Chapter 922: Defeat |
Bi Fang was able to avoid the trajectory of every bullet with precise rolls, darting behind a tree and then suddenly dashing out in the completely opposite direction. The sparse woods became his best protection.
Whenever a bullet came his way, he managed to graze past it just right, giving the audience the thrill of a roller-coaster ride.
On the other hand, Ved wasn't feeling so good. He felt as if he had encountered the legendary Timber Wolf man or perhaps a fantastical creature like a "Lord of the Rings" spirit.
He had never seen such a sensitive human before. The effect of inertia seemed to suddenly vanish from his opponent, who was elusive and unpredictable. The magazine could only slowly empty in the face of futile attacks.
Ved, who had accompanied Palmer on this injurious hunting trip of the Lion King, wasn't too vigilant and hadn't carried much in the way of weapons for self-protection. He had only taken a pistol and two magazines from the car, to guard against a possible violent outbreak from the Lion King. Until then, he had been very confident in his marksmanship, even thinking that the two magazines were superfluous.
It never occurred to him that he would encounter a skirmish here, and he certainly didn't expect to be reduced to his current state by a stranger from who knows where.
The opponent was a complete anomaly, as if they had activated cheat "Skill" and "X-ray vision." Avoiding bullets with their flesh was a scene straight out of fiction that had leaped into reality.
Ved had always thought that with his physical condition, he was nearly at the peak that humans could achieve through training, but the opponent's reaction speed and strength were unbelievably fast and strong.
The muzzle flashed as the copper metal, carrying tremendous kinetic energy, flew out of the rifling and struck trees, causing chunks of brittle bark to splinter off.
The construction of a Short Spear is important; if you want it to hit the target, the balance must be even. Otherwise, you would need to adjust your grip at the crucial moment, causing a tiny delay.
Moreover, without enough material for the spearhead, Bi Fang had only managed to make three satisfactory Short Spears while on the move. He used two on the large man before him and one on an unidentified white man.
Ved swung his pistol in a throw, which was easily dodged.
Both men closed in and simultaneously pulled out the knives from their waists.
Bi Fang wielded his Harpoon as usual, having gotten used to its unique and sharp form over a year and a half.
Ved's was an Ontario MK3 Navy Knife, standard issue to the Ugly Country's Navy SEALs.
SEAL Team members had the freedom to choose their preferred blade, but this survival knife was standard-issue military cutlery each of them would receive.
And Ved happened to like this particular one.
The 15.24-centimeter stainless steel blade was the perfect gear for this elite and efficient team. The blade had a black oxide finish to withstand seawater corrosion and to eliminate reflections. Of course, its durability was most renowned.
In close combat, Ved felt much more confident despite being in a crisis.
Being bigger naturally meant having greater strength, yet his opponent seemed to ignore this most basic physical rule, moving faster than a normal person.
However, Ved was confident in his exquisite skills, honed in combat within the ranks of the SEALs. No one among his peers was his match.
But when the tips of their knives collided in a strange demeanor, Ved's expression instantly changed.
A persistent quivering sensation spread from the tip of the knife up his arm, and Ved felt as if he had swung a heavy, steel hammer against a solid steel girder. The tremor numbed his entire arm.
What's happening?!
Shocked as he was, Bi Fang didn't pause to wonder. He had actually used this move against Legoff before, which many netizens jokingly referred to as "vibrating the blade," relying on striking the tip of the blade and using leverage to transmit force to the holder's wrist, creating massive pressure in a short time. If it had been an ordinary person, they would have likely dropped their weapon due to the pressure.
Indeed, there was a skillful concurrence in the methods.
Previously, there was an element of luck in his execution, but now his control had greatly improved. After two consecutive strikes, Ved's wrist ached unbearably, nearly losing grip on his weapon.
In just two rounds, Bi Fang had successfully extinguished Ved's confidence.
Bi Fang's physical conditioning was already freakishly strong, and his skill was at the pinnacle of humanity, calling him a grandmaster would not be an overstatement.
Moreover, after so many adventures and brushes with death, his psychological resilience far exceeded that of the average person. With both hardware and software fully equipped, it was only because Ved was also exceptionally gifted that he had managed to hold on until now. Otherwise, he should have been down long ago.
Unable to hit with bullets, and noticeably outmatched in close combat, Ved was sweating profusely, even unable to focus, and began contemplating escape.
When a person's morale is drained, even the highest martial arts will be discounted, let alone a fight to the death.
Courage prevails in a narrow passage.
In just a few moves, Ved's body bore several more scratches, and beneath his torn clothing, wounds opened by the sharp blade revealed red muscle tissue. Blood that gushed out in the following seconds filled the wounds, looking like the devil had opened several narrow, crimson eyes.
The movements of both fighters were too fast and too fierce for the spectators to clearly see what was happening. They only noticed that after a few afterimages passed by, Ved's momentum waned instantly, and his vitality visibly deteriorated at a rate visible to the naked eye, no different from a defeated rooster.
Bi Fang moved too quickly, leaving Ved only able to defend, tired from the onslaught.
It was just a flickering shadow, splattering like a butterfly, moving like a phantom, with tinkling clashing noises coming fast and furious from the knife edge. In a daze, the Navy knife's chopping lost direction.
The white fabric vanished in front of Ved, and the dark shadow that had entangled him disappeared as well. Startled, Ved realized that the sharp blade was already aimed at his forehead, but he could not dodge it, as if someone had grabbed his arms.
Ved instinctively swung his knife to block, only to suddenly find his hand empty! In that moment, the oddly-shaped combat knife had almost severed his fingers along the handle, and to save his palm, he had released his own knife.
"It's over." Ved's mind went blank.
The dark light vanished abruptly, Bi Fang suddenly flipped his wrist and, using the hilt instead of the blade, converted a stab into a strike, slamming his fist hard onto the sturdy man's head.
An overwhelming force struck Ved's brain, and his eyes rolled back as his consciousness blurred.
No amount of resilient combat training could negate the multiple vulnerabilities inherent to the human body.
The towering man, over two meters tall, stood still for a long while, then slowly fell backward, revealing Bi Fang standing in front.
The heavy body hit the ground, kicking up a pall of low-lying yellow dust.
Bi Fang pulled off the brushwood camouflage that had been draped over him and tossed it onto the ground, covering Ved's face.