Chapter 27 – Hunting in the Forest

The group of 5 all started walking carefully unaware of the predator following them. They found their target; a bull-like beast that was coveted for its sturdy horns for its many uses. They focused on it and slowly surrounded it, prepared to launch forward and claim its life.

'The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it.'

Ken thought to himself as he prepared his attack.

*Woosh*

A strong whistle blew, and everyone turned to look in the direction of the noise, including the beast. As soon as it saw it was outnumbered, it charged in the opposite direction while screaming for help from its herd.

"Derek!"

Ken chose to get rid of the spear users first. Although he could beat James and save himself the trouble of dealing with a bow user while fighting the other 4, he wanted to keep him for practicing his Cloud Running.

He didn't choose Droy for the same reason, as he wanted to feel as much pressure as he could, and as for the girls, attacking them felt less intuitive. He did consume a lot of modern culture in his previous life after all.

Ken whipped his sword, tossing Derek's blood on the ground as he smiled at the other four who were already surrounding him. Derek collapsed with a long gash on his torso, watching his attacker helplessly while using his Qi to keep his body functioning. Unfortunately for him, it was only a temporary solution.

"Do your best, or I won't be able to improve my abilities, 'kay?"

"Who the hell are you, and when did we pick a fight with you?"

Ken didn't answer. Instead, he sheathed his sword and chose his next 'kill'. He had mocked them to make them fight harder instead of thinking of escaping.

'I shouldn't be a misogynist; I will treat them equally.'

"Guys be careful, I think it's a quick unsheathing technique. Let's attack!"

Droy shouted and everyone charged forward. Ken immediately stepped to the side and dodged an arrow that was aimed at his chest, and slightly bent to the right to avoid a spear thrust from Laila.

He didn't attack back; he only tried his best to keep dodging their attacks, each time with minimal movements. At first, he would move a lot more than needed, which also wasted a lot of Qi and openings his opponents had, but as time passed, he became more proficient and could dodge the attacks by a hair width.

Not committing the same mistake twice was a huge advantage; he analyzed his movements as well as theirs and kept coming up with better ways to dodge amidst the battle, making his enemies notice his improvement mid-combat.

"Damn it, we can't hit him! Guys, throw your caution to the wind and use your techniques even if we might hit each other! He's either toying with us, or he somehow gets stronger every minute!"

Droy's shout gave an idea to Ken. Soon, Monica tried to land another palm technique on his thigh while Droy's sword swung toward his neck, coated with fire. The arrows were boosted by a wind technique since the beginning, so not much changed in that aspect.

Ken took a step back and ducked under a spear attack from Laila. Inspired by Droy's words he started moving with a purpose this time. Soon he led them to the place he wanted.

An arrow came flying to his head, and with a slight tilt of his head, the arrow passed and only left a trail of blood from a shallow cut it made on Ken's skin.

Monica already had a winning smile on her face. They couldn't hit him even once all this time, but he also seemed unable to hit them back. However, now, perhaps he finally made a mistake. Her palm was less than 20 cm away from his stomach, and there was nothing he could do to dodge it.

*Sprrt*

"Ah!"

Monica stumbled a few steps back and looked down at her stomach with horror. She then fell on one knee and soon collapsed on the ground. She didn't die yet, but she kept losing blood and needed immediate treatment. Just like Derek, she could only lie on the ground and focus on keeping herself alive with her Qi circulation.

"No, Monica! I'm so sorry!"

James shouted with fear when he realized the one to take down Monica was none other than himself. All this while, Ken manipulated their movements while dodging and brought them to that exact position. When Monica tried to hit him from below, she couldn't see the arrow coming from behind him, and she didn't pay attention to friendly fire.

When Ken tilted his head, it was too late for Monica to dodge, and the arrow that came from above soon hit her stomach and left a gaping hole behind.

"Haha, don't blame me for that, guys. I'm not the one who killed her, or maybe, your friend works with me?"

Ken taunted the already agitated disciples to throw them off.

"Bastard!"

Laila shouted and jumped forward with her spear.

*Cling!*

Her spear was deflected, but not by Ken. An arrow that was supposed to be aimed at his chest clashed with Laila's thrust and sent it away. Laila immediately had an emotional outburst.

She turned around and looked with fury at James. Although she didn't take Ken's words seriously at first, she was wondering if it was really the case now.

"James, what are you doing? Why did you help him? Did you hit on Monica earlier while plotting her death in your heart??"

She screamed at James who was just as angry as her.

"I shot my arrow before your thrust, aren't you the traitor who tries to incite us against each other? You will probably go after Big Brother Droy next, right?"

James shouted back at her while Droy was still fighting against Ken. Ken just smiled and kept dodging Droy's sword swings without attacking back. With a few words he already made them fight among themselves.

'It should be enough. I don't think I can improve much more from sparring with them anymore.'

"AHH!"

Ken's sword left a rather shallow cut on Droy's shoulder, yet Droy collapsed and held it as if Ken cut it off.

'Finally, I've achieved the 'advanced' level in the Flash Unwind technique.'

Now, his sword didn't need to touch the organs for the Qi pulse to be sent directly there and deal damage; a shallow wound was enough to cause a fatal inner injury.

Furthermore, the normal sound of the sword cutting through the wind was also missing; his Qi separated the air a millisecond before the sword passed there, making it move silently. He understood that this sound was bad for ambushes when everyone turned their heads toward him at his first kill.

"No, Droy!"

Laila screamed with guilt when she saw that Droy fell on the ground while dropping his sword beside him. If she helped him instead of shouting at James, he might've been alive now.

Laila now was in a difficult position. On one hand, she was between Ken and James and wasn't sure of James' loyalty anymore. On the other hand, if she tried to run away, it'd be passing a death sentence on her dying comrades who might still be saved with pills and treatment.

However, as soon as Ken turned toward her, she forgot all her hesitations. She quickly turned toward the sect and started running.

When James saw Laila running away, he didn't think he'd have a chance of winning the battle on his own, so he ran in the opposite direction and prayed Ken would prefer chasing a lady over chasing a man.

His wish came true, but it didn't make him happy at all. Laila's scream sounded too close and too soon, meaning she had barely bought any time for him.

'I don't hear him. Maybe he isn't chasing me.'

James thought to himself after running 10 minutes straight. As if the devil heard his hope and decided to crush it, he saw Ken's demonic mask waiting for him ahead.

"How… how are you there?"

'I knew some chasing would help me. Finally, my Cloud Running is at the 'advanced' mastery as well. It's so silent that it almost feels like I'm really running on clouds.'

Ken thought to himself while not bothering to answer James. He suddenly disappeared and reappeared in front of James without giving him any time to respond, and his sword found its way to James' chest, opening a hole in his heart. This time it was a direct kill.

'One Step upgraded as well. Now I don't have to slightly crouch before performing my move and can simply take a step forward.'

Ken smiled brightly when thinking about all his gains from that day. He grabbed James and pulled it with him back to the place where he placed his other senior brothers and sisters. There, he lay the five youths one next to another.

Monica lost too much blood and was barely conscious now. She could only look at him with pleading eyes as she watched him draw his sword and bring it to her throat. She closed her eyes.

Looking at the five lying powerless, he recalled his classmates from his previous life, prompting him to attach their faces to the five's bodies. Ken amused himself with the thought of pressing his sword and saving her, but he knew it was impossible.

Murder was only legal if you didn't get caught, and deducing his identity with this childish stature was easy. There were no other young monsters in the sect.

'It seems that the path of killing others is suitable for me, but I don't want to give up on my family.'

He sighed again when he thought about his parents' reaction if they found out he killed people. Next, he left the area, letting the scent of blood draw the beasts to cover his tracks.