Sword Among Us

Panda Novel

The ancient tombs were dangerous places to most players in World of Martial Arts as of then.

Dirt Puppets and Stone Giants were puppet traps that were incredibly powerful. They were made from normal stones and dirt, but after going through a special modification, their bodies became exceptionally huge and powerful. Not only did they possess impressive combat abilities, their mobility did not lose to a martial artist who had already reached the ninth realm in their lightness skill. Basically, if a player ran into them, all those who were below Blessed Realm would find their chances of fleeing very slim.

However, the most terrifying thing about them was their ability to resist blows, because their shells were made of specially modified dirt and stone. The surface of Dirt Puppets’ bodies had a sticky force, and it could even dismantle attacks, making Dirt Puppets incredibly difficult to deal with. Stone Giants had bodies that were as tough as metal. It was difficult to damage them with normal weapons, so the players had to infuse qi into their attacks, or else their weapons would receive more damage than the enemy.

It was said that the dangerous grounds were born because of a trap master from Heaven’s Secret Valley who had walked down the evil path. His skills with puppet traps were astonishing, but since he killed too many people, he was forced to flee all over the land because he was chased by the heroes in the world. The underground ancient tombs scattered all over the world were built one after another while he fled.

*****

The ancient tomb near Yangzhou was built in an abandoned quarry. It was very desolate and hidden. However, it was very easy to recognize it. There were two longevity lamps[1] by the entrance of the ancient tomb. They gave off a faint blue glow, which was quite dim but still lit up the surroundings. However, they radiated no warmth, and because of it, a layer of ghastliness and danger was added to the forest and the mountain after night fell.

The sound of wind being sliced rose outside the silent ancient tomb. Two black figures quickly appeared at the entrance. One showed up at the left, and the other at the right. They were naturally Happy and the built man.

“Stone Giants and Dirt Puppets guard the ancient tomb inside. You can only find them when inside.” The tan, built man looked inside the tomb warily while giving Happy some information. “The tunnel in the ancient tomb is not wide. It is about three hundred and thirty feet deep, and while we go down, we will run into seven to eight Stone Giants. The Dirt Puppets appear in groups of two.”

“Okay.” Happy nodded to show his understanding.

But the built man continued instructing Happy. “When we go in later, follow behind me. You must be careful not to let them pounce on you. Even if you get injured, don’t stop. We must shake them off with all our strength. There are a lot of curves and bends in there. They won’t be able to follow us for long. Once we enter the main hall in the ancient tomb, we’ll search for a place to train.”

The built man was named Thunderous Battle. On the way, he witnessed Happy’s lightness skill and decided to change his plan. He gave up on the idea of luring the Dirt Puppets and Stone Giants and decided to take the initiative to enter the depths instead. He wanted to search for spawn points where only one monster would spawn in the ancient tomb to practice their martial arts.

When he saw the familiarity with which Thunderous Battle about the tomb, Happy knew that he should have practiced inside it for quite some time, and he did not voice any rejections.

“Turtle Shell!” Thunderous Battle shouted, and his qi surged. A faint gray light swiftly enveloped his body, and his skin became tougher. There was even a metallic shine to him.

His gaze moved to Happy, and he instructed him in a low voice, “Get ready!”

Happy schooled his expression and nodded at Thunderous Battle. He swiftly changed to his Great Wolf Fur Equipment Set and activated Gate Realm. His body became light, and he bent his knees.

“Let’s go!” Thunderous Battle roared, and he shot at the ancient tomb without any hesitation.

Happy followed behind him. He entered the ancient tomb that did not provide him with a good field of vision.

Roar!

An enraged roar came from a non-human. It was followed by hurried footsteps.

Not far from the entrance of the ancient tomb was a huge human-shaped puppet that was about ten feet tall. It was a Stone Giant! Its grayish white body was two feet thick, and it was extremely sturdy. It did not seem as if it could be destroyed.

At that moment, it aggressively pressed toward Thunderous Battle who had entered the ancient tomb first. The Stone Giant’s facial features that were made of stone and looked very stiff. They formed an angry and violent expression that did not look to be welcoming the two intruders.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The moving speed of the Stone Giant was astonishing. With just three steps, it arrived in front of Thunderous Battle. Its arms, which were made of stone, were its greatest weapon, and it threw a punch at Thunderous Battle who charged toward him. It was so fast that its speed did not lose to Happy’s Shaolin’s Long Fist.

The huge punch brought with it a whistle and thunderous bang!

The Stone Giant’s fist just so happened to seal off most of the area in the narrow tunnel. Thunderous Battle could not avoid it, and he gritted his teeth to withstand the strike.

“Go!”

Happy knew that Thunderous Battle was in Blessed Realm, and he had a martial art to protect his body. He would not be in danger anytime soon. Without any hesitation, he moved past the Stone Giant and Thunderous Battle.

Right after Happy passed through them, Thunderous Battle used the force from the Stone Giant’s punch to push himself about thirty-two feet into the tomb and caught up to Happy.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The Stone Giant chased after him madly.

As Happy ran further into the tomb, he met a black humanoid monster that was incredibly disfigured and had abnormally long limbs. It was the Dirt Puppet! And he even ran into two at once.

“Careful! I’ll handle this!”

Thunderous Battle did not expect the place to be so dangerous. When he saw that Happy was about to run into the Dirt Puppets, he roared and increased his speed so that he could catch up.

But Happy could tell that Thunderous Battle was not in great shape. He frowned. “Don’t worry. I can pass through.”

He did not slow down and did not show any intention to allow Thunderous Battle to attract the monsters’ attention.

Thunderous Battle might be strong, but Happy could tell that he was not too experienced and relied on receiving the blows head on to clear the path. It would be somewhat easy for him to do so with a single Stone Giant, but right then, there were two Dirt Puppets who needed handling, and there was still the Stone Giant right behind them. If he stopped, those monsters would lock them in place. If they did this a few more times later, the situation would become extremely dangerous for them.

“Don’t push yourself!”

With Thunderous Battle’s speed, even if he had a lightness skill in Grandmaster Realm, it was impossible for him to catch up to Happy straight away. When he saw that Happy was about to engage the two Dirt Puppets, his expression turned incredibly sour.

When Happy saw that the Dirt Puppets’ arms were about to strike his face, he decisively threw two throwing knives at the moment of danger.

A cold glare shone.

Clang! Clang!

The throwing knives struck the faces of the two Dirt Puppets before they ricocheted to the side. Even though they did not sink in and did not deal obvious damage, during the critical moment, the powerful force made the Dirt Puppets’ heads tremble slightly, and their movements inevitably froze for a moment. Happy used that time to nimbly move past them right under their eyes.

That scene stunned Thunderous Battle.

While the Dirt Puppets’ attention was gathered on Happy, he quickly caught up and also broke out of the encirclement. He then caught up to Happy.

“You’ve entered an ancient tomb before?”

Thunderous Battle stared at Happy curiously. In truth, he could tell that Happy had not unintentionally brought about that miracle. Happy’s prediction of the Dirt Puppets’ attacks and movements, along with the timing of his attack, were on point. His body could also follow up to the Dirt Puppets’ attacks very naturally, which made it look like he had practiced this thousands of times before; otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to be so relaxed and confident in that situation.

Happy shook his head and did not explain, because another Stone Giant appeared.

He used the same trick.

Happy easily moved past the subsequent Stone Giants and entered a rather large room with Thunderous Battle.

The large empty space made the duo become even more fearless. They entered a few more rooms and shook off all the Dirt Puppets and Stone Giants behind them. Soon, they entered a huge hall that was six hundred and fifty-six feet in length.

In the four corners of the huge hall were a couple Dirt Puppets and Stone Giants. Due to the limited field of vision, they wandered about in a small area with lost looks on their faces.

In a great show of teamwork, the duo’s attention fell on the same Stone Giant in the corner furthest away from them.