The Mizutsune, sprawled on the shallows under the moonlight, buried its body within clusters of foam.
Its once deep crimson, leaf-shaped fins had faded to a stark white.
In the woods not far from the shore, Da Ju and Bazel were checking their gear. Yin Tie instructed, "You and Dilu, stay away if it's not necessary."
"Oh, and Li Fan, these are signal flares from the Cat Rescue Team. If either Bazel or I get seriously injured, just fire them into the sky."
Bazel handed over two flares.
"Don't rush to use them for minor injuries. Once these are lit and ascend, the Cat Rescue Team starts charging by the minute," Yin Tie emphasized.
"Understood, you can rest assured," Li Fan promised.
"Also, there's nothing to learn from my legwork. Just stick to the Great Sword style you're used to. For the dual blades, you must observe my hand movements carefully."
After giving his instructions, Yin Tie asked, "Are we all set? Let's move out."
"No problem," Da Ju said, hefting his heavy iron club and nodding.
"Control yourselves later. If you can't manage, don't force it," Bazel added hesitantly.
Before a hunter engages in battle, shouldn't their primary concern be the monster? What did he mean by "control yourselves"?
This caught Li Fan a little by surprise.
"It's fine. If things go south, you, Da Ju, Li Fan, and Dilu can retreat immediately," Yin Tie said nonchalantly.
The two of them and the cat stepped out of the woods with large strides.
Woo! Woo!
Da Ju raised his horn and blew it forcefully.
The Mizutsune in the shallows suddenly lifted its head. Sensing the approach of humans, it propped itself up, casting a wary gaze.
Yin Tie stared at the Mizutsune for a moment, then reached for the Great Sword wrapped in burlap on his back.
As his hand grasped the hilt, a burst of flame erupted along the scabbard.
After the burlap burned away, a Great Sword with a deep blue blade and a hilt shaped like solidified flames was slowly drawn.
This was... a Dragon Slayer Great Sword!
Perhaps not. If it was only in the initial forging stages, it should be called a Blazing Flame Great Sword.
Li Fan immediately recognized the weapon.
"Lend me some Spirit," Yin Tie commanded in a low voice.
Da Ju immediately raised his heavy iron club with both paws and crossed it with Bazel's Wyvern Blade.
Yin Tie swung his Great Sword in a direct downward strike at the point where the two weapons met.
Clang!
Da Ju and Bazel were knocked back several steps.
Simultaneously, a faint blue Spirit energy was absorbed into the Blazing Flame Great Sword.
"My claws are cracking! Can't you go any lighter?" Da Ju complained, looking at his paw.
"If it's too light, I can't absorb the Spirit," Yin Tie said, holding the Blazing Flame Great Sword before him as if admiring a work of art.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
With a surge of water, the Mizutsune, facing only three hunters, lost its patience. It climbed directly from the shallows onto the shore.
"Sorry, Kalay Village," Bazel sighed, sheathing his Wyvern Blade and beginning to move sideways.
Da Ju did the same, though in a different direction.
"It's a Three-Pronged Attack, meow!" Dilu exclaimed excitedly.
"Does it mean that if one of us engages the target head-on, the other two can attack?" Li Fan, though unfamiliar with the tactic, could guess its general idea from the situation.
"That's right, meow! When I was in the village, I loved to practice hunting with other Felynes using the Three-Pronged Attack," Dilu confirmed.
The Mizutsune gauged the threat from the three directions and turned its fox-like head directly towards Yin Tie, whose movements were the slowest.
The Blazing Flame Great Sword was held horizontally, poised for a thrust, but Yin Tie's hand movements were exceptionally slow.
From his distant vantage point, Li Fan felt that the attack range was also significantly off.
However, the Mizutsune felt the searing blade approaching and suddenly lunged, letting out a fierce roar.
Yin Tie, who had only halfway thrust his Great Sword, suddenly retracted it. Pivoting on his sound left foot, he abruptly changed direction and spun his body.
Pale blue, misty Spirit energy was being flung outward from the back of the Blazing Flame Great Sword, forming a thin membrane in an extremely short period, covering Yin Tie's front.
The sonic waves from the Mizutsune's roar collided with the membrane formed by the dispersed Spirit energy.
The Spirit energy membrane immediately shattered, then reappeared, changing from pale blue to deep blue, and returned to the Blazing Flame Great Sword in a misty form.
Hum! The injection of abundant Spirit energy caused the entire blade to tremble.
This was Foresight Slash!
Everything happened in a flash. The reason Li Fan could clearly see all the details was that he not only knew the execution of Foresight Slash but also its effects.
Foresight Slash was a move with high risk and high reward. Its condition was that the Great Sword must have Spirit energy stored.
If it could be executed precisely before the monster's attack, achieving a successful judgment, the attack would be nullified, and the Spirit gauge would be filled. Failure would result in the loss of all Spirit energy.
Li Fan had always found this move unscientific, or rather, lacking a reasonable explanation.
Today, his doubt was resolved.
It turned out that Foresight Slash involved actively dispersing Spirit energy to form a misty Spirit energy shield that lasted for a very short time.
And the essence of Spirit energy was condensed from powerful slashes.
Therefore, when encountering other forces, the Spirit energy would not dissipate but would enter an activated state, making the misty Spirit energy stronger.
The impact of the incoming attack would also be assimilated into more Spirit energy and recycled into the Great Sword's Spirit gauge.
Li Fan swallowed.
Foresight Slash was indeed incredibly powerful, and he now had a general understanding of its core secret.
But precisely because he understood the execution principle so clearly, he knew even more profoundly how ridiculously difficult its practical application was.
Grasping the timing of the monster's attack, rapidly dispersing Spirit energy to form a mist shield of sufficient range.
Body posture, distance, speed.
Every factor needed to be considered.
"Did Instructor Yin Tie equip Earplugs, meow? Why is he completely unfazed by the Mizutsune's roar?" Dilu, who was covering Li Fan's ears, asked in shock.
Dilu didn't understand what Foresight Slash was. In her eyes, she only saw Yin Tie's formidable display of attacking fearlessly at close range amidst the roar.
"That's a technique that can only be comprehended when the Great Sword's mastery reaches the ultimate realm," Li Fan explained.
"Is it that amazing, meow?" Dilu looked bewildered but impressed.
Puff! Puff! Puff! ...
Each time the Blazing Flame Great Sword struck, it left a burst of flame on the Mizutsune's body.
Although the flames quickly extinguished, under the constant scorching, many of the Mizutsune's once lustrous scales began to lose their sheen and turned a scorched brown.
In terms of offense, despite the Mizutsune's attempts at close-quarters combat, its attacks were either dodged and neutralized by Yin Tie or blocked by heavy blows from Bazel or Da Ju.
Puff! Finally, after a head-on slash, the Mizutsune, pushed back, crouched on the spot and stopped attacking.
Huu~ Huu~
Yin Tie panted heavily, wisps of hot air escaping his mouth.
The Blazing Flame Great Sword in his hand was enveloped in a layer of crimson energy blade, and the heat radiating from the blade blurred the surrounding air.
The two stared at each other for a moment. The Mizutsune slowly retreated, seemingly intending to escape back to the shallows behind it.
"Not enough..."
A smile touched Yin Tie's lips, but as he took a step forward, his prosthetic right leg emitted a metallic clang.
"Just getting into the groove, almost forgot about this."
With a sigh, Yin Tie dragged his right leg and charged forward with all his might.
"Yin Tie, don't rush!" Bazel quickly warned.
The Mizutsune's retreat was not without reason.
Its battle with the Zinogre had not only injured it but also depleted a large amount of its foaming mucus.
Therefore, it urgently needed to replenish its water supply to maintain the production of foaming mucus.
Yin Tie and Bazel had targeted this very moment, luring it away from the shallows to fight.
On the relatively dry ground, and with scarce foaming mucus within its body, the Mizutsune dared not waste its use.
However, simply laying it down on the ground it was escaping across was not difficult.
Yin Tie's reckless pursuit not only broke the Three-Pronged Attack formation but also, without his agile movements, made it impossible to avoid the foaming mucus and intercept the Mizutsune.