The valley of the Razor-Edge Range was silent, save for the crackle of dying lightning. Three of the werewolf-bat monstrosities lay dead in the snow. Their souls were harvested by the Fisherman Soul, further strengthening Li Yu’s soul.

  Two remained.

  The leader of the pack was pinned against the canyon wall by Li Yu’s Sentry Clone attacks. Its last subordinate was crouched beside it. It was hissing and clicking its mandibles in a frenzy of panic. Their greatest weapon and ultimate triumph card, their soul strength, had been neutralized completely.

  They were cornered rats. But cornered rats still had teeth.

  "Vorgnir," Li Yu said for the first time since arriving. Things were finally at a point where he could take a moment. "Take the small one."

  Vorgnir simply roared, a sound that rivaled the beasts' own screams and launched himself forward immediately. His twin greatswords were slightly chipped and stained with green blood but they would not fail him. The two great swords became a blur of steel.

  The subordinate beast tried to flicker itself away. It was trying to use its biological acceleration to dodge to the left. It was fast but was slightly bogged down by the pressure. Vorgnir was in a bloodlust and angry. There were no comparisons.

  The giant twisted his body mid-charge while ignoring the agony in his slashed chest. He didn't try to match the beast's speed; he anticipated its destination. He swung his left sword in a wide zoning arc that forced the creature to check its momentum.

  CLANG.

  The beast’s claws sparked against the flat of the blade. It shrieked and was sent off-balance.

  Vorgnir stepped in, dropping his right sword and grabbing the creature by its throat with his hand.

  "Got you," Vorgnir roared.

  He squeezed with all his might. The beast thrashed but its claws raked harmlessly against Vorgnir’s hardened skin. Vorgnir lifted the creature into the air and slammed it down onto his knee.

  CRUNCH.

  The spine snapped. The creature went limp for a bit and fell into the snow.

  Li Yu was already engaged with the pack leader. The Fisherman saw the broken body of the one Vorgnir had just defeated.

  The ethereal hook shot out and hooked the creature’s soul before it could rally in any last desperate attempt. The Fisherman pulled and the twitching stopped instantly.

  There was only the leader left. The massive beast roared in fury as it realized it was alone. It’s plan here had failed catastrophically. It ignored the Sentry Clone’s ice javelins, accepting the shallow cuts they inflicted and lunged straight for Li Yu.

  It moved with a desperation that made it faster than before. It blurred and appeared directly in front of Li Yu with its jaws opening wide to deliver a point-blank soul scream that would liquefy a cultivator’s soul.

  Li Yu didn't back down from it. He stepped forward to meet the attack. Having fought the others he felt confident to handle any kind of soul attack that came out from these creatures now. He spun his staff and created a shield.

  BOOM.

  The scream hit the spinning staff, went past it but was then deflected outward by the screech of the Koi Soul. The attack from the pack leader shattered in different directions and became harmless.

  Li Yu stepped through the dust cloud. He used the weight of his cultivation and the power of his body. He slammed the staff into the beast’s foot and used it to pin it to the bedrock.

  The Leader howled and tried to claw at Li Yu’s face. Li Yu ducked under the swipe and drove his elbow into the creature’s chest and then swept his fist upward. The fist caught the beast under the chin.

  The creature was knocked backward. However, its foot was still stuck into the ground because of the staff. The creature rebounded back towards Li Yu due to the staff and Li Yu punched it again in the face.

  Right after the punch connected, a streak of blue lightning shot past him. It was Magnar.

  The Thunder King, missing an arm and bleeding, had been waiting for his chance. He drove his spear made of condensed lightning right into the chest of the creature and roared loudly. Magnar then unleashed his lightning Qi to its very limits to blast the creature’s body internally.

  SHKTH.

  The beast stiffened. It let out a gurgling, wet sound as the lightning fried its pathways. Magnar fell back and landed hard in the snow. He was a spent force and was gasping for air. It was the final attack that he could muster. An attack that carried the weight of his fury and vengeance.

  This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  The beast didn't die immediately. Its massive claws began to twitch and were reaching for the spear in its chest. Its soul was raging and trying to hold the body together through sheer hate.

  The Fisherman cast the hook once again. It snagged the soul of the pack leader and yanked once again. The soul was ripped free. The beast slumped down. Its massive bulk settled into the mud with a finality that shook the ground.

  The battle concluded with the five creatures dead. Magnar was lying on the ground and completely spent. Two of his elders were laying on the ground, their fates unknown. The last elder was slowly recovering. Vorgnar was injured and exhausted. Li Yu was in the best shape but he too was tired. Having used a considerable amount of Qi to fight.

  "Sect Master!"

  Elder Torsten rushed over. He fell to his knees and was scooping up his Sect Leader.

  "I'm... I'm fine." Magnar wheezed, though his skin was the color of old parchment. "Just... empty. At least I won’t die."

  He looked over at Li Yu who was breathing heavily but overall was okay. Li Yu was looking around the area and scanning for any other kind of threats.

  "You," Magnar rasped. "You saved us."

  "I responded to a distress call," Li Yu said as he began walking over. He checked the two unconscious elders lying nearby. Their pulses were weak but steady. Their souls had been rattled but not shattered. "They will live. They just need rest and high grade soulrestorative pills."

  Magnar nodded weakly. Before he realized it, tears of relief and all other kinds of emotions, mixed with the blood on his face. "Thank you. Truly. The Thunder Echo owes you a debt we can never repay.” Then much more quietly to himself. “In our condition, we might never be able to repay it."

  He turned his head slowly to look at Vorgnir.

  The giant was sitting on a boulder with his twin greatswords resting in the snow. He was covered in wounds. Slashes from the claws that broke through and bruises from the impacts of battle. He was alive though. He was breathing heavily with his chest heaving like a bellows.

  "And you, Lord Vorgnar." Magnar said aloud. "You came first. You held them back when we were broken. Without you, we would surely be dead."

  Vorgnir grunted as he spat a glob of blood onto the ice. "Don't get sentimental, Sparky. I was in the neighborhood. These damn creatures had been terrorizing us enough."

  "You fought three of them alone, Lord Vorgnar." Torsten said suddenly. His voice was filled with awe. "While resisting their domain."

  "They were indeed powerful and strange." Vorgnir dismissed any further conversation. His hand trembled slightly as he reached for a healing pill. "Loud. Screaming in my head. Gave me a headache."

  He popped a pill and grimaced. "But they bleed just like anything else."

  Li Yu tossed a bottle of his own pills to Magnar. "Take these."

  Magnar caught it with his good hand. "Thank you."

  The group took a moment to breathe. The adrenaline was fading and being replaced by the crushing exhaustion of soul combat. Fighting these things wasn't like fighting beasts; it drained the will as much as the Qi.

  Elder Torsten pulled out his Command Token.

  "Central," Torsten said. "This is the Thunder Echo Unit. The battle is concluded. Five hostile entities were confirmed killed. Requesting immediate help for Sect Master Magnar, two elders and clean up here."

  "It is good that you guys made it, Thunder Echo," the voice on the other end crackled with relief. "Good work. We have an airship inbound. Others should be arriving soon too."

  Torsten finally slumped onto the ground and began closing his eyes. "We made it."

  Li Yu looked around the valley. It was a quick but explosive battle. Ultimately, they had won. They had proven these things were just unique beasts and not any kind of super natural being. They had proven that with enough force, the "Ghosts" were just meat.

  Then a heavy pressure descended down where they were. The hairs on the back of Li Yu’s neck stood up.

  "Impossible!" Vorgnir shouted. He stood up from the boulder while ignoring his injuries. He gripped his swords so hard his knuckles turned white.

  "Pressure," Li Yu whispered. "From above."

  It started as a heavy weight on the shoulders. Then it became a crushing force on the soul. It was the same sensation the group from Thunder Echo and Vorgnar had felt when the five beasts were alive but multiplied.

  Magnar’s eyes went wide. "No... no, it can't be."

  Li Yu looked up at the ridge of the canyon walls. There, silhouetted against the darkening sky, they appeared.

  One. Two. Five. Ten.

  They stepped out from nothingness. How they appeared or how they were hiding Li Yu couldn’t see through it. It wasn’t the usage of the void, it was something else. Perhaps they had been watching the whole time, cloaked in a stealth that even Li Yu hadn't pierced.

  Seventeen of them in total.

  They lined the rim of the canyon and were looking down on the humans as if they were meat.

  These weren't the mottled green and brown creatures they had just fought. These were larger. Their fur was darker, almost black, and absorbing the remaining light of the day. Their soul pressure rolled down the cliff face like an avalanche of invisible lead.

  Seventeen pairs of massive, bat-like ears twitched in unison. Seventeen mouths opened, revealing rows of needle-teeth.

  They didn't scream though. They just watched.

  The dread that descended on the valley was absolute. It was the feeling of a mouse realizing that the trap it just escaped was inside a lion's den.

  "Seventeen…" Torsten whispered. The Command Token slipped from his numb fingers. It was useless anyways. "Five nearly killed us… Now seventeen?"

  Magnar stared up at them but his face was draining of all hope. "We can't... we can't fight that."

  Vorgnir looked up at the ridge. He looked at the seventeen monsters. He looked at his chipped swords. He looked at his bleeding chest.

  Then, he looked at Li Yu. At Magnar and the others.

  "Boy," Vorgnir said loudly. His voice was calm. Strangely, terrifyingly calm. Li Yu looked over at him.

  "Take them and escape! I will hold them off for a bit." Vorgnir said. He immediately turned his back to Li Yu. He faced the cliff. He faced the seventeen nightmares that were still where they appeared.

  "GO!" Vorgnir roared loudly again. The sound echoing off the walls. Without another word he slammed his swords together. The impact created a spark that flared in the twilight. He exploded upward and charged straight for the seventeen.