I Reincarnated into a Single-celled Organism! - Chapter 193

“Uncle, should we find a place more advantageous to fight?” Lot asked.

The Uncle tilted his head, listening for a bit. The howls were quickly coming closer. He shook his head.

“No time, and even if there was, there is no guarantee any place beyond here would be better. If that’s the case, we should use these precious moments preparing. Fortune!”

“Yes, uncle!” Fortune immediately pulled out her rapier, and then after pouring power into it, she flicked it at a tree trunk.

A moment later, the tree tilted and then fell over, creating a barrier on the side. She did that three more times, effectively making a wall. While she was doing this, Fortune prepared the other side. The other men were pulling out weapons and getting into position. Felix climbed up a tree to get a better visual.

“They’re fleshhowlers! They’ll reach us in thirty seconds.” Felix lifted ignited an arrow, lifted his bow, and then fired off into the forest.

It didn’t spread, but it did light the way, revealing a band of creatures racing for us. They resembled hairless dogs with beaks instead of snouts. They were truly disgusting to look at. It was perhaps the first sage beast I had seen that made me queasy.

“Damn, we were supposed to have thrown them off at Boltshade.” Lucky muttered under his breath.

“What the hell did that evolve from?”  I asked.

“Who knows? Just stay by my side. Fighting sage beasts isn’t like fighting humans. Humans don’t tend to try to fight you to the death, and they at least follow rules. Sage beasts… are just monsters!”

As he said that, the fleshhowlers had already burst out. Some tried to charge right through the wall of trees to get to us, but others ran around it, coming from either end. It at least slowed them down enough that we had time to react.

The first fleshhowler reached Fate. Her blade flashed and the creature fell twitching to the ground. Her strike and cleanly pierced through its eyes and destroyed its brain. However, a second had already leaped at her and she had no choice but to roll to the side. I wondered how she kept her balance, considering those two massive weights on her chest, but she seemed to be able to dodge cleanly.

On the other side, Lot grunted as he was driven back by another fleshhowler. He was able to block a swipe from the beast’s claw, but then he lost his footing and stumbled. The fleshhowler leaped forward, but a well-placed arrow struck it in the head, causing it to collapse just short of Lot. Lot looked up to see Felix nocking his next arrow.

“Stay focused!” he barked before drawing back his next shot.

“Spirit! Watch my back!” Lucky yelled, a wild-eyed passionate look in his eyes as he tried to hold another fleshhowler back.

Lucky wielded a longer sword in one hand, and a short one in the other. He seemed to be able to meet the fleshhowler attack for attack, but he was ultimately falling back, and there wasn’t the space to do that. Once he hit the makeshift wall, he’d immediately be slashed open.

I casually reached down and picked up a stone on the walkway. After making sure no one was looking, I tossed it. It flew out at an incredible speed and struck the fleshhowlers knees just as it was making another leap for Lucky. It let out a screech and ended up stumbling. A moment later, Lucky beheaded the fleshhowler.

“These guys aren’t so hard.” Lucky declared, although he was sweating and breathing hard.

“Watch out!” I called as another fleshhowler attacked the other three.

If I had to guess, all of these creatures were in the second realm, Evolved Sage Beasts. However, as Lot had pointed out, because sage beasts both had the intelligence of humans and the ferocity of beasts, they could often fight humans a level above them. This didn’t mean that a skilled human couldn’t bridge that gap, but every sage beast was stronger. One could say it wasn’t that sage beasts were stronger than humans, but that humans who depended on skills to fight rather than instinct had a much broader range of weaker cultivators.

That said, the Lou family was a paragon family of martial evolutionists. Every one of them trained with weapons since they were old enough to hold them, and also were a cut above any isomer. So, it was safe to say they bridged that gap, allowing them to hold their own despite being outnumbered. Fate and Fortune were holding off two each, while Lucky was barely strong enough to defeat one. It took all three of the younger Lou members to take down one fleshhowler, but Lot was fighting them one on one with about the same success.

I had sent out a few more pebbles, distracting and disorientating the fleshhowlers at inopportune times. Felix was doing the same, but he was a bit slower and he mostly focused on supporting the front lines, keeping Fate and Fortune from being overrun, as well as protecting Lot. If I hadn’t been there, the three youngest and Lucky might have already died, and who knew if that would cause the rest to become overrun.

“Are you just going to sit back and watch us fight?” Fate snapped.

I hadn’t pulled my weapon, so it appeared like I wasn’t fighting at all. It appeared like a third fleshhowler appeared on her side, and she was feeling overwhelmed. I realized that fleshhowler was larger than the others. Remembering the infernal wolves, I instantly compared it to the alpha.

Fate was breathing hard as she summoned all of her speed to keep back the three fleshhowlers. Her uncle was too busy to help, and everyone else was also occupied. It seemed like this was the reason she called out to me. I pulled out my sword and ran toward her, although I took my time.

One of the fleshhowlers leaped at her. She sidestepped and let the blade flicker out, but just before she made contact she had to abandon it as another came attacking her from the side. When she tried to roll away, the third met her, and she was tossed back, a hooked claw slashing through her leather armor and ribs. She let out a cry, stumbling back with a pained look on her face.

The first one she had failed to strike came around behind. She barely managed to twist, blocking its claw attacks. The rapier was knocked out of her hands. She had to leap aside just in time to avoid the pincer attack from the other two. All three sage beasts were working in tandem to bring her down. Even if she was a top-tier flawless, she was being overwhelmed by these intelligent beasts.

Fate rolled over on the ground, looking up in horror as three sage beasts pounced on top of her. I pulled back a branch and let go. Just as the fleshhowlers were about to land on her and tear her apart, the branch struck the three of them, throwing the two smaller ones back and forcing the third one to retreat slightly.

“You should be more careful, Miss Lou.” Instead of offering my hand, I offered her a blade with the handle facing her. “Be careful, it has poison on it.”

This wasn’t Eternal Harmony, but another blade, the same one that Lady Stride attempted to kill me with. Fate snatched the blade and then stood up.

“You would have poison blades.”

I opened my mouth helplessly. Not only had I saved her, but the blade I gave her wasn’t even mine. I just didn’t have all that many weapons in my inventory at the moment, and that was the only other blade at the level of a paragon.

“Grrrrrrr…” The alpha growled.

While we had been talking, another fleshhowler had appeared, and all four of them surrounded us.

“Even now, you look so calm.”

“Why should I be worried? Hasn’t the others finished up their fleshwalkers?” I tilted my head.

A moment later, an arrow struck one of the fleshhowler in the head. Meanwhile, with a roar, Uncle Lou began to battle the alpha. Lot attacked one of the two remaining, and the last fleshhowler was overwhelmed by luck and the other three. It was Fate’s turn to look around in shock. She had been focused on her battle, she had discluded the rest of the battlefield.

As for me the fleshhowlers didn’t notice this turn, it was because I had released a bit of my aura. Signal Transduction had developed on a macro level just like all of my other skills. In this case, I could release signals and triggers. I was still learning what signals I could produce, but that one I had picked up during the tournament. It was akin to killing intent or provocation. In short, I had provoked the sage beasts, causing them to focus on the two of us. The others were able to easily finish off the distracted fleshhowlers. Like that, the battle ended.