Chapter 108: Making a Move
Chapter 108: Making a Move
Fang Jing did not jump down immediately. He turned off the tracking program on his phone.
When Kuranaga Kuraruka had crushed her own phone, he had secretly placed a tracker on her body.
This was a kind of payback. Thanks to that, finding her was not difficult.
(However, she must have noticed it. The tracker’s signal had also cut off here. But it was fine. Since things had reached this point, even if she wanted to run, she could not escape——)
Kuranaga was being tightly pinned down by the Fang Hunter. Facing the intimidating Exorcism Blade, she blocked it with her ossified whip-blade.
The tip of the ossified whip-blade was extremely sharp. It swept out with a whoosh, like a swinging blade.
Takami met blade with blade. The clashing of metal reverberated between the bone blade and the Cursed Iron, slashing horizontally and vertically, while sparks flew everywhere.
The immense force from the whip-blade caused the short sword to be knocked upward and bounce away. The girl retreated several steps backward. The whip-blade stabbed down like a spear. After she jumped, it pierced through the asphalt road and carved open the ground.
The asphalt road’s broken debris was scraped away by the whip-blade, scattering outward like bullet-like sand and stones.
“Hah!”
Takami exhaled a sharp breath. Her wrist nimbly danced with the sword, using the spinning blade to block the stone fragments.
While charging forward, she unleashed slashes, tightly pressing the man-eating monster.
Both sides moved quickly with rapid maneuvers, and their exchanges were intense. Some movements were completely dangerous and unpredictable for ordinary people. If it were someone else, a slight lapse in attention would result in being sliced or pierced by the blade or bone whip.
“Is this the sword technique of ‘Fang Hunter’? It looks a bit interesting?”
Even without specializing in sword techniques, he had learned Competitive Kendo and had his own unique research on martial skills.
With just a few glances, he could discern the cleverness of the small sword technique.
The shortcomings and advantages of this short sword were obvious. The overly short blade reduced its killing range, and its attacking power was relatively weak.
The advantage was that the short blade allowed flexible turning, which was good for defense and could also be used in narrow spaces.
Takami Fuyumi’s small sword technique combined three types of moves: thrusting, striking, and close-quarters techniques.
Her footwork was extremely peculiar. Her attacks focused on explosive leaps, while her defense relied on circling movements with small, circular steps. When forced into close quarters, she also supplemented with punches and kicks.
On the other hand, Kuranaga Kuraruka was not just being attacked. Her body was undergoing observable distortions, and she was gradually emitting an inhuman aura.
If before, when they had met, Kuranaga was a monster wearing human skin, now even that layer of disguise was being torn off.
A beast-like low growl came from Kuranaga’s throat. Her face showed a tragically beautiful expression, like that of a ghost.
Crack!
A vertical split appeared in her right eye. Fine, dense teeth pulled out from the torn wound, like a beast’s mouth.
Her cheekbones also twisted and deformed. She was transitioning from a “human” face to a “non-human” one.
“This is the true Corpse Hound? It’s simply astonishing?”
Compared to Fujiwara’s changes, Kuranaga Kuraruka’s form was even more grotesque. Fujiwara had previously turned into a beast-like aberration, but Kuranaga was not becoming a pure beast.
Tumor-like growths appeared on her face, as if eggs incubated inside her body had hatched into larvae, wriggling under her skin, causing her right eye, right cheek, and pale neck to swell and bulge.
The vertical split began to burst open outward. Blood overflowed, and rows of teeth could be seen.
Kuranaga’s right face now had another beast’s face—a distorted beast, with a protruding yellow eyeball in its open mouth.
Her shoulders bulged irregularly. The joints in her limbs twisted and bent into bizarre angles.
The dress she had been wearing was mostly torn apart. Blue-black beastly fur grew on her arms and legs.
A horrifying “tail” grew from her hips.
This tail moved curled up. Upon closer look, it was actually a “whip-blade” made of linked bones.
Kuranaga Kuraruka used this tail-like ossified whip-blade to engage in close combat with the middle school-aged Fang Hunter.
“Strange! The Fang Hunter’s Exorcism Blade seems unable to deal with this ossified whip-blade!”
The strength of the Fang Hunter lay in the Exorcism Blade’s natural suppression of the Corpse Hound. Without that, trying to fight a Corpse Hound with purely human power was clearly too difficult.
Fortunately, the girl named “Takami Fuyumi” had excellent sword skills. Even facing these disadvantages, she did not waver and managed the situation with her outstanding sword technique.
“Her physical condition is quite good, her stamina is also good, but it hasn’t reached the top level yet. However, one important point is that her sword technique fully utilizes ‘prediction’ to execute moves…”
By predicting sword strikes, human movements, angles and positions, and the distance between enemy and self.
It was like masters of Iaido performing in videos, cutting bullets with a sword. Essentially, it was like playing baseball—calculating the position and angle, swinging the sword so that the incoming bullet actively hits the sharpest part of the blade.
Jumping attacks using well-developed leg tendons allowed her to instantly attack from a distance, disrupting the opponent’s rhythm and causing them to miss opportunities in judgment.
The circling small-step footwork not only used unique weight distribution to twist the opponent’s attacks but also strengthened her own slashes through changes in feet, waist, shoulders, and wrists.
“Her speed isn’t faster than the Corpse Hound, and her strength isn’t greater than the opponent’s, but by leveraging the advantages of a weapon like the ‘small sword,’ it couldn’t be said there was no advantage.”
If there was a weakness, it was that her stamina would eventually run out. After running all the way here and engaging in intense combat, compared to before, her movements were starting to slow down.
“Hehe… Your movements are getting slower.”
Human speech came from the mutated beast mouth, in a voice as hoarse as an old man’s.
“Shut up.”
Kuranaga also cursed under her breath. She sounded disgusted. At the same time, she swung her “tail.” The cartilage-like whip-blade lashed out. Takami moved backward while swinging her sword to deflect the incoming long whip.
(These ‘Hunt Claws’… are really troublesome. Just as Grandpa said, lack of stamina is my biggest flaw…)
Just the “Muhe Style” sword technique alone couldn’t make up for the human body’s shortcomings. She had been weak and sickly since childhood, so surpassing a Corpse Hound in physical strength was impossible.
Moreover, the small sword technique was mainly for stealthy indoor raids and assassinations. To address this weakness, the only solution was to obtain one of the twelve “Artifacts,” the Teng Jian, after “Seating Name.” Then she could use “Blade Demon Transformation” to eliminate this flaw.
The problem now was… she hadn’t officially received her Seating Name yet, nor had she obtained the true Teng Jian sword. The Exorcism Blade in her hand couldn’t cut through the opponent’s “Hunt Claws.”
“Hehe, hehehe!”
The beast mouth let out a wild laugh, while Kuranaga’s expression, with only half her face left, grew more distressed.
“It’s no use! No use! Your movements are getting slower and slower, woman. I’m going to eat you, woman…”
A hoarse and bizarre old man’s voice replaced Kuranaga’s original voice. It was as if another will had emerged in this body and was gradually taking over.
Kuranaga’s body continued to change. Murky yellow beastly eyes emitted an eerie light from her blood-smeared face.
Something that had been gestating inside her was now completely breaking out of its cocoon. A more powerful, twisted, and strange force was stirring restlessly.
“The attack rhythm… is getting faster!”
A series of flash-fast attacks came at Takami from above. Kuranaga—no, it was now purely a Corpse Hound—its movements also became increasingly swift and rapid.
Takami Fuyumi also felt unprecedented heavy blows transmitted through her blade, pressing in like a tidal wave.
At that moment, there was a loud clatter, as if something had fallen from above.
It was a human figure. He must have jumped down from the second floor and was walking silently in this direction.
“Who is that? Could it be an ordinary person who accidentally wandered in?”
Takami anxiously glanced away for a moment. She quickly realized the newcomer was not simple. His attire was also surprising.
It should be a man, wrapped entirely in a black overcoat. He wore a magic hood and scarf, covering his entire face. Even his hands were covered with leather gloves.
“Who is he?”
Takami Fuyumi did not know who this was, but just by his aura, she could tell he was not an ally of the Corpse Hound. But why would an ordinary human appear here?
“Get away from here… quickly!”
She shouted as loudly as she could. Trying to fight the Corpse Hound while protecting an ordinary person was something she couldn’t manage right now.
As if he hadn’t heard her, the man quickened his pace. The next second, he dashed forward like an agile leopard.
More frighteningly, his body released an intense “air pressure,” making him appear increasingly huge to outsiders, filled with overwhelming power that swept in all directions.
So fast!
The man’s single leg strode forward vigorously. It was a speed comparable to when the Corpse Hound burst into action.
An overwhelmingly ferocious aura, devoid of human warmth, formed a wind pressure that directly charged toward the Corpse Hound.
And the man-eating monster that had transformed into a Corpse Hound also felt a chilling cold down its spine at that moment.
Like a rushing truck, the fierce impact transformed into a savage fist, smashing forward.
The “Corpse Hound” did not back down either. It raised its beast-fur-covered claws to block the strike. At the same time, the whip-like bone blade was poised like a scorpion’s stinger.
However, here, “it” made a wrong judgment. It chose to block the attack with its claw.
Only when fist and claw met in the air did it realize how foolish its intent had been.
Fist and claw trembled slightly in the air. The next moment, a force like a bursting mountain flood directly transmitted along the claw. It was like a wave, starting from the contact point and spreading throughout its entire body.
Its arm twisted, bent, and broke in a series of crackling sounds. Simultaneously, another fist swung up in the next instant, carrying the sound of wind and thunder, as if a mountain were pressing down on the arm.
Thump!
Only a dull thud was heard. An unstoppable fist force directly struck Kuranaga’s abdomen.
Bang!
The Corpse Hound’s body flew out like a meteor, crashing into a wall ten meters away. Like a pile of mud, its large body went completely limp.
The fist force, containing a vibrating power, seemed intent on cutting it in half at the waist. The penetrating force struck its lower abdomen, smashing intestines and organs into a bloody paste under that power.