Chapter 75 - Full Combat Mode
The surprise attack was successful, and they managed to separate the enemies as they had planned. However, even if they caught them by surprise, the two men with their spirit beasts were still able to unleash their spirit power.
Having experienced a significant number of battles, their bodies were able to react automatically to the slightest sign of danger.
Without wasting time, Hei rushed against the owner of the Arctic Wolf. He was a man of average height and build, but athletic enough to dodge Hei's lance with a leap backward.
Meanwhile, Lian had managed to wrap her ribbon around the ankle of the Saltwater Crocodile’s owner, who had a bigger size than his companion. However, despite his size, he was being dragged to the ground by Lian. In the end, he got separated from his spirit beast.
The Saltwater Crocodile, noticing the difficulty its master was experiencing, tried to rescue him. But Ye, who had assumed her real size, had wrapped herself around its body, gripping him in a vice. The two, therefore, began a furious fight on the ground as they rolled wildly, trying to tear the flesh of the other.
The other spirit beast, the Arctic Wolf, was instead under difficult conditions. Shui's power wasn’t something it could handle alone and was, therefore, trying to get closer to its master for help. However, Shui did nothing but attack him, finally ramming it against a tree.
The Arctic Wolf almost fainted on the spot, but still tried to react. Its sharp blade-like claws clawed like a raging storm on Shui's face. But the albino buffalo didn’t flinch but responded with a series of hoof attacks, trampling the wolf until it sank deep into the ground. But even so, Shui didn’t stop and continued to act cruelly at the enemy until it died.
On the other hand, the battle of Xing was less brutal but just as intense. The Royal Eagle, noticing the critical situation, was undecided whether to help fighting or warn the other two men left at the camp. And this indecision allowed Xing to approach it.
Although the young spider failed to bind the eagle with her spider web, one of her spider webs was tied to the foot of the flying spirit beast. Suspended in the air, Xing was using her own body as a counterweight to prevent the eagle from flying, pulling the spider web down that was keeping her tied to the eagle, and throwing more webs up high. As long as she was connected to her enemy through her spider webs, the winner would eventually be her.
The owner of the Arctic Wolf meanwhile had a grim expression on his face. No one of them had imagined that a couple of kids would attack the same night they had captured their fifth brother. It was impossible unless the fifth brother had spilled the beans in no time.
When one of his brothers' eyes fell on him angrily, the tied man shook his head as he tried to explain his version of the facts. But the poison inside him made it difficult to talk, and he could only mumble indiscernible words amid all that confusion.
At this juncture of distraction, however, Hei's spear arrived silent, taking advantage of the small opening to hit the left shoulder of his enemy. Had it not been for the protection of spirit power that covered the body, the spear would have dug a deep hole in the body of the Arctic Wolf owner.
Hei's purple spear, covered with his spirit power, was like a snake that swayed silently in the air. His attacks were instead as heavy as the legs of a spider that stuck in the prey.
The man brought back to reality by Hei’s attack, responded with his sword. Despite the ambush that caught them off guard, he was able to react quickly enough to every strike. The only time he was injured was when he lost his concentration a moment ago. Furthermore, during the exchange of blows, he noticed that his opponent was a fifth stage spirit apprentice.
Although it was surprising that such a young boy had already reached the fifth stage, victory wasn’t impossible. He too was a fifth stage and, although as a beast tamer, he was less proficient in one vs. one fights than other martial artists, his opponent was a beast tamer as well. So they were equal. No, having more experience in fighting and killing, it was he who was ahead.
‘Yet why am I so defensive? Who is this brat? Usually, the sects’ brats are presumptuous people. Any other of them would have commented that one should not look away in combat before attacking. Instead, he remained silent all the time, attacking relentlessly, focusing only on me. How can such a young boy have such a fighting sense?’
The man's thoughts were flowing at high speed in his head. He couldn’t understand how it was possible that he was losing to one of those hated younger generation disciples belonging to a sect. But the total whirl of thoughts was only making his situation worse.
At one point, however, Hei stopped his attacks and stepped back, leaving his opponent completely stunned.
‘As I thought, this won’t do. I am not able to do it. In this case, then... ’
Hei stuck the spear on the ground and, with the left leg, took off the boot of the right foot. Afterward, with his right foot, he removed his left boot. All this without using your hands.
During these months, Hei had practiced improving the mobility of his toes. Although not at the same level of his hands, his feet had become prehensile enough to grab objects that weren’t too heavy even without using his hands.
The owner of the Arctic Wolf was looking at the scene before him with wide eyes. Usually, he would have attacked without overthinking. It wasn't his problem if the opponent wanted to commit suicide, and he wasn’t dumb enough to give him time to do whatever he wanted. But for some reason, he couldn't move.
He wanted to understand. To understand why the brat, who was getting an increasingly crushing advantage over him, had stopped his attack and was taking off his boots.
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And his question got the answer he was looking for.
He stood before him, barefoot on the ground and with his arms outstretched. The spear stuck to the ground was now hanging in the air, grabbed by his hair.
‘Snake Hair. Full Combat Mode.’
The reason Hei had done all this was that during these months, he had noticed something important. Although he understood the intent of the spear, he was unable to exhibit the full power of his weapon. It wasn’t a matter of skill, but rather a mental limitation within him.
From an early age, he had lived with the desire to have a body comparable to spirit beasts. The spear in his eyes was like a spider's leg. But since he had learned moves that imitated spiders and snakes using his own body, he had somehow entered an inner conflict - using the techniques learned from his mother or the spear?
In the continent trial, in particular, this problem had manifested itself conspicuously. Therefore, he had to decide which path to take - relying on his body or concentrating his efforts on the spear? But he wasn't willing to give up either of them.
So, in the end, he came up with this solution.
Using Snake Hair, he would fill the flaw in attacking with this technique, using his hair instead of his arms to grab his spear. Thus, he could now move his hair like a defensive shield and attack with his spear at the same time. However, it also meant having his arms and legs free to attack with the spider and snake styles' moves.
When he finished his preparations, Hei again lashed out at his opponent.
With Snake Run, he approached in a zigzag pattern, the owner of the Arctic Wolf, who couldn’t distinguish Hei's movements. It wasn't just because of that strange movement technique; his attention was entirely focused on the spear that was being held in the air by the boy's hair in front of him.
Even though he had a great experience, he had never faced such an enemy. His eyes that had become used to lock on the enemy weapon had now become his Achilles' heel.
When he was inside a sufficient range, Hei threw his spear forward through his hair. The man's sword blocked his weapon, but it wasn't a problem that he managed to block it.
‘Snake Whip.’
Dislocating his shoulder, Hei attacked with his left arm.
Bam!
In an instant, the opposing beast tamer was sent to fly several meters. Although he hadn’t suffered any severe injuries, the very fact of having been slammed that way was a big blow for him.
But Hei hadn't finished his offensive. With Spider Run, it was again, in no time, in a sufficient range to attack. This time he tilted his spear in a straight line to attack from the top while with Snake Fist, he would hit the opponent from the front.
‘What, what is this? What f*cking fighting attack pattern is this?’
The owner of the Arctic Wolf was no longer able to reason with his head. His past experiences from one battlefield to another had become trash in front of the strange moves against which he was defending himself. None of his techniques could keep up with Hei's. It wasn’t so much a matter of speed or power, but the very fact that he didn’t know at all what was the right method to defend himself.
After some time, with the terror and the chaos that spread more and more in the Arctic Wolf owner’s heart, Hei finally succeeded in breaking the defense of the enemy and penetrated the man’s trachea with his purple spear. To be sure, he then hit him twice more on the forehead, shattering the man's brain. Only then, he stopped attacking, leaving the carcass of the killed man on the ground to observe how the others were proceeding.
Shui had been the first to finish his fight and remained in his place to let others finish alone their battles, but ready to act if any of his comrades were in danger. Beside his legs was an indistinct pulp of what had once been the body of the Arctic Wolf.
Lian was the second to finish. Her opponent had been captured since the beginning and had no way to fight according to his fighting style. When it came to close combat, maybe she was even more dangerous than Hei. Once the ribbon was wrapped around the body of her enemy, the fight could practically be considered concluded. Even Hei would have a hard time if he were to face Lian.
Ye and Xing instead ended almost at the same time.
The Saltwater Crocodile, despite its considerably larger size, was unable to shake off Ye. With her fangs continuously digging through the crocodile's sturdy scales, Ye had finally managed to inject him with a dose of paralyzing poison. Then she had finished it by crushing its head with her tail.
Xing's opponent, the Royal Eagle, had tried in every way to shake off that stubborn spider by knocking it into the trees. But Xing didn’t let go and began to climb the spider web that held the two together. As she approached, other spider webs had enveloped the Royal Eagle, which eventually fell to the ground, unable to take flight. At that point, Xing used her fangs to clear the eagle's head, thus ending the fight.
Total Victory!
They had won on all fronts without suffering severe injuries, killing two human beings and three spirit beasts. Of the five beast tamers guilty of the sect martial artists’ deaths, only two of them remained now, and they had only four spirit beasts in their possession. It could be said that the culprits had lost half of their fighting power.
Ye and Xing, having finished their fights, rushed to Hei and threw themselves at him. They wanted to be complimented on their work by their big brother. Hei, regardless of the blood and the remains of organs attached to their bodies, embraced his little sisters who returned to their small size. Then, he went to caress Lian's head and finally Shui, who had been the fastest among them.
"Good work, everyone. It was a complete victory, well done. "
While Hei was complementing the others, at one point, Mi appeared from nowhere. On Hei's behalf, she had stayed up high to monitor if someone was approaching their location, but at some point in the fight, she had disappeared from their sight. Since his mother's telepathy bound them, Hei knew she was still alive, and so he decided to let her do it what she wanted and waited for the end of the fights to ask where she had gone.
When Mi finished her story, Hei sincerely congratulated her. The reason she disappeared was to search the area toward the direction in which the Royal Eagle was trying to go. Thus, she discovered the camp of the beast tamers’ group and the two remaining humans with their spirit beasts. Even now, they were standing there, waiting for their comrades to return.
"It's been a while since we started fighting. Surely, the other enemies will soon be alarmed by the lack of communication. We have little time left, therefore. We cannot face them at the moment; we have consumed a lot of energy. So we'll retry for now. Mother, can you put the bodies of the three men and spirit beasts killed in your dimensional pocket?"
After saying this, Hei killed the tied man who was still suffering due to the poison. As he had already finished his task as bait, he was useless now.
‘Of course, my little boy.’ Bao Bei accomplished her son's request without asking questions. She already knew what he was planning to do.
"Mi, did you see by chance if there are caverns in the forest? Even if I would rather not, if they decide to escape, we should fight under these conditions. We can't allow them to survive. Therefore we must remain somehow nearby. "
Mi replied in the affirmative and proposed to lead the group.
"Okay, fine. But wait, first we have to make some changes. "
Hei took out all the water at their disposal and poured it on the ground. Then, he started kneading the wet earth to create mud.
"Come here, all of you. We must get rid of the smell of blood. "
Then he started spreading all of them with mud. None of them, not even Lian, who was a girl, objected and let Hei sprinkle them with earth, mud, and foliage.
"All right, then lead the way, Mi."
Following Mi, they rushed to the cave she had seen during her reconnaissance lap. They had to use every second to recover their energy for the final battle against the two most difficult opponents and their spirit beasts.