The chance to attack the Guam Serpent a third time was interrupted as another of the werehyena brothers leaped towards Kia managing to grab her by the waist. As he pushed her, both fighters’ feet dug through the muddy soil like a tractor going through a farm. However, in the end it was Kia’s physical strength that triumphed as she disposed of her opponent with an overhead slam into the ground.
From the slam, it was like the ground under their feet changed from a hard surface to a springy trampoline as the opponent bounced over 5 meters high into the air. Blood sprayed everywhere with jarring “kaka kachk” sounds of bones breaking spreading everywhere.
“Aaaaaaaaaaa!” What followed was a tragic cry as the werehyena’s body landed meters away like a tattered sack.
“Blue!”
“Brother!”
“You will pay for that you puny little witch!”
“Make me pay? How?” Kia could no longer tolerate these hyena-brothers, and she had long been tired of this battle. “I can only go all out and everything at once.”
Interrupting Kia’s thoughts was a spiked metallic mace. However, when it seemed as if Kia was finally at the end of the rope, she obliterated the spiked metallic mace with a headbutt!
Vumbi who had just picked up the mace and swung at Kia’s face was left dumbfounded for a moment as he watched the handle left in his hands. Before he could even exclaim in shock, Kia’s head that had just broken his mace approached his face in his vision. In the same motion as when she broke the mace, her head rammed into Vumbi’s nose bridge, headbutting him into the ground which knocked him out cold.
The youngest Kipi who was attacking at the same time as Vumbi only found himself in the air with no recollection of how he got there. When his body came down, Kia was already waiting. She caught him and while holding him horizontally over her head, she used the agonized hyena as a battering ram slamming him into his brothers.
After they all crashed down into the ground groaning in agony, the serpent’s attack arrived once again. But this time, Kia did not dodge. What met the unsuspecting snake was a punch so hard that it caused friction in the air igniting a miniature explosion of force.
“I cannot give it time to react!” Not wasting a moment, Kia jumped high in the air and followed through with another twin blade slash. The punch and the slash were aimed at the same area as the previous two attacks in order to break through serpent’s defense. After the slash, Kia performed a series of attacks so fast that they were all performed while she was still in the air; before gravity could work on her.
The serpent was slashed over a dozen times below its neck and it even received a few smashes from the hanging maiden wire-mace. By the time Kia’s feet touched the ground, some of the snake’s shiny scales were littered around her feet as blood gushed from its wound. The snake could only wriggle around in pain spewing a venomous spray of mist and flaming clouds everywhere. Although it was not fatally injured, it could no longer continue to fight.
However, before Kia could continue to attack, the sound of a flute seemed to calm the snake down.
“Return!” A command was issued and an instant later, the giant serpent transformed back into its miniature form causing Kia’s full charged attack to hit empty air. The little green snake then slithered away into the bushes disappearing into the night.
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“Who was that? A snake charmer? As expected, it looks as if these foolish hyenas were not the ones controlling such a mythical beast.”
Before she could take a breath of comfort, another beast joined in the fight. This time it was a hound.
“Woof, woof, gnarl. Roar!” This dog that came out of nowhere arrived with a vigorous roar almost like a lion. In fact, the dog had always been here but after the caravan was attacked in the night by that bunch of thugs, it had rushed after those who escaped. On the way, it had also “handled” other thugs who had come to check on their missing companions.
As the hound rushed towards Kia, it gradually transformed from a majestic dog with a lion-like mane to an unknown colossal blasphemy with glaring red eyes. Its dog paws transformed into bony claws that could crush skulls into ash. Before it attacked, it dropped into a crouching position making Kia feel as if it would pounce at any moment and turn her into prey.
“Damn it all, it is one thing after another. What is this fiend?” Truly, even the words out of her mouth this time were filled with fear. Not just fear of the upcoming battle, but fear of the fiendish creature itself. In her own eyes, this beast was much more demonic compared to the almost divine Guam serpent.
This was a fiend that elicited nothing but panic – the dog face that seemed almost half human, the pointed demonic ears, the bloodshot eyes, the lips drooling with fiery red saliva oozing demonic energy, the deformed flat nose, and the flaming mane that spewed fires like ash.
For all its features, the body made of scales and red fur, the black demonic spikes along its spine and head, the bat-like red wings, and the extra set of blood-hungry eyes — any one of them might well have driven any man or woman to madness.
This creature was a lion spirit hound - an unassuming dog with a lion's mane that could transform into a Demon Lion-dog.
However, while this creature was extremely fearsome, with a powerful aura that far surpassed the body forging stage, the moment Kia sensed the demonic energy she was actually relieved.
“If it was anything else, I would have rather ran away, but a demon…”
As the creature lunged to attack, 2 weapons came from god-knows-where within Kia’s clothes. Anyone who saw her pull these weapons out could not understand how they could be hidden under her clothes.
“Aoooooooo!” With a loud wolf-like howl, the rocks, rain, and win in a 20 meter radius around the Lion Spirit Hound were swept into a whirl of destruction. The beast rushed towards Kia with this miniature storm as its vanguard. However, despite the rocks, water, and wind pelting her like a storm of knives, Kia stood her ground. Only her clothes flattered along with the storm but she did not take even a single step back.
When she was face to face with the beast, the first of the 2 strange weapons came into play. It was a calabash shaped spray bottle. It was a container for the Anti-demon spray which hit the beast right in its face. The stinging pain caused the creature to shut its eyes even in front of its own enemy.
‘With the beast blinded, it won’t’ be able to dodge this.’ With that thought, Kia drove the second weapon, the Anti-demon Bone Breaker Spike, right between the beast’s eyes. Before the creature could even howl in pain, the thin chain which was attached to the spike was wrapped the beast’s legs trapping it.
It could only whimper in despair as it watched the spray approach its face again, and again, and again. Even its demonic regenerative abilities could not keep up with the damage done by the combination of the spike and spray.
As previously mentioned, due to the existence of a dimensional rift in Eastern Jin that acted as a gateway to the demon realm, the nation faced frequent invasions from lower level demons. The inflow of demonic energy also caused animals, plants, and even the natural landscape to mutate resulting in the birth of demonic beasts and demon spirits. This was how creatures like the Lion Spirit Hound came into being.
In the same way, some human warriors used this demonic power in their warrior training resulting in the warrior class of Demonic Warriors. As a result, there were many methods to deal with demonic creatures devised in Eastern Jin. While the hound might even have been stronger than the serpent, Kia had a much easier time taking down the hound due to its demonic nature.