Chapter 44 Crotch Killer

The battle had erupted in the lord's longhouse.

Zhou Jing strode forward, one blade guarding his body, the other thrusting straight toward the crew-cut man.

Whoosh!

The sound of tearing wind screeched.

His speed, strength, and explosive power were now even more formidable than before.

Because of his own foundation, the power produced by the secondary enhancement was significantly stronger than that of a normal secondary-enhanced hunter.

However, the crew-cut man remained unfazed, advancing instead of retreating, meeting the attack with his bare hands, eschewing weapons.

The blade thrust swiftly, as fast as lightning, aiming straight for the heart.

The crew-cut man suddenly reached out, his speed equally astonishing, his five fingers forming a claw, accurately seizing the blade.

Screech, screech, screech—

The blade scraped across his fingers, but instead of slicing off his hand, it produced a sound of metal grinding against metal.

"Catching a blade with his bare hands!"

Zhou Jing frowned and yanked forcefully. Although his strength overwhelmed his opponent, pulling the longsword back a short distance, the blade remained tightly gripped in the crew-cut man's hand.

The other blade slashed out in turn, but was also precisely blocked by the crew-cut man, his palm seizing the blade halfway.

The two swords and two hands were locked in mid-air.

"Ha!"

The crew-cut man suddenly exhaled and roared, his hands twisting violently.

Snap! Snap!

The heavily worn double blades snapped in half simultaneously!

Without a word, Zhou Jing raised his leg and kicked straight out.

The crew-cut man made the same movement.

The two men kicked each other at the same time.

Bang! Bang!

Zhou Jing felt a surge of great force, and his whole body retreated uncontrollably, crashing into the wall with a bang.

With a bang, cracks spread across the wall, and dust fell in a rustling shower.

His abdomen twisted in pain, feeling like more than just a kick. It was as if a strange force had drilled into his abdomen, rampaging through his internal organs.

He looked up at the crew-cut man, who had also been kicked.

He saw the man retreat six or seven steps before steadying himself in a bow stance, his hands forming palm strikes, one in front and one behind, opening wide, his posture like holding a bow and arrow, the front hand palm up, the back hand palm down, assuming a broad and expansive boxing stance.

The crew-cut man's clothes rippled and trembled, then immediately smoothed out, as if air currents were surging around him.

And the palms that had just snapped Zhou Jing's double blades only had a faint white mark, showing no sign of injury.

Zhou Jing couldn't help but look at the panel again, rereading the attribute detection results for the crew-cut man.

[Attributes: Physique 34, Resistance 36, Perception 24, Spirit 12, Energy 40 (Tier 1 AX)]

At first glance, it seemed relatively average, even his Physique was inferior to Zhou Jing's secondary enhancement.

But Zhou Jing had never seen the "Energy" attribute on any other hunter before. This was the first person he had discovered with this attribute, and who had reached the Tier 1 limit!

Because he had no reference, Zhou Jing had always been unclear about the actual manifestation of the "Energy" attribute.

But he was certain of one thing: his Resistance had reached 31 points, but he was far from being able to grab a blade with his bare hands unscathed… Could a difference of only 5 points in Resistance make such a big difference?

It was basically certain that this performance was related to the "Energy" attribute.

Although he had seen the attributes, he could only learn about the other party's specific abilities by fighting.

A person's true combat power was based on attributes, but skills and techniques were where the biggest differences lay.

Also, this attribute distribution... didn't seem like a blood-imbued warrior!

Zhou Jing narrowed his eyes.

At this moment, the crew-cut man spoke indifferently:

"Not bad physique, crude skills... Just lie down yourself and save me some trouble."

Hearing this, Zhou Jing threw away the broken blades, drew two spare longswords, suppressed the pain rampaging through his abdomen, and charged forward again.

He didn't ask any questions, knowing he wouldn't get an answer, so he didn't waste his breath.

Using the Hunter's Breath, Zhou Jing's speed soared, his double blades clashing against each other, followed by a flurry of blades.

Swish, swish, swish—

The rapid blades struck in succession, the blade light attacking the crew-cut man from all angles.

Zhou Jing's swordsmanship was straightforward, attacking the enemy's vital points every time, but he also made sure not to let the crew-cut man grab the blades again.

Whenever the crew-cut man showed signs of doing so, he would immediately change his attack route, turning it into a feint, or simply retracting his blade.

The crew-cut man fought speed with speed, his bare hands flying up and down, patting, wiping, tapping, smoothing, vibrating, seizing, pushing, grabbing... his moves changing dazzlingly, with considerable method.

Clang, clang, clang—

His pair of hands were incomparably tough, like metal, clashing with the double blades countless times during the fierce fight.

The two moved as they fought in the castle hall, like a destructive hurricane, various pieces of furniture were swept into the battle and turned into fragments.

Bang, bang, bang—The walls and floors were also pitted by the collisions between the two.

The thirty or so guards in the castle quickly retreated, not daring to continue surrounding them, for fear of being caught in the battle between these two humanoid beasts, being seriously injured by a mere brush.

After fighting for a while, the crew-cut man dodged a vertical slash, seized the opportunity, and smashed out a brazen iron fist, the fist's edge hitting the side of the blade.

Clang!

Half a blade flew off!

The crew-cut man inhaled briefly, quickly recovered his strength, and encircled his hands, deflecting the other blade while simultaneously pressing his palms against Zhou Jing's chest, his movements fluid and smooth.

Bang!

Zhou Jing tasted blood in his throat and staggered backward.

The crew-cut man quickly followed, a pair of iron palms striking out in succession, the changing palm strikes hitting Zhou Jing's chest in succession, making muffled thuds.

However, his combo didn't continue, as Ross, who had been standing silently to the side, suddenly pounced from behind, his dagger stabbing straight at the crew-cut man's back.

"Hmph."

Sensing the wind behind him, the crew-cut man snorted coldly, kicking Zhou Jing away, using the force to do a backflip, letting Ross lunge into empty air.

As he flipped over Ross' head, he punched down.

Bang!

Ross's head exploded like a watermelon, his brain cavity wide open.

The headless corpse thumped to the ground, sliding forward a short distance.

The crew-cut man landed from his backflip, glanced at Ross, who had failed in his sneak attack and been killed by his punch, and snorted lightly:

"Heh, petty tricks, truly courting death."

He didn't even need to sense the aura, he could tell at a glance that Ross was dead... after all, people die when they lose their heads.

A newly enhanced blood-imbued warrior was as fragile as an ordinary person in his hands.

On the other side, Zhou Jing slammed into the wall, finally stopping his retreat, and a mouthful of blood surged up, impossible to suppress.

"Puh!"

Zhou Jing spat out a mouthful of black blood, feeling like his chest had caved in.

A feeling of weakness erupted from the wound, sweeping through his limbs, and his breathing became erratic.

The condition of his body's genes collapsing also worsened with the injury. Zhou Jing could barely stand while leaning against the wall, and even the [Tenacity] talent couldn't suppress the pain at this moment.

"Heh, really powerful..."

Zhou Jing gasped for breath, feeling the excruciating pain all over his body, his lips twitching slightly, but revealing a strange smile.

After this exchange, he was basically certain that he was no match for this person.

A pure disparity in combat power, he couldn't beat him head-on.

His frenzied attacks couldn't break through the opponent's steady defense, and the opponent's close-range attacks, enhanced by some kind of energy, were much more destructive than his own reliance on brute strength, and far surpassed his own in skill.

He lowered his head and looked at Ross's corpse, watching silently for a few seconds, then struggling to straighten his body, trembling as he raised his blade and pointed it at the crew-cut man.

Although he didn't speak, the crew-cut man still understood his meaning.

Seeing that Zhou Jing couldn't even stand steadily, the crew-cut man examined his injuries and shook his head.

He had held nothing back just now, estimating that he had shattered this hunter's heart and lungs, and he was basically doomed.

But seeing Zhou Jing was still so eager to fight, the crew-cut man nodded and said casually:

"Very well, I'll send you on your way."

With that, the crew-cut man stepped forward, slowly walking toward Zhou Jing.

Zhou Jing took a deep breath, ignoring the excruciating pain all over his body, and held his breath.

Thunder Strike!

He took off the heavy blade on his back, threw it with force, then gripped his last longsword, striding forward.

The heavy blade spun and whistled through the air, but seemed to be thrown off course.

The crew-cut man remained unfazed, simply taking a step to the side, dodging the heavy blade, allowing it to smash a large hole in the wall, making a loud bang.

Watching Zhou Jing's increasingly close fearless charge, the crew-cut man didn't look away, secretly gathering his energy, accumulating it in his arms.

He prepared to use a storm of attacks, directly taking Zhou Jing down in one fell swoop, resolving the trouble tonight so he could go to bed early.

But at this moment…

Pfft!

A sharp pain suddenly shot through the crew-cut man's crotch, and a feeling of weakness instantly swept through his body.

He looked down in shock, his pupils dilating violently.

When dodging the heavy blade just now, the crew-cut man had taken a step, landing right next to Ross's headless corpse.

The corpse would of course cause no trouble.

But at this moment, the crew-cut man could hardly believe his eyes.

What was going on? This guy's head, it grew back!

This corpse, which should have been headless, had actually come back to life!

He saw Ross expressionlessly gripping the dagger and plunging it straight into the man's legs!

"Aaaah!"

The change was sudden, and the crew-cut man was completely unprepared.

He didn't even have time to think about what was happening, and pain beyond limit instantly occupied his mind, causing him to scream shrilly.

The man's vitals had been severely injured, and his strength vanished instantly.

At that moment, Zhou Jing had already pounced in front of him, crashing into him with his longsword.

Pfft!

The blade pierced through his back.

Piercing his heart!

The crew-cut man's eyes widened, staring fixedly at Zhou Jing, his eyes filled with disbelief.

The next moment, he let out a roar mixed with rage and resentment.

"Ah! Ah!"

With the crew-cut man as the center, a wave of energy erupted!

In his extreme rage, he struck out with hatred, his palms carrying the force of thunder, heavily hitting Zhou Jing's chest and abdomen.

Bang!

Zhou Jing flew out like a cannonball, spraying black blood that left a trail of blood in its wake.

He smashed through a wall and was buried in rubble.

The crew-cut man's bloodshot eyes turned to Ross.

Ross remained expressionless, still gripping the dagger in his crotch, and even stirred it with force.

Bang!

A furious palm shattered Ross's head.

Then a flurry of palm strikes fell, smashing Ross's body into a pile of fragments.

The crew-cut man's face was twisted in pain, unable to even breathe deeply.

He tightly gripped the longsword in his heart, dragging his blood-soaked crotch, and hobbled step by step to the pile of rubble where Zhou Jing was buried.

Suddenly, with a bang, the pile of rubble exploded!

Rocks scattered, Zhou Jing suddenly leaped out, punching the crew-cut man's throat.

Crack!

The trachea caved in and broke.

The crew-cut man was powerless to dodge—or rather, he had no intention of dodging.

He ignored the fist that hit his throat and slammed a palm at Zhou Jing's head.

Zhou Jing only had time to turn his head slightly, and a tearing pain came from his jaw.

Smack!

Half of Zhou Jing's bloody mandible flew out.

Zhou Jing's eyes were fierce, not caring about the excruciating pain that tugged at his nerves. He grabbed the longsword in the crew-cut man's heart with both hands and twisted it with force.

The crew-cut man's eyes widened in anger, staring straight at Zhou Jing, trying to raise his hand to kill the enemy in front of him.

But the severe wound in his heart caused his remaining strength to drain away with the blood.

With a thud, the crew-cut man finally couldn't support his body and collapsed to the ground.

Zhou Jing pressed down on the hilt of the sword with both hands, supporting his stance.

One horizontal, one vertical.

"You… uh…"

The crew-cut man opened his mouth, wanting to say something.

But the blood gurgling out of his mouth made it impossible for him to say a complete sentence.

The crew-cut man stared blankly at the ceiling, his eyes gradually fading, dying with lingering anger.

He had never thought that he would die here like this, at the hands of a native.

At the same time, Zhou Jing's panel flickered:

[Killed an alien life form]

[Absorbing the other party's naturally accumulated Star Realm Energy…]

[You have gained 3630 Star Realm Points, 28 Informational State Particles]

Zhou Jing didn't have time to pay attention to the panel, pulled the longsword out of the crew-cut man's corpse, and looked up at Lutt on the second floor, whose face changed drastically.

Thump, thump, thump—

At this moment, the sound of dense footsteps approached from far away.

A group of hunters came running, just in time to see this scene, and were all stunned in place.