Chapter 113: A Reveal of Strength
“Ha!” Kendall shouted. The large axe made of his Saint Force swung behind him in a motion to chop off the head of the Black Tiger.
The Black Tiger dodged the battle axe by leaping into the air toward Kendall. Extending its jaws, the Black Tiger prepared to bite down onto him.
Immediately bringing back the battle axe, Kendall brought his Saint Weapon up to defend himself, allowing the Black Tiger to make contact with that instead. The sharp fangs of the Black Tiger made contact with the hardened weapon with a crunching sound. The force of the impact was so strong that Kendall couldn’t help but stagger back a few steps as trail marks were left on the ground.
Not too long after, the paws of the Black Tiger landed on the ground. Before Kendall could regain his composure, the sharp claws of the tiger slashed at Kendall’s chest.
Kendall became alarmed at the speed of the claws. With his axe being bitten and held down by the tiger, it was useless in this case. At this crucial moment, Kendall sucked in a deep breath and readied his body. At the same time, the Black Tiger’s sharp claws slashed across his chest with a cold ripping sound as his clothes were ripped apart. Along with his clothes, Kendall’s blood splattered into the air as the claws made contact.
This time, although Captain Kendall had taken the claws to his chest head on since there wasn’t enough time to dodge, it was only a superficial wound. He had been worried that the claws would have brought out a larger amount of damage, but this didn’t seem to be the case.
Just as the Black Tiger raked its claws across Kendall’s chest, a large broadsword chopped down onto the tiger’s back with a ferocious amount of force. As the sword met the tiger’s back, a large wound could be seen, but thanks to the resilience of the tiger, the wound was only the size of a palm in length.
As he watched the fight with the Black Tiger, Jian Chen shook his head helplessly. In his eyes, whether it was Kendall or Deere, neither of the two had shown their superiority with their weapons. Just looking at how they held the weapon, it was almost as if they didn’t know how to use them. They had swung wildly without any sort of form or discipline.
It was Deere who had annoyed Jian Chen the most. Every single weapon had its own characteristics and special pattern of attack. Deere didn’t know how to use a sword at all, so the sword in his hand wasn’t able to show off its true power. Deere had even unexpectedly at times used the sword like a knife and recklessly chopped at his enemy.
As the battle continued, Captain Kendall and Deere had accumulated a few tiny wounds. At the same time, the Black Tiger suddenly faced the skies and released a roar that shook the heavens, destroying the silent atmosphere of the Magical Beast Mountain Range. Right after the shout, the Black Tiger suddenly released another few strikes before dodging both fighters and turning around to run away.
“Careful, it wants to run.”
“Block it, for the love of everything don’t let it run away!”
Standing where the Black Tiger was attempting to run away to was Chang Ning Feng. Seeing the incoming magical beast, the glint in his eyes never stopped as he brought out his sword in front of him. With a large amount of Saint Force focused into his sword, he stabbed at the Black Tiger. At such a crucial moment like this, he had to make sure he focused everything on this one strike in order to avoid a long and drawn out battle.
While Chang Ning Feng moved to initiate combat, the other mercenaries weren’t idle. Kendall and Deere quickly ran forward to attack the Black Tiger from behind.
“Hou!” The Black Tiger emitted another deep growl as it lashed out with its claws once more. Its front paws smashed into Chang Ning Feng’s sword, causing it to shake from the strong force. Afterward, the Black Tiger opened its mouth wide and snapped at Chang Ning Feng.
Chang Ning Feng retreated backward while his sword went up ready to parry. Instead, he stabbed at the incoming bite.
“Ding!”
Although the sword did not penetrate the Black Tiger’s mouth, it had swiped against the fangs of the beast as it reared its head backward. Biting down on the sword, the tiger had prevented Chang Ning Feng from pulling his sword out and fighting with it.
“Bastard, go die!”
At this moment, a loud sound came from behind the Black Tiger. It was Captain Kendall who had quickly approached it from behind with his large axe raised high into the air, emitting a loud sound as it chopped down onto the tiger’s back. At the same time, Deere and a few other Saints began to approach the tiger from Chang Ning Feng’s side and tried to obstruct the Black Tiger.
The Black Tiger released its hold on the sword as it turned to face Captain Kendall behind it with his axe raised. Dodging his axe swiftly, the Black Tiger did not manage to come out unscathed as the axe clipped its body and cut away a patch of fur.
“Aooo!”
The Black Tiger let out a pain filled roar as it turned around and sped off in the opposite direction. However just as it began to run, Jian Chen and the others saw that it was heading toward them, leaving them no choice but to take part in the fight.
Seeing the direction the Black Tiger was going, Xiao Dao and Yun Xuan’s face changed drastically as they cried out in shock and turned toward the side to escape from it. Kabolds was the first to avoid the Black Tiger with an extremely fast speed, running far away. Soon, it was only Jian Chen who stood his ground by himself without a single trace of fear on his face.
“Jian Chen, dodge quickly!” Kendall yelled out before dashing forward in an attempt to block off the Black Tiger from its path. However even with his Saint Master strength, his speed wasn’t enough to catch up with the Class 2 Magical Beast.
Seeing Jian Chen block its path, the Black Tiger’s eyes grew crimson as it released another roar. Quickly afterward, it increased its speed toward Jian Chen.
Seeing how Jian Chen stood his ground without any consideration of moving, the members of the Flame Mercenaries could only cry out in regret as they watched the scene unfold before them.
In regards to Jian Chen’s strength, everyone had only thought that he had the strength of a Saint. If a Great Saint had difficulties fighting this Black Tiger, then a Saint would definitely have no chance of resisting it. Even though the Black Tiger had already sustained plenty of wounds, the serious state it was in had aroused its ferocious nature. Its fighting strength hadn’t taken a decrease in intensity, instead, it had only grown stronger.
Seeing the Black Tiger pounce toward him, Jian Chen’s previously dull expression suddenly flashed with a cold light. His two fingers wide and 1.33 meter long silver Light Wind Sword abruptly appeared in his right hand. The only thing that could be seen was a silver light flashing in front of the Black Tiger. At the same time, Jian Chen’s body also whirled around, leaning toward the side, about one step away from where he had previously been standing.
“Peng!”
The Black Tiger’s enormous and cumbersome body heavily fell to the ground where Jian Chen originally had stood. Its body showed no signs of movement at all. The next instant, crimson blood began to rush out of the Black Tiger’s neck, and gradually pour over the uneven ground, spreading in all directions.
Just as he was swiftly charging forward, Captain Kendall’s advancement was abruptly halted. He stared blankly at the Black Tiger that was now motionless on the ground. Kendall quietly stood in his tracks as he looked at Jian Chen, who stood there with an unchanged expression. Kendall’s eyes were filled with astonishment and incredulity; he had just seen an unimaginably fast, blurred figure of a sword flash before the Black Tiger’s eyes at an insane speed. Right after, the Black Tiger had collapsed to the ground, completely still.
Captain Kendall’s gaze finally fell onto the two fingers wide silver sword in Jian Chen’s hand. He noticed that there wasn’t a single trace of blood dirtying the glossy and dazzling blade. Yet it was because of this that Kendall felt even more shocked. In the short instant he looked at Jian Chen, his gaze changed countless times: from doubt to amazement, from disbelief to shock, the emotions flickering through his eyes one after another.
At that moment, the remaining five Saints finally rushed over. They hadn’t yet discovered that the Black Tiger was already dead. The five of them charged forward and surrounded the Black Tiger, and they immediately began to strike toward the Black Tiger’s body with their Saint Weapons in their hands.
“This magical beast has already died. Everyone, there’s no need to fight it anymore.”
Just as the five mercenaries were about to pierce the Black Tiger’s body, Captain Kendall’s slightly trembling voice rang out.
Hearing this, the five Great Saints all had blank looks on their faces. The Saint that had just struck downward had also forcibly stopped his movement midair. Immediately afterward, the five people’s gazes all shifted in unison to the Black Tiger’s body that had fallen before them, closely inspecting it.
Only now did the five people clearly see that there was fresh blood violently spurting out of the Black Tiger’s neck. The Black Tiger’s red eyes that had originally held a fierce and terrible glint had now become spiritless voids.
“Strange, how did this Black Tiger die? Wasn’t it jumping around healthy and alive just a second ago? How did it suddenly die?” Hu Po asked in confusion.
Hearing this, the remaining four Great Saints all glanced at each other with doubtful expressions.
Captain Kendall stared long and hard at Jian Chen and said, “This Black Tiger was killed by Jian Chen.”
“What, Jian Chen killed it? Captain, are you serious?” Hearing Captain Kendall’s words, Xiao Dao jumped up, and one could tell from his expression that he wasn’t quite convinced.
Xiao Dao wasn’t the only one having difficulty accepting this; everyone in the Raging Flames Mercenary Group had expressions of disbelief on their faces after hearing those words.