Earth Realm Phenomenon (2)

Shortly after Shui's warning, Reinhart detected the approaching presences. Like Shui said, their lineup this time was far stronger than what Reinhart and Kate had faced the previous day. There were almost thirty of them in total, with peak Soul Realm cultivators being the weakest and the minority. There wasn't enough time to make an offensive array to trap all of them, but Shui had used talismans to set up a couple explosive traps and Reinhart had already activated the Dancing Storm technique, which increased the power of predefined spells within its duration, so his power was in mid Earth Realm. Even so, there were a couple mid Earth Realm cultivators among the enemy so that wasn't enough.

Once they were close enough to start triggering Shui's traps, Reinhart began his attack. Those in the Earth Realm had activated their barriers so they weren't affected significantly, but the others were quickly wiped out, leaving less than twenty opponents. Unfortunately, that was where their advantageous position ended. Since he had pushed himself to complete Kate's seclusion space, Shui hadn't been able to set up anything that could severely damage an Earth Realm cultivator in time. Of course, if he stood up and threw a few punches then that would be the end of them, but he decided to stay back like Reinhart asked since Kate couldn't protect herself at the moment.

After making it through the traps, the enemy began firing spells. Reinhart tried to intercept as many of them as possible while Shui used the Four Elements Technique to manipulate water and wind and obstruct the ones that got through. He didn't want to accidentally interfere with the area inside the concealment array, so he didn't use the earth element and he still didn't have a complete understanding of the damage the void flame could cause so he didn't want to use it here.

Once he saw how Shui was able to handle the missed spells, Reinhart was able to focus on only the spells heading towards him and managed to counterattack as well. However, the number of spells that reached him increased as the enemy got closer. As he knew that letting them get too close would endanger Kate, Reinhart moved forward, but there was no way he would be able to hold them all off with the current boost granted by the Dancing Storm technique.

"Shui, I have a means to defeat them, but I'll need some time to build up my power. Do you think you can hold off half of them from there until I'm ready?"

As he had already been preparing to take action, Shui agreed to Reinhart's request through intent communication. His energy cultivation was still only in the Soul Realm, but thanks to his soul cultivation and the Four Elements Technique, Shui wasn't worried about the difficulty of the task. Reinhart also chose to trust him due to his previous performance and focused his attacks on the middle half of the enemy. 

To separate them from the rest, Shui summoned a gust of wind between that half and those on either side of them. Once the enemy was cleanly split into three groups, Shui began attacking the right and left groups with wind and ice. For the enemy, Reinhart had been the main obstacle, but not the objective. Although they weren't able to sense her, it was clear from Shui and Reinhart's behaviour that Kate was behind them, so after Shui's taunting attacks they decisively changed targets. 

While depending on their barriers to block his attacks, the two groups converged and headed towards Shui, which was exactly what he wanted. Once the two groups became one, they finally noticed that a fog that grew denser with every step had surrounded them. Normal fog was of little use against spiritual sense, but this fog was being maintained by Shui's divine energy, so their spiritual sense wasn't able to go beyond it. In spite of that, they weren't flustered because they believed that all they had to do was head straight forward. Unfortunately, for them, an environment like this was perfectly suited for the type of spell most popular among soul cultivators, illusion spells. 

"Ahh!"

"Stop! Stop it!"

"Don't come near me!"

As they heard their associates scream deliriously within the cage of fog that had formed behind Reinhart, the enemy felt unnerved but they couldn't afford to pay that side much attention. They all possessed cultivations in the early to mid Earth Realm, but they were kept in place by a young man at the third level of the Earth Realm. Reinhart only attacked with wind spells, but every spell was swift and accurate enough to force them into a passive state. As they obviously couldn't count on the group that was trapped in the fog, they decided to take desperate measures.

In a decisive manner, the enemy moved forward with their barriers, defensive spells, artifacts and all other means of protection active. This group charged through the barrage of wind created by Reinhart and began casting simple spells recklessly. One disadvantage of using the Dancing Storm technique was that Reinhart wasn't able to use any undetermined spell, and that included the barrier spell. Therefore, though these attacks weren't very strong, they would prove fatal if he wasn't careful. Even so, it wasn't as if Reinhart hadn't predicted that they might do this.

"I suppose this is enough form practice."

The enemy charged towards Reinhart thinking that he wouldn't move, and even if he did they believed he would avoid them. However, Reinhart defied their expectations by flying himself towards them with a burst of wind. Before they could focus on him, he landed in their midst and stabbed his blade into the ground, summoning a gust that blew them away. 

It was a misconception that all who had seen Reinhart use the Dancing Storm technique had, but this inherited technique wasn't meant to be used with one stuck in a single position. After all, in the words of his family, a dance was meant to explode on stage. 

While the enemy was distraught from being suddenly split up, Reinhart ran towards them individually and struck at their weak points with rhythmic movements. Some of those better off were even able to hear him humming a tune. As he ran around and through them, the rate at which his power rose increased. Despite their heightened defences, damage began to proliferate among the early Earth Realm cultivators. They wanted to fight back, but Reinhart was as agile as the wind and could vanish from their sight before they had the chance to cast a spell. 

Sensing impending doom, one of the early Earth Realm cultivators prepared to utilize his phantom palace as a catalyst for a defensive spell, but out of everyone present, Reinhart was the first to notice this. He stopped some distance away with the tip of his sword aimed at the man and his body in an aesthetic thrust pose. The man tried to hasten his casting, but Reinhart was able to make another move before he could. With a loud burst of wind, Reinhart moved with teleportation-like speed and his sword pierced the man's neck. With this attack Reinhart could sense that he had attained the maximum boost of the Dancing Storm technique so he informed Shui through intent communication.

"You may pull back. I shouldn't have trouble handling them all now."