Chapter 190: Warm-up
Chapter 190: Warm-up
Hiss!
As the black flames rose, cadaveric patterns suddenly bloomed from his fingertips, coiling around his arm like strange designs.
Boom!
In an instant, a tornado of cadaveric toxin erupted around his body.
With the full support of the Seal of the Asura Hand, Fang Jing’s tall figure seemed to merge with the burning black fire.
A slight twitch of his muscles caused a twisted, inexplicable power to swirl around him.
Only the Corpse Hounds could observe this state; the human Fang Hunters did not witness this eerie scene, nor could they see the black flames covering Fang Jing.
He crossed his hands as if forming a seal.
“Iron-Blooded Torrential Rush · Twin Dragon God!”
With both Inner Ghost Gates open, his heart started like an engine. A loud roar echoed as the blood inside him buzzed like burning fire, wave after wave radiating continuously toward his limbs.
His gray-skinned muscles bulged and knotted again, his bones vibrating. Thick muscles wrapped in green veins covered his body, resembling steel cords twitching beneath his skin.
“Die!”
Before his words faded, he dashed forward like an arrow shot from a bow.
Before the Twin Ju Clan Heir could raise his eyes, his ears were filled with the howling wind.
Fang Jing vanished from his sight, leaving only a blurry afterimage on his retina.
A heavy fist then crashed down from above, followed by an overwhelming force erupting with full impact.
Wham!
The punch descended, its terrifying wind spreading everywhere, stinging the cheeks of the one-horned Twin Ju Clan Heir. Only then did he truly react and feel immense pressure.
He growled, flipping his claws upward, determined to block the blow.
This was his biggest mistake. The immense force crashed down, and the one-horned Corpse Hound felt as if he had taken not a fist, but a high-explosive bomb dropping from the sky.
Even more despairing, an explosive storm erupted the next second.
The one-horned Corpse Hound grunted and was sent flying by the shockwave.
Before his eyes, a mass of black flame darker than night burst from the center, radiating outward in all directions.
The cadaveric flames brought no heat but carried an aura of death that consumed all life around them.
His skin was instantly eroded, and most of his muscles seemed to dissolve as the cadaveric toxin devoured them.
He quickly activated his scarce “Moon Fiend’s Blood” to enhance his regeneration, resisting this cursed power.
“Bas…tard!”
So strong!
How? How can a mere human be this powerful?
The concrete beneath his feet was deeply indented, and his hands were crushed into mud by the strange force.
Realizing the danger, the one-horned Corpse Hound retreated like lightning. Fang Jing’s remaining force continued, his fist imprinting solidly into the ground.
The terrifying power erupted instantly, shaking the earth like an earthquake.
The shockwave swept outward like a storm, shattering all the glass on the first floor of the distant research institute.
(Monster… Can human strength reach this level?)
Regenerating both hands rapidly, his crimson claws slashed out high-speed wind blades one after another. The compressed air formed sharp shockwaves, sweeping densely across the area.
Each claw was incredibly sharp, screeching as it cut through the void, moving so fast that even the sharpest-eyed “Douki” could only see crimson dotted lines sweeping past.
These crimson lines shot in all directions; one of them struck the concrete, sending sparks flying and leaving a deep claw mark.
Crash!
A red flash cut a nearby lamppost in half. Before the falling pole hit the ground, it was shredded by countless claw shadows into several pieces.
A marble sculpture was hit by red claw winds, instantly shattering into pieces.
Fang Jing’s muscles trembled, and a gust of wind swirled around him. He pushed off with his legs, shattering the concrete beneath him into fragments, cracks spreading everywhere. He charged forward like a roaring tank.
“Shoulder Strike · High Dragon Force!”
Focusing on his right shoulder, he unleashed a full-force collision. His entire body tensed, displaying steel-like cohesion as he ignored the sweeping claw winds. With the Inner Ghost Gate opened to the second stage, Fang Jing could almost withstand bullets head-on.
Moreover, he now used High Dragon Force, a hardening technique, to protect his vital points. Under his skin, the Aberrant Armor formed a scaly membrane.
Splat, splat—sounds echoed as blood marks splattered on his grayish skin.
Beyond that, he suffered no major injuries.
Fang Jing roared like thunder, darting forward like a lightning bolt tearing through the night. His right shoulder slammed into the one-horned Corpse Hound’s chest.
Thump!!
A strange impact sound erupted like thunder. The one-horned Corpse Hound’s body froze for a moment before being blasted backward, crashing through a green belt and tumbling away in a roll.
The successive attacks flowed seamlessly from start to finish.
However, such ferocious moves forced even Fang Jing to catch his breath. As he paused, a shadow exploded from behind.
“Human, just die!”
A shriek like a banshee echoed from behind him.
A massive mass of flesh spread open like a cloth, resembling a fishing net. With a squelch, it wrapped Fang Jing deep within.
This was “Miharai” in her predatory form, a unique type of Corpse Hound. In an instant, the flesh transformed into a huge membrane, swallowing him like a man-eating flower.
“Hahaha—! Wait to be digested by me!”
Before she finished speaking, a fist infused with black flames burst from within. The punch’s force spread outward, tearing the flesh membrane apart instantly. The cadaveric flames scorched every inch of Miharai’s flesh.
The air spread like a shockwave in all directions. Miharai was blown apart, most of her body turning to gray dust, losing all regenerative ability.
“You’re asking for death!”
Fang Jing sneered, leaped tens of meters away, and chased after the fleeing one-horned Corpse Hound like a raging storm.
————————————
“Hah!”
With a shout, Yagashi’s first upward slash with Yōtō Sengen Maru was deflected by a horizontal claw.
The duel against the ancient Corpse Hound Tsukiumi had become a tough battle.
The fight in the thick fog was not going well, but this was expected. Yagashi knew well that his enemy was a powerful Great Elder who had served the Corpse Hound King forty years ago.
His coat flapped as he spun to evade the dangerous attack. Gripping the hilt of the demon blade Yōtō Sengen Maru, his right hand rose, delivering a diagonal slash that connected with Tsukiumi.
However, Tsukiumi was unharmed. Its beastly long hair spread out, turning into several thorny spikes like fangs. It used a skill too fast to see, blocking Yōtō Sengen Maru’s strike.
Whoosh, whoosh!
A mountain of needle-like assaults extended from Tsukiumi’s hair. The avoided hair tips pierced through the trees behind as if cutting tofu.
So fast! And so hard—that couldn’t be normal hair strength.
It was astonishing.
Suddenly, the hair twisted and elongated like snakes, shooting forward like spears.
(Don’t get hit! That’s an attack that ‘Aberrant Armor’ can’t defend against. That hair is equivalent to Tsukiumi’s Hunting Fang!)
Hunting Fang?!
Could this guy really turn his fur into Hunting Fangs?
(That’s right, the abilities of the upper-tier Corpse Hounds are quite abnormal, so you must stay extremely focused when fighting them…)
Suzuran reminded him in a rapid tone.
And Yagashi, of course, understood the danger. He gripped his long blade with his right hand, took up a stance, and shifted to the right.
“Hey, you’re afraid, aren’t you?”
Tsukiumi, the Corpse Hound, smiled beneath his mask as his fur shot out like venomous spikes, clashing with the sword in Yagashi’s hand.
“Fear is good and correct. Humans should be afraid of us Corpse Hounds, for we are the fear bestowed upon you by the Moon Fiend, and we feed on the fear of humans.”
The silver blade repeatedly deflected the fur’s stabs, and the metallic clashing sounds were like agonized wails.
The storm-like exchange between the sword and the needle-like black fur was shocking. The paths of the silver slashes and the fur transformed into spears crossed, shredding everything in their way into fragments or scattering debris.
As his confrontation with the Corpse Hound intensified, the speed of the sword and fur strikes exceeded what the human eye could follow.
In the space where the man and the beast fought, not even a single falling leaf had a chance to intervene.
“…Next, you will die! Before death arrives, please offer up your screams, your cries, and your performance to the fullest!”
In Tsukiumi’s eyes, humans were nothing but lowly existences, worthless trash. Yet, forty years ago, humans had dealt the Corpse Hounds a deeply humiliating defeat.
Starting today, he would reclaim everything in the name of “Raging King.”
Whoosh!
At that moment, a ghostly shadow dashed past, speeding rapidly by the two of them.
It was a Unicorn Corpse Hound, its limbs scrambling forward as it crossed in front of Yagashi and Tsukiumi in an instant, vanishing into a tiny black dot.
“What… that’s ‘Ju Ju’! Wait, why is it leaving? What’s going on?”
Tsukiumi was also startled, showing a puzzled expression.
On the other side, Yagashi, who was facing off against Tsukiumi, felt a chill in his heart.
Suddenly, both of them heard the sound of rushing air. The next second, a violent gust tore through the air, smashing through the canopy above them. A massive figure landed heavily on the ground with a loud thud.
What the heck?
Yagashi and Tsukiumi both saw it clearly: a three-meter-tall gray giant had descended from the sky—or at least jumped from more than ten meters above.
The moment it landed, it took off like a cannonball, its feet pounding the ground as it shot a hundred meters away.
The thing was chasing the previously departed Ju Ju, moving so fast that its afterimages blurred together.
This naturally caught the attention of Yagashi and Tsukiumi.
Without a word, they quickly followed.
——————————
“Run! Where do you think you can escape to?”
With a boom, a huge rock was kicked into the air like a missile, crashing down in front of the Unicorn Corpse Hound. The large stone tore through the ground, shattering and spraying fragments in all directions.
The Unicorn Corpse Hound gritted its teeth and slammed on the brakes. It spun around sharply and saw Fang Jing closing in through the mist.
(I had to reach a level close to King’s Nightmare just to match this human’s speed. But comparing our strength or physical ability, I’m actually a bit weaker. It’s truly hard to understand…)
“Idiot! Do you really think you’ve got me?”
The Unicorn Corpse Hound sneered as it spoke.
“Coming to this forest means only death for you. The earlier fight was just the opening act, nothing more than a warm-up game.”
“Hmph! Don’t push the joke too far… With strength like that, you actually think you can defeat me? Don’t you get it? Your pitiful power is incredibly weak.”
Fang Jing said word by word, “Come on! I’ll give you a chance. Stop running. Let’s make this more interesting.”
“Arrogant human, this mist-covered territory will become your grave.”
A figure emerged from the mist—a Corpse Hound known as “Turdus.” It looked somewhat different from Tsukiumi and Ju Ju, with a face like that of an old lion and its body covered in short gray fur. Strangest of all was its long, thick, scaly tail, which swung through the air, creating sharp cracking sounds as it cut through the atmosphere.
“Another Elder Class Corpse Hound? Is this your trump card?”
Fang Jing grinned. Just then, two more shadows burst out from behind him.
It was Yagashi and Tsukiumi, who had caught up.
“Since you’re all here, none of you are leaving. Let me send you off.”
In an instant, he became like a fierce beast, the muscles in his limbs swelling as a surge of killing intent erupted.
At the same time, everyone within the mist could feel that expanding, savage murderous aura.
And in that very second, Fang Jing moved.
The figure he left behind was just an afterimage. With a single swift shift, he appeared in front of the lion-headed “Turdus.”
He threw a punch, accompanied by a surge of transparent air currents, landing it squarely on Turdus’s forehead.
The other’s head, neck, and upper chest were instantly shattered by the force of the blow. The next moment, a violent Black Flame ignited its lower body.
Instant kill!
A blatant instant kill.
Tsukiumi’s eye twitched. Fang Jing flashed before him, sweeping a kick toward him.
Not good!
He raised an arm to block, but as Fang Jing’s right leg swept through the air like a thunderclap, the unstoppable force of the kick tore through his side as if it were paper, instantly shattering half of his flesh.
A large hand clamped around his neck. A spot of black suddenly appeared from the palm, and then Tsukiumi’s body burst into flames like burning paper. The blackness spread from the point of contact, setting his entire body ablaze. In the blink of an eye, he became a massive torch.
“Not good!”
A sense of crisis shot through Yagashi.
His intuition warned him that danger was approaching.
The next instant, a foot kicked straight at his face.
“I—”
He opened his mouth, but before he could speak, he was kicked flying, crashing into a large tree and immediately knocked unconscious.
“The gap in strength is really obvious!”
Fang Jing casually wiped out all obstacles in front of him.
He tilted his head and stared at the increasingly stiff-faced Unicorn Corpse Hound.
“Has your warm-up ended?”