Chapter 161 - Disturbing Discovery (1/2)

”Kalaripayattu Style, Spear Form!”

Henry recognized with one glance the position taken by Hei, who held his purple spear. Although he practiced the form of the sword and shield, also called Val Parija, as a user of the Kalaripayattu Style, he knew the positions of the other forms.

”How can you know the Kuntham Form? In the Southern Royal War Academy, only the guards of the Imperial Prince and few others know the Kalaripayattu Style. And I know everyone who practices it!”

”You know that in the Library there are manuals also concerning fighting styles, don't you? If you are willing to pay the corresponding price of contribution points, you can read them easily. Why are you so surprised that I know the Kalaripayattu?”

Listening to Hei's response to his bewilderment, Henry calmed down and started laughing out loud. ”For a moment, I panicked. So, you're just an imitator. There is nothing to fear. Before continuing, I must warn you of one thing. If you think it is enough to read a simple manual to master the Kalaripayattu Style, you are wrong. If it weren't for the constant monitoring of my grandfather, who was an imperial guard in the past, I would never have been able to learn the Val Parija Form. I will make you bitterly regret having dishonored my fighting style.”

”Look, there is an error of understanding in your speech. I never intended to imitate the Kalaripayattu Style. I was just curious to know the various fighting styles of the empire and to integrate some movements into my way of fighting. I will not fight you using the Kalaripayattu, but I will use my personal style. Spider Style - Spider Lancer!”

As soon as he finished speaking, Hei got down on all fours with his limbs as far apart as possible. Part of his hair instead took the spear and pointed it against Henry, who couldn't understand what was going on.

'What the hell is he doing?! How does he plan on fighting that way?'

But Hei gave Henry the answer to his question in the next instant. With even faster speeds than before, Hei sprinted forward using both his hands and his feet. With four limbs generating momentum instead of two, it was normal for him to be faster than before.

'Spider Lancer. The combination I came up with to maximize the speed of Spider Run and my spear techniques. Besides, the Four-legged Mode is more suitable than the Two-Legged if it is about aiming for weapon-focused combat.'

Peng! Peng! Peng!

In a moment, Hei found himself in front of Henry, and his hair moved his spear as if it were his arms. Henry parried all attacks with his shield, but as soon as he wanted to fight back, Hei had already moved elsewhere. And this continued for several exchanges.

As much as he tried, Henry was unable to keep up with Hei. The only thing that was keeping him in the game was his shield. However, his attention was diminishing every second that passed due to the pressure exerted by Hei. At the same time, his arm began to ache from the repercussions he suffered in rejecting the spear blows.

”Nonsense! How can I lose against an unknown style?! Wind Law, Intent of the Sword, Whirlwind of Wind Blades!”

Despite his difficult situation, Henry managed to channel enough spirit power to use an elemental attack. Only from this, one could understand that the young man possessed a strong fighting sense. But unfortunately, his ability to sense the flow of battle and his techniques were not on par with Hei's.

”Snake Style - Snake Lancer!”

As soon as Henry spawned the blades of wind, Hei switched from the four-legged mode to the two-legged one. Then he activated Snake Coiling along with Snake Run, and he sprinted in the direction of the wind blades.

'Snake Run focuses on the flexibility of the movements that I can increase even more with Snake Coiling. Furthermore, thanks to Lian, I learned some dance steps to harmonize the movements and unify the rhythm.'

As if his body had become liquid, Hei twisted his body to pass through the spaces between the wind blades. His legs, his arms, his back, and even his neck stretched and flexed at angles which for ordinary people were impossible. Even martial artists were unable to reproduce these movements without using special techniques. However, the fact was that there were no techniques that could replicate such a high degree of flexibility as the Snake Style left by Bao Bei.

”I can't believe it...” Henry remained motionless like a puppet whose strings had been cut. He could understand if Hei had blocked his attack or had dodged using his speed. Yet none of this had happened, but something completely unexpected had happened.

”Eight Slashes of the Spider!”

When Hei was in front of Henry, he began to rotate his spear and made eight consecutive hits against his enemy. Henry, who was still in shock, received the full impact of those eight slashes and fell to his knees while vomiting blood from his mouth.

”Cough!”

Without a moment's hesitation, Hei manipulated his hair to grab his opponent's shield and sword so that they couldn't be used. Then he pointed the tip of his spear at Henry's throat.

”You lost. Your injuries aren't so severe. With a little rest and the help of some medicine, you will recover without problems in less than a day. Give me your space ring now and don't resist. Even if I can't kill you, nothing prevents me from hurting you enough to make you fail the test.”

Hei's voice was firm and ice-cold. Regardless of the wounded opponent who had just been defeated, he immediately imposed his orders. Henry, with the blood still coming out of his mouth, resentfully looked at Hei. However, he knew well that that young man with the spear had gone easy on him.

”Okay.”

Without uttering any more words, Henry dissolved his spirit power and allowed Hei to take the space ring he wore on his finger. The space ring contained the resources and techniques acc.u.mulated in his career as a martial artist, including the notes of his grandfather's about the Kalaripayattu Style.

”Here. You can take it back.”

In a flat voice, Hei threw the space ring back to Henry. Since it was only the first day, there were only a couple of second-level spirit cores inside. The rest of the objects didn't interest Hei instead.