Chapter 21: A Sense of Reverence
A thick cloud of dust filled the alley.
Luo Fan barely managed to dodge the attack from the Beast General using his spiritual psychic power.
While avoiding the Beast General's strike, he could only retreat backward.
However, behind him were the Beast Soldier-level Tiger Mastiffs.
He accidentally got grabbed on the back by one of the Beast Soldiers.
Fortunately, his Series-6 battle suit had incredible defense, and the Beast Soldier couldn't penetrate it.
Still, it caused Luo Fan's movements to stiffen momentarily.
Meanwhile, the Beast General Tiger Mastiff behind the soldiers leapt off the wall.
The next moment, it soared over the Beast Soldiers and descended from above.
Luo Fan had no time to dodge and had to slash his blade.
"Clang!"
The blade collided with the Tiger Mastiff's claw, producing a metallic clash.
The Tiger Mastiff flanking him also lunged again.
The narrow alley Luo Fan had chosen now worked against him, as the two Beast General Tiger Mastiffs were effectively pinching him from both sides.
Thinking quickly, Luo Fan mimicked the Tiger Mastiff's earlier move, kicked a hole in the nearby wall, and slipped inside.
Upon seeing each other, the two Tiger Mastiffs braced against each other, using each other's momentum to jump.
Then, they ran toward the hole Luo Fan had made.
Without hesitation, Luo Fan dashed out, stepped on the wall a few times, and bypassed one of the Tiger Mastiffs to reach the open area outside the alley.
If narrow spaces didn't give him the advantage, he would fight in open terrain instead.
He wasn't afraid of them anyway.
Once in the open, the Tiger Mastiffs didn't attack immediately, they circled Luo Fan first.
Luo Fan remained vigilant, ignoring the Beast Soldiers this time.
Instead, he charged directly at one of the Beast Generals.
If he couldn't take out the small soldiers first, then he would "catch the king first."
This time, he used the first level of Ninefold Thunder Blade, striking to force one of the Tiger Mastiff's claws aside.
Then, he slashed at its chest.
"Awwooo!"
The Beast General-level Tiger Mastiff let out a tremendous howl of pain.
Luo Fan didn't waste the opportunity.
He pressed forward, completely ignoring the attack from the other Beast General Tiger Mastiff behind him.
He thrust his blade into the wide-open mouth of the howling Tiger Mastiff, piercing straight through its brain.
The Tiger Mastiff, which had been howling, fell completely silent.
At that moment, the other Beast General-level Tiger Mastiff behind him swung its claw toward the back of Luo Fan's head.
However, the claw broke instantly.
The cut was clean, and blood gushed out.
The powerless claw hit Luo Fan's head, but the impact barely registered.
Just moments before, Luo Fan had controlled a throwing knife to sever the Tiger Mastiff's claw.
Seeing its companion killed and now having lost a paw, the remaining Tiger Mastiff felt fear.
It no longer looked ferocious and menacing; instead, it turned and ran with its tail tucked between its legs.
It didn't even care about its subordinates anymore.
But Luo Fan wasn't about to let this experience slip away.
He blocked its escape with a throwing knife.
Then, he chased it down, finishing it off with two slashes.
The remaining Beast Soldier-level Tiger Mastiffs were quickly dealt with as well.
Looking at the corpses on the ground, Luo Fan sighed.
He realized he was still too weak.
Relying solely on martial artist-level strength, two low-level Beast Generals were too much to handle.
In reality, this was normal.
Monsters were incredibly powerful, and humans of the same level could rarely defeat them.
Only humans who had cultivated secret techniques stood a chance against them.
Luo Fan had only just reached the rank of low-level Battle General.
Even with the first level of Ninefold Thunder Blade, his power still fell within the low-level Battle General range.
So defeating one Tiger Mastiff was already impressive.
Facing two Beast Generals along with a dozen or so Beast Soldiers was extremely difficult.
Especially since Luo Fan had little real combat experience.
Previously, he had only sparred with Luo Feng and Fang Xueyi.
In reality, human combat differed greatly from monster combat.
And there was a huge difference between life-and-death battles and sparring.
Luo Fan realized this now.
He had become a bit arrogant.
Being a transmigrator, combined with the system and his innate Spirit Master talent, had made him somewhat arrogant.
It could even be said he was a little conceited.
This was evident from the fact that he came to the Wilderness Zone alone.
However, the recent battle had restored his sense of reverence as a martial artist.
For a martial artist, having a sense of reverence is extremely important.
Only with reverence can one act cautiously in combat, increasing the chance of survival.
Fortunately, Luo Fan realized this now.
If he had waited until he became stronger to understand, it might not have just been a simple shock like today.
If not for his Spirit Master talent, he would have died at the hands of those two Beast General-level Tiger Mastiffs.
Killing a Steelhide Wild Boar that he had an advantage over had made him a little overconfident.
But now, his mind had returned to the ground.
At the same time, he began reflecting on his shortcomings.
Besides lacking combat experience, he realized he needed to focus on agility.
Previously, he hadn't paid much attention to the movement technique in Ninefold Thunder Blade. He had only practiced it casually to reach a minor proficiency.
If he could train it to mastery, his agility might reach a perfect level.
In the previous battle, had his agility been at the perfect level, he could have killed the two Tiger Mastiffs in the narrow alley.
So he decided to train his agility.
Returning to the building he had been in, Luo Fan ate a little and resumed hunting.
This time, he wasn't looking for Beast Generals.
Instead, he sought high-level Beast Soldiers.
Specifically, he was looking for feline high-level Beast Soldiers.
Feline high-level Beast Soldiers were fast and extremely agile.
He planned to use them to practice his movement technique.
Once his agility reached perfection, he would then hunt Beast Generals to practice both blade skill and agility.
Soon, under the moonlight, he found his targets.
They were six Phantom Cats at high-level Beast Soldier rank.
They were renowned for their speed.
They were called Phantom Cats because, in battle, all that remained visible was a blur—a testament to their incredible speed.
[Task: Survive under the assault of Phantom Cats for half an hour using only the Flowing Light Movement Technique. Reward: Flowing Light Movement Technique proficiency +1, Constitution +5]
After creating the task, Luo Fan didn't hesitate and ran toward the Phantom Cats.
Upon seeing him, the Phantom Cats leapt at him.
Luo Fan didn't wield a weapon; he stored everything into the system.
He discovered a bug in the system.
Although items outside system rewards couldn't normally be stored, if he placed them into the reward backpack, they could enter the system space.
Currently, he was wearing only his battle suit, with nothing else on him.
Thus, he trained his movement technique while surrounded by six Phantom Cats.
Under the moonlight, the Phantom Cats truly appeared as streaks of shadows.
Sometimes they would manage to catch him.
But as time went on, he was caught less and less.
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