[Author’s note: Experimenting first person view and slightly different writing style]

Vier’s POV

We are currently under attack. Yes, that was all I could say about the current situation. What? Evacuate? You have got to be joking. This is my household, my home. I am not going anywhere! This is the one place that I have to protect. Sigh.

I dispatched my troops of spirit warriors around the territory and push the spirit beasts back to the northern forest. We can’t let dead spirit beasts to accumulate around the area. Not to mention the horrible smell of carcasses, blood will also stain the area. Something that is not easy to clean up. So I prefer that we push them back instead of killing them. Well, some had to be killed due to their strength and threat they poses but for the small fry, might as well be lenient. I am not being naïve, no! I had lived for thousands of years, do not belittle my experiences! Sigh, just who am I commenting to…

Ellen refused to leave my side even though I told her to leave with Balamore to a safe place. What am I doing? Obviously I am fighting off those rampaging spirit beasts while protecting Ellen at the same time. No, I am not having trouble. I am the Spirit Lord! Sigh. Anyways, the lot of them just kept coming. I have yet to draw my swords and simply use my hands to fend them off.

What am I waiting for? A decisive moment. I had a plan of course. Again, who do you think I am?! I told my troops to draw the stronger spirit beasts’ attention towards our household while the weaker ones towards the forest. This is so that the lot of them will be concentrated here. It’s difficult to deal with them if they are dispersed and scattered all over the place. So might as well attract them to a single point. Hmm? Bad idea? Fumu, you’ll see.

My subordinates doesn’t have that much of a hard time dealing with those beasts. 2/3 of my forces are above level 80, only 1/3 of the forces are below level 80 in power. Well, they are still young in the household so it is a perfect opportunity for them to grind their levels and get stronger. This is training too, you know. Right now, I am fighting a 9th rank spirit beasts. The strongest of the lot, I guess.

[My Lord, I sense a presence with great power rushing towards us. There are other minor presences as well, around 100? It seems to be an army] Balamore directing a gaze towards the approaching presence. In the distance, I could see a purely white-covered young man...err...fox spirit dashing towards us at full speed in the corner of my eye as I deflect attacks after attacks from the spirit beasts. Of course, I made sure Balamore protects Ellen with spirit magic.

The young man, closing in on us stopped mid-way with wide-eyes.

[!] Shiroki.

[Shiroki-san?] Ellen gasped when she recognized the figure.

I see. So the young man is Shiroki. Then the other presences must be his followers. Quite the number he brought. Was he going to declare war or something? I’d rather not have that. Oh wait, I did speculate that. However, he seemed to only be around level 125 at best. I doubt his subordinates are any stronger. So I don’t think I’ll have any trouble to subdue him when it comes to it.

My level? I am level 555. Ridiculous? Nah, the leader of the Amaterasu House is far more absurd in my opinion, with a level of 826 and still growing. His subordinates are all above level 100. So yeah, a complete powerhouse. Why did he not claim the title of the Spirit Lord, you ask? Well, if you meet him one day, you’ll understand. Also, for Shiroki to have reached level 125 at such a young age is already considered outrageous. In comparison, my level is not that surprising considering my age and long life experience.

[Ellen!] Shiroki screamed as he broke out of his stupor. Why did he fell into a daze anyways? Whatever, who cares. By the way, I am still holding off the giant 9th rank spirit beasts.

*Whistle*.

Oops, there’s the signal. I unleashed my spirit essence and scan the area. Good, all the spirit beasts are within 1 km radius of the household. My troops did a fairly good job. I tilted my head slightly and gestured Balamore to drag Ellen away from me. Ellen was being stubborn though. However, I convinced her to stay at least 10 meters away from me as I said that am dealing the last blow to the spirit beast before us.

The Spirit Beast before me is a Giant Chimera which can be defeated by a lone Spirit warrior of at least level 300. So yeah, this is pretty much a cakewalk for me. Only Spirit Beasts that are above 12th rank could pose a threat to my level. The highest rank a Spirit Beast could achieve is 15th rank.

Anyways, I am planning to put an end to these assaults once and for all. That is why I ordered my troops as I did. With Ellen out of harm’s way, I began my chant. I took out my sword and drew a circular motion from where I stood. I held my stance, pulled in as much as spiritual energy as possible into my body, let it circulate along my spirit veins and redirected towards my arms and finally to the tip of my sword. The immense amount of concentrated energy gathered at my sword in the form of lightning energy.

All of this happen in just one moment. Lastly, I took a deep breath and as I exhaled, I shot out my sword to the sky and a mass of lightning sparks throughout the area piercing through every spirit beasts that I locked in my scan over 1 km radius around the house, disintegrating them into dust. All the spirit warriors in the vicinity stopped in their tracks in awe. Not one spirit beasts survive under my devastating attack. Fuh, I exhaled another breath with relief and collect my composure.

I turned towards Balamore, Ellen, and finally Shiroki who seemed frozen in place. I looked at him with a solemn expression as Ellen ran towards him worried. His shoulder was bleeding. Looked like he got injured, probably incurred when fighting one of the stronger spirit beasts. Sigh. I strode towards them.

[You must be Shiroki] I said indifferently.

[Eh?] Shiroki accidentally let out a stupid sound.

[You knew of me?] He said with slight hesitation. I could see beads of sweat running down his foreheads. I wonder if he exhausted too much of his stamina? It is hard to believe especially at his level. I nodded in assent.

[Ellen spoke of you. Recently] I stated matter-of-factly. Again, his eyes went wide and turned towards Ellen. Ellen smiled with her eyes closed. She seemed very happy. Ah, youth. It reminds me of when I first met my late wife. Not. It was scary as hell.

Anyways, pushing back the surging memories, I relayed instructions to Balamore and my troops to wrap things up and take care of the aftermath while Ellen tended to Shiroki’s wound. I explicitly told Ellen not to use her powers very much. If it’s a minor wound, then it should be fine to leave it to normal treatments. I am glad she abide my words.

[Shiroki] Vier.

[Ye…Yes?] He stuttered while his eyes were swimming. Hmm? Did I scare him or something? Did I sound too intimidating? I called out to him rather normally though.

[You may rest, here. It would seem that you have things to discuss as well] I simply said. At this, Shiroki’s eyes regained his focus and a determined look can be seen on his face.

[Yes. Thank you] he said as he bowed to what seems like gratitude. He had his 100 followers dismissed and only had 5 of his close subordinate, including Foul to stay with him. Just where did this Foul fellow come from? I did not notice him. I held up my guard around Foul. He looked to be stronger than he seemed.

Ellen led Shiroki to one of the guest rooms while his 5 subordinates quickly got along well with my troops. It would seemed that they fought together against the spirit beasts and develop some kind of camaraderie and rivalry at the same time. They also proceed to share pointers in the form of spars. Sigh. The head ache is... Alright, I am going to take a nap.