Reiji turned around, seeing that the house had collapsed and the possessed were struggling to get out.
He noticed that teamwork wasn't really a concern for them as the ones that weren't under the collapsed house just ran past them.
Thanks to this move he cut down their numbers by around 15, having to face about 40 now.
Backing up into another house, he temporarily cut down a few of them.
Some busted through the walls but that made them disoriented enough for Reiji to deliver quick slashes.
The onslaught suddenly stopped and after a moment the whole house got lifted off of the ground.
So, you do know how to work together.
He thought to himself, jumping out from one of the holes in the walls just before the house got flipped onto its roof.
The seven or so possessed that were inside of the house got crushed underneath it.
The count was down to 33, not that Reiji counted their numbers in the first place.
He landed on the roof of another small house.
A possessed jumped at Reiji from behind but Reiji was finally getting a feel for their life force.
He quickly threw his sword into his left hand, holding it in reverse grip and stabbing the possessed right through where its life force was most concentrated.
Looking back, he saw that the darkness faded from the corpse.
Reiji pulled out his sword as the other possessed started crawling up the house.
So if my life force has a direct connection to theirs, they can die. Lucky enough for me, my katana is the perfect thing to establish that direct connection.
Now that Reiji had realized that with a direct connection he could transfer some of his life force into the life force of the possessed to kill them and suck his life force back into his body before severing that connection, the fight would go differently.
You see, life force cannot be forced through non-living things but when a direct connection between one life force and the other is made, they can naturally connect to each other even if that bridge is a non-living being.
If the other party has the ability to control life force, which party wins depends on strength and control of their life force.
Since Reiji was the only one with the knowledge on how to control life force in this fight, he could kill his enemy through 'supernatural' means.
For this tactic to be most effective, the connection must be where the life force is most concentrated.
He fended off a few more of them but as they started to swarm him Reiji jumped off of the roof, landing on the road.
The count was now 29.
Reiji swiftly turned around but what he saw was that they weren't attacking.
What they were doing was standing in place, all looking at him with those dumb grins.
Then it looked like the darkness started to come off of the corpses, when in reality they started merging.
The possessed that were crushed by the houses emitted a thick, black smoke that merged itself with the main mass.
Reiji couldn't tell what was happening, since the thick smoke obscured his vision.
Something launched at Reiji through the smoke, which he avoided by jumping to the side.
The mass that attacked him grew taller and a pair of white glowing eyes and a manic, white glowing grin broke through the smoke.
"So, are you made of smoke or just hiding your body with it?"
Reiji said.
It moved forward, striking Reiji's jaw.
The problem wasn't that it was solid underneath the smoke, the problem was that Reiji couldn't even see its hands because of it.
Reiji was on the retreat, trying to get a full feel for its life force.
After avoiding it thanks to the distance he put in between them, black tentacles extended from its back and lifted an entire house.
Reiji turned and ran, constantly looking behind him.
When the house was thrown, he ran back towards the monster, the house crashing behind him.
He ran at full speed and aimed for where its life force was most concentrated.
However, his chipped and rusted sword didn't hold up against the tentacles that quickly returned and formed a shield.
Reiji quickly dropped to the ground, sliding past the monster and avoiding its counterattack.
He got up and looked at his broken sword.
Dropping it to the ground, he pulled out the survival knife Lord Fujioka gave him from its scabbard.
He pointed it at the monster, focusing and trying to finally get the full picture of its life force.
After a moment he spoke.
"What do knights always say? Have at thee?"
The monster jumped up into the air, trying to crush Reiji.
He, on the other hand, quickly moved forward and turned around, facing the monster as it landed.
Switching to reverse grip, he tried to stab where its life force was most concentrated, but its tentacles made a shield before he could do so.
He guided the knife to the side, switching to regular grip and stabbing its leg.
Using his life force to attack its life force caused the monster to take a few steps back as its shield dispersed.
He went in for the kill, but it stopped his hand holding the knife.
Reiji's response was a swift kick to the concentrated area, knocking it down to the ground.
And finally, with a stab to the same place he kicked and using his life force to kill the monster, it vanished into nothing.
Reiji had a look around, noticing all of the destruction.
And then he remembered.
It was like a slap to the face when he realized the village he was supposed to protect from the Frost people got abandoned by him.
"Shit…"
He whispered to himself.
The wind grew stronger, making the ends of his obi flap.
I need to get back.
He thought to himself and started walking back to the capital.
He noticed that the wrist the monster tried to bite through at the start of their fight was fully healed and so was his side which was almost crushed by its grip.
"I started to regenerate like this after I had to eat those Tenebrovermis, how interesting."
Said Reiji as it started to snow.