Book 1 Chapter 20:Tyrant of the Canine Race!
Beside a remote and vacant edifice.
Ye Zhu and the rest were huffing exhaustedly asthey stopped to rest. Dark clouds loomed over the streets behind them. The airhowled as two thunderous booms resounded from within the rumbling dark clouds.
Shrouded in gloom, the skysc.r.a.pers beneath the reverberatingdark clouds seemed sinister and imposing.
"Brother…."
Standing by the wall, Ye Zhu strained her eyesto look into the distance. Yet she failed to glimpse anything that could behappening far out into the streets. Her gaze filled with worry as she continuedto search with her eyes.
"C"mon, relax!" Bai Long who was beside hergave a smile while saying: "Knowing how capable he is, I reckon it"s the zombieswhom will be struck with misfortune."
*Crackle----
A streak of lightning suddenly pierced throughthe clouds and lit up the entire sky for an instant. The raging winds carried afrigid chill, signaling the coming of a storm.
Ye Chen glared at the foreboding creaturebefore him. It was a seven foot tall monster in the shape of a dog. Its limbswere rippling with musculature, far more impressive than that of a lion. Thebeast was covered in pitch black fur. Its abyssal dark eyes glared with afrigid intensity as it looked down upon Ye Chen. Adorned on its forelimbs waspair of machete like barbed claws, frightfully sharp in appearance.
"Demongale Hound!" Ye Chen"s eyes were serious,without a hint of carelessness.
This was a variant of mutant dog, yet it wasfar from similar to that ordinary mutant dog he encountered from before. Thiswas a tyrant among the mutant canine race, a rare breed indeed. Only one amongten thousand dogs undergoing mutation would transform into such a monster.
"Demongale hounds. During phase 1D1, theirstrength reached that of forty men. They were outstanding experts in speed.Even human warriors possessing the strength of fifty men were unable to defeatthem."
Information regarding demongale hounds began tosurface within Ye Chen"s mind.
Phase 1D1!
The period after the apocalypse struck whichwas eventually regarded as the "Dark" era, naturally had a change of how eachmonth and year was to be recorded. 1D1 of course, referred to year 1 month 1!
Following that order, 1D2 meant the secondmonth of year 1.
Every single zombie and mutant freak thatsurvives another month will undergo another mutation, greatly enhancing theirprowess. Creatures from phase 1D2 far surpa.s.sed the creatures in phase 1D1.
The demongale hound roared as it exposed itstwo elongated canines, bearing the appearance of a saber-toothed tiger. As adrop of its saliva slid off its fang, it fell onto a dried leaf on the ground.The leaf instantly began to erode; a sizzling hole resulted from its contactwith the saliva.
After arching its back, the creature shotforward like a loosed arrow.
A bead of sweat slid down Ye Chen"s forehead ashe tensed his nerves. With an unwavering glare, he attempted to grasp thetrajectory of the creature"s movements. Yet to no avail. The instant thatdemongale hound broke into full sprint, its form blurred and disappeared fromhis field of vision.
Immediately after, a violent wind came rushingtowards Ye Chen"s left flank. The sudden gust which buffeted against his hairand clothes caused an immense wave of astonishment to surge within him. Hishand instinctively struck out with the fireman"s axe.
*Clang!
The axe instantly broke at the handle. Like ascythe from h.e.l.l, a claw was slashed directly towards Ye Chen"s heart.
Although overwhelmed, Ye Chen did not panic.The axe in his other hand was immediately used to protect his body. As the clawstruck the axe head, a terrifying surge of kinetic energy a.s.sailed Ye Chen"sentire body, sending him hurtling backwards.
This was also an instance which separated thenovices from the veterans. A novice would scramble to steady his feet, causinghim to trip several steps and land sitting on the ground.
As Ye Chen"s body was forced backwards, hisgaze hardened as he used the tips of his feet to divert the force into abackflip. As he spun through the air, Ye Chen directed a kick towards the demongalehound"s lower jaw. Immediately after impacting its jaw, he sent another kickdirectly towards its snout. After connecting both of his kicks, he flipped hisbody like a graceful swallow and landed back on his feet.
The instant his feet hit the ground; he grippedhis fireman"s axe tight while stamping one foot upon the ground. Like a flashof lightning, he streaked towards the demongale hound choosing to attackinstead of fleeing. When a battle breaks out, offense was the only option!
An unrelenting offense!
*Roar!
The demongale hound was infuriated by Ye Chen"stwo kicks. After directing a furious roar towards the heavens, its entirefigure blurred as it set its four limbs into motion. As the creature boltedtowards Ye Chen, the leaves on the ground scattered under the force of itsraging charge.
As a pungent stench a.s.sailed his face, YeChen"s eyes gleamed with killing intent knowing that a confrontation wasinevitable.
"Bloodwind arts!"
"Mirage----ten blades!"
Ye Chen began a.s.suming a horse stance. Aftertaking a step forward with his left foot, green veins began surfacing all overof his right arm as he lifted the fireman"s axe. With an explosive bellow, hecleaved forth with the forceful intent and power to split apart everythingbefore him.
In that instant between life and death….
The world became silent….
The fireman"s axe appeared to flow slowly, yetin reality, it was...o...b..ting at a blinding speed. As the axe slashed towards thedemongale hound, it was followed by ten afterimages. With one afterimagestacking upon the other, all ten afterimages converged into one as they slammedinto the demongale hound.
*Rumble----
As thunder reverberated through the sky, largebeads of rain began pouring upon the ground below. The land was rapidly soakedin moisture as everything blurred within the torrential downpour.
*Clang!
The axe broke. Yet at the same time, thedemongale hound"s claw snapped.
A figure was sent hurtling back, plummeting forcefullyinto a puddle of thick mud. With mud staining his entire body, Ye Chenstruggled to lift himself. Even though he had already exhausted most of hisstrength, he had to stand!
"I can"t afford to die!"
"Absolutely NOT!"
This single thought flooded Ye Chen"s entiremind. Carrying an indescribable strength of will, he forced his body into astanding position.
Desperately holding himself against thetorrential downpour!
*ROAR!
In this moment, the demongale hound once againcharged forward. One of its prized claws had been severed and was bleedingprofusely, staining the rainwater crimson. The pain only served to fuel itsmadness and savagery.
Ye Chen dragged his exhausted body backwards,intending to search for a suitable weapon. However, only zombie corpseslittered the ground. There wasn"t anything he could use in sight.
*Sphhhlt!
With a vicious lunge, the demongale houndlanded a savage swipe against Ye Chen"s belly. Simultaneously, Ye Chen mustereda desperate punch towards the creature"s head. A crack resounded. Yet it wasn"tthe fracturing of the creature"s skull, but the shattering of the bones in YeChen"s arm.
The demongale hound"s razor sharp claweffortlessly lacerated Ye Chen belly, sc.r.a.ping off a substantial amount of skinand muscle. With his belly ruptured, his intestines and various internal organsbegan spewing out onto the ground.
With bloodshot eyes, Ye Chen swiped a rock offthe ground and viciously hurled it towards the demongale hound"s eye. Perhapsit was the unrelenting downpour that hindered its sight. Adding the fact thatYe Chen"s brutish strength which allowed him to pitch a stone so frightfullyfast that it could puncture a concrete wall, the demongale hound failed toevade the critical blow.
The rock was deeply embedded into the demongalehound"s eye.
*ARUuuu….!
The demongale hound yelped in agony, howlingfuriously in a mad struggle as it tumbled across the ground.
With a haggard breath, Ye Chen bended down toscoop up his dangling intestines and began stuffing them back into his rupturedabdomen. His nerves had already begun to numb from the intense agony he felt.After sparing the struggling demongale hound a single glance, he abandoned anythoughts of tussling with it further and fled hastily into the distance.
As far as demongale hounds went, even a partyof humans with the strength of forty men couldn"t defeat it without a properbladed weapon. It was a well-known fact that animals were naturally strongerthan humans when it came to raw fighting ability.
Furthermore, that demongale hound had a set ofclaws and fangs which it could easily use to tear its prey apart. Right now, YeChen didn"t even have a spare fireman"s axe on him. The idea of him taking downthat forty man strong monster in his current condition simply couldn"t be morethan a fool"s pipedream.
Run! Run! RUN!
Through the torrential rain, Ye Chen scrambledforth like a well-built primate. As he ran, his intestines would slide out ofhis lacerated abdomen under the force of his sprint. With little choice in thematter, he creased his brows as he wrapped the hide vest tightly around hiswound.
As rainwater soaked every inch of his body,drops of water fell from the tips of his black hair as the rain continued topour.
Translator"s Notes:
The author wrote H in the raws which I a.s.sumemeans "hei" (black/dark in Chinese). Therefore, I have chosen to translate eachphase as 1D1/2 instead of 1H1/2.
It"s pretty rare to see a main protagonistreduced to scooping up his own intestines after a battle and running. Most ofthe time they"re just puking out gallons of blood w.i.l.l.y-nilly.