Hunting the Hunters
Zayn didn't expect the Bison's Soul Shard to have so many soul particles stored inside it.
The magnificent Soul Shard was small in size because it belonged to an ordinary Soul Monster, yet the soul particles inside were dense and of a higher potency than the soul particles in the surroundings.
That was why Zayn could not handle the huge influx and ended up writhing on the ground, his chest heaving up and down heavily and his fingernails digging deep inside his palm.
He groaned out loud while enduring the energy that swept through his body just moments after he had felt a wave of exhaustion wash over him because of the deprivation of his soul particles.
After the Sparrow Spirits absorbed his entire storage of soul particles, Zayn was dead-tired and unable to control his body properly.
Thus, the sudden invigoration was a shock for his energy-deprived body which could hardly cope with the massive number of soul particles that circulated through him.
The soul particles zapped through him like electricity currents but Zayn endured the pain that reached every nook and cranny of his body.
Several minutes had to pass before he felt better once again. His limbs still felt sore but he got up from the ground, either way.
"Stronger than before…I guess, it was worth it," Zayn mumbled after he could tell that his soul particles had increased by 50% of his initial stock before the Sparrow Spirits devoured them.
It was not as if he was in possession of lots of soul particles but he was slowly getting somewhere.
Furthermore, the Sparrow Spirits became a lot stronger and it would become much easier to make use of the two Spirits.
Though it slowed down Zayn's advancement temporarily as he had to sacrifice his progress a little, the soul particles he sacrificed were an investment that allowed him to fight more and stronger opponents!
Zayn was certain that his investment would be worth the pain he had to go through by absorbing the Soul Shard's accumulated soul particles rather than selling it for a small fortune.
With eyes that burned with passion, Zayn removed the Bison's horns before he released the two Sparrow Spirits with a single command.
"Search for our next targets!"
Afterward, he turned around as he walked in the opposite direction he came from. There was no need to give the Sparrow Spirits any details about the targets that Zayn would prefer to hunt because his Spirits could tell what he wanted. After all, their souls were connected.
It didn't need much intellect to understand that his group was small, and weak, and that they couldn't fight against aerial Soul Monsters.
Furthermore, his Spirits were linked to him so they understood his intentions even if he didn't give detailed tasks to them.
That made it easy for the Sparrow Spirits to find the next suitable hunting preys in the following two hours.
The Sparrow Spirits shortly returned and led him to the battlefield where he saw a widely spread out pack of black wolves hunting a group of more than 30 Frenzy Antelopes.
Instead of charging toward the Black Wolf pack that had less than ten members, the Frenzy Antelopes fled in panic. They didn't even think about counterattacking their natural predator.
"Did you find them before they started their hunt?" Zayn asked the Sparrow Spirit that had landed on his left shoulder. The spirit rubbed its head against his, which confused the young human for a few seconds until foreign memories flashed through his mind.
In those memories, he was high in the air and watching the pack of black wolves from above as they marched silently through the long grass of the plains. Their eyes were glowing with hunger, yet they didn't attack mindlessly as a small herd of Frenzy Antelopes entered their sight.
The 30ish Frenzy Antelopes were grazing peacefully, unaware of the dangers that were approaching them from the shadows.
As the wolves closed in, the memories in Zayn's mind blurred and the last thing he recalled was a fierce howl of the pack's leader, signaling the start of the hunt.
'The Sparrow's memories?'
Zayn was a little baffled by this but he quickly regained his senses and focused on the situation ahead of him.
More than half of the Frenzy Antelopes were already dead by now and the remaining ones who were too close to the wild wolves had been forced to fight back, using their sharp horns to defend themselves.
It was a futile battle as the black wolves dug their claws deep into the flesh of their opponents while their razor-sharp fangs tore chunks of flesh out of the Antelopes' necks.
One by one, they fell to the pack's relentless attacks, and barely a few managed to escape.
As the last Frenzy Antelopes lay dead on the greenery of the plains, blood pooled around them in a puddle while the wolves stood triumphantly over their torn apart preys.
They were just about to dig in their prey and fill their stomachs when a loud yelp resounded through the battlefield.
Two more pained yelps reached the pricked-up ears of the black wolves that turned in the direction of their brethren, unveiling a scene of horror in front of them.
The Human Spirit had appeared next to the closest black wolf, whose chest was carved through. Zayn had appeared next to the wolf who was breathing raggedly as its internal organs had been mashed into a pulp by the large iron mace of the Human Spirit.
He thrust the silver iron shortsword deep inside the carved chest of the black wolf before he ended its life with a twist of the blade.
Meanwhile, the two Sparrow Spirits had manifested and released one fire needle, aiming precisely at the eye of one target each. That was where the two yelps emerged from after the Human Spirit's surprise attack.
The Sparrow Spirits returned to the air where they scattered in two different directions and waited for the perfect opportunity to attack once again.
As for the Human Spirit, it had already charged at the other black wolves to attract their attention and create opportunities to kill rather than waiting for the perfect one that may never unveil itself and just waste their time.