Volume 15 Gray Fog Forest Chapter 780: Different Dilemma
In the old days, Japanese samurai usually carried two swords, one long and one short. Cavalrymen carried a long katana and a wakizashi, while foot warriors carried a short katana and a wakizashi. Some samurai would choose to carry an additional "katō" specifically for breaking armor. This is a short sword with a blade length of less than 20 cm. The blade spine is thicker than that of ordinary samurai swords. It is generally not used for chopping, but for penetrating weak points on armor.
But in actual combat, neither wakizashi nor kaido are rarely used.
(Except for the two-sword style, the Niten Ichi-ryu invented by Miyamoto Musashi, who held a tachi in the right hand and a kodachi in the left hand, but the samurai who imitated him generally did not have such skills, so the two swords were reduced to a katana and a wakizashi... In addition, even for seppuku, wakizashi and katō were generally not used, but a special short sword. As for the Japanese officers in many film and television works who directly used katana or wakizashi for seppuku, there are only two reasons: one is that the production team did not do enough research, and the other is that the army at that time rarely carried special seppuku short swords, so other things were used instead.)
The reason why the usage rate of wakizashi and kaiton is low is very simple - all cold weapons must follow an iron rule in nine out of ten cases: an inch longer, an inch stronger; an inch shorter, an inch more dangerous.
Although short and exquisite weapons have certain advantages in close combat and in confined spaces, and have portability and flexibility that long weapons cannot match, in the vast majority of combat situations they will definitely be suppressed by long weapons.
Just imagine that the dagger in your hand has not yet reached the opponent's body, but you are already within the attack range of the opponent's sword. It is self-evident who has the greater advantage in this kind of battle.
In ancient times, the main weapons of both cavalry and infantry armies would inevitably be long-handled weapons such as guns, spears, halberds, axes, and halberds. Even weapons such as the Pudao, which was named "knife", were more than 150 cm long.
The length of a weapon can often make up for the difference in strength between the two sides, or even achieve a reverse. However, the spare wakizashi in Asano Akira's hand has a blade that is barely half the length of Nino's alloy sword.
As for the difference in strength between the two sides...if the figure emerging from the thick fog is the attacker who just appeared in the illusion, then the opponent's strength is definitely not inferior to Asano Akira.
Even if the previous battle was just an illusion, the murderous intent was not fake. Anyone who possesses such murderous intent would definitely not be weak in combat power.
The blurry figure suddenly raised the knife, with the blade pointing upwards, and the tip of the knife pointed directly at Asano Akira's forehead. His originally slow pace suddenly accelerated, and after three steps, he ran directly towards Asano Akira!
With a "swish", the sharp wakizashi was unsheathed in an instant, and Asano Akira ducked down and swooped down. The distance between the two was shortened to less than three meters in the blink of an eye!
Just as the opponent thrust his sword forward, Asano Akira's upper body suddenly fell backward, lowering his center of gravity again, changing from a running posture to a sliding tackle on the ground. At the same time, he smashed the scabbard in his left hand hard towards the opponent's face.
When Asano Akira changed his tactics, the opponent had only one choice, which was to retreat to the other side, dodge, or use his sword to pick open the scabbard that was thrown at him.
The figure in the fog originally held the knife with the blade thrust upward. If he wanted to attack Asano Akira who was close to the ground, he had to flip the blade over and then swing it downward. The direction of the force would be completely opposite to the original action, and his face would be hit by the scabbard before he could complete the change of moves.
Although the scabbard fell out of his hand, it was tightly wrapped by Asano Akira's mental . If it hit his head, the destructive power would be no less than a shot from Mo Jue's TAC-50 anti-material sniper rifle.
Even if he cannot kill the opponent, it is enough to make the opponent lose balance or be temporarily delayed. At this time, Asano Akira can close the distance and use the wakizashi in his hand to attack the opponent's lower three parts.
This move is very insidious, but very effective. For a warrior, whether it is hand-to-hand combat or unarmed combat, the lower body is the most critical part. Stable body shape, flexible movement, burst of power... The most important thing to rely on is the muscles of the legs and core. Otherwise, martial artists in ancient times would not have regarded horse stance as a basic entry-level training.
When it comes to a real life-or-death fight, there is never any sense of justice... As long as can kill the enemy, no matter how sinister and shameless the trick is, as long as it can achieve the goal, it is a good trick.
What's more, Asano Akira was using a short weapon that was "an inch shorter and an inch more dangerous". If he didn't rely on some sneaky and dangerous moves, he would have no chance of winning at all.
However, what he didn't expect was that the opponent completely ignored the scabbard that was thrown at him, and swung the knife downwards with his backhand - there was no sense of lag or hindrance in his changing moves. Asano Akira even suspected that this blurry human figure had no bones and muscles at all, but was instead a mass of thick fog that could change at will like liquid.
The scabbard and the blade approached their respective targets almost at the same time... Asano Akira could only choose to interrupt his own attack and roll to the side in embarrassment.
The scabbard he threw passed through the opponent's "head" and fell to the ground.
Asano Akira quickly got up from the ground and stepped back.
The moment the scabbard touched the thick fog, all the tentacles of thought wrapped around it were melted away. But before the connection between the last tentacle of thought and Asano Akira was severed, Asano Akira still caught a glimpse of shocking news.
There is no entity at all inside this human-shaped figure shrouded in thick fog.
The scabbard touched nothing except the thick fog.
The exaggerated metaphor he just used... was actually not wrong: there were indeed no bones or muscles inside this vague human figure.
"So, the one fighting me was not a human at all... but 'it' took my sword and is still imitating the fighting style of humans... 'it', what exactly is it?" A series of question marks popped up in Asano Akira's mind... If it were Ke Lan, he would definitely choose to try to communicate with the other party at this time. Even if he couldn't turn the enemy into a friend, at least he could get some important information... But Asano Akira is not Ke Lan, he is used to solving problems with silence and the weapons in his hands.
After slightly adjusting his steps, Asano Akira placed the wakizashi across his body.
…
…
Deep in the gray fog forest, there is a "blank area".
Ivan didn't quite understand why he only took one step back and then retreated from one blank area to another.
If this place is compared to a human heart, the thin wall of fog in the middle is like the fleshy diaphragm between the left atrium and the right atrium... Although this metaphor is a bit strange, as a doctor, Ivan subconsciously thought of an anatomical diagram of a human heart.
"It's really strange... But if there is no fog in this area, those monsters will definitely chase us out, right? If not, we can only keep retreating, all the way into the thick fog..." Ivan turned his head and took a look. This "fog-free" blank area was about two hundred meters deep, with only less than ten sparsely scattered fog-dwelling trees. If those monsters chased us out from the thick fog, with his speed, he should be able to barely rush into the thick fog at the end of the blank area before being caught up.
Just when Ivan was halfway through planning his "escape route", he suddenly froze in his tracks - there was another blank area behind this wall of fog, so he should be able to see Ke Lan and the others who had retreated in together! But when he looked around, he didn't see a single person here except himself!
"Sukabule!" A classic Russian curse popped out of Ivan's mouth. He subconsciously looked down, only to find that the safety rope around his waist had been broken at some point.
A layer of cold sweat instantly seeped out from the pores on his back, soaking the underwear on his back.
"What's going on?"
Ivan forced himself to calm down. He stood there and waited for two seconds... However, still no one came out of the thick fog in front of him and entered this strange blank area.
Not only did no one come over, even the biological weapons failed to break through the fog wall and chase here... Logically speaking, a fog wall that is no more than one meter thick is not enough to block the perception of these monsters.
"Did I get separated from the others? That's impossible... I just took a step back..." Ivan's breathing was a little rapid. He glanced at the heart rate monitor inside the breathing mask, and skillfully took out a sedative from the small bag on his waist. He inserted it into the injection hole reserved on the protective suit and pushed the liquid medicine into the subcutaneous tissue.
As the drug took effect, Ivan felt his breathing finally become smoother, but his inner anxiety and restlessness did not ease at all, but became more and more intense.
He took a look at his surroundings, lifted up his breathing mask, tilted his head back and took a big gulp of vodka.
The unique smell of alcohol spread between the mouth and nose, and the spicy liquid rolled down the esophagus. Drinking high-proof vodka would give people a feeling of swallowing a burning knife, but only this feeling could make Ivan calm down quickly.
"Maybe I should go back to find them..."
Closing his breathing mask, Ivan quickly made a decision - he shot a long spike used to fix the rope into the ground, then tied his broken safety rope to the buckle at the end of the spike. After finally checking his weapons and ammunition, he raised his gun and stepped forward into the thick fog.
step.
There was thick fog all around, I couldn't see or hear anything.
Two steps.
As far as the eye can see, there is still thick fog so dense that you can't see your hand in front of you.
Three steps.
Nothing changes.
Ivan's doubts suddenly increased - although the gray fog had been spreading towards the interior of the warship wreckage, it only took a dozen seconds, and the speed of spread could definitely not be so fast!
He took three more steps forward in one breath, and stopped only after the safety rope around his waist was stretched straight.
The wreckage of the battleship, the monsters that continued to rush forward, those familiar teammates... He saw nothing. There was nothing in front, behind, left and right except the thick gray fog.
"It's really... I saw a ghost..."
Ivan did not untie the safety rope and continue walking back. He began to retreat until he returned to the empty area that was not occupied by fog.
The spike was still stuck in the ground and the end of the safety rope was tied to the buckle, which made him feel a little relieved.
Ivan began to observe the boundary between the blank area and the edge of the fog - the fog did not spread towards the blank area, as if it was blocked by an invisible wall. If it were not for the gray fog flowing together, this clear boundary would even make Ivan mistakenly believe that there was a towering concrete wall in front of him.
"The invisible wall... could it be Ze Luo's space barrier?" Ivan muttered, "Could it be that this blank area not occupied by the gray fog was created by Ze Luo? But the question is where is Ze Luo now, and where are the others? Why am I the only one in the blank area?"
Ivan began to look at this extremely strange blank area, and soon he discovered something that seemed normal but was actually very abnormal.
There are very few mist trees in the blank area, but a large number of human corpses are "embedded" in the supporting roots of each mist tree... This situation may be seen not far from the red line, but it should definitely not appear in this place.
This place is thirty-five kilometers away from the red line! Even if the creatures in the Gray Mist Forest would carry the bodies of invaders, they would never move them to such a far place!
As for the possibility that these dead people walked here on their own, that is even more impossible!
Judging from the information currently available, the group of "lumberjacks" led by Mo Jue's father and the crew of the two crashed warships could have reached this depth, but the corpses in front of them were not wearing the uniforms of the Air Force Fleet, but the standard Field Corps Marine Corps uniforms. One corpse even had the armored unit's regimental emblem and number on its arm.
These corpses are from the armored unit that mistakenly entered the Gray Fog Forest and was wiped out... Their corpses should definitely not appear in this place.
With this idea in mind, Ivan decided to study these corpses first to see if he could find any clues... But just as he approached a mist tree, the corpse embedded in the tree trunk seemed to be awakened and suddenly struggled violently!
It was as if a chain reaction was triggered. From near to far, all the corpses on the mist trees began to move. They used their incomplete bone claws to tear and dig at the wood fibers that imprisoned them... In just a few seconds, the corpse that "awoke" first had already broken free from the constraints of the tree trunk.
