Integrating Soul Essences into the Hellhound worked daily well. However, that was only because the Spirit Soul was stored securely in the Spirit Card. From the Primal Soul Lord’s knowledge, Zayn could instinctively tell that he could only strengthen Spirit Souls when they were stored in Spirit Cards. The Spirit Card acted as a medium that allowed him to enhance the Spirit Souls.

‘That is going to be a bit cumbersome once I have a bunch of Spirit Souls. But then again, it’s not like I’m going to strengthen my Spirit Souls a lot. Even if I nourish them, it will only be a handful. That should be fine.’

With that in mind, Zayn entered the underground cavern system, which he named the Goblin Lair. He strode inside confidently and summoned the Hellhound Spirit Souls when the first Magma Goblin entered his view.

The Magma Goblin breathed heavily and swayed left and right as it emerged from the cavern tunnel, enough to attract Zayn’s attention. However, it was not like he bothered investigating the Magma Goblin. It was exhausted and alone. Zayn wasn’t going to show mercy to a monster all of a sudden.

He willed the Hellhound to charge ahead. The Magma Goblin noticed the Hellhound and lifted its cracked scimitar high into the air, its arms trembling violently. The Magma Goblin could barely raise his weapon. It kicked the ground and charged at the Hellhound with fast yet sloppy strides. It continued swaying left and right but moved forward.

‘Great willpower and battle spirit. Unfortunately, your bravery is foolish,’ Zayn shook his head.

There was one thing about being brave to protect others in perilous situation, or jumping ‘bravely’ into a situation you could have avoided by using your brain. The Magma Goblin didn’t use its head to understand that its condition didn’t allow it to fight properly.

It didn’t even perceive how dangerous Zayn and the Hellhound were.

The Hellhound slowed down suddenly and gathered blazing flames in its maw. The Magma Goblin noticed something was wrong but reacted too late. A wave of blazing flames interwoven with golden particles swamped the Magma Goblin. The flames washed over the Magma Goblin, who was fairly resistant to all kinds of fire and screamed at the top of its lungs.

Zayn’s right eye twitched, his interest in the Hellhound’s flames skyrocketing.

‘It can still release flames as a Spirit Soul? Something about the flames changes as well.’

He fell deep in, though. The golden particles in the golden flames attracted Zayn’s attention. That, and the Hellhound’s body, turned more incorporeal as the flames continued to expand. The vibrant golden parts across the Hellhound’s dimmed ever so slightly. It wasn’t much, but it was enough for Zayn. He barely perceived it, but he did take note of it.

‘The Hellhound uses its Soul Power to empower its flames!’ He realized, commanding the Spirit Soul to cease the fire with a frown.

The fire stopped, revealing the Magma Goblin. It slowed down, and its legs caved in. A desperate, feeble squeak escaped the Magma Goblin’s lips, but the Hellhound was already before it. The Spirit Soul’s head shot down, its maw clutching the Magma Goblin’s neck. The Magma Goblin writhed weakly, trying to escape the Hellhound’s attack, but the Hellhound started applying force around its neck. It didn’t torture the Magma Goblin long. The Hellhound crushed the Magma Goblin’s neck at once.

Spirit Soul has slain Magma Goblin. +2 Soul Essences.

“Oh?” Zayn’s attention was momentarily diverted from the Magma Goblin when the notification popped up. He somewhat expected to obtain the Soul Essences from his Spirit Souls’ kills, but it was also a welcome surprise to see the notification. That made him feel a lot better.

He dismissed the notification after a second and dashed to the Hellhound to grasp the Soul that was about to escape. Zayn grasped the Magma Goblin’s Soul and activated Soul Link right away.

He followed the same procedure as before, and a victorious smile blossomed on his face, and a notification popped up.

[Soul Link succeeded. The connection to the Magma Goblin’s Soul has been established.]

The Magma Goblin formed from the Soul Wisp rested in Zayn’s hand. It shaped before him and tackled aloud the moment it was fully formed.

The Spirit Soul thrashed its tiny fists against its chest and roared in its high-pitched voice.

“You’re rather energetic, aren’t you?” Zayn joked, quite surprised that the Magma Goblin’s Spirit Soul was a lot more energetic than the Magma Goblin had been. He stored the Magma Goblin in an Empty Spirit Card to properly examine its information.

Spirit Soul – Magma Goblin

Elite – Tier-0

Evolution Path - 0

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Foundation Orbit – 295/499 (Expand)

“It’s Foundation is not even at 300? That is unexpected. No, not really. Most Magma Goblins are rather weak. It’s just that their combat prowess is rather high for their Foundation,” Zayn murmured to himself before he summoned the Magma Goblin once again.

His attention fell upon the Magma Goblin’s corpse and the cracked weapon next to it. Zayn retrieved the Shanyt Axe from his storage ring and handed it to the Magma Golbin. The Magma Goblin took the weapon and swung it around in excitement. Zayn studied the Magma Goblin briefly before storing it in the Spirit Card. The Magma Goblin disappeared in the Spirit Card, while the Shanyt Axe plummeted with a heavy thud.

“I should have expected that,” Zayn reminded himself, summoning the Magma Goblin again. He willed it to pick up the Shanyt Axe and to keep it.

‘I can store the Magma Goblin’s weapons if I keep some when I leave this place,’ Zayn thought, even though he was certain that the Magma Goblins of the Goblin Lair weren’t going to stay with him for a long time. He had only a few Spirit Cards, and the Magma Goblins weren’t powerful.

For now, they were strong enough, though. It was not like he had any options, either. He had only two Spirit Souls.

Zayn dismissed his thoughts of the future for the time being and focused on the present. He walked to the Magma Goblin and severed its ears. The ears were stored in the storage ring while the rest of the Magma Goblin’s corpse was left behind.

Zany proceeded to walk into the cavern tunnel. He commanded the Magma Goblin to get onto the Hellhound’s back before they moved forward as well. The Magma Goblin was much slower than the Hellhound but it had incredible spatial awareness and combat prowess. It wielded a Ranker Armament as well. Combining their strengths was bound to create some decent results.

But even if his plan to create a Goblin Rider unit would fail, Zayn didn’t think that it would be an issue.

Loud squeaking noises and squeals resounded before them shortly after his Spirit Souls got used to each other’s presence.

A group of Magma Goblins appeared from a small gap in the cavern tunnel. They immediately stepped out of the narrow path and took note of the Spirit Souls. However, they overlooked Zayn. Michael had used Blink to move to the Magma Goblins’ dead angle when he noticed them. That made the following steps much easier.

The Hellhound-Goblin duo charged the Magma Goblins. The Hellhound released its Soul Flames, which Zayn called them since they used the Spirit Soul’s soul power, burning the Magma Goblins. They didn’t die, but their screams were loud and desperate. The Soul Flames hurt them quite a lot.

The corner of Zayn’s lips curled up when the flames ceased right before the Hellhound jumped into the mass of squeaking Magma Goblins. The Goblin Spirit swung the Shanyt Axe down on the nearest Magma Goblin while the Hellhound clawed its chest.

Spirit Soul has slain Magma Goblin.

There was no Soul Essence, but Zayn didn’t mind. He jumped into action as well.

Zayn blinked behind the furthest Magma Goblin, the Verdant Saber tightly grasped in his hands. There was no need to use his other Cards. He didn’t have to drain his energy for the Magma Goblins anymore.

The Verdant Saber cut through the air, slicing through the Magma Goblin’s neck before him. The Magma Goblin squealed in pain, but Zayn didn’t pay it anymore attention. There was no need to. He kicked the Magma Goblin fiercely while perceiving every little detail of the battlefield all around him. He twisted the Verdant Saber and thrust it through another Magma Goblin’s throat while evading the Shanyt Axe that swung past his head right before it crushed heavily into another Magma Goblin.

He glanced at the Hellhound-Goblin duo and noticed their compatibility wasn’t all that great. However, it wasn’t too bad either. The Goblin Spirit jumped from the Hellhound’s back as it crushed the skull of a Magma Goblin and drove the Shanyt Axe deeper into the skull, ending the Magma Goblin at once.

At the same time, the Hellhound weaved around the Magma Goblins, evading their attacks. It inflicted deep cuts across their chests and necks, but only one of its attacks was deadly.

Spirit Soul has slain Magma Goblin. +1 Soul Essence

Spirit Soul has slain Magma Goblin. +1 Soul Essence, +1 Common Card Shard.

Zayn dismissed the notifications and followed behind the Hellhound, ending the Magma Goblins it had injured.

He twisted his body to an uncomfortable degree to evade a spear blade, but that was already the deadliest attack that had managed to reach him. Zayn finished the Magma Goblins a few seconds after that.

3 Magma Goblins have been slain. +5 Soul Essence, +1 Common Card Shard.

Zayn smiled at the notification. It had been way too easy to kill the Magma Goblins. That felt much better than he’d expected. However, instead of falling behind and losing the Soul Wisps by idling around, Zayn pushed forward, grasping all Soul Wisps before using Soul Link on all of them.

[Soul Link succeeded. The connections to the 6 Magma Goblin Souls have been established.]

Contrary to before, Zayn felt a slight tug on his Soul. Adding six more links to his Soul to manifest the Spirit Souls of the Magma Goblins was more burdensome than expected. It wasn’t painful, but his Soul felt heavier than before.

‘I see. Now, everything I learned from the Primal Soul Lord makes more sense. That’s what was meant when they said that the Soul Lord had to carry the weight of his subjects.’

He couldn’t manifest an unlimited amount of Spirit Souls. In the first place, not every Spirit Soul was as heavy as another. Zayn could clearly tell there was a difference between the Magma Goblin Spirits and the Hellhound Spirit. The Hellhound’s pressure on his Soul was heavier, probably because it was much stronger than the Magma Goblins.

Zayn tilted his head, once again falling deep in thought.

He was not yet sure what his limitations were, but he clearly felt that the weight on his Soul didn’t restrict him just yet.

Even a dozen or two dozen Magma Goblin Spirit shouldn’t be an issue.

It was about time to find out what exactly his limit was!