Chapter 74
Chapter 74
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 74
Chapter Title: Against the Bloodclaws
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There was no time to stop him. Wi Seongcheon instantly dashed toward the tree teeming with bloodclaws. Doojun jumped in shock at Wi Seongcheon's sudden move.
Rather than rushing out to intervene, he whipped around to face Seo Il. Student demonic beast training sessions were normally conducted under the professor's guidance. Even if Seo Il lacked experience subjugating demonic beasts, in the face of any potential danger, the professor should demonstrate first—before the student.
“It's fine.”
Seo Il had been startled by Wi Seongcheon's action too, but he just chuckled heartily. Doojun furrowed his brow and turned back to the front.
With the professor's tacit approval, Doojun had no cause for embarrassment. Even if Wi Seongcheon ended up paying a price for his bravado.
*Though... that's unlikely to happen.*
Wi Seongcheon of the Heavenly Flower Sect. He'd reportedly defeated Shaolin monk Jinbae and earned the moniker Hidden Dragon. Even without prior experience against demonic beasts, someone dubbed the Hidden Dragon couldn't afford to be humiliated by a mere pack of bloodclaws.
Doojun watched Wi Seongcheon with curious eyes. The Hidden Dragon of the Heavenly Flower Sect—his skill drew interest not just from Doojun, but from General Chungyeon as well.
Doojun's eyes widened as he stared at Wi Seongcheon's back. From here on, he would report everything he witnessed straight to General Chungyeon.
Bloodclaws lived in packs among the trees. Even the smallest packs numbered more than ten. Their hunting method was exceedingly simple: perch atop the trees and wait for prey to draw near.
Before spotting prey, bloodclaws plastered themselves flat against trunks and branches, shifting color to blend seamlessly with the tree for camouflage. But once prey approached after detection...
Only their pupils turned a vivid crimson. Wi Seongcheon halted his steps and looked up at the tree.
What he'd taken for tree shadows were all bloodclaw bodies—and only their eyes gleamed bright red. It resembled red fruit hanging in clusters from the branches.
“Come on.”
Wi Seongcheon spread his arms wide with a grin. He didn't leap up first, but waited for the bloodclaws to drop.
As if on command, the bloodclaws plummeted. Over a dozen slashed at Wi Seongcheon with hook-curved talons.
Their claws were meant for raking prey and paralyzing it with venom, but with that many bloodclaws lunging in unison, the body would be shredded to ribbons before paralysis could even take hold.
He raised both arms. Without rigid tension, his loosened muscles and fists swayed fluidly, like a dance.
“Hah...!”
Doojun, watching, let out an involuntary gasp. Fourteen bloodclaws. For any martial arts master, hardly a challenge.
But it all depended on *how* you fought. Even with an antidote ingested, bloodclaw venom accumulated, weighing the body down heavier with each dose.
Doojun would retreat to nullify the threat entirely, picking off the pursuing bloodclaws one by one. Or unleash a furious barrage from the outset, annihilating them before they could strike.
Yet Wi Seongcheon was deliberately taking the hard route against the bloodclaws. Observing from a distance, Doojun could clearly see the sheer recklessness of his approach.
He let each bloodclaw attack play out, countering at hair's-breadth intervals where talons nearly—but didn't—graze him.
Those counters slipped past the claws without contact, burrowing in to twist the beasts' *arms*. Humans had only two arms, of course. At that rate, each strike from Wi Seongcheon could handle at most two. Actually, not even that. A human might stop from the agony of twisted limbs, but demonic beasts? No such mercy.
They barreled forward brutishly, mangling their own bodies yet acting oblivious to pain.
The bloodclaws tumbled across the ground. In that fleeting drop, several had arms wrenched awry. Even so, they clawed at the dirt and lunged toward Wi Seongcheon.