Tatsumi repeats the word ‘savage’ in his mind multiple times before he suddenly blurts out loud, ‘‘don’t tell me not much further away from here is where a savage tribe resides.’’
When he blurted the words out, at first he didn’t completely believe it himself. but when looking deeply at the corpse again, he let out a low and deep sigh, and said. ‘‘Now that I look at this corpse again, they might actually be from those rumoring savage tribes since they seem really territorial.’’
‘‘But, even if they are really territorial. Uncle once told me a story of tham, and he said that they wouldn’t just go straight to killing, they would try to warn you first at least.’’ Tatsumi muttered while looking thoughtfully.
After a few breaths of time, he sighs once more. ‘‘... looks like I’m just unlucky and met the wrong savage tribe, different from uncle's description of tham.’’ Gazed further into the fog with a serious expression, he continued. ‘‘I killed their member so they definitely won't let me off. And since they were able to find me the first time in these fog, I doubt that they wouldn’t be able to do it again.’’
When realizing that he might be pursued right now by a tribe of savages, Tatsumi's expression was a little grim as he leapt out towards the tree top. After reaching the tree top, he jumps to a new one right away, and continues on forth from there.
He wanted to immediately leave the fog forest so he did it this way instead of walking, which would take much longer than moving through trees.
The reason he didn’t do this from the start and was instead walking, was because at that time there wasn’t really any chance of danger. And although the fog was dense and could be a problem, like making him lose his way. In his mind, he could alway just go up the tree and look for a direction out of it.
Though now his situation is different, he might not really have to worry about the other one much, but he definitely has to be worried of being attacked by a group of savages. Especially when he is basically blind in the mist and apparently they are not.
With my strong constitution, most of my broken bones and rib cage that I sustained from fighting the fiendish beast are mostly healed but haven't completely yet either. I really rethier avoid fighting tham when not in top form… Tatsumi chuckled bitterly.
Well, even if I was at top form I would still rethier avoiding fighting tham.
...
‘Whistling’
As Tatsumi was jumping through trees one after another. His expression suddenly flickered and became grave, his eyes focused as he pulled out his sword and shifted his body around in an unbelievable manner as he swung his weapon furth.
His sword seems to clash with a metal as it makes a ‘‘dang’ sound while sparks flying out.
Tatsumi sized up the person who attacked him right away.
In front of him was a burly man wearing a dark cloak and blue terrifying mask, in his hand was a blade that the young man's sword had clashed with.
Having his surprise attack being blocked; underneath the burly man mask, his expression was a little taken back as he directly dug inside his dark cloak and pulled out another blade. Not wasting time after pulling out his blade, he strikes out at Tatsumi with a force that tears through the wind and causes a whistling noise to sound.
As the blade came closer and closer to him, Tatsumi's expression remained calm as he twisted his sword and pushed the blade that his weapon was in deadlock with away, and flipped his body backward to evade the strike.
The back flipp pushed his body through the air, until he landed back unto another tree top that was close to the previous one.
Damn, they managed to reach me way faster than I expected! Giving the burly man another look, he quickly moves his eyes around to look at his surroundings, though it didn’t do much since the fog covered everything up.
But it didn’t mean he would stop looking as he was certain that if this burly man is here, then the other member of the savage tribe must also be here.
‘‘Die! Intruder!’’ The burly man roared out, and launched himself forward towards the tree top where the young man was standing.
Closing on him, the burly man raised his two blades and brandished it downward at the same time.
Watching the burly man approaching him with two deadly steel blades hacking downward at him, Tatsumi, taking a step back, stabbed his sword forward at unbelievable speed right at the direction of the burly man's heart.
While continuing to bring his blades down, the burly man saw the young man in action and was left with slight confusion as he couldn’t comprehend what he was trying to do.
After all, in the burly man's eyes, the length of his opponent's weapon wasn’t that long so even if his opponent didn't have to worry about his blades, the opponent weapon itself wouldn’t reach him from that distance.
Or so he thought. The burly man's eyes started widen in a gaping manner as he looked down below; his chest was stabbed through by a long red blood that was shaping like a sword. It went through his heart and out through his back.
His blades that were previously hacking down with unimaginable strength became weak and limply fell down. Expression full of shock and disbelief, he eyes moving to the end of the blood red sword, and the one who holds it.
Tatsumi didn’t show any expression on his face as he twisted around the sword that was coated with blood, and moving his hand upward, letting it go up until it reached the end of the burly man's head full of heirs.
Tatsumi just watched as the burly man's chest, neck, and head was split by his extended blood sword. He withdraws his gaze away from the burly man corpse that was falling down to the dense fog, and likely will reach the ground below.
His face that didn’t show any expression breathed a slight relief. He thanked himself for not wiping away the blood that had covered his sword when he had killed those four savages that were attacking him. Because of it, the fight with the burly was easy when he manipulated the blood on his sword to extend and stab forward in a surprise manner.
Though even as Tatsumi breathing out a slight relief just now, he didn’t let himself relax a single bit as he was certain that even when he couldn't see them in this fog, they were definitely more enemies out there as he could to feel danger surrounding him from all directions.
And just as he expected, rain of arrows from all directions started shooting from below the tree top.
Every one of the arrows that were shooting out at him seemed to contain enough power to blow away a tree as they tore away at the wind and caused a loud and ear-pierced whistling noise that could literally make one go deaf.
Tatsumi's expression shows pain and grave look; the pain came from having his ear-drum feeling like it's about to burst apart because of the noise the arrows were making, and the grave look was because of the many deadly arrows that were fired at him.
Damn it! These people are going all out in trying to kill me! He cursed in his mind, then he repositioned his sword and stabbed it down on the tree breach. The blood from his sword starts flowing out in large amounts, before expanding 5 feets around, encasing him in a blood dome.
From an outside perspective, they would only be able to see a blood dome formed and being on top of a tree, instead of the young man himself.
The many arrows reached the blood dome, and pierced through liquid. Although most were stopped, because of the force contained within them when they were fired off, few of the arrows dig through the liquid and go further into the blood dome, reaching deep inside.
Eventually, one arrow manages to fully drive itself inside and stab the shoulder of Tatsumi.
Tch! Feeling the arrow stabbing into his shoulder, he cursed many times in his mind.
After more than just a few seconds flew by, and not hearing anymore arrows being fired from the outside. Tatsumi withdrew the blood dome and let it sink back onto his sword. All the arrows on the blood dome fell down, either stuck on some of the tree breach or fell down the tree.
The moment he relinquished the blood dome, Tatsumi took out the arrow that had stabbed through his shoulder and used his power to stop the bleeding.
After that, he didn’t waste time and immediately launched off to another tree and moved further from that one as well. Choosing to run away, instead of fighting such a dangerous group of tribes in their own territory.
Fighting them while they hide in the fog is way too hard and dangerous. I should just continue hopping through trees until I reach that mountain. All the way there shouldn’t be their territory as well, so they should stop chasing if I reach it.
Though, if they do still decide to chase me… Unbeknownst to even Tatsumi. His expression grew dark as his black-pupil became blood red, looking demonic, and his body radiant with strong killing intent.
…
After what felt like more than half an hour had passed, Tatsumi continued to hop through trees one after another.
Closed onto the huge mountain up ahead.
He looked behind himself, and saw only trees endlessly extended further behind him. Down below, what only appeared in his view were plants, rocks, rivers, and countless small danger-beasts moving about.
As I continue to move closer further out of the forest, the fog is getting less and less dense, now I can finally see clearly below the tree top. He thought as he looked at everything that was quickly disappearing as he moved away.
Even though the fog is clearing away, I still don't see any of the people that were chasing me… Thinking deeply about the matter for a while, the only conclusion he could come up with is that they have given up on pursuing him.
I guess they really just want me out of the forest. Then what the hell did they attack me when I was going to go out of the forest in the first place anyway! Feeling pissed, Tatsumi almost cursed in his mind again.
Letting his anger calm down, Tatsumi sighs deeply and mutters. ‘‘Whatever, I should just be thankful that they decided to stop chasing me.
Hopping through the trees top for a little bit more than 10 minutes, the young man finally reached the bottom of the huge mountain that he was previously viewing far away in the fog forest.
Moving down from the tree top, and looking up at the huge mountain that seems to be able to reach the clouds itself, Tatsumi felt so insignificant from down here that he unconsciously muttered out. ‘‘This really is a huge mounta— hum!? Why am I suddenly feeling such a strong sense of danger!?’’
Expression extremely grave, Tatsumi moved his head around to examine his entire surroundings. He also took out his sword and put his guards up, preparing for any battle that could happen.
But even as he looked around, he couldn’t find the source of danger he was feeling. Even so, he didn’t let himself relax a single bit as the dangerous feeling that was willing up within him, continued to scream at him to no end!
As seconds tick by, Tatsumi's expression stays grave as he continues to sweep his eyes around cautiously. But after a few more moments passed, the grave look in his expression started to disappear, and instead confusion could be found in its place.
Hmm? There is no one here though. And it doesn't seem like there is any ambush here ethier, so why am I feeling such a strong sense of danger? Tatsumi thought about the matter in complete confusion, as he couldn’t figure why he was feeling like this.
‘‘Hah… since I can’t figure out the matter, I’ll just hurry and leave.’’ Still being slightly on guard, as he was about to head out toward the mountain, he suddenly felt the sense of danger become even stronger.
Putting him completely on edge and causing him to stop momentarily.
While stopping in his trick momentarily because of his instinct start unloading screams of danger at him. He tilted his head downward and looked at the ground. The moment his gaze landed on the ground, the sense of danger that he was feeling seemed to increase by a thousandfold as it rampaged through his mind.
Even before he thought about it, his body reacted unconsciously and leapt up toward the air, and the blood that stained his sword started to flow out, and expanded into large amounts of red liquid while covering him entirely in blood.
Acting as a protected barrier around him.
Right away after his feets left the ground. The ground started to emitted a bright and blinded light. Then, a powerful explosion occurred right beneath the ground where he previously stood.
BOOOOOM!!!
The explosion tore apart the ground within 30 meters; trees and rocks were blasted into smithereens, and the shockwave extended even further as it sent debris flying up and many more trees uprooting around the area.
Flowing through the sky where the explosion had occurred, a big red sphere could be seen driving forth by the shockwave, moving quickly away from the 30 meters radius of the explosion.
After completely passing the range of which the explosion reached, the big ball of sphere that looked to be completely made out of blood quickly descended down toward the ground.
The red sphere landed on the ground, causing a Bam! Sound that cracks the earth in a web-like form. It then rolls away for a few seconds before stopping.
…
More than 80 meters away from where the explosion had occurred, hiding in a breach of trees. About more than 20 figures could be seen; all of them were wearing a dark cloak and terrifying masks on their faces.
Obviously, these guys were part of the group of savage tribes that had tried to kill Tatsumi because he had stepped into their forest.
‘‘Leader! Do you think that bastard is dead.’’ One of the figures standing on a branch of a tree said to a big and burly person beside him.
The big and burly man that was referred to as ‘leader’ by the figure, responded back with a rough and deep voice. ‘‘I don’t know. You should know that the reason we had to hunt him down in such a roundabout way and even laid a trap was because when he kill, Wuma, not only did we feel strong danger from him. When we shot those arrows at him, blood started to flow out and protected him.’’
‘‘I have no idea what strange sorcery he was using, all I know is that it is dangerous.’’ The Leader thought for a moment, and continued, ‘‘although that bomb we laid for him should have definitely killed him. I strongly feel that he is not dead yet.’’
After saying that, The Leader turned around to look at the rest of the tribesmen that were wearing the same thing as him. ‘‘Boys! Remember, that intruder not only stepped into our forest without permission, he has also killed our fellow tribesmen. So unless we see his dead corpse with our own eyes, we would not stop! Got that.’’
Hearing what their leader has said, all the savage tribe members, including the one that had asked the leader question. All shouted out.
‘‘Yes, Leader!’’
…
After the large blood red sphere stops rolling, it quickly disperse away and return back to the sword. Holding the sword of which the blood had returned to, Tatsumi's facial feature was extremely pale as his legs dropped to the ground, while he started ‘coughing’ out a large amount of blood.
‘‘Cough! Cough!...’’ feeling slightly better after coughing out all that blood, he wiped his mouth away with his sleeve and muttered with a tired and exhausted voice. ‘‘The thick layer of blood managed to prevent me from getting injured from the explosion… but the shockwave that had swept through had caused my internal organs to be badly damage.’’
Tatsumi felt a great and painful sensation within him, to the point where he felt like half passed out. And because of using a lot of power to block against the blast from the explosion, his head was slightly dizzy; and his vision a little blurring.
But even with all of those, he forces himself to stand up and looks off into the distance with an enraged look. His pupils become completely red, and his body starts to ooze out malevolent killing intent.
The blood from his sword rising up in a large and terrifying matter, looking demonic in all senses of the word. While the blood he had coughing out spread around 10 meters of him, looking like it would immediately attack anything it saw.
…
‘‘Leader. The destruction from that bomb is so great, even with that strange sorcery of that bastard, he is still human after all. It’s unlikely that he would survive the explosion, most likely, the blast must have left him with not even ash to look at.’’
After reaching the place where the explosion had occurred, looking around at the complete destruction that the bomb had caused, the one that previously asked the Leader, said after a moment.