Chapter 29 - Encounter (1/2)
“Little Tanuki, let’s finish them together,” Ye Chen mumbled under his breath. Then, his right hand flickered, and a piece of Explosive Seed was immediately in his palm.
However, Little Tanuki screeched as he rocked the young man’s arm violently with its paws.
Since he had been with Little Tanuki for a while, Ye Chen’s instincts in understanding it had gone beyond the confines of language. He sneaked a glance at Little Tanuki and asked, “I shouldn’t be using this, is that right?”
Little Tanuki nodded in affirmation as its eyes widened in distress. Ye Chen had once described the function and effects of detonating an Explosive Seed to the little creature. So now, when Little Tanuki showed obvious aversion to it, Ye Chen could not help but be convinced. Perhaps Little Tanuki was afraid that the Explosive Seed might create noises that would attract even more enemies on their heels!
‘Could it be that these three Demon Wolves weren’t the only party responsible for the massacre of the tanuki clan?’
Echoing that thought, Ye Chen immediately retracted the Explosive Seeds back into his sleeve. However, resigning his fight only to the confines of fisticuffs would muddy the chances of their survival as mystical beasts were known to be far more resilient than humans ever were, and hence very much harder to subdue. Ye Chen may believe that he could match an Early Seventh Stage fighter now, but he would not be so quick to assume the same to three Seventh Stage Demon Wolves.
He would need to rely on Little Tanuki’s disruptive abilities now. “Little Tanuki, I’m gonna need your help.”
On cue, Little Tanuki heaved out its signature blinding white fog from its stomach. Ye Chen, on the other hand, extended his astral body form to remotely secure the locations of all three Demon Wolves. With a sudden burst of speed, he hurtled towards one of them.
In the fog, three pairs of wraith-like blue eyes pierced through the white curtain of fogs, yet their vision never did manage to pierce through when the fog got too thick. Moreover, as the fog came from within Little Tanuki’s body, it was saturated with the Little Tanuki’s scent, which then muffled Ye Chen’s scent so much that the Demon Wolves lost the ability to track him.
So, Ye Chen positioned himself at the side of one Demon Wolf. Sensing a sudden presence close by, the beast snarled and opened its jaw, with its teeth glittering under the moonlight before it turned towards Ye Chen.
‘Primordial Thunder Body!’
He activated his Primordial Thunder Body form and sidestepped out of the Demon Wolf’s reach before riposting with a Rumbling Thunder Burst towards the attacking Demon Wolf’s right cerebrum.
The wolf was about to swerve to dodge the attack when its eyes caught a blinding flicker from Ye Chen’s shoulder. Just like that, it abruptly froze in mid-action; its eyes glassy and glazed. It had been stunned by Little Tanuki’s illusionary spell!
There was a muffled rumble when Ye Chen cuffed at exactly where he had aimed, his force penetrating through the Demon Wolf’s skull and forcing half of its brain to gorily eject out from the other side of its head.
Normally, hitting a Demon Wolf’s head wouldn’t be this easy. Yet, with Little Tanuki’s abilities, the scale had been tipped. Their team-up was panning out perfectly!
Ye Chen had not expected his attack to be this effective, but it was not yet the time to celebrate. There were still two more foes he had to take down!
In a blink of an eye, he leaped to the side of his next target.
The two remaining Demon Wolves, perhaps in an effort to protect one another, stood side-by-side. However, just as the two were about to launch a concerted attack on Ye Chen, their eyes were once again glazed — a sure symptom of falling under Little Tanuki’s illusion attack. Not one to let off an opening, Ye Chen immediately unleashed an attack onto one of them.
There was another rumble, and another wolf fell dead.
With the illusion spell broken, the last Demon Wolf made a one-eighty in an attempt to flee. Yet, before it could, its body was suddenly covered by a blanket of frost, its artic temperature capping the Demon Wolf’s speed. As it was forcefully slowed down, Ye Chen caught up to the last Demon Wolf and landed a palm on its head which burst upon impact.
“That spell, did you do that?!” Ye Chen turned to Little Tanuki and asked in shock. Little Tanuki was really a gift that was full of surprises. He couldn’t believe that Little Tanuki could even perform the Ice-styled phantasmal technique!
With Little Tanuki’s phantasmal techniques and his Explosion Seeds, Ye Chen would never need to fear for any pugilists that were of Stages even higher than his own!
However, Little Tanuki squeaked frenetically as if urging its human friend to run right away.
Being Seventh Stage mystical beasts, Ye Chen bet that all three of the Demon Wolves must have housed Spirit Pills in their body. What a waste it would be to not extract these marketable rewards! Yet judging from how frantic and insistent Little Tanuki was at leaving, Ye Chen found himself following its instruction. Hence, he dashed straight towards the direction of home with Little Tanuki without a moment to lose.
His mind raced. Even if Little Tanuki wasn’t equipped with any lethal skills, those Demon Wolves were still way behind the little critter’s league to pose as any kind of serious threat. Little Tanuki’s many amazing abilities would have been enough to allow it to flee without a single ruffle in its fur, let alone gravely wounded by them per the two instances Ye Chen had found it. In other words, Little Tanuki’s attackers could not possibly be something as ineffective as those three Seventh Stage Demon Wolves. It must have been the work of an Eighth, Ninth, or even more powerful mystical beasts!
Just this conclusion alone prompted Ye Chen to hasten his speed. He was not going to flirt with disaster by remaining here any longer!