‘I can’t let this drag out anymore.’ Kia thought; but before she could come up with a victory plan, she felt the hair on her back stand like pins.
‘Danger!’
“Too late.” Barbarian Queen shouted while locking down all paths of escape.
Swiiiiiiish!!!!!!
A bright yellow arrow rushed towards Kia before striking her shoulder. However, because of the distance, this attack did not have much effect on the girl.
Looking into the depth of the night, one could see the dead man, Flame Spirit Hand, who was standing with his hands outstretched holding a giant bow.
Before Kia could even plan for the extra opponent, another attack came from a different direction!
From her left, a giant claw mark printed on space, pierced towards Kia’s temple as if aiming to lobotomize her. It was another opponent she had previously taken down, the werehyena known as “Red Sun” Speedman – the eldest of the hyena brothers.
What was previously a one on one fight had now transformed into a 3 vs 1 battle situation. Physically, Kia had to contend with Barbarian Bull Queen while Speedman and the zombie man provided support to the Queen from the side.
Facing this unfavorable situation, Kia was quick and decisive.
‘Take out the support first.’ With that thought, she disengaged from Queen and rushed towards the archer.
The archer, Flame Spirit Hand, was a giant man who had a fire spirit as a hand. He was an unnatural existence formed when a corpse in the Undead Marsh fused with a Fire Spirit. The resulting abomination was a Ghost Flame Corpse Spirit.
Although this type of corpse spirit had low intelligence, it retained memories of its martial skills when it was still alive. Therefore, it was exceptional in combat.
“You won’t get away!”
With a strong leap, Queen went after Kia to protect the archer. She knew that if she lost the archer’s support, it would not be as easy to take down Kia. In fact, she valued the archer far more than the werehyena since Flame Spirit Hand could offer long range assistance.
When Kia closed the distance between her and the archer, she was once again shocked to see his appearance. The man was a half decomposing corpse!
However, this shock barely lasted a second as she launched her fist at the corpse man.
Swooosh!
The speed of an archer!
_So fast almost like flying.
Even with the body of a zombie, the archer was still swift enough to dodge Kia’s strike. After dodging, the archer performed a series of footwork like a sliding scale and headed towards Barbarian Bull Queen's side.
It was a speed that did not match his bulky body.
Once again, Kia’s opponents had regrouped!
Previously, when Kia had reinvigorated herself so had her enemies.
Even though he had been beaten up severely, as the oldest brother, Speedman was the most tenacious. A few minutes had first since his first brutal defeat yet he had already recovered his combat power.
While he feared Kia’s strength, he was confident that with Barbarian Bull Queen and Flame Spirit Hand at his side, “there is no way that we will lose!”
“Graaaaaaaaaaaah!!!”
The painful roar immediately broke the stalemate that had developed.
Everyone including Queen and the half dead man were shocked as they turned to look at the werehyena.
“Speedman, do you really need to go that far?” Queen exclaimed.
Even she would not have been so brutal to herself.
At this moment, a copious amount of blood was bursting out of Speedman’s back like a fountain. His claws were inserted deep into his back and with a violent tug, he ripped out his own spine amidst painful roars!
This was an extremely dangerous and self-harming demonic technique – the Dark Devil Spear, a spear formed out of bones.
However, why would anyone practice or use such a technique? Naturally, the answer was power. The dark devil spear formed from one’s spine had many extreme abilities.
“It is said that this is a spear that can pierce through almost anything! I have never tried it before today so help me open my eyes as well.” Speedman said with a whimper while looking at Kia.
While he sounded like a wounded animal, at this monent no one dared to underestimate him. This was a truly crazy man.
The next moment, there was silence and then Speedman disappeared from where he was standing.
‘So fast!’
‘Like teleportation!’
Kia almost failed to see the trajectory of her opponent’s move. The speed of the spear could only be described as devilish – as fast as a rocket.
It was a shocking attack for sure, but who was Kia? She was someone who trained in many physical martial arts. It was not just her physical strength and body defense that was unmatched; her speed was nothing to scoff at either. In a straight race, even Barbarian Bull Queen could not catch up to her.
“What!”
What happened next left Speedman reeling in shock. The girl actually caught his almost imperceptible spear thrust with her bare hand!
‘It is of no matter. She can’t counter the momentum.’
Speedman’s thoughts were not far from reality. While Kia succeeded in grabbing the spear, the sheer speed and momentum of the spear was too much. The next moment, the spear directly landed on her stomach with so much force that it created an explosion tearing apart Kia’s dress at her stomach area.
The spear directly landed on Kia’s stomach sending her flying back, but she still did not let go of her hold on the spear.
“Hahaha, your insides must have turned to mush now, hehehe.” Seeing the girl hanging on his spear, Speedman was quick to celebrate. But when he saw Kia’s gaze, a deep sense of unease enveloped him.
“Speedman, get the hell away from there?” Queen’s frantic shout entered the werehyena’s ears; but it was already too late.
Kia’s grip on the devil spear felt like the force of a giant holding a toothpick – overwhelming and unshakeable. He could not shake her off at all; and when the hyena man glanced down at where his spear should have pierced her stomach, he was even more shocked.
Underneath Kia’s clothes, there was no wound but only “…rock hard abs!” that made Speedman blush in shame at his own inadequacy. That was his final thought before a fierce counterattack, a blow like no other, barrelled into his head knocking him down and creating a miniature crater in the ground with dust flying everywhere.
It was lights out for this rabid hyena.
To withstand the spear thrust, Kia’s physical martial skills were not enough. This time she used a mental skill called Dark Annihilation Will [D.A. Will]. This was a unique type of mind over matter mental technique.
However, given the mental energy expenditure, she could not keep the technique active any longer.
‘I am already keeping multiple martial skills active simultaneously. My mind’s processing power can’t keep up any more.’
‘And now my body is also experiencing fatigue from operating at 120% without rest.’
‘Maybe I overestimated myself. Fighting multiple opponents successively with each of them stronger than the last is not easy at all.’
Kia silently lamented as she tried to catch her breath. However, her opponents did not give her any opportunity to rest.
[Ghost Flame Cannon]
This was a technique that combined archery with fist techniques. When Flame Spirit Hand activated this skill, his fiery arm turned into a giant cannon more than 5 meters long. The next moment, he punched out ferociously towards Kia.
The gigantic fiery arm shot out an arrow of flames like a fierce cannon!
Kia’s first thought was to dodge but Barbarian Bull Queen had already anticipated that.
Steel Smelting Palms!
The woman's palms glowed with a red hot shine as she attacked Kia. Once again, she blocked the girl’s path of retreat.
‘If these attacks land, there is no way I can escape unscathed.’
Kia knew that even with her inhuman stamina, her strength had dropped considerably after the series of battles. After all, fighting so many opponents without rest was very draining.
However, at the moment of crisis, the titanic flaming arrow suddenly diverted from Kia’s body. What should have been a direct attack only grazed her.
Someone had arrived.
It was Mwana!
With a moment to breathe, Kia managed to repel Queen again.
Mwana and Kia did not have time to converse but a nod was enough to communicate with each other, to understand one another.
With a tacit understanding, both of them launched a combo attack so smooth that one would think they had practiced it countless times.
When Flame Spirit Hand aimed to fire off a second attack, Mwana chose to slide beneath him from behind which made the archer miss his shot against Kia. As the as the burly archer’s body fell backwards, Kia leaped into the air and ‘delivered’ a devastating punch to Flame Spirit Hand’s face.
The punch was so powerful that it not only slammed the corpse warrior into the ground, but it also caused his body to bounce back up into the air!
It was like the solid ground made of rock had turned into rubber for an instant.
When Flame Spirit Hand finally landed on the ground again, the fire on his body went out; this time for good.
Looking at their downed opponent, Kia and Mwana slapped hands almost like a high-five as a sign of celebration.
Victory!
The two then turned to look at the only remaining enemy.
"How the tables turn." Kia commented with a smile on her face.
This time, the situation had reversed from the previous 3 vs 1 in Barbarian Bull Queen’s favor to the current 2 vs 1 in Kia’s favor.
Mwana’s Book of Knowledge
Bonus Notes 8: Nations in the Swordscar Continent
Countries already mentioned in the story:
Three Great Nations
- Golden Kingdom [Dhahabu]
- Dark Kingdom [Giza]
- Waterfall Kingdom [Biyaha]
Other Nations
- Butterfly Country [Pepeo]
- Land of Enlightenment [Uono]
- Nation of Calling [Wito]
- Eternal Night Kingdom [Toro]
- Madi
- Kiziba
- Buddo
- Axum
- Skyfeather Kingdom
- Eastern Jin Nation
- Demonic Territory
There are 21 countries in the Sword Scar Continent: 3 Great Nations, 16 small nations, and 2 isolated states one of which is the Demonic Territory.
The other nations not mentioned in the story so far are:
- Hidden Forest Territory (a forest land where all sorts of mythical creatures reside. Its boundaries are shrouded in mist, hard to enter, and even harder to leave. This is the second isolated state)
- Land of the Tall [Warefu] – it is where the 12 feet fellows and half-giants reside. Everything in this country from roads to buildings is scaled up.
- Koma Ancient Boundary (a strip of land located within the thickest part of the scar on the continent itself. It is like a boundary separating the continent in two. Most people born in this boundary have a Sword Soul since birth)
- Land of Drums [Doromo]
- Black Dragon Island (located off the shores of the north eastern part of the continent. It directly faces the ‘Dragon Head’ of the Black Dragon Mountain Range and has therefore faced the ‘dragon’s breath’ for eons. The island nation is filled with volcanic rock and red fiery gems. Most of the plants on the island are variations of red and black instead of green)
- North ‘Scar’ [North Kovu] – a kingdom located to the north western parts of the continent and the gateway to the western and northern continents
- Land of Blemishes [Dosari]
Additionally, there are many other smaller semi-autonomous states and territories in the continent such as the Land of Wise Sayings [Semi za Hekima/Hekima State] which is partially controlled by Toro.
Concerning continents, there are 2 continents to the East of the Sword Scar Continent, 1 continent to the North and another 1 continent to the South, and finally, there are 4 continents to the West. Therefore, in total, there are 9 continents on the Zika planet.
