Chapter 14 - Meeting the Enemy

While transporting Ye, Xing, and Lei Lei, Hei ran at his maximum speed between the crops fields. However, with a person's weight on his shoulders, he found it difficult to move at ease. But it wasn’t the time to make a complaint.

The quantity of smoke seen from the grassy area where they were before was the tangible proof that something had happened, even though they hoped with all their hearts that the inhabitants had just lighted several bonfires to celebrate the night.

However, their expectations weren’t met. When they finally were able to see the village’s houses, they discovered that they were set ablaze while intense flames were running rampant. It seemed as if the fire wanted to wrap the village, denying any way out completely. Also, there was a strong burning smell in the air, along with another scent that Hei knew well.

‘Blood and burnt flesh... this, it's certainly not the work of someone in the village.’

It was unthinkable that someone or a group of people from the village had staged all this. Therefore, the only possible explanation was that the culprit was someone from outside with bad intentions.

At this, Hei, by instinct, extended his left hand towards his back to grab his spear, but he only found Lei Lei, who flinched due to the contact while recovering from the shock of seeing her village in flames. Because of that, Hei gritted his teeth, blaming himself for not having brought his spear.

It must be known that during these years, apart from training and hunting, there had never been other occasions where Hei was forced to use his weapon. Therefore, since today was a day of celebration, he had asked his mother to leave his spear at home. After all, it would have been inappropriate to bring a weapon to a party.

After reflecting on his request, Bao Bei thought to herself that it was a valid reason and agreed to it. The same went for his various knives, which he received as a gift from Lei Bai. Therefore, Hei had no weapon with him at this moment.

This meant, therefore that, if they went inside and met someone who wanted to harm them, Hei would have to use only the several close combat techniques taught by his mother.

Because Hei's body was still developing and his spirit power wasn’t awakened, he couldn’t bring out his full strength in unison with his martial art techniques. So, he wasn’t entirely confident, but this was still better than nothing in this situation.

While he was reflecting, Lei Lei, with a dry voice, said, "Hei, please, let's go inside. I know what you're thinking. But, if there are injured people, then I have to help them. I’m also worried about my father. I don't want to lose him too."

Hearing her expressing her desire to go inside, Hei took a deep breath before replying. "All right, but whatever happens, you have to remember to do as I tell you. I promise I will protect you at any cost and save both your father and the other villagers."

After reassuring Lei Lei, Hei turned toward his sisters, "Xing, Ye, get ready to enter hunting mode. The preys of this hunting session will be quite dangerous, so pay close attention and don't hesitate."

Ye and Xing lightly pulled Hei's hair to say they had understood. All those flames had scared them a little, but they still resolved themselves. Although they weren’t as well seen in the village as Hei, they were still welcomed and treated with kindness by Lei Bai and Lei Lei. Their mother had taught them always to repay their debts, whether it was with compassion or violence. So, they couldn’t hold back now.

At that moment, Hei started running again, entering the sea of flames. Fortunately, there were empty spaces between the fire; otherwise, it would have been practically impossible to come inside.

Inside, the scene was even more surreal than outside. The burning houses were emitting creaks while the wood was contracting itself and collapsing. The streets were stained with crimson blood, and here and there, you could see some corpses lying on the ground.

At that sight, Lei Lei came down from Hei's back to vomit from the disgust on the ground. Hei approached her while looking at her with a worried expression.

"I'm fine. It's nothing. Really. Let's continue." Lei Lei replied as she stood up. Her face had turned to a white ash color, and she was shaking everywhere. Nevertheless, she resolved to go forward and examine the bodies to see if they were already dead or alive.

Hei followed her closely, worried that she might feel sick again. As for Hei, although it was the first time he saw a human corpse, he wasn’t so upset that he couldn’t continue.

It must be clarified that this wasn’t because Hei was insensitive. Instead, he found sadness for all this destruction and for those who had died. However, it must be remembered that a spirit beast had raised him. So, in his eyes, the weight of an animal or spirit beast's life was the same as a human's life.

This differed entirely from the concept of human superiority, which put human beings first, even at the expense of other creatures. Therefore, since he had killed many animals over the years and witnessed their carcasses, Hei wouldn’t be so impressed to see a person's body.

Fortunately, after several minutes as they advanced, Hei and Lei Lei were able to find several children still alive, hidden in a corner with tears in their eyes as they did everything they could to remain silent.

Lei Lei, seeing them, immediately ran towards them, and, once the children recognized her, they burst into tears again on her lap.

"It's okay, everything's fine. Don't be afraid, now your big sister and big brother are here, okay? Tell me what happened. "

"They... they... sob... they came suddenly... they were so many. They did bad things to those they saw and started burning houses... Dad said to take my little brothers and hide somewhere. I don't know where my parents are. I want my mother and my father boo-hoo ... " replied the oldest of them, who was more or less 7-8 years old. In their eyes, you could see the fear and the sadness they felt.

"Lei, listen to me carefully. I want you to take these children and find a safe place nearby. Meanwhile, I'll go to check out the situation, okay?"

"Hei, what?! No! It's too dangerous for you to go alone. You'll get killed!"

"No, on the contrary. If I am alone, I will have more chances to get out alive. At the moment, the children are scared, and taking them with us would be only a risk. You're a doctor, aren't you? Then your job is to help those in need. Leave the rest to me, okay?"

"Okay, but come back safe and sound. All right?”At that point, Lei Lei took the children and started looking for a house that wasn’t set on fire to hide themselves temporarily. Hei, meanwhile, got on all fours, ready to run at his real maximum speed.

Normally, Hei would run on his two legs so that his hands were free to grab his spear. However, his fastest method of running was the four-legged one that he would usually use to approach the prey.

Together with his two little sisters, he headed towards the center of the square. That place was devoid of houses, except for that of the village chief. So, it was more likely to host the inhabitants.

On the way, he suddenly discovered a man dressed in black who was checking a still intact house while waving his sword, which was slightly stained with blood.

"Where are you? Where are you hiding? Do you want to play hide and seek? Where did you disgusting brats go?!” the man said as he tore a wooden door to pieces.

From his words and tone of voice, Hei realized that he was one of the people responsible for this incident. His eyes suddenly turned cold and dull as if they had lost their light. Then, with his two hands, he lightly stroked his two little sisters to tell them to get ready.

At that point, taking advantage of the fact that the man was busy bawling and breaking things noisily, Hei arrived behind him. Then, with a silent leap, he charged towards the man, who was soon taken aback for a moment. But that moment was all Hei needed.

Since he hadn’t placed all his weight in the jump, Hei remained attached to the back of the man who staggered a few steps due to the sudden collision. Then, he put his right arm around the enemy’s neck as his left hand passed behind the man's head to go to Hei's right shoulder. The legs instead formed a pincer around the enemy's waist as Hei's feet were positioned halfway up the forearms of the armed man to prevent him from using his arms.

‘Snake Bind, Form 1’ One of the submission techniques learned from Bao Bei.

For the future of Hei, Bao Bei had spent a lot of time, especially when Hei was still a child, teaching a series of combat moves. Of course, animals and spirit beasts didn't need them, but it didn't mean they couldn't understand human fighting styles, especially those that had fought against humans before.

Thus, Bao Bei had taught Hei what she called Snake Style and Spider Style. These styles were designed using the movements of snakes and spiders as a model. Hei's four-legged run was part of the Spider Style, while the submissive move was part of the Snake Style.

However, Hei’s offensive didn’t consist only in this move. Xing and Ye, above his head, moved to the enemy's and then went down his face.

Seeing a snake and a spider, the man's eyes opened wide with fear as he tried to wriggle away. Then, by instinct, he decided to activate his spirit power to avoid the worst. But at that moment, a piercing pain flowed inside his body, making him lose his grip on his sword.

Xing and Ye had pierced the eyes of the man, making him blind. Xing stabbed his right eye with one of her legs as Ye used her fangs to break the left one in half. Then, they pushed their way deeper as Hei increased the pressure on his neck. In a short time, the man collapsed to the ground. He died without being able to scream for help due to the strangulation.

Once confirmed he was dead, Hei let go of the man's neck as he held out his left hand on his face to take back Xing and Ye, who were dirty all over with blood, and momentarily placed them on the ground. Then he examined the corpse of the newly killed man without being too impressed by the pitiful state of the face.

"Black suits, armed with a sword. There is also a set of knives on his waist. From how he was moving before, was he activating his spirit power? So if he can use it, even his companions can. The question is, is he one of the commanders or just an ordinary member. If he was only a regular member, what is the level of the leader?"

As he was reflecting, he suddenly heard something that made him shiver in the back. Footsteps had stopped behind him as a fellow of the newly killed man looked stunned towards Hei. He was incredulous at what he was seeing and wondered if he was dreaming or not.

Then, noticing that it was too realistic to be a dream, he drew his sword as he said. "Bastard, what the f*ck did you do?! Now I'll kill you, you filthy son of a b*tch!!!"

Hei immediately ran to take the weapon of the newly killed enemy and then take a defensive stance. He had never used a sword. However, since it had similarities with the knife, he vaguely sensed how he had to move to use the weapon. In the meantime, he snapped his tongue to tell Ye and Xing not to intervene yet.

The newly arrived enemy charged madly against Hei, blinded by the anger for the loss of his companion, while from his body came out a faint white aura that went to enhance his attack. Hei used the newly picked sword to block the enemy blow directed towards his head.

The impact, however, was more massive than the one he had expected; his arms began to ache due to the pressure they were receiving. He raised his feet and jumped to the left as the enemy sword hit the ground to avoid succumbing there.

Hei had done so in order to move forward and land a blow to the face. Although he didn’t know how the spirit power worked, he knew that the head, especially the eyes, were rather delicate points.

Unfortunately, the enemy demonstrated his experience by following with a horizontal slash at the height of Hei's waist. Despite being pissed off, the man was still able to react instinctively. Hei could, therefore, only receive the blow completely, using the sword to parry.

The impact was even stronger than the previous one, and Hei's sword began to give signs of collapse. Without a weapon, he would have no chance of surviving, or so the enemy thought.

Indeed, in an unknown moment, Ye and Xing had climbed on the man’s shoulders, too concentrated to rage against Hei to notice two small animals climbing over him, considering that the two of them weren’t so heavy despite the amount of food they ate.

Without hesitation, the two of them charged towards the man's ears to pierce the auditory channels. Xing used one of her legs again while Ye used her tail instead.

Although he was using his spirit power, the man hadn’t reached a level where he could strengthen delicate parts like eyes or the inside of his ears. Then, when his eardrums were pierced, he felt a sharp pain that made him lose his concentration momentarily.

Hei, who was waiting for this moment, jumped up and placed his right foot at the wrists of the enemy's arms that held his sword. Unlike before, this adversary hadn’t dropped his weapon due to the pain. So, he kicked the enemy's hand down with the right foot to prevent him from using his sword for a moment.

Then, with the left arm, he pointed the tip of his sword on the man's right eye dressed in black. The blade penetrated the eye and continued to the brain, where it got stuck.

In this way, even the second enemy was dead, and Hei fell to the ground gasping for air. His arms were hurting, and the two battles in succession had taken away a lot of his energy.

"Fortunately, I have my two little sisters with me. Otherwise, I don't know what I would have done. "

"Ehehehe, since we were so good, then you'd have to buy us a lot of beer, okay?" Ye replied as she waved her tail excitedly.

Xing, on the other hand, uttered a cry to argue, "But I don't want a beer, I want red wine. I like that!"

"All right, all right. When it is all over, I'll buy the two of you whatever you want. But remember that the last word is up to mother." Hei said as he stroked them.

Although it wasn’t an appropriate speech in such a situation, precisely because it was stupid that it was able to calm Hei's heart from the tumult of emotions that were assailing him.

After all, if he hadn't had Ye and Xing, he would have certainly been dead.

"Now, it’s time to continue again. We aren’t too far from the village plaza; I don't know why, but I feel that the inhabitants are certainly there."