Swallowed Star

by Alexander Buchanez

  [HOWL~~HOWL~~]

  The horned boar roared and scanned the surrounding with its murderous stare.

  "It found me". Luo Feng's heart rate increased, and he was a bit excited.

  [BOOM!] The horned boar flew ferociously towards him, like a high speed tank. It directly rammed into the 'flipped hummer' that was in front of Luo Feng. Luo Feng dashed away like a nimble monkey, and with a boom, the hummer was blasted away and rolled several times on the highway. The hummer that has been exposed to the sun and wind for several decades immediately split up, and the tires rolled on the highway for a while until they stopped.

  Within a moment of dodging, Luo Feng headed straight towards the horned boar.

  "Die, scum!" howled Luo Feng.

  Like lightning, he shot towards the horned boar, and the ghost blade in his hand instantly flashed towards the horned boar's head. It seemed like the horned boar that just rammed the hummer didn't have enough time to dodge, but right when Luo Feng approached it--

  [XIU]

  A black shadow headed straight towards Luo Feng's brain.

  "So fast". Luo Feng was startled, and with a step of his foot, he barely managed to twist his body to evade the black shadow. This black shadow was the horned boar's tail, which was like a steel whip!

  "Puff!" "Puff!"

  After retracting its tail, the horned boar soared nimbly, and flew straight towards Luo Feng. Its rough, steel hooves and its sharp, blade-like horn were headed straight at him.

  "Fuck, this boar is too damn fast" Luo Feng stepped back again and he raised the shield in his hand.

  [BAM!]

  The shield and the horned boar's hooves collided ferociously. In the moment of collision, Luo Feng used the rebounding force to go into a dive, where he rolled on the floor to divert the force. The horned boar chased right after him, and Luo Feng rolled to a broken truck and, with a dart, got behind the truck.

  With the truck blocking, the horned boar's lunge wasn't able to achieve its desired effect.

  .....

  After watching this scene from afar, the five members of the fire hammer squad all slightly nodded.

  "Captain, Luo Feng has good reflexes doesn't he" laughed Chen Gu.

  Captain Gao Feng smiled as he nodded: "He is good. I thought he would have a hard time with this horned boar on his first time! I didn't think his reflexes would be so good. His basic skills are pretty good too, his shield block was done skillfully, and his movements flowed like water. This Luo Feng didn't even receive any injury from the barrage of attacks from the horned boar! Good!"

  The Wei Jia brothers' cold expressions finally loosened up a bit.

  "Wei Tie, Wei Qing, Luo Feng's good ain't he" Zhang Ke let out a smile too.

  "This battle isn't over yet, so we still can't tell" said Wei Tie coldly.

  The five members of the fire hammer squad continued watching the battle between Luo Feng and the horned boar.

  .....

  Luo Feng was concentrating extremely hard, and thought to himself: "This horned boar is so sinister; he purposefully made me think it was weak at the beginning. And then it suddenly used its tail to attack me and then rushed me with its hooves and horn. Along with the final crazy dash..... it chained all of these into a combo. Thankfully I've been practicing the

  ��Nine Stage Thunder Blade��these past few days, so I have more precise control over all of my strength!"

  He has been practicing the Nine Stage Thunder Blade this past month.

  It seems that Luo Feng will need to use some of his spiritual force to be able to get out of the horned boar's barrage unscathed.

  [ROAR~~] The horned boar howled, it didn't foolishly collide into the truck, but it jumped over it and rushed straight towards Luo Feng.

  "Scum, this time, you're dead!"

  Luo Feng ferociously kicked the tire next to him, and as if it was launched by a trebuchet, it flew straight towards the horned boar. The horned boar didn't slow down at all; it merely lowered its head slightly. The horn on its head, whose sharpness had no rival, split the tire in half, which then fell apart and dropped.

  Luo Feng headed straight towards the horned boar after kicking the tire.

  [ROAR~~] Right after hitting the tire away, the horned boar turned its head and directed its horn towards Luo Feng.

  "Die!"

  At this moment, Luo Feng made a flexible turn like a butterfly and just barely evaded the horn. While turning, the ghost blade in Luo Feng's hand, with help from the rotational energy, slashed instantly! The ghost blade then picked up even more speed during the slash!

  "Puff!"

  As fast as lightning, the spinning blade directly hacked into the head of the horned boar. Luo Feng could clearly feel the rigidness and toughness of the hair of the horned boar. No regular bullet could pierce through this hair.

  Fresh, red blood leaked out, and after cutting into 5 cm of the boar's head, Luo Feng's blade couldn't go any deeper.

  [HOWL~~]The horned boar howled crazily, and ferociously turned its head to ram into Luo feng.

  The injured horned boar, became even more fierce!

  ......

  "What!"

  "Such agile technique!"

  The Wei Jia brothers' faces were filled with shock.

  "He could dodge the horn of the horned boar so delicately!", exclaimed the older sibling 'Wei Tie', "Incredible. And he dared to turn in front of the horned boar's horn like that. Wasn't he afraid of the horned boar's 'horn' piercing through his body? Amazing. Is this bullshit luck, or does he actually have skill?"

  The turn seemed simple, but it revealed Luo Feng's astonishing technique.

  "Good"

  "Beautiful" Chen Gu and Zhang Ke couldn't help but to praise.

  "This kid, has strength" laughed Gao Feng with a smile, "In such a dangerous situation, he dared to do such a thing and was even successful. His technique is not average! His timing was also good, but..... this boar's life force is incredibly strong. Killing this horned boar is no easy task"

  The five members of the fire hammer squad, including the Wei Jia brothers, all let out a smile.

  The five of them continued to watch from far away, the battle between Luo Feng and the crazed horned boar!

  Chapter 43: Astonishing progress

  PA! PA!

  Foul blood streamed along the thick skin of the horned boar's neck, dripping onto the dust filled highway. The horned boar had a crazed look in its eyes, and as it howled deeply, it madly rushed at Luo Feng again and again like lightning. The hooves, horn, and tail: all three kinds of attacks kept coming unrelentlessly.

  "After its head injury, the flexibility in its head turning has clearly decreased by a lot". Luo Feng dodged agilely.

  In the fighter combat exam, he fought seven H level monsters at the same time to train himself. Even though the concentrated attacks of seven H level monsters are a bit below the level of the F level horned boar, the difference wasn't large.

  WHOOSH!

  Luo Feng didn't retreat. With an elegant dodge to the side, the horned boar's horn missed Luo Feng's body by just three centimeters. However, these three centimeters acted like a barrier, so the horned boar couldn't harm Luo Feng at all.

  "Attack!"

  The ghost blade in Luo Feng's hand came crashing down! It brought an ear piercing sound, and the horned boar immediately howled out in rage. It used all of its might on its four hooves to try and avoid Luo Feng's blade. But..... Luo Feng's blade was too fast, and only the sound of the blade entering its flesh was heard.

  CHI--

  Another strike to the neck. Even though it wasn't in the same location as before, this one cut into a depth of 8 cm!

  "Hmph, with its last injury, the muscles of its neck couldn't exert a hundred percent of its force to block the attack. Next time I attack, its neck's defense will be even weaker". Right when Luo Feng slashed into the neck, he immediately retreated, easily avoiding the crazed counter attack from the enraged horned boar. After tha
t, Luo Feng closed the distance again!

  [ROAR~~ ROAR~~] The horned boar let out an enraged howl.

  "Last time!"

  Luo Feng swayed for three steps, causing an illusion, and then once again dodged the horned boar's attack. What followed those agile steps was Luo Feng's sharp blade!"

  "PU-CHI"

  At first, it was quite difficult to slash into, but after cutting into a depth of 12 cm, the resistance rapidly decreased. After Luo Feng's ghost blade cut into two thirds of the horned boar's neck, he pulled out his blade and rapidly retreated!

  Blood flowed like a fountain from that gigantic wound!

  [Ao~~~]came a shrill. The horned boar's entire body was twitching, and its hooves were stomping unconsciously. The asphalt of the highway was cracking under the stomping. After that, the unconscious boar threw itself around and crashed against the curved railing at the side of the highway, breaking it and falling down.

  Its noise got weaker, and then it stopped.

  Luo Feng stood beside the broken highway railing, looking down on the horned boar's corpse whose head was about to fall off. Blood rapidly stopped flowing, since almost all of it has flowed out already. There was probably at least a barrels worth of blood that flowed out.

  "Dead!" Luo Feng leaped down and, using his ghost blade, cut off the horn.

  The most important part of the horned boar's body is just this one horn!

  ����

  The five members of the fire hammer squad couldn't help but to let out a breathe as they watched from afar.

  "Abnormal!"

  "Monster!"

  These two words came from the Wei Jia brothers' mouths.

  "How is he, I made a good recommendation, haven't I" bragged Chen Gu. If we say the five of them were surprised before, then now they are completely shocked and stunned.

  "Incredible" Zhang Ke couldn't help but to say.

  Captain Twin Hammer "Gao Feng" stared at Luo Feng as he cut off the horn: "How is Luo Feng's technique so good? The horned boar is above him in pure speed by a bit, but his consecutive dodges were light and smooth. Every dodge was like a cloud or a flowing river! If he can do this technique hundreds of thousands of times, then that'll be the Ru-Wei class!"

  "He's only 18, if he's Ru-Wei class! He should be sent to the world headquarters' dojo to undergo special training" The older sibling of the Wei Jia brothers, 'Wei Tie', couldn't help but to say.

  Ru-Wei class.....

  Is a perfect dodge by using the smallest amount of power possible to delicately avoid the attack! This kind of dodge is extremely difficult, and an average fighter can only pull it off once or twice. However, if you can do it a hundred times or a thousand times, then that means you're truly Ru-Wei class!

  "We've obtained a gem!" Gao Feng let out a smile.

  The younger sibling, 'Wei Qing', surprisingly nodded too: "Hm, after some nurturing, our fire hammer squad will have another capable member".

  "Me and Wei Qing will teach him" said Wei Tie.

  Chen Gu and Zhang Ke laughed. As veterans who have walked on the border of life and death countless times, it was clear to them. Some geniuses have amazing body fitness levels, but when they actually have to fight a monster, they can't even bring out a tenth of their strength. Because of this, Chen Gu and Zhang Ke usually look down on these so called geniuses.

  A true professional has to go through countless dangerous battles!

  And Luo Feng was able to show such skill in his first battle. Clearly, he was a powerful fighter.

  "Captain" Luo Feng ran over, "This horn....."

  "You killed it, so of course this horn belongs to you" said Gao Feng.

  Luo Feng nodded, and accepted it.

  There isn't much on a soldier level monster's body that's worth money, because all of the soldier level monsters can be killed by heated weapons..... Even a beginner warrior, with a machine gun and good shooting technique, could easily kill many soldier level monsters. So solider level monsters aren't worth money!

  "If you sell this horn to the dojo, you'll probably get three thousand dollars and some contribution points. If you sell it to the underground alliance, you can probably get five thousand" laughed Chen Gu.

  Only the material on the body is worth money.

  And important material on a "commander level monster" is worth a crazy amount of money!

  "Luo Feng, with your performance just now, you barely pass" said the older sibling of the Wei Jia brothers, 'Wei Tie', as he pouted.

  "Brother Tie?" Luo Feng looked over, "Please guide me, brother Tie".

  "Your basics are good, but your efficiency is much too low" said Wei Tie coldly, "wait a bit and watch how I kill a F level monster".

  ......

  What Luo Feng killed was a monster nearing the F level. After they departed, they quickly encountered a F rank cat family 'Ocelot monster'. This ocelot had some stripes on it and was as tough as a bull. It was superior to the horned boar in flexibility and savageness by far.

  "Watch me" said Wei Tie coldly.

  WHOOSH!

  With the shield in his left hand and scimitar in his right, he charged straight towards the ocelot in a straight line!

  "Brother Tie is in the advanced warrior class, so his body fitness level is similar to this F level ocelot" Luo Feng watched carefully. He only observed that Wei Tie wasn't trying to dodge anything and just crashed into the ocelot. No, actually, right when the ocelot was about to crash into Wei Tie...

  Wei Tie's body moved sideways and his shield crashed into the ocelot at an angle.

  Crashing at this angle knocked the ocelot off balance, causing it to stagger to the side.

  "PU-CHI!"

  A sinister cold light made an arc against the shield. It flashed across the exposed throat of the ocelot due to it being knocked off balance. Soon after, fresh blood sprayed out like a fountain, and Wei Tie retreated quickly. He coldly looked at the ocelot monster howling in pain until it slowly fell over and lost its breath.

  Wei Tie cut off the ocelot's tail and took out an almost transparent tendon. He put it in his bag and walked back.

  "Did you see that? My technique wasn't better than yours, and my power didn't exceed yours. However, I was able to kill it in one hit" Wei Tie looked at Luo Feng.

  Luo Feng fell into shock.

  The battle just now was finished in a flash. But for his battle, he had to dodge so many attacks and attack the neck of the horned boar over and over again. It took him quite a bit of energy to kill it. And that horned boar was clearly weaker than this ocelot monster.

  "Think about it deeply" Wei Tie didn't explain anything and let Luo Feng think about it himself.

  Luo Feng was completely shocked.

  Wei Tie's speed and technique weren't anything out of the ordinary, and yet he produced such amazing results!

  "The best way to kill a monster is to aim for its weak points!". The younger sibling of the Wei Jia brothers, 'Wei Qing', said indifferently, "Usually for mammals, their weak points are their eyes, throat, and mouth. One stage below that would be their soft abdomen..... one stage below that would be the neck you were slashing into!"

  Luo Feng nodded, he knew this. But the monsters move so quickly, so stabbing their eyes is difficult! And for the horned boar and the ocelot who always lower their heads so much, hitting the throat is hard too. Even the abdomen is hard to hit, so attacking the neck was the simplest way.

  "There won't be many chances to attack the monster's weak points. The monsters aren't stupid, they'll protect their weak points properly"

  "However, if there aren't any chances, then you can make them!"

  "For example, my brother crashed into the ocelot at an angle with his shield, causing it to lose its balance. This made the ocelot expose its throat for a split second. He used his scimitar to slash it from the bottom of his shield and into the throat, which killed the ocelot in an instant" Wei Qing said coldly, "This was the last attack my brother did, and it was from the bottom of his
shield, so the monster couldn't react at all!"

  Luo Feng nodded.

  "Remember, learn how to use your strong points" said Wei Qing, "You have to use them efficiently and cleanly! Your technique is good, but you don't have to flash your technique around every time to kill the monster. Always move towards the most efficient way to kill the monster"

  "Understood" Luo Feng nodded.

  Wei Qing let out a rare smile.

  "Let's go" laughed Gao Feng as he waved.

  ......

  The fire hammer squad clearly wanted Luo Feng to become a capable member in the future, so they trained him seriously. On the road, Wei Qing and Wei Tie took turns fighting the monsters that appeared, and sometimes let Luo Feng deal with them too. They taught him with words and techniques, and let Luo Feng get some real experience. Luo Feng's rate of improvement was also just as astonishing.

  Even the warlord level Gao Feng fought a few times, guiding Luo Feng in the process.

  Luo Feng knew, that you have to make each attack bring out all of its strength to kill a monster. And when he was fighting the horned boar before, his beautiful dodges were, in fact, useless! Luo Feng's attacks slowly became more sharp, direct, and effective!

  Three days later

  Dawn, on the broken city ring road, the six members of the fire hammer squad were moving forward.

  "There are two F level mastiff lions, Luo Feng, go" commanded captain Gao Feng.

  "Yes, captain"

  Luo Feng laughed and grinned, and headed towards the mastiff lions at an average speed.

  "HOWL~~" "HOWL~~" the mastiff lions roared at the incoming Luo Feng with bloodthirsty madness in their eyes. They didn't care much for this human in front of them, but when they got really near each other- -Luo Feng let out a smile on his face

  WHOOSH!

  His speed accelerated rapidly! Both of the mastiff lion monster's hairs all stood up.

  Luo Feng closed the distance in an instant. The four abnormal steps he did was the��Nine Stage Thunder Blade��technique 'Flowing Light'. He baited the claws of the mastiff lions, and with a twist of his body, accurately dodged their claws. As their bodies moved across each other, the ghost blade slashed sinisterly in an instant!