Archive - 012 (Patreon)

Chapter 012 – Hunt

*SWISH* *DING*

With a flash grey, the edge of an ordinary iron blade carved through the air with precision and speed, though as it hit its target, only a white mark was left on the greenish-brown scales.

“ROAR!”

The middle-class Unranked Ferocious Lizard wasn't harmed the slightest but that didn't stop it from flying into a rage at the sudden assault, staying true to its name.

It was a beast with a shoulder height of roughly a meter though its length nearly reached four meters. Still, its body wasn't bulky despite the tough scales that protected it, nor was it slow or easily ambushed in normal cases.

Its yellow eyes flashed with a ruthless light as it stared at the young human that had somehow evaded its senses before launching a sneak attack, its razor-sharp claws already striking at its attacker.

The attack was fast and filled with beastly strength able to crush even a hundred-year-old trunk with relative ease.

Naturally, it was Fang who had ambushed the beast by concealing his aura and scent with the Heaven Deceiveing Technique to test out the strength of his low-quality iron blades.

Now that he had used the Heaven Deceiving Technique for a while and his soul force had grown greatly, he could hide his scent and even dampen the sound of his movements. It was a great improvement and the ideal technique for an assassin, even though the Heaven Deceiving Technique still held much much greater mystery within.

He hadn't used his spirit essence to enhance their sharpness though and as expected, they were practically useless when it came to middle-class Unranked beasts and above. Only by concentrating a large amount of spirit essence into the blades as well as using the bodily strength of an Organ Transformation stage cultivator could they be somewhat useful.

This wasn't a strange thing as the quality of a weapon was very important for cultivators, not to mention the significance of spirit essence.

Relying solely on physical strength was simply unthinkable when it came to dealing with beasts above a certain level, especially since complete Body Transformation techniques were basically non-existence in the Mortal Realm.

There were some mortal tempering techniques but they were basically useless for cultivators and only non-cultivators, such as mortal martial artists, or low-level cultivators below the Spiritual Stages with no hope of advancing would bother practicing them.

And while Fang's situation was naturally different thanks to the Archive, his advantage in strength from practicing the Titan Star Law was not enough to ignore his weapon's miserable quality.

Pushing aside these useless thoughts, Fang knew that it was too late to dodge the counterattack without using at least the Flowing Step of the Eight Directions Step.

Still, having restricted himself to not use anything but the Mortal Step, this was naturally not an option even though the deadly claw was aimed at his left arm, and should it hit, even if he didn't lose his life, his arm would most certainly be ripped off.

Fang's mind though was like a still lake, having already entered battle with hundreds of beasts through the Illusion Killing Array in the Inheritance Cave.

His thoughts moved at lightning speed as he raised his hand while flipping the iron blade around for a back-handed grip.

Using the blade as an armguard, Fang injected a small bit of spirit essence into the blade to prevent it from being destroyed as he decided to meet the crushing blow head-on, minutely shifting his weight from his heels to his foot pad and toes.

The Ferocious Lizard saw Fang's move but didn't think that this young human could really block its strike. Its claws had been sharpened and tempered countless times during its life, the number of beasts it had ripped apart with them being plenty.

And yet, when the claw hit the thin limb of the human, aside from the initial resistance, it felt as if it had struck a pile of leaves instead of a body made out of flesh and blood.

*CLANK*

Basic Dual-Wielding Technique, Swallow's Guard – Fluttering Wing!

Eight Directions Step, Mortal Step – Sky Wisdom!

A clear sound rang out as the Ferocious Lizard's claw meet the iron blade, leaving some shallow clefts on its matte grey body but fortunately not destroying it, which was enough for Fang to utilize one of the two blocking techniques recorded in the Basic Dual-Wielding Technique, Swallow's Guard – Fluttering Wing.

There were two blocking techniques recorded in the Basic Dual-Wielding Technique, and while this might seem too little, the opposite was the case.

This blade technique was the most comprehensive basic dual-wielding Battle Art in existence. The techniques recorded inside were the gathered wisdom of generations that aimed only at one thing, and that was to lay down a firm foundation for a new generation of blade masters.

Its profundities were simply not something that could be judged by its rank.

The blocking techniques could be separated into two different categories, one of which was 'Hard Blocking' while the other was 'Soft Blocking'.

Fluttering Wing was the soft-blocking technique that could allow a blade master to receive attacks from a considerably stronger opponent and resolve them by delicately dispersing the force contained in the attacks.

Fang had done exactly that as he received the claw strike, his arm extended to meet the strike. And in the moment of contact, through delicate control of the muscles in his arm, shoulder, back, and waist, he didn't just receive the force of the strike with his arm but with his whole body.

His left arm moved in tiny bursts like a fluttering wing while never losing contact with the claw, dispersing and redirecting the force inside it.

And at the same time, he also used the Mortal Step to borrow the attacking force to retreat, moving lightly as if he were nothing but a leaf in the wind.

Naturally, if the Basic Dual-Wielding Technique had recorded skills to disperse and borrow an opponent's force, the Eight Directions Step as an absolute peak Battle Art from the movement category wasn't any different.

In fact, the ways of exerting force recorded in it were several times more complex and exquisite.

The first step may be called the 'Mortal Step', but in truth, the Mortal Step had never been just about leg movements. It was solely a compendium of exerting force with one's body in the most efficient way possible.

The in-depth explanations and theories about force exertion, dispersion, and redirection, as well as leverage, focal points, etc, were enough to daze even the most erudite scholar.

Mortal Step – Sky Wisdom was the name of the technique that focused on borrowing the force of an opponent. The name was naturally not chosen at random as the user required great wisdom to discern when to use this technique. After all, if the difference in strength was too great and one judged incorrectly, the possibility of death would be much greater.

Fang knew very well that the reason that he was stuck at the Intermediate Realm of the Mortal Step, was exactly because he had not comprehended all these theories. He might understand them on an intellectual level but definitely not on a physical level.

Still, Fang didn't just block and retreat in the face of the Ferocious Lizard's attack. While he received the blow of the beast with his left arm, his other arm shot forward with a lethal vengeance.

Basic Dual-Wielding Technique, Swallow's Hunt!

A simple pierce, that only had one characteristic – absolute speed!

Since, he had expected this ambush to fail due to the quality of his weapon, or to be more precise, he had wanted to fail from the very beginning, given his goal of tempering himself in battle, Fang had naturally planned his counterstrike.

Knowing that slashing attacks might be unable to hurt the middle-class Unranked Beast due to its tough scales, the obvious counter would be to pierce its soft tissue with a precise and lethal strike.

So, while Fang blocked the claw with one blade, the other shot forward and claimed a bloody price from the Ferocious Lizard, piercing into its yellow eye and crippling its eyesight.

“ROOOOARR!!”

"Wu Wu Wu!", the tiny white fox cradled to his chest with a piece of high-quality fabric called out excitedly, cheering for its human companion.

Yue was a Beast after all, so despite her age, blood and violence were not something that she shied away from, especially since the Ferocious Lizard's head shape reminded it of the beast that had fatally injured her mother.

She may not have watched the battle with her own eyes but her mother had imparted her with her origin and some of her memories, so Yue innately hated all beasts that resembled the Two-Clawed Black Python even the slightest bit.

Her violet eyes stared coldly at the greenish-brown lizard, its spilled blood seeming like a tribute to her deceased mother.

In agony, the lizard-type beast truly started to display its ferocious character as its scales turned somewhat reddish.

Exploding with a burst of power and speed, it pushed off the ground and turned its head away from Fang to avoid any further maiming while its tail broke through the air at incredible speed and whipped at him.

Thankfully, at this point, Fang had already retreated a few steps by borrowing the force of his opponent, not to mention that he was also aware of the Ferocious Lizard's second favorite attack method – crushing its prey with its tail!

Naturally, the most favorite method of attack of this beast was to rip apart its prey with its claws. Its instincts though made it wary of Fang's nimbleness and explosive speed, even while rage boiled in its blood, so it didn't dare expose its last eye to the human's attacks.

Due to his initial retreat, the tail was still a distance away and Fang had more time to contemplate his counter, though as always he didn't really hesitate.

Calmly stepping forward, he moved with the grace of a swallow as he flipped sideways, evading the scaly tail by just a few inches.

Landing on his feet, Fang directly exploded with his maximum speed as he tried to draw out his full physical potential, the muscle groups in his body tensing in a rhythm of beautiful strength.

Eight Directions Step, Mortal Step – Limit!

The Ferocious Lizard seemed to feel that it had missed its prey and turned its head to verify the position of its attacker again so that it could launch another tail strike.

Sadly, its battle instincts weren't comparable to the wisdom of higher-ranked beasts, not to mention a human, which made it perform such a fatal mistake.

Basic Dual-Wielding Technique, Swallow's Hunt!

The moment the Unranked Beast turned its head, trying to observe its prey with its one remaining eye, an iron blade was all that greeted its sight as well as the calm features of a young man with dark green eyes.

“RROOOOOOAARRR-!!”

Its roar shook the atmosphere but it couldn't change the outcome of the fight, even its last ferocious strike with its claws meeting nothing but air as it collapsed on the forest ground. It couldn't even see its prey anymore, as only bloody darkness remained in its sight in the last seconds of its life.

Exhaling slightly, Fang took a few moments to regulate his breathing again, since using Mortal Step – Limit had put a light strain on his body.

'Limit' was a purely physical technique like all the techniques recorded in the Mortal Step, but it was also the most dangerous and difficult to practice.

In fact, it was fairly a simple concept as it only required one to exert the maximum potential of one's physique.

And yet, drawing out the full strength hidden in one's body was not only supremely difficult, almost impossible even, it was also exceptionally dangerous. Doing it incorrectly or trying to use this technique hastily could even leave one crippled, or at least severely injured.

Still, thanks to his strong Spirit and the great amount of soul force, Fang's mental strength was rather incredible which granted him greater control over his physical body and enhanced his senses significantly, which allowed him to use 'Limit'.

In this fight, for example, it had granted him the necessary explosive speed to rapidly close the distance and execute his fatal strike, so the value of this technique was self-evident. In a way, it was the physical equivalent of the Compression Step.

Progress with this technique was still something that he had to be prudent about though, as it could only be trained patiently and with great care if he wanted to avoid a crippling injury.

He stepped up to the dead beast after confirming that it had really passed away through a quick glance in the Archive, grabbing the short iron blade that he had left stuck in the wound after his last attack and pulling it out, the tip of the blade having pierced into the beast's brain.

"Wu wu wu!", Yue howled cutely, crying out at Fang's victory over the beast before turning its muzzle and rubbing its little head against his chest.

Sheathing the blade in his left hand for a moment, Fang petted Yue gently, brushing through her pristine and soft fur with an affectionate smile before he placed the beast in his black spatial ring and drew his blade out again, his mind already connecting with the Archive to find his next prey while he contemplated over the results of his battle.

'Three strikes to take down a middle-class Unranked Beast even though I only used normal iron weapons and none of my advanced techniques.', Fang mused with a light frown, 'It's too quick and the pressure was minimal at best … '

Naturally, he was not satisfied with this battle as it was too short even though he had been able to use techniques that he had somewhat neglected in the past. The pressure he faced also wasn't enough to rouse his blade intent into action, which wasn't what he wanted.

Part of the reason he had been able to slay the Ferocious Lizard so quickly though, was that it didn't have any powerful ancestry or at least its bloodline was incredibly diluted. This also meant that its spiritual wisdom was almost non-existent as it relied almost solely on its instincts.

In addition, the only innate skill it possessed was a type of berserker ability that increased its strength and defense, turning its scales slightly reddish while it was active. Such an ability was useless when faced off against human wisdom, speed, and precision strikes.

So, even while severely restricting himself, it had not been difficult for Fang to emerge victorious.

'Still, it's best to only face off against other middle-class beasts for a while and increase my familiarity with the more unconventional techniques.', he decided, 'I don't have to be impatient when it comes to my improvement as there are no immediate threats.'

Looking down at Yue, who had already closed her eyes again, her muzzle still pressed into his robe, he sighed internally, 'It's also better to be cautious until I am sure that I can keep her safe while fighting. Guarding and killing are two very different concepts after all.'