Chapter 253: Improving By Leaps and Bounds

Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales

Edited by Aelryinth

Liu Gang and the others were speechless after seeing Zhang Che render a Long-Mouthed Jackal immobile with a kick.

-Are we bringing you here to hone your close combat skills or are you here to scare us, brother?-

Their shock nearly caused a problem in their defenses.

The three of them hurriedly refocused and took care of the group of Large-Mouthed Jackals’ tide water-like attacks carefully. They were no longer worried about Zhang Che. With his monstrous strength, he would be able to handle himself no matter how bad his combat skills were.

They only hoped that he wouldn’t rely too much on his physical advantages, but try his best to train his technical skills.

Zhang Che also realized his reaction was a little wrong. If he kept relying on his strength to fight the Long-Mouthed Jackals, what could he hope to achieve here? It would be a waste of time!

As such, when facing the next pounce attack from the Long-Mouthed Jackal, Zhang Che kept his eyes on his opponent’s slim body and stabbed out at a tricky angle.

The moment he thrust his sword out, he had a fantastic feeling. As expected, the Long-Mouthed Jackal failed to dodge the attack although it tried its best to, and took a shallow cut to its neck from the tip of the sword.

-I still failed to catch the precise timing in the end...- Zhang Che shook his head regretfully. He made his move just a tad too early, allowing the Long-Mouthed Jackal enough time to avoid suffering a fatal wound. Otherwise, he would have pierced through its throat in one strike and ended the fight right there.

Meanwhile, Liu Gang and the others felt the pressure piling on them. They almost couldn’t stand it anymore.

After all, there were about a hundred Long-Mouthed Jackals surrounding them. Despite their good positions, leading to them only having to deal with less than a third of the exotic beasts, the numbers were still a little more than they could chew.

“Brother Liu, send another two in here!” Zhang Che decided to raise the difficulty for himself a little. Otherwise, what meaning was there when all he was doing was fighting safely?

A hint of admiration flashed in Liu Gang’s eyes after hearing what Zhang Che said. With a slight shift in step, two more Long-Mouthed Jackals immediately pounced at Zhang Che.

The one whose neck was wounded by Zhang Che earlier displayed its ferocity as well, charging at him while sticking close to the ground, biting at Zhang Che’s feet.

The two newly-entered Long-Mouthed Jackals seemed able to read each other’s minds. One of them jumped up and bit at Zhang Che’s head, while the other stuck to the usual and pounced at his mid-section, clawing at Zhang Che’s abdomen.

-These guys are hard to tangle with indeed. They actually knew to coordinate their attacks from all three directions!- Zhang Che praised inwardly. His feet didn’t stop moving, however. He quickly took a few small steps to the side and leaned away, dodging the Long-Mouthed Jackal’s bite at his head. Meanwhile, he punched the pouncing jackal with his sword hilt in the side of its face, making it cry out in pain and fall to the ground a few meters away.

Following the feedback from his punch against the pouncing jackal’s face, the Mutated Puffersword seemed to suddenly accelerate, stabbing into the left eye of the jackal lunging for his feet, piercing deep into its skull.

Immediately after, Zhang Che turned his wrist around, and the Mutated Puffersword twisted violently, crushing the Long-Mouthed Jackal’s brain matter into paste. It instantly turned into a streak of light, dissipating.

-First kill!-

Zhang Che felt more confident now. He quickly recalled how Liu Gang moved about while defending against the jackals’ attacks and the timing of his strikes, gaining further insights into the technique.

“Kill!” Following his battle cry, Zhang Che shifted his position with a few quick steps to deal with the two remaining Long-Mouthed Jackals. He would thrust his sword from tricky angles every time he decided to strike, and after only a few breaths’ time, multiple cuts appeared on the jackals’ bodies, fresh blood flowing out of them.

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Liu Gang and the others were gradually feeling more pressured.

Just as they were considering summoning their subdued beasts to get rid of some of the Long-Mouthed Jackals, Zhang Che’s voice rang out behind them again, “Brother Liu, this time send five in!”

To their surprise, Zhang Che had slain the three Long-Mouthed Jackals in less than a minute! Each of the men showed relieved smiles on their faces.

-His talent is outstanding indeed! I only demonstrated it to him once and told him a few words, and yet this future son-in-law of the Huang family is able to incorporate these ideas into actual combat so quickly!

-Despite his young appearance, he might be able to catch up to us in just a few months!- Liu Gang lamented inwardly, while he laughed out loud, “Haha, watch out then!”

As he spoke, he shifted a few steps to the side and accurately let five Long-Mouthed Jackals in, who pounced at Zhang Che.

Zhang Che was impressed at seeing this. -Let alone their strength and teamwork, just this precise control by itself is not something ordinary people can achieve!-

They could let any number of the jackals in that Zhang Che asked for; no more, no less!

Although Zhang Che was facing five Long-Mouthed Jackals this time, the pressure didn’t increase by much. He was getting better and better at catching the timing, be it dodging or striking. The number of mistakes he made was quickly falling.

-So this is what being an expert feels like!-

Even though he only grasped a little of the essence, it made Zhang Che feel incomparably gratified.

As he had expected, without an absolute strength advantage over his enemies, techniques were extremely useful. In some situations, it might be an even greater contributing factor than strength!

In the saying “One might triumphs ten techniques”, that “one might” had to be an overwhelming advantage for it to hold true!

Moreover, when his strength reached an extreme level, wouldn’t it be even better if he had the techniques to back it up?

This time, Zhang Che spent two minutes to finish off the five Long-Mouthed Jackals.

“Brother Liu, send ten in!”

Zhang Che’s confidence was swelling. He felt that he could handle even more Long-Mouthed Jackals at the same time now.

Liu Gang shouted, “Alright, be careful now!”

Ten jackals rushed through the gap Liu Gang intentionally created, forming an arcand rapidly closed in on Zhang Che.

Going from five to ten beasts in one go, the pressure Zhang Che had to deal with suddenly increased by more than two-fold!

“Damn it, I’m a little complacent as expected. I’m not as strong as I thought, dealing with ten at one go!”

Facing the attacks of ten Long-Mouthed Jackals, Zhang Che could forget about attacking. Even dodging their attacks was getting difficult. Left without a choice, he had to rely on his brute strength again and consecutively sent three jackals flying, relieving himself of some pressure.

Even so, he wasn’t able to avoid getting bitten on his thigh by one of the jackals. Their sharp teeth directly tore through his combat pants, sinking deep into Zhang Che’s flesh, and he nearly cried out from the pain.

As truth would have it, no matter how much pain a person had experienced, they wouldn’t gain any resistance to it. The next time he had to suffer something similar, it wouldn’t be any easier at all.

Zhang Che let out a low grunt. He swung his sword, decapitating the Long-Mouthed Jackal who couldn’t dodge in time. Afterwards, his figure fluttered, dancing around the remaining few jackals like a butterfly.

Zhang Che failed to dodge another attack; his left shoulder was bitten by one of the Long-Mouthed Jackals. A few more holes appeared in his combat suit.

Luckily Huang Juyun had prepared this combat suit for Zhang Che. Its resistance to tears was outstanding. Otherwise, he would be missing a piece of flesh or two by now.

Zhang Che didn’t show any signs of fear. His eyes reddened slightly from the pain as he grabbed the Long-Mouthed Jackal still hanging on his left shoulder with his left hand, raising it high up and slamming it to the ground.

With a loud thud, this Long-Mouthed Jackal’s head was nearly crushed into its chest, directly turning into a streak of light in Zhang Che’s hand and dissipating.

Zhang Che’s face was scrunched up from anger; he had already killed quite a few Long-Mouthed Jackals, and yet not even a single beast card had dropped.

-Since when did I become so unlucky...-