Chapter 37: Clearing Rooms

The Ferocious Race member that appeared in front of Su Chen was a large and burly man roughly two meters tall.

This member of the Ferocious Race looked just like a pig in human form. He wore a tattered beast hide and had scars running all along his body. His naked upper body was extremely sturdy and muscular. He was bald and had two shockingly large buckteeth sticking out from his mouth.

He also carried a massive battleaxe on his back. The battleaxe was covered with nicks and scars, but that didn’t affect its killing aura at all.

A black cheetah was lying at the feet of this Ferocious Race member. That should be the low-tier Vicious Beast that was mentioned.

Its jade-green eyes stared docilely at Su Chen, as if it were just a stray cat.

Upon seeing this, Su Chen squeezed out, “Dammit!”

The Ferocious Race were a primitive and ferocious race. They possessed innately powerful physiques and their bodies were shaped like wild beasts. They usually had massive buckteeth and tall, thick bodies. Their temperaments were extremely explosive and vicious.

According to legends, the Ferocious Race were the offspring of mixed relations between beasts and humans, but in reality it might be different.

The Ferocious Race was a race that lived independently from other races, and they had their own unique pedigree. Although, like humans, they had four limbs and walked upright, this was merely a common manifestation by the path of evolution. Similar manifestations could be found in the Arcana Race, the Feathered Race, the Profound Race, the Green Race, etc.

The Ferocious Race’s internal anatomy, however, was very different from humans. They had two hearts, so if one was destroyed they could continue to live. Their life force was extremely powerful. Even if their brain was damaged, as long as it wasn’t too severe, there was hope for them to recover.

Their powerful life force was the Ferocious Race’s greatest difference from other races. When their powerful strength and barbaric tendencies were taken into account, it is no wonder why they were said to be built for offense.

The Ferocious Race believed in and practiced the principle of the strong preying on the weak. They were once servants of Demonic Beasts (related to Origin lifeforms), and they watched over the food flocks for them. Until the Chaotic Era, the Ferocious Race was always the loyal dogs of Origin lifeforms. Wang Doushan had called the Ferocious Race the “lackeys and shepherds of the Beast Race” before - that was not incorrect at all.

Perhaps for this reason, the Ferocious Race was not liked by any of the other Intelligent Races. To many of them, if the Beast Race was their number one enemy, then the Ferocious Race wouldn’t be far behind.

When mentioning other Intelligent Races, most people would probably agree that they had their positive attributes.

But when people mentioned the Ferocious Race, no matter what country, race, or whether there was a history of enmity, everyone all looked on them with disdain.

The only difference was that some countries and races hated the Ferocious Race more than other countries and races did.

However, Su Chen didn’t care much about that. The most important thing to him at the moment was that the Ferocious Race were known for their tenacious wills.

If the Ferocious Race was vicious and barbaric, Su Chen wouldn’t mind as much. After all, these were just lifelike projections. The main issue was that the Ferocious Race also had incredibly tenacious wills.

This implied that they would have an extreme ability to endure pain. Their powerful wills were the foundation for everything that they have achieved. They possessed a frightening amount of endurance, and they could continue to battle no matter how severe their wounds were. They possessed an innate resistance to pain.

Of course, this didn’t imply that they were more resistant to consciousness-type attacks than other people. However, their powerful will did indeed lower the effectiveness of a few lower-tier consciousness-type Origin Skills.

Unfortunately, both Soul Eye and the Soul-Fixation technique were not very high-tier consciousness-type Origin Skills. Thus, their effectiveness against a Ferocious Race member was also decreased.

Back then, when the Immortal Temple had given Su Chen the Soul Eye, the first sentence written on the manual was, “This Origin Skill’s effectiveness against a Ferocious Race member is 90% diminished.”

What? 90%? Might as well say completely ineffective.

When Su Chen realized his opponent was someone from the Ferocious Race, he knew that his original battle plan had been ruined.

He could no longer temporarily stun the more powerful beast and kill the weaker one, but the battle still needed to be fought.

In that instant, Su Chen instinctively activated the Soul Eye on the black cheetah.

The black cheetah was instantly locked in place by the Soul Eye. Simultaneously, the Ferocious Race member took the battleaxe from his back and charged forwards with a yell, slashing towards Su Chen.

At that moment, Su Chen discovered that he had made a mistake.

The black cheetah was stunned in place, but the Ferocious Race had charged forwards. This was the complete opposite of Su Chen’s original plan. There was nothing Su Chen could do now but slash out with a Thunder Blade to defend himself.

Boom!

Su Chen was forced backwards by the powerful battleaxe, creating a massive explosion.

This was still a Primitive Ferocious Race member. It had not yet been baptized in the Origin Energy Temple, so its ability to use Origin Energy was still very low. It was probably equivalent in strength to someone from the Cliff Race. However, its powerful physique made up for its innate lack of talent, and the massive battleaxe carved out shockwaves as it traveled through the air. Each strike carried a wild, untamed aura. The Thunder Blade landed on its body, but it only opened up a superficial wound.

“AWOO!” The Ferocious Race let out an earth-shattering howl, generating a turbulent flow of air around it. Then, it waved its battleaxe and continued charging forwards.

It struck downwards!

In that perilous moment, Su Chen’s figure flashed as he activated the Snaking Mist Steps. He took multiple steps, rapidly changing his direction in midair, and dodged the attack.

The black cheetah simultaneously pounced. Su Chen hit it with another Soul-Fixation technique, once again locking it in place.

Unexpectedly, the black cheetah spit out an azure streak of sharp wind from within its mouth that rushed towards Su Chen’s chest before the black cheetah was locked into place.

Dammit! A camouflaged Sabertooth Tiger!

Su Chen was so angry he almost cursed aloud.

While the Sabertooth Tiger appeared fierce, it was actually a primarily long-ranged Vicious Beast, battling by constantly spitting out blades of wind. The fact that it had pounced should not have been surprising. Even if Su Chen hadn’t made a move, the tiger would not have actually gotten near him.

The Ferocious Race member and the tiger made a great long-range and short-range combination. Because Su Chen hadn’t known that, he had lost two chances to make a move.

The failure of his battle plan had severe consequences. He had missed two opportunities to take the initiative, and now he was faced with a battleaxe hurling towards him. It crashed onto Su Chen’s chest.

Even though he had applied a barrier in time, the violent battleaxe still landed squarely on his chest.

The barrier shattered, and the battleaxe fell on Su Chen’s body, generating a rainbow-colored ripple.

This was how the Refinement Pavilion’s system determined the extent of Su Chen’s injury and whether it was enough to determine that he had failed.

The result was clear. Su Chen had been “gravely injured”.

Su Chen felt his body freeze for a moment, as if a formless energy was suppressing his movements.

This was the Refinement Pavilion’s way of simulating the effect of being gravely injured.

One disaster after another.

The Ferocious Race’s battleaxe once again slammed down. Su Chen did his best to dodge, but the restriction placed on his movement slowed down the Snaking Mist Steps. Su Chen was forced to roll through the air to dodge the strike, but the Azure Fang Blade from the leopard stabbed into his thigh. Su Chen felt his leg grow heavy, and he had no way of moving it.

He didn’t give up. He rolled as soon as he hit the ground, but he saw a pair of thick legs charging towards him.

The battleaxe was lifted into the air and then sliced downwards towards his throat.

In the instant that it was about to cut through his throat, Su Chen’s figure suddenly flashed again, but this time he had seemingly disappeared into thin air.

Whitetower Teleportation!

Su Chen had finally become more familiar with this Ancient Arcana Technique that he had obtained more than two years ago.

He viewed it as one of his greatest trump cards, but just a Ferocious Race member was enough to force his hand.

After appearing behind the Ferocious Race member, Su Chen raised both his hands releasing a powerful blast of energy from them.

Countless streaks of white light appeared in the air, forming bullet after bullet, slamming into the Sabertooth Tiger.

Origin Energy Bullets!

Another Ancient Arcana Technique.

This Ancient Arcana Technique was extremely powerful. The white light surged like a wave, lighting up the entire sky. When they slammed into the sabertooth, it instantly disintegrated into motes of light.

The Ferocious Race behind him charged forwards, once again waving its battleaxe in the air.

Su Chen had no time to turn around.

Thus, he directly charged forwards.

He resisted the effect applied from his “gravely injured” status and charged forwards as fast as he could, just like the last struggles of a man about to die.

The battleaxe charged towards the back of Su Chen’s head, giving him an immense sensation of pressure.

Yes, pressure!

Even though it was just an illusion, Su Chen still felt heavily pressured.

Because he didn’t want to lose!

Losing here was equivalent to dying!

If this had been the battlefield, then Su Chen would’ve already died.

For a life-and-death battle, he needed to use all of his strength.

He couldn’t just give up just because it was an illusion.

Even in this very moment, when Su Chen was facing extreme difficulty, he maintained his calm.

He furiously sprinted, attempting to stall for time.

The massive battleaxe drew near his head.

Just as it was about to strike again, Su Chen suddenly turned around and raised his hand.

The battleaxe landed directly onto his arm.

Bang!

The illusion determined that Su Chen’s arm had been cut through by the battle axe, and it flew into the air.

Another shapeless force appeared, completely immobilizing Su Chen’s right arm so that he couldn’t move it. The illusion even generated intense pain, affecting his focus.

However, Su Chen gritted his teeth and kept moving as if the pain didn’t exist.

Although his arm had been crippled, his attempt at defense had not been in vain.

The battleaxe had been restricted by it. More importantly, an invisible net had appeared in front of Su Chen after he lifted his hand.

The Ferocious Race member charged forwards, and the sound of something tearing rang through the air.

Another glance at the Ferocious Race revealed that its body was covered in cuts resulting from the formless net.

The illusion determined that the Ferocious Race had been injured and lowered its speed correspondingly.

The Ferocious Race member’s footsteps slowed, and its battleaxe cleaved through empty air as it narrowly missed Su Chen.

Su Chen had successfully avoided the most dangerous attack.

Su Chen leapt into the air with a yell, using his only remaining arm to form a strengthened Erupting Firebird which slammed into the Ferocious Race.

Boom!

The massive firebird slammed onto the Ferocious Race member’s body, sending it flying.

Su Chen didn’t stop attacking. He kicked his feet through the air, causing streaks of light to shoot out from them towards his opponent.

He used his foot as a blade!

The razor-sharp Thunder Blade pursued the Ferocious Race member, creating an even more vicious wound. The Ferocious Race member howled and fell to the ground in a heap, motionless.

Su Chen let out a sigh of relief, but he had just regained his balance when the Ferocious Race member suddenly jumped upright, hacking towards Su Chen with the battleaxe in his hand.

Su Chen hadn’t anticipated this turn of events. He knew that he had no time to dodge it, so he could only use his left hand to block it.

Bang!

The battleaxe sliced through Su Chen’s left hand, which dissolved into motes of light. Su Chen’s left arm was once again physically restricted, indicating that his left arm had also been crippled.

The Ferocious Race member pounced again, charging towards Su Chen with a savage howl.

Would a real Ferocious Race member really be able to survive a strengthened Erupting Firebird and repeated Thunder Blade attacks?

Su Chen had his doubts, but at that moment the Ferocious Race member he was facing had seemingly ignored all of his attacks, yet both of Su Chen’s arms had been crippled. He had no way of using his Origin Skills, and there was no way for him to continue battling.

Should he just give up here?

A flinty gaze appeared in Su Chen’s eyes upon seeing the Ferocious Race charge forwards.

He murmured, “My body has also been tempered before.”

He lowered his head and let out a primal cry as he charged towards the Ferocious Race, leaving behind multiple afterimages.

Bang!

The two of them collided in midair. The Ferocious Race’s hand wrapped around Su Chen’s neck. Although it was an illusory being, the strength it possessed seemed real. Su Chen felt as if he were about to pass out, but he completely ignored it and forcefully bit at the Ferocious Race’s neck, tearing at it savagely.

The two of them tangled together madly, rolling around on the ground as they tore into each other.

Su Chen used his forehead and his feet. He completely abandoned all of his tactics, instead using every limb of his body to attack.

Slowly, Su Chen felt the strength ebbing from his limbs.

He had no more strength to fight, and he could only relax his grip as he lay on the ground. The whole world seemed to go blurry before him.

Was he doomed to be defeated anyways?

What a pity, he sighed internally.

He had expended so much effort, but in the end he had still lost. He really had been too overconfident.

He was just thinking this to himself when he suddenly saw the Ferocious Race member sway slightly. The fist headed for him suddenly paused, and then the Ferocious Race member fell backwards.

It remained completely still.

It died?

Su Chen was caught off-guard.

As if answering Su Chen’s question, the Ferocious Race member dissolved into motes of white light, which gradually disappeared.

A monotone voice spoke next to his ear, “Successfully cleared the room.”