Manifesting Multiple Soul-links

[Ku-chan Dear, bring them around towards the Elemental Fiends' Nest area. Mommy will help you out from there.]

Kuro received Mommy's belated instruction after he had delayed his pursuers for three hours upon her request. Although it was already dark at the moment, both him and the crazy eagles had no qualms playing this deadly game of hide-and-seek. A large part of the arboreal forest had been destroyed extensively. Mommy's heart would ache when she saw this, and it didn't bode well on Kuro's conscience. Who knows what kind of trees that Mommy treasures were lost amidst this fight.

In truth, Kuro was very worried about Mommy's spontaneous decision on assisting him. By right, through the Soul-link, Mommy would've detected that the Monarch was stronger than him. They lacked high leveled Experts in their small group as opposed to this group of vengeful birds. Kuro was still working on addressing this problem; obviously, the Forest Spirit should be the first one added to their ranks while more will come in tow, forcefully, if need be. However, one can only plan, but Fate was a mysterious thing. Just the first step on their supposed 'conquest', they were already in deep trouble; he couldn't fathom how did recruiting a single cowardly spirit beast could turn out into a full-blown confrontation with strong opposition.

Mommy didn't really explain how she was going to deal with these birds.

He had never thought of 'dealing' with the Monarch.

Not just yet.

Currently, the gap of power between them was too huge; he wasn't convinced he could defeat it without suffering major injuries. He at least needed to consolidate his powers first, and upgrade to mid-level before trying since he was weak with metal-attributed flying spirit beasts. However, he didn't feel any regrets. He knew without him present, protecting Mommy to the best of his abilities, she would never survive the first few days of her arrival with her heavily skewed logic.

[Everyone, sync with me now.] Mommy's telepathic voice resounded in Kuro's brain. The voice was deadly serious and full of authority, vastly contrasting Mommy's usual soft and relaxed way of engaging conversation. Kuro found that, again, he could not defy the command at all. Although physically he was dodging an incoming metallic silver pike from the Monarch of the Silver-banded Eagles, his soul had been dragged into the all too familiar bleak Soul Hall Domain.

Kuro appeared in his ruby red astral form. He looked around and saw all his soul-brethren appear one after another almost immediately. The white fox in his icy bluish-white glow, the little slave fish in bluish-green sparkle, the Elemental Fiend Queen Mother in her bizarre whitish-grey lights, the naughty baby bird in a dusty golden glow, and four new ones in hues of green to blue. As his gaze trailed over them, they gave a slight nod of acknowledgment. The four new faces must be new strays Mommy picked up along the way out of pity, since their aura wasn't strong at all. Kuro took note that he needed to enrich the Soul Hall Domain with more 'high-quality' brothers and sisters in the future.

In the very center of the neverending Hall, Mommy, in her multicolored transparent form was waiting silently with closed eyes. The clothing articles she desperately clung to outside weren't there at this moment, but her extremely long and voluminous hair was billowing everywhere like the tentacle of waves, obscuring her form. In this darkened Hall, she was the ultimate being revered by all around her. Mommy opened her eyes and spoke authoritatively.

[We're currently in an emergency situation. Kuro is leading over thirty-three Silver-banded eagles of which twenty-nine are initial to late-stage spirit avian, with two early-stage Nobles leading them. There are two birds we must pay attention to; an early-stage Lord white Eagle with triple silver bands, and finally, the strongest of them all, a late-stage Lord, the Big Boss of the Eagles. This one is dark brown and is the largest one, easily distinguishable. We will incapacitate everyone else, but we need to kill off the Boss.]

The majority of them gasped. The strongest Expert within their group was Lord Brother Kuro. He was only at initial stage Lord, another one was the traitor of the said eagles, who couldn't be depended on. That baby bird never did anything except eat and sleep all day. The next one was Lord Brother Shiro, but he wasn't a Lord yet; just a half-step away. As compared to the Silver-banded Eagles, they were severely lacking in Experts. Not talking about emerging victorious, would it even be possible to survive this confrontation?

Shiro was the only one who had unfaltering confidence in Mom's decision. He only showed surprise with Mommy's sudden aggressive approach. He pondered a little at the beginning but ultimately chose to believe in Mom one-hundred percent.

[It is not impossible. A straight-up confrontation is stupid. Let's do it this way…]

As Mommy kept on explaining her plan succinctly to everyone present within the Soul Hall Domain, their expressions, including Kuro, showed comprehension and clarity. As what Mommy said, it was highly doable.

Mommy turned around her and stared deeply at the Elemental Fiend Queen Mother's direction. After a while, she spoke.

[Everyone, come over and try to merge with me. Let's see how it goes.]

The 'stars' around the Domain twinkled slightly, showing signs of doubt. Was it possible to actually move from their own spot? The presence of the 'bridge' tying them to the Mistress at the center, and how the Mistress who always took the initiative to move towards them made them assume that they couldn't move outside of their own personal space.

Realization dawned on Kuro. It's a new approach. It might just work. Successfully doing this could lead to multiple Soul-links at the same time. Instead of her approaching a single targeted Soul-slave, the others will have to take the initiative to merge with her instead. Although it sounded simple, the soul-type energy needed must come from the partial-soul residing within the domain. Kuro wasn't positive that it could work with his new 'brothers' and 'sisters' as they were too pitifully weak.

Soul energy was a different kind of energy as compared to spiritual energy and mental energy. It was the origin and was the hardest kind of energy to be cultivated. High soul power will lead to the strengthening of mental power and spiritual energy. However, the increment of both spiritual energy and mental energy will not affect the amount of soul energy of an individual. Only specific kinds of rare beasts who specialized in soul-related attack or communication will have inheritance-based unique cultivation technique to improve their soul power. Like him, the descendants of the Lightning Emperor did inherit a single soul-based cultivation technique for enslavement. Another example was the unique telepathic-based spirit insect such as the Elemental Fiends' group. Besides these two groups of spirit beasts, all other spirit beasts will have the same level of soul energy for the rest of their lives, and the energy level was mediocre at best. Hence, these plebeians won't have sufficient energy to perform the required 'leap'.

However, one thing that Kuro noticed with the modified soul cultivation chant was the partial souls of all pets were slowly rejuvenated and strengthened alongside their Mistress' improvement, albeit at an extremely slow pace. He could sense that it was working on him, which meant that it should work on the rest too. He was positive that Mommy will be able to perform multiple Soul-links with various contracted spirit beasts at the same time in the near future! There was no need to wait for a full link to form for a single spirit beast anymore.

Feeling gratified and curious at the same time, he took the initiative to push forward with all the energy he had to reach Mommy…

…

Hana opened her eyes to reveal two sparkling ruby irises. At the same time, she could feel the queen mother's telepathic nest-wide prowess dwelling upon her. Previously, she could only 'feel' it somewhat. However, right now, it was like she owned the video surveillance room, and could observe each one of the Elemental Fiends in HD anywhere, as long as she wills it. Now she understood. Only Ku-chan and Q-chan had enough soul-energy to attempt complete merging with her. She had been inspired by Q-chan's telepathic prowess and how the Queen Mother manage her widespread network. Now, having a complete view from both sides in real-time will benefit her the most.

She was ready.

No more grieving, no more playing princess. She will definitely find the way home and this was just the first step.

Hana winced for the n-th time as she witnessed another close-shave dodging performed by her doted Ku-chan. She took another deep breath. Kuro will reach the vicinity of the Elemental Fiends area in five minutes.

[Let's do this.]

…

From afar, barrages after barrages of artillery bombardment shook the forest hard. Birds and landbeasts were seen fleeing for their lives in all directions, afraid to be caught in the middle of a flock of crazed spirit avian's attack. The spiritual birds were ganging up together destroying the lush arboreal trees with vengeance, to everyone's confusion. However, no one was brave enough to question them of their strange destructive behavior. The little black snake the tyrants were pursuing was a tad bit too small to be seen from afar after all. These birds were the local tyrants of the area, and no animal could survive when antagonizing them. Beautiful ancient trees fell, majestic boulders covered in moss and rare orchids crumbled into pieces, and deaths of many wildlife, caught in the crossfire, littered the already battered landscape.

The destruction moved in a straight line towards the Southwest area, but soon changed direction abruptly towards the west. Along the way, trails of giant silver needle-like spikes embedded the land like porcupines, destroying everything. If one concentrated and observed carefully, one would notice a tiny black worm-like creature dashing about with speed towards a blackened clearing devoid of trees. It was the spot where tribulation lightning strikes burned a gigantic old tree, leaving only a charred stump. The local beasts avoided this area since it was the nest of the fearsome Elemental Fiends who could gobble up a Noble under one minute. However, the birds loved these delectable spiritual insects. They were considered as staples for higher-leveled Noble avian due to their high number and nutritional values. The Silver-banded eagles had raided the small nest a couple of times in the past too but did not overtly hunt to prevent their extinction as they were viewed as a stable source of food.

The little black snake dashed into a deep pit as wide as a two-door entrance. The whole group of Silver-banded eagles dashed forward without regard, with the white triple-banded eagle leading the whole team, hot on their pursuit. The pit was so narrow, they had to enter in a single file since their bodies were huge and nearly filled up the whole space.

The tunnel meandered deep until it became a straight line. Because it was so cramped up, the eagles were forced to fold their wings and pursue the offending worm while moving on their chicken-like feet rapidly. They ran awkwardly within the tunnel until they reached a sudden steep drop of about 50 degrees!

The eagles slid down clumsily to reach an empty space with multiple tunnels arranged in a straight line. The strange empty space was so spacious but wasn't high enough until the eagles could fly comfortably. They could only hover a bit without hitting the ceiling. The eagles looked left and right, trying to find their prey. The little black worm was already gone! Which tunnel did it choose to flee to?

The triple-banded white eagle looked around the strange space and tunnels. They were made from unknown white material which emit a somewhat noxious fume. However, the level of toxicity was very low and it won't affect her or her team. She was very sure these tunnels weren't natural as they bore the standard characteristics of the Elemental Fiends' labyrinthian nest. She pushed her uneasiness within and think about the next course of action. After a moment of contemplation, the triple-banded white eagle signaled the rest to enter a tunnel each as she waited at the empty space. She knew the grunts she brought along won't be enough to contend the black spirit worm, but once she heard the emergency signal, she would know where to go.

Suddenly, loud screeches could be heard from all tunnels at the same time!

The white Silver-banded eagle dashed to the nearest tunnel to see what happened. However, ice blocks rapidly grew out of nowhere, filling up the gap of the tunnel entrances almost immediately. At the same time, the temperature reduced sharply!

An enemy!