Unfortunate Transmigrator

22

A Confusing Victory

I

Duo Lan stepped into the clearing, Tian Jin beside her. She felt the warmth of the sun settle on the little skin her robes exposed as she left the shade of the canopy. She breathed in, and among the many scents of the forest, she could discern the thick, deep stench of the monster on the other side of the clearing.

She wrinkled her nose, deciding to avoid breathing too much.

The glistening horn rhinoceros hadn’t noticed them yet, its head still lowered as it drank from the river. She and Tian Jin were silent. Monsters descended from rhinoceroses had a strong smell and sense of hearing, but poor eyesight, much like their mundane counterparts. The wind was against them, coming in the direction of the monster, so as long as they didn’t make too much noise, it wouldn’t notice them as long as it was still busy drinking.

Duo Lan channeled some spiritual power into her spatial ring, and the next moment, a sword appeared in her grasp. It wasn’t the sword she normally used—just a common red-grade magical sword—but she had no choice but to make do with this one right now.

Out of the corner of her eye, there was a dim flash of red. Turning around, she saw that Tian Jin now had red gauntlets on his arms—extending from his fists all the way to his elbows.

The Zenith Nullification Gauntlets, she guessed. Duo Lan narrowed her eyes. They didn’t look like much—just plain, segmented gauntlets, without any intricate designs or carvings. It was her first seeing a spiritual skill that manifested as physical objects. Maybe it only looked so uninspired because this was only its first form?

Appearances aside, Duo Lan had to admit that Tian Jin’s spiritual skill was powerful if it was indeed capable of magical nullification. In fact, that’d make it one of the most powerful spiritual skills she knew.

It wasn’t as good as hers, though. And it didn’t match Tian Jin’s blue robes at all. She wrinkled her brow. The combination was nothing short of jarring.

Still, she couldn’t help but wonder where Tian Jin had gotten it. She was familiar with the signature skills of all nearby organizations, and his skill wasn’t one of them.

Duo Lan caught a flash of movement at the edge of her vision, and she immediately shifted her gaze back to the other side of the clearing. The glistening horn rhinoceros had raised its head, and it was looking straight at them with its small, beady eyes.

Duo Lan pushed her thoughts about Tian Jin’s spiritual skill and its origin to the back of her mind. She had other priorities right now.

The monster didn’t make any abrupt movements—it only stared at them, frozen in place.

Duo Lan tightened her grip on the hilt of her sword. She narrowed her eyes as she glared back at the monster. This would be her first time going up against a monster. Maybe in this situation, a normal cultivator would have felt apprehension, if not fear, but she felt none of those things. They weren’t like her—they didn’t have her talent.

It didn’t matter that this was her first time facing a magical creature. So far, she had excelled at everything she had ever tried to do, and hunting monsters would be no exception.

“Whenever you’re ready,” she said to Tian Jin while keeping her gaze fixed on the monster before them. There was a distance of almost a hundred feet between them, but a second-grade monster could cover that much ground in the blink of an eye. She couldn’t let her guard down.

Because of their roles, they decided that Tian Jin would have the first move in order to draw the attention of the monster. His job was to keep the monster distracted and neutralized so that she could deal the killing blow, after all.

The monster was still observing them—wary, apprehensive. Monsters had spiritual sight active at all times, so they could tell, based on their aura, that she and Tian Jin were both second-level redsouls—the same level as it.

Its reaction told her it had probably never fought a human before. If it had, it wouldn’t have been so wary, as it’d know that it was much stronger than a human at the same level. Well, a normal human, at least.

Duo Lan was anything but normal.

Neither was Tian Jin, for that matter, but she still wasn’t sure how she felt about that.

In any case, the monster’s lack of familiarity with humans meant that it wouldn’t underestimate them. That would make the ensuing battle a little harder, but she didn’t really mind. In fact, she preferred this way. It wouldn’t be much of a challenge otherwise.

A low, rumbling sound came from the monster. It huffed, lowering its head slightly. It was threatening them—warning them to stay away.

For a brief moment, the tension became almost palpable as the monster’s low, continuous growl resonated in the clearing. Neither she nor Tian Jin moved, staying put as they stared back at the monster.

Then Tian Jin took a step forward.

The monster's horn started glowing, white light radiating from it.

“Now!” Duo Lan snapped, even as Tian Jin launched himself forward. In the blink of an eye, he reached the monster and before it could react, slammed his fist against its horn. The monster stumbled a few steps back at the impact. Its horn was no longer glowing white.

All monsters had spiritual skills, with red-grade monsters having a single red-grade skill. The glistening horn rhinoceros’s spiritual skill was called the Glistening Horn Beam, and it generated a streak of light from its horn strong enough to pierce through most red-grade magical armor. It was an extremely dangerous spiritual skill, as redsouls had no means of blocking it, and it was incredibly hard to stop a glistening horn rhinoceros from generating the beam after they used the skill.

Or at least it was supposed to be.

Well, Tian Jin had done his part. Now it was her turn.

She crouched down, gathering her strength, before pushing off against the ground, launching herself into the air. The air whipped against her as she rose, cutting an arc over the clearing. Just as she stopped ascending she reached the midpoint of the clearing. With that, she started falling, her momentum carrying her forward still as she crossed the rest of the clearing to the other side—and at the end of her trajectory, the glistening horn rhinoceros.

She angled her sword downward, raising her arms above her head.

Then, the moment she felt her feet touch the monster’s back, she stabbed down with her sword, putting all her weight behind it.

And that was where things went wrong.

The sword pierced through the monster’s hide, but only barely, stopping after penetrating an inch. The next moment, the glistening horn rhinoceros let out a cry of rage as it started shaking its body. Duo Lan jumped off it, pulling off her sword with her as she did so.

She landed in front of the monster right next to Tian Jin, who hadn’t moved since his first attack, simply staring at the monster intently. He gave her a quick glance before returning his attention to the monster, which was now glaring at them intently as it huffed.

Then its horn started glowing again, and just like before, Tian Jin sprung into action, throwing himself at the creature. This time, however, the monster was faster—it abruptly whipped its head to the side, and Tian Jin’s punch narrowly missed its horn, landing on its shoulder instead.

Duo Lan only had a fraction of a second to jump to the side, narrowly avoiding the beam of light that cut straight into the other side of the clearing.

In one swift movement, Tian Jin jumped backward, retreating to her side.

Duo Lan took in a deep breath, no longer caring about the monster’s stench, trying to center herself. Just now they had suffered a minor setback, but it was fine—they could still turn things around.

The glistening horn rhinoceros didn’t give her any time to think, however, as it set off running, its head held low in a charge. Duo Lan and Tian Jin jumped to the sides, in opposite directions, as it barreled into the surrounding trees, its horn skewering one of them.

The monster then began to reorient itself, and Duo Lan didn’t waste any time. “Tian Jin,” she called out. He gave her a glance. “Its head—can you hold it down?” she asked. “I’ll only need a moment.”

She had underestimated the thickness of its hide. If she wanted to deal a killing blow, she’d have to target a more sensitive area, and the one she had in mind was one of its eyes.

“Maybe, but—”

Tian Jin cut himself off mid-speech as he jumped out of the way. The moment the monster finished turning around, they realized too late that its horn was glowing, and he only narrowly managed to avoid the ensuing Glistening Horn Beam.

The monster then lowered its head, preparing another charge.

“Hao Zhen!” Tian Jin called out.

The monster suddenly went still. Tian Jin charged toward the monster, and Duo Lan, realizing his intentions, followed a beat later. Tian Jin reached the monster in an instant, his hands grabbing onto its horn and pulling it down.

The monster then started struggling, but at that moment Duo Lan reached it, jumping upwards just as she was nearing it, and striking out with her sword into its right eye. The sword pierced through it, but before Duo Lan could bury it all the way, the monster reacted by snapping its head to the side.

Duo Lan had no choice but to let go of the sword as she brought her feet upward and pushed herself off against his head, putting some distance between them as she jumped away.

She quickly scanned the area and saw that Tian Jin had also retreated, having probably let go of the monster’s horn when it started shaking its head.

Right now, the glistening stone rhinoceros was crying out in pain, her sword still sticking halfway out from its eye. It was moving its head too much, however—she couldn’t get close. Tian Jin wouldn’t be able to hold it down, either.

Just as she was trying to think of a plan, she saw Tian Jin grow still. A moment later, she heard Hao Zhen’s voice in her head, “Prepare yourself. Tian Jin will hold it down.”

The glistening horn rhinoceros abruptly went still. Before she could understand what was going on, Tian Jin threw himself at it and just as he had done before, took the horn into his arms while planting his feet on the ground.

Not even thinking, Duo Lan sprung into action. She ran over to the monster, which still appeared rather dazed. As she drew near, she jumped, her fist cocked back, and then punched the hilt of her sword that was still sticking out of its eye. The sword plunged deeper in, disappearing into the monster’s eye socket.

Duo Lan landed back on the ground, her gaze fixed on the monster, which was still perfectly still. Tian Jin then let go of its horn, taking a step back, and the monster collapsed onto the ground, dead.

Duo Lan stared blankly at the corpse in front of her. Then, hearing footsteps from behind, she turned around and saw Hao Zhen walking over. He looked tired. Sweat was pouring down his forehead, and his entire body was trembling a little. Despite that, there was a grin on his face—an expression she had never seen him wear before.

She had no idea what exactly had happened at the end, but it was clear that Hao Zhen had something to do with it. He shouldn’t have had enough willpower to overpower a monster at a higher level using Ethereal String Puppetry—let alone a raging monster. Yet she couldn’t find any other explanation as to how the monster had suddenly fallen into a daze.

“What did you do?” she asked him.

Hao Zhen glanced at her, still grinning. Instead of answering her question, he asked, “Out of curiosity, do the words ‘nervous system’ mean anything to you?” He looked at her expectantly, his eyes twinkling.

Duo Lan blinked. She had absolutely no idea what that was supposed to mean. “No?”

What did that even have to do with her question?

Hao Zhen laughed, his smile growing even wider. He didn’t seem quite right, as if his mind was far away, only barely aware of what was going on. “Yeah, I thought so.” Then, without elaborating any further, he walked over to Tian Jin, who was still standing in front of the glistening horn rhinoceros’s corpse, unmoving.

Her head filled with questions, Duo Lan followed him.