With the soaring mountains behind them and a forest made of ice in front Aurelian and Vel kept moving northwest.
Now with 20(32km) miles of the 50(80km) miles needed to reach red ice town. The forest looming in front of them was their one obstacle. 10(16km) miles of dense trees that thrive in the cold weather and different monsters making it their home.
Luckily for them unless the 1 reported monster that is classed as wretched attack them they can take out the rest of the forest if they wanted.
Stepping into the edge of the forest Aurelian glanced at the sky and estimated 4 hours until fully dark.
It was time to have maximum efficiency and speed run this ice forest.
"You Ready Vel, you will take front on larger monsters otherwise I want to finish them off myself." Aurelian said glancing to his right.
Vel giving a quick nod and took off into the forest. Aurelian following two steps behind.
...
2 minutes in the encountered a Moose looking creature with antlers that got as high as 6 meters.
It was alone, so Vel immediately to the lead catching it off guard with a horizontal swipe across the it's neck area.
However at the last moment it reared up on its hind legs, then falling chest to the icy ground with its front legs chopped off.
"Damn terrible decision. It was going to be clean." Vel murmured
Aurelian immediately with his lineage sense already inside of the monster enveloped the soul. Then he quickly ripped it away from the body.
The moose immediately went limp. Dead, his first ever awakened monster kill. Right after the soul flew towards his body entering his soul area.
This all happened in less that 5 seconds due to Veld quick slice. Additionally Aurelians control over his 'Revitalize' grew immensely now that he merged his soul with his lineage.
About 2.5x better control compared to the last moment before awakening. Giving him percision and better speed at controlling the souls affected with it.
They quickly kept moving. The next monster the crossed came 30 seconds later.
It was an adolescent bear with blotched out fur. Aurelian took the lead this time as it was only 2 meters tall if standing up.
This time using revitalize he experimented with making the power tangible. A small amount of golden white light emerged from his chest then formed a 25 cm long needle.
It began to quickly flicker and the golden parts of the light started to solidify with the white creating a core.
The needle shooting forward as Aurelian aimed for an eye. However his aim hadn't become great yet hitting it along the cheekbone and piercing the right ear.
"Roooarrr." The bear roaring in pain charged forward within range to swipe at Aurelian.
Unexpectedly to the monster as Aurelian back stepped the paw went straight through the young man's shoulder and out the other side.
Caught off balence after missing the swipe. The bear ended up taking Aurelian's knife through its skull piercing the brain. It died almost instantly.
"Hmm seem I can't fully control either of those aspects of my lineage yet." Aurelian said as he moved the bears soul into his body.
When the paw went through his body he tested out his first non Revitalize based power of making his body intsngible like a ghost is but his control so far could only do about 15% of his body at a time.
He ended up making his shoulder and upper arm intangible that time coming out with a scratch on the inner edge of his shoulder blade.
"Hey that was pretty cool imagine a mountain gets thrown on top of you and you don't even feel it." Vel excitedly said as she blocked his cut with a price of fabric.
"Yeah true but if your with me, the mountain is gonna crush you. Or should I save you your majesty." Aurelian teased as he was being treated.
"By the time we meet something that can throw a mountain on top of me, that monster will already be dead before it's gets a chance. As a bodyguard to royalty why is it that I'm treating your wounds." Vel said proudly then pushing her finger hand into his wound to keep the cloth stable.
"That's because the princess is indulging me in a forbidden romance never seen to others eyes." He said as he turned and winked at her then running off into the distance to continue the journey.
"Jerk, your literally the only one I could choose." Vel muttered under her breath and quickly followed.
...
Aurelian feeling more confident after finally testing his two new abilities. He took on the next monster attack by three smaller 1 meter in size underground animal that came out of a tunnel.
Using Revitalize he enveloped one whole and moved the soul towards his body while continuing to approach the remaining two.
As he got close Aurelian tried the same needle technique he had earlier this time from much closer to the target.
It peirced cleanly through the open mouth and through the spine of the second monster mole. Making it slide to a halt where he had been standing.
Then quickly using his knife to block the attack of the third monster catching its bite on the blade and away from his body.
Kicking it in the head and off his blade giving him room to use Revitalize once more moving the soul away from the body.
Aurelian marveled in his thought La about how balanced his approach to fighting was with his abilities.
He had a pure damage attack. His tangible soul power.
Plus something weak monsters like these couldn't defend against direct soul influence.
As well as good defense with his intangibility creating opportunities to counter when needed.
One could say he was quite like an assassin who upgraded defense instead of stealth. For now atleast.
And his pairing with Vel also worked well as she had stealth and a quick first strike with the scythe allowing him to support when needed.
"I can't wait to see what else I can pull of with you my princess." Aurelian said as he kissed Vels forehead who had been next to him while he faught.