Demon Bible-Chapter 48: Feeling Pain — Inflicting Pain

"If any of us survive this, most of the money we earn will go—just like Mr. Op's—to buying suppression medicine," the man said, touching his neck as he sighed.
"Well, at least you're still alive for now. I'll help take care of Alice from the Bell Tavern from now on," another companion who had just arrived said, eyes fixed hard on Tangs. He watched Tangs warily while joking with his comrade.
As if this weren't a life-or-death fight.
That casual, carefree attitude stoked the flames of Tangs' anger.
He was about to launch another attack.
But then noise came from the other side.
It was that pair of half-bodied people. They hadn't continued wrestling with the village guard;
instead, they left him to Aro alone.
Tangs' pressure had been too great. Aro feared Tangs might hurt Op, so after the village guard shook off one half-bodied person, he had them come over to help.
"One against four?" Tangs moved his body and felt a rush of excitement.
His Immortality trait was not the same as the village guard's Tough Skin;
it provided all-around defensive capability.
As long as their attacks didn't exceed the Black Stone grade's limit and had no extraordinary effects, these people were basically incapable of injuring him.
With the great power bestowed by Lord Naimes, he would surely win.
Of course, Tangs also glanced toward Pur's side.
Their orders were to deal the maximum blow to Op's forces and show their strength, preparing for Naimes' upcoming actions.
Pur had already begun his Whale Transformation. Black floral patterns covered his body, which had swollen from just over a meter to roughly three meters tall after several rounds of expansion.
The Giant trait brought overwhelming pressure.
Tough Skin also provided extremely strong defense.
All of this made it hard for the twin swordsmen to strike effectively.
Luckily, Op was there manipulating the translucent feather-air snakes to interfere and control the battle.
Although both were Whale Transformed, Pur and the village guard fought in completely different styles.
The village guard's combat was mostly suited for dangerous beasts;
besides decent swordsmanship, his fighting was rather crude.
Pur was different. His personal preference meant that although he had become a Giant, he combined brute force with refinement.
His fighting style had a very clear tendency—feel the pain, then inflict pain.
Also, because of Pur's pure faith in Naimes, Naimes favored him especially.
During the past half month, Pur had the most contact with Naimes, receiving guidance many times.
It was precisely those pointers that improved Pur's combat skills significantly.
"Recognize your strengths, guard your weaknesses, use long reach against short, let the better prevail over the worse." Naimes' teachings still echoed in his ears.
These combat truths don't feel real unless someone guides you through actual situations.
Pur already had a natural talent for combat technique;
with Naimes' instruction plus his own numerical advantages, even though this was his first real face-to-face fight, his performance wasn't bad.
Moreover, he kept absorbing experience and growing quickly.
A palm as large as a fan swung directly, the gust it generated making the twin swordsmen's rapiers tremble.
Feather-air snakes shot out of the sky, bit into Pur's arm, then wrapped and pulled to restrain that palm strike.
Those creatures Op summoned were nearly invisible and could move through the air.
They could find mediums in the air to touch and anchor themselves, fixing their bodies in place.
Their strength values weren't weak either.
Pur's value after Whale Transformation had reached twelve points;
they still coordinated in numbers to limit his attacks.
Seeing this, Pur did not continue using brute force. He had tested earlier—those feather-air snakes had extremely strong body resilience.
Even when he tried to tear them, it was hard to injure their bodies.
They became surprisingly slippery when needed, and with transparent bodies, trying to grab their heads to find a weak spot was extremely difficult.
Meanwhile, the twin swordsmen's rapiers had almost finished tracing a blossom of cuts.
The blades kept shifting, searching for any flaw on Pur.
But Pur's three-meter height kept his eyes a good distance off the ground. If the twin swordsmen targeted his eyes, they would expose huge openings in their own defenses.
As for other parts, Pur defended well.
From Naimes he had learned to use stillness against motion.
Most of his body was protected by Tough Skin.
In that state, his movements should not be large—the bigger the movement, the more his already well-protected weak points would be exposed.
So the first thing to do was remain steady, carefully feel the pain the enemy inflicted;
that pain would tell him the enemy's actions, allowing him to protect himself as much as possible.
Defense brought a very high margin for error. Especially after Whale Transformation, he had certain self-healing abilities, increasing that margin even more.
The greater the margin for error, the less you should rush. Steady, step-by-step—use tolerance to force the opponent into mistakes. That was his current approach.
"How can this be?!" The twin swordsman still couldn't make headway. When Pur moved in again, he could only retreat to evade the attack.
"Is there really such a big gap between me and Aro?" the twin swordsman fretted.
Aro was nothing special in their small Beiqi Village;
he was just an ordinary villager. He owed everything to Op, who had dug out his potential. Three years ago, the twin swordsman had fought Aro for the first time.
He hadn't wanted to join Op's caravan at first;
he had been a lone operator who extorted from criminals.
But he ran into Op, who surrounded him with men and invited him to join.
Back then he was confident in his swordsmanship, so he suggested a duel to decide whether he'd join.
He was a swordsmanship genius and thought he could win freedom with twin swords, but he lost to Aro, who was still relatively raw at the time.
He honored his bet and joined Op's caravan. A bigger reason was the chance to keep competing with Aro.
After that, he never once defeated him.
He had come to accept that Aro was a battle prodigy;
with the right teacher in a bigger place, Aro's future would be boundless.
But what he couldn't understand was this: Aro had decisively suppressed the village guard with blade skill not long ago, yet faced with another reserve village guard also afflicted by Whale Transformation, he was the one being suppressed.
Yes, Pur's physical change exceeded the village guard's, but he also had Op's summoned feather-air snakes assisting him.
That difference stunned the twin swordsman.
"Getting distracted in battle is something that will cost you your life...!" Pur seized that single opportunity instantly. Stable defense kept him invincible, then careful observation followed by decisive attacks when a chance appeared.
Naimes hadn't taught him flashy moves;
he had taught him a single punch.
One hand accurately located and peeled away the feather-air snakes attached to his body, the other hand rose, clenched, and punched.