Chapter 24.2 - Melee

The beating of the musicians’ drums sped up, and the woman surrounded by them moaned loudly under all the beastmen doing her. Lurking in the dark, the assassins encircled them, moving closer and closer.

The dancing and copulating men and women in the field seemed to push the entire atmosphere to a higher tide. Light reflecting off the dagger in a dancer’s hand became extremely painful to the eyes.

Hua Yi was staggering, as if he were unstable. All of a sudden, whether intentional or not, he bumped into the woman serving wine.

The woman carrying the wine pot was walking very carefully, albeit a little unstable. When Hua Yi bumped into her, she fell down, exclaiming “aiyah” as the large wine pot fell on top of her foot. Wine splashed all over the place. One of the purchased sub-beasts happened to be nearby, and when the wine soaked half of his body, he was caught off guard, abruptly jumping up. A drunken beastman laughed out loud and clasped him by the waist.

Just then, from the corner of his eyes, Hua Yi caught a glimpse of a cold and pallid light.

Only the short and tragic cry of the sub-beast could be heard as his whole body violently struggled for a bit. However, his screams seemed so weak and trivial amidst the raucous crowd and the quick beating of the drums.

A beast claw was suddenly protruding out the pit of the stomach of the sub-beast. The claw ran through his whole body, smashing all his internal organs, without stopping in the slightest. Using the sub-beast’s body as cover, the beastman, taking everything into his own hands, reached to grab Hua Yi.

Hua Yi bent his waist backwards, and bringing out the wine bowl in his hand, he smashed it on the beastman’s claws. The wine splashed everywhere, and for a moment, the man had to squint his eyes. But then Hua Yi put his hand behind him and took out a nine-inch long knife, following up on his actions though he was a little unstable.

This drunkard seemed like he was having a hard time standing, but the knife was both accurate and fierce. The beast claw was cut in half, and blood spattered out a foot high.

But at the same time, a machete suddenly appeared behind Hua Yi. Who knew when this other beastman came over, but he suddenly jumped in, intending to attack from behind.

However, a shadow suddenly flashed before the attacker’s eyes. He looked up and was stunned upon seeing a huge saber appearing on top of Hua Yi’s head, blocking his machete. And the handle of the sabre was even in the hands of the young good-for-nothing sub-beast who was like the god of sleeping.

Before he could recover from the shock, Chang An suddenly pressed down his hands, prying up the whole saber, and with a “pa” sound, slammed it against the machete. The edge of the blade looked bright as snow as it followed the machete down. An ear-piercing sound of metal grating against each other rang out, and the machete in the beastman’s hand was suppressed by the huge saber.

If they were arm wrestling, the beastman warrior would know that the other party could no way be his opponent. However, the saber weighed more than a hundred pounds. The force of its blow brought a pressure that the machete couldn’t stop. At that moment, a warrior’s intuition told the beastman that he must immediately relinquish his grip and throw away the weapon.

But he didn’t.

Abandoning his sword in the face of a thin and delicate young sub-beast, he just couldn’t do it.

With a roar, the beastman suddenly withdrew the force on his wrist, swayed half his body, and made an ingenious move. Raising his shoulder to one side, he turned the machete to the other side. A sabre was a good thing. It could suppress other weapons with its weight, but it was not without weakness–After all, it was cumbersome. So long as its blade would get jammed, no matter what kind of monster it was, the young sub-beast would have to let go of it.

Blade collided against blade, sparks nearly flying out. But at the moment the beastman warrior was about to attack, in a split second, the hair on his body stood on its end. As soon as he raised his shoulder, he sensed that this monster seemed to be part of the opponent’s body. It was life-like, and streaked across the blade was a cold killing intent.

It was like a small snake, getting in through every opening and covering his entire arm from the inside.

The beastman warrior’s hand was finally forced to release his hold. But he didn’t move far away enough to dodge. When he loosened his grip, the saber that should’ve been quite heavy caught up with him like how shadows follow the form. It seized his minute flaw, chopping off his hand.

The beastman howled loudly, and the women and the sub-beasts scattered in all directions.

The festival was completely stained with the dark red color of human blood.

Hua Yi wiped the blood on his face, picked up the wine pot on the ground, and took a drink directly from its mouth. He looked in the direction of the Jushan elder, then glanced at Old Blind with deep eyes. With the ruthlessness of an outlaw, he suddenly smiled and said, “Yo, finally willing to tear your face [1]? Breaking faith and abandoning righteousness [2], this kind of two-faced and three knives [3] play, great distinguished elder can truly turn the stove fire green [4].”

The Jushan elder waved his hand, then the beastman warriors surrounded the two people. He said coldly, “You made the deal with Luo Tong, not with me. What faith and what righteousness do I have to abandon? That kind of man who’d tarnish his honor for the sake of his dead wife, how could he be worthy of being the chief?”

Hua Yi asked, “So what you’re saying is, there’s someone else who deserves to be the chief?”

The Jushan elder stated, “I have been a great elder in the tribe for more than twenty years. From the time Luo Tong’s father was the chief and to now, my contribution to the tribe has always been greater than the chief’s. Naturally, I’m unwilling to pass on my duty to others.”

Hua Yi smiled and shook his head. Then, pointing to the elder, he said to Chang An: “Did you learn anything? I’m sure you’ve never seen such a shameless person before.”

Chang An stabbed the saber into the ground and thought of how the elder could still do such a thing when he was already this old, practically still eating when he was already full [5].

It was just being a chief, that’s all. What’s so superior about it? Was it worth the trouble?

Then Hua Yi suddenly stood up, and when he moved, the nearest beastman straightway suffered a calamity–battles between beastmen would always open widely and close tightly [6]. Most of their experience came from hunting with a sword. Where could they see the demonic assassination techniques of the mercenaries?

Hua Yi nearly killed a person all on his own in one step. Wherever he went, no one could resist. Although Chang An wasn’t interested in their struggle for power, he felt that he should be loyal to his duties since he had responded to Hua Yi’s “I’ll depend on you [7];” he should be loyal to the end.

He followed closely behind, firmly guarding Hua Yi’s back.

Others thought that the young man’s saber was used to make up for his lack of stature and to deal with the monsters and big guys in the wild, since it certainly couldn’t be put to good use in a crowd. However, Chang An regarded the saber’s hilt as a dexterous stick.

One could reach far when they swing it around, and by keeping both hands close to the blade, they could fight in close combat.

The blade was the man, and the man’s whole body was the blade.

At this moment, amidst the scuffle, a strange smile appeared on Hua Yi’s face. A tremor came from the depths of the earth, and the voices of people came from far away.

But in a short while, the sound reached the point where everyone could hear it.