Chapter 186: Weakling
Chapter 186: Weakling
A sharp claw shadow swept down. The claw gleamed with a red light, and the power it contained was shockingly fierce. When it swung, it seemed to tear through the air.
“Boom!”
A large amount of dust and shattered stones splashed up from the ground.
But the giant claw behind did not tear anything apart. It only swept across the ground, ripping three furrow-like claw marks into the spot where Fang Jing should have been standing.
If a living person had been struck, their body would have naturally been split into three bloody sections.
The light-haired girl tilted her head. She shifted her gaze and saw Fang Jing, who had appeared about four or five meters away, standing quietly. Thoughtfully, she said, “So you carry a blade too. It seems you are also a Fang Hunter who came here to provide support?”
Only then did Fang Jing remember the rather inconspicuous “blade” tucked at his waist.
Yes, it seemed he had been acting like a “Fang Hunter” all along.
He thought for a moment, then drew the “blade” and held it in the stance of the “Immovable Wisdom Mysterious Style”.
This time, he faced two enemies.
One was the girl with light golden hair. She had no killing intent about her at all, but her behavior was strange and her actions odd. Her origins were unknown, and she didn’t seem to be from the Fang Hunters either. If the opportunity arose, he would just deal with her.
The other was a Corpse Hound that had tried to ambush him from behind. This Corpse Hound was tall and strong, like a bear, and it had exceptionally thick black fur. The fur hung down, coarse and long, messy like hemp ropes. This long-haired Corpse Hound exuded an aura of a superior breed; by feel, it should be close to the level of “Wei Gu”.
(They all feel like weakling-level Corpse Hounds. Even the Clan Heirs of the three great lines could be this trashy!)
“Who exactly are you people?”
Fang Jing pretended to be from the “Fang Hunters”. He held the blade with both hands and loudly demanded, “How dare you launch such a large-scale attack on the Aobanuma Research Institute! The Fang Hunter Organization will never let such violence go unpunished!”
“Smith… Could it be that you are the external support sent here by the Fang Hunter Organization?”
The light-haired girl pressed a finger to her lips.
“It seems you still don’t know what happened. This research institute under the ‘Kagami God Room’ has been destroyed, and ‘Rogenzai’ himself is already dead.”
Seeing the “confused” look on Fang Jing’s face, she couldn’t help but let out a “pfft” laugh.
“Smith, you are really interesting. So, what do you think of my proposal just now?”
“Enough talk. I know you sent the illu…”
Before he could finish speaking, suddenly, in an instant, a series of dense gunfire erupted. Countless bullets aimed at the long light-golden-haired girl Odette and the tall, densely long-furred Corpse Hound beside her.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The Corpse Hound, huge like a black bear, stepped forward to shield the girl Odette. It let out a low growl, its entire body’s muscles fiercely bulging slightly, its whole upper body actually expanding by a full circle. The incoming bullets instantly sparked into tiny points of fire upon impacting the Corpse Hound’s body. Golden sparks flashed and vanished, accompanied by incessant clanging sounds as if hitting a metal surface.
“Darn it, even with modified bullets, we still can’t pierce this guy’s skin…”
Following this wave of gunfire, a large group of Fang Hunters wielding shotguns and submachine guns rushed out. They wore tight combat suits and were fully armed with live ammunition. Some among them also drew the Exorcism Blades from their waists.
“Do not stop shooting.”
The one leading them was a woman with black long hair tied into a ponytail. She had porcelain-white skin, and her words and actions exuded a majestic aura.
She raised her head and straightened her chest, directing everyone’s actions.
Dense bullets, like rain, assaulted from all directions towards the black giant beast and the girl.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!!
Continuous, intense gunfire relentlessly targeted the two. Unfortunately, it was completely useless. That abnormally robust Corpse Hound was as solid as a steel wall, with golden sparks occasionally shooting out from some spots.
But that was the extent of the damage they could inflict. Tatsumiya Marie quickly realized that the enemy they encountered this time was no ordinary character.
“You’re the new support who arrived. Has the backup force arrived yet?”
Fang Jing spoke ambiguously: “No, I’m not sure either. I just received a notification from above…”
“Enough, fall back.”
Her stern face was like ice, showing no extra emotion.
“This guy is not an enemy someone like you, a rookie, can handle.”
Tatsumiya Marie possessed excellent memory. She was familiar with all personnel transfers within the Fang Hunter organization. Even regarding veterans who had retired to secondary lines as floaters, she had mostly heard of them. This suddenly emerging young Fang Hunter wore no team insignia or identification, nor did he wear combat attire. It was almost certain he was a newly appointed Fang Hunter rookie. In a flat, inorganic tone, she issued the order, requiring him to temporarily join her team.
“……”
Fang Jing didn’t show much reaction either. He just sheathed his blade, took a few steps back, and hid among the crowd.
“How utterly disappointing!”
The girl Odette lowered her head and sighed.
“I leave it to you, A-Ju. These are the pawns sent by ‘Rogenzai’. The item isn’t on them…”
The tall black giant wolf’s throat vibrated with a low sound of acknowledgment. It suddenly swung its claw forward, emitting a sharp whistling sound.
A crimson light flashed through the air. Two Fang Hunters holding guns, clearly standing several meters away, were nonetheless torn apart by the red trajectory drawn by the sharp claw.
“What?!”
All the Fang Hunter personnel on site were greatly shocked. They clearly saw that these two gun-wielding Fang Hunters were torn apart by the red “claw wind”.
“An attack like a ‘sickle-weasel’!”
Tatsumiya Marie also widened her eyes, taking a step back. For the moment, she couldn’t determine the true nature of the opponent’s attack. It appeared similar to the “sickle-weasel phenomenon”, but she was almost certain it was related to that red “claw mark” from earlier.
The giant Corpse Hound, called “A-Ju” by Odette, let out a long howl. From all around, large numbers of inferior Corpse Hounds began to gather, surging continuously towards Tatsumiya Marie and the others. Their numbers far exceeded hundreds, swarming forward like a tide.
“Change tactics. Focus on defensive combat.”
The Fang Hunters nervously gathered together, forming a circle, constantly fending off the onslaught from their surroundings.
The inferior Corpse Hounds weren’t strong individually, but their numbers posed a huge problem.
This kept everyone busy dealing with them, unable to spare energy for other actions.
“Captain, that newbie from earlier is gone.”
A teammate spoke with a strange expression. That newbie had just been standing to his left, but with a blurry step, the other’s figure faded and actually vanished in broad daylight, like a ghost or spirit.
“What…”
Tatsumiya Marie showed a hint of surprise, but she had no extra time to ponder the issue.
“Never mind that. Focus and prepare for the breakout.”
However, at this moment, she wasn’t very confident either. That terrifyingly shaped Corpse Hound was standing not far away, watching their group with a cold attitude.
Tatsumiya Marie had an intuition that this guy would be the biggest trouble they would face next.
——————————
“Mixing with these small fries isn’t necessary. I need to find the enemy’s general first.”
The Corpse Hounds had apparently launched their attack. They must have concentrated their forces on assaulting the area of the Aobanuma Research Institute.
Fang Jing wasn’t a real Fang Hunter. He had no interest in dealing with Tatsumiya Marie’s group. It was only to avoid exposing his identity that he had been pretending to be a Fang Hunter member.
After shaking off this group, he continued moving forward. He hadn’t gone far when he spotted a huge white building to the southeast. This was probably the Aobanuma Research Institute he was looking for.
The institute’s main gate was built with a beautiful path, but it seemed to have been blasted. The green belts, flower beds, and a marble fountain were all damaged.
The main entrance hall appeared to have been blown down in the fighting. The European-style door pillars were broken in half, one end planted in the ground, the other end looking pitiful like a broken tree stump.
Seeing this devastation made it clear the main entrance was impassable.
Luckily, he discovered a large hole blasted in the wall on another side, with large chunks of concrete fragments scattered on the ground.
“Let’s go in and take a look. I hope I’m not too late.”
He slipped in through the hole in the wall, immediately finding himself in a corridor. He ran along the corridor for a while and soon heard beastly roars and the sound of blades slashing.
“What’s happening?”
He voiced his confusion, his steps moving instantly, and in a flash, he appeared before a door.
Pushing the door open and stepping into the room from which the sounds came, he saw a man in a white lab coat rushing towards him. This man’s eyes were blood-red, his entire face growing increasingly ferocious.
“Roar!”
Half of his face had transformed into that of a Corpse Hound. He suddenly lunged, charging at him.
Whoosh!
A blade wind, like a streak of cold lightning, swept past, slicing the inferior Corpse Hound in two at the face. Crimson flames burst forth, causing the inferior Corpse Hound to char like coke and fall to the ground.
“That was really close!”
A middle-aged man in a suit held a blade in one hand while adjusting his tie with the other.
“I just came here to take care of some business. Who knew I’d run into this extra physical labor? Making a living as a working adult is really tough!”
“Mr. Raisu, please don’t waste time. You know our time is quite limited.”
Another young man, who looked like an office worker, followed him in. He was also a bit surprised to see Fang Jing.
“Support arrived this quickly?”
“Impossible. This area is covered by the Interstice Illusion Mist, the specialty of the Corpse Hound named ‘Shu’, a general from the Oblique Tooth faction of the Corpse Hounds from the last great war. Communication is impossible here. In theory, there shouldn’t be any extra support. Even if the Executive Department reacts, it would take at least ten hours or more…”
A man with silver-grey long hair also walked over unhurriedly.
“But this attack… is somewhat surprising. Who would have thought the Corpse Hounds could create a method of rapid transformation, almost like a viral infection. Probably all the personnel killed in the first wave of the attack were infected by that virus and turned into inferior breeds. Because of this, the Aobanuma Research Institute was almost completely wiped out.”