain strength at the risk of her own life.
"I guess I'll take my chances and fight the beast horde," she said with resolve and determination in her azure eyes. Keith smiled ear to ear as he heard her answer. That was just the answer he was looking for.
"I'll be watching from afar and I'll only interfere if I see that you are in danger," Keith said before he jumped from tree branch to tree bunch. He sat down on a branch cross-legged and started absorbing spiritual energy.
The sounds of the beast's footsteps grew louder with each passing second. Natasha calmed herself by taking in a few deep breaths. She unsheathed her broadsword and got into a battle stance. She covered her sword with her own soul essence making it sharper and stronger.
A gray wolf with red eyes came out from a bush and lunged at Natasha driven by the instinct to kill anything in its path. Natasha didn't hesitate for even a second and lunged at the wolf at full speed and swiftly decapitated its head. The wolf's lifeless body fell on the ground, blue blood pouring out from its neck tainting the white snow.
Ten more wolves appeared and seeing their dead comrade, they lunged at her blinded by rage. Natasha dodged the first wave of attacks from the wolves and slashed at another wolf decapitating its head. When she decapitated that wolf's head another appeared behind her and swiped its claws against her back leaving a giant claw mark on her back.
Natasha felt a wave of pain spread through her entire body, she wanted to scream but she didn't in fear of attracting more soul beasts so she gritted her teeth suppressing the scream. She twisted her body and dealt a devastating blow to the wolf's head splitting it in half.
One wolf tried to attack while her back was turned but this time, she was ready for the attack and ducked her head and whilst the wolf was still in the air, she slashed the wolf's abdomen spilling wolf guts and blood all over the place.
The remaining seven tried encircling and attacked her at once from the different angles. One of the wolves lunged at her and a bit her left arm its sharp teeth biting through her flesh and bone. Even though she felt immense pain from the attack this didn't stop her from piercing the skull of the wolf successfully killing it. Two wolves dashed at her at full speed and slashed her body with their claws leaving multiple claw marks on her body.
She couldn't see them because their speed was higher than her perception stat. She spread her soul essence towards her eyes and ears for her to sense them before they attacked. One wolf appeared on her left side while the other appeared on her right side.
She slashed at the wolf on the right side and split into two separate pieces and the one on the left, her hand grabbed its head and squashed it with all of the strength she could muster. Brain matter spilled all over the place. The remaining four wolves tried to run away but Keith glared at them, his killing intent clearly telling them, 'If you even try to run, I'll kill you.'
The wolves were a bit conflicted. They were given two choices, follow their instincts but they'll die or stay and fight the girl and bet their chances. Since they didn't want to die at the hands of Keith, they decided to take their chances with Natasha.
Two wolves lunged at Natasha and their claws swiped against her chest luckily, she was wearing a chest plate so the attack didn't really cause any harm to her body.
She swung her sword and decapitated the heads of the wolves easily. She bolted towards the two remaining wolves and swung her swords in a wide arc decapitating both of their heads. The wolves' heads fell down with a loud resounding.
[Congratulations!!!]
[You have advanced from Soul soldier to Supreme Soul Soldier]