Inheritance

"Perception is one of the most important qualities in battle."

"Have you truly mastered your perception?" Jin's voice seemed to come from overhead, yet in the next instant, it was right behind Adam.

Before Adam could react, his body was sent flying. His twisting body rolled across the ground before slamming into a tree. The scent of blood made Adam's instincts grow ever more savage.

Three claw marks appeared across his back, blood running down his white fur. The wounds kept writhing, and the bleeding soon stopped. From Adam's experience, they would probably scab over by tomorrow morning.

But this was not the time to think about that. He had spread his perception to its limit before, yet he had only sensed Jin when Jin drew close. By then, it had already been too late to dodge.

"You need to learn what to take and what to give up..." As soon as the words fell, Jin appeared directly behind Adam, his claws flashing out once more.

But this time, Adam spun around first and kicked. Sharp, slender claws extended from his foot, as though they were about to tear the person behind him to pieces.

Jin bent at the waist, his entire body curving like a drawn bow. Adam's foot claws barely brushed Jin's belt before sweeping past.

Then Jin's body snapped back like a cannonball. His uppercut slammed straight into Adam's abdomen, and his claws pierced in without the slightest hesitation.

With one hand, he hooked Adam around the waist and flung him away like a sandbag. Adam crashed into a nearby tree, and only then did Jin give his assessment. "Your waist twist was far too obvious."

"And how many times do I have to tell you? You're using too much force."

Jin leaned forward, looking at Adam lying there as he slowly said, "I think highly of you, but if you disappoint me, I really will kill you."

"From here on, I won't go easy on you." Jin flicked his claws, shaking off all the blood stained on them, then walked toward Adam.

Yet at that moment, Adam stood up. He clasped his fists together, twisted his body, and used one palm to push the other hand as he drove his elbow into the trunk behind him.

The tree, already somewhat cracked from Adam's impact, snapped at once and came crashing down on him. Its luxuriant branches also engulfed Jin as he approached.

Adam rolled aside to evade it. His white fur was stained with blood, dirt, and dead leaves, but Adam, usually somewhat of a clean freak, had no time to care about any of it.

Not far away, Jin emerged from beneath the canopy. His wolf ears twitched, and he tilted his head to the side.

Adam had somehow already stepped onto a high branch. His fists were still clasped together, one arm raised to the side, his elbow aimed at Jin as he dove down.

Bark peeled away beneath Adam's feet. Facing Adam's downward pounce, Jin lowered his body. As nimble as an antelope leaping through the air, he kicked forward, spun and twisted aside from Adam's elbow, and rose past him with barely a hair's breadth between them.

Then he clenched both hands and raised them high. His center of gravity shifted as his left foot swept forward and his body drove ahead. His left leg formed a bow stance beneath Adam, and in that instant, the muscles of his upper body were so pronounced that even his brown fur could not conceal them.

Had an artist witnessed this scene, they might have been struck by the beauty of the human body's muscles.

His hands reached their highest point, then came crashing down onto Adam's back.

Adam's abdomen slammed into Jin's left thigh and knee, while his back took the full force of Jin's double-fisted blow.

Caught between the two blows, Adam's mouth flew open and blood sprayed out. His suddenly widened eyes seemed to lose their light. His body went limp as he slid from Jin's knee and collapsed onto the ground.

Yet Jin did not raise his foot and step on Adam as originally planned. Instead, he saw a branch embedded in his abdomen.

Straightening up, Jin bared his teeth and yanked the branch out, tossing it aside. Blood splashed out with the branch, then stopped. Fresh flesh sprouted from the wound, intertwining and knitting together.

"Using the noise of the falling tree as cover, you broke off a branch and hid it in your hand. You used that diving elbow strike as a feint, while the branch was your true attack."

"Not bad tactics. Too weak in strength."

Adam swayed as he rose to his feet. If he had not still been able to stand, he might truly have thought his spine had broken.

But a werewolf's body was tougher and stronger than he had imagined. When he saw Jin move, Adam moved as well.

The swaying vanished. Pain had long ceased to matter. The battle was still far from over.

Perhaps because the wounds from battle had stimulated him, the restlessness of his bloodline no longer affected Adam much. Instead, countless images flooded into his mind.

They were scenes of werewolves fighting. Adam instinctively dodged to the side, and a whistle of tearing air flashed past his ear.

A stone the size of an egg struck the tree behind Adam, leaving a hollow in the trunk.

Jin planted one foot on the ground, one toe slightly raised. He gave Adam a savage grin, then vanished directly behind a tree as he passed it.

Adam looked up into the air. Shadows flickered between the trees, then disappeared completely. Jin had once again vanished from his perception.

Adam stood where he was, his feet slightly raised on their toes. His body appeared relaxed, yet seemed ready to unleash berserk strength at any moment.

The battle scenes in his mind still had not stopped. If Adam had tried to learn them under normal circumstances, it would likely have taken a long time. He would have needed to analyze the force, movements, and fighting intent of those werewolf ancestors.

But at this moment, Adam merely remembered them by instinct, and then his body moved.

He sprang backward, his fur stretching downward. A small pit was left where he had stood, with a shattered pinecone inside it.

Adam extended both claws as he leapt, driving them into the trunk behind him. His entire body clung to the tree, and in the next moment, he pushed off with his feet and shot out. Leaping from side to side, he went straight up into the treetops.

Then his body suddenly dropped from the crown. As he fell, he grabbed a branch with both hands, avoiding another pinecone shooting toward him. Using the branch bent downward by his weight, Adam exerted force with both hands and launched himself in the direction the pinecone had come from.

Adam's gaze sharpened as he sped forward, and he swung a claw.

Crack!

His finger bones broke, but the pinecone shattered beneath his claw as well. Its fragments shot past him, grazing his fur and cutting off several white hairs.

Ignoring his broken fingers, Adam swung his hand before he even fully pounced onto Jin.

"Below the chest, around the ribs, straight for the heart!" An image from his bloodline was instinctively put to use by Adam.

The two werewolves collided, rolled off the tree, hit the ground, and continued rolling.

Through the gaps between their bodies, Adam's hand could be seen thrust in beneath Jin's ribs. But Jin twisted his body and trapped Adam's hand, then spread his other two hands and closed them around Adam's head. His fingers showed no mercy as they aimed to pierce Adam's temples and eyes.

But at that moment, Adam tucked in his leg and kicked Jin in the stomach, sending him away.

Jin's claws raked down Adam's face, leaving several long bloody marks. Then, after his body skidded across the ground, Jin rolled and rose to his feet.

Without changing expression, he inserted his claws through the wound Adam had left in his abdomen, pulled out a stone, and casually tossed it up and down in his hand.

"You've got quite a few little tricks." The wound on Jin's abdomen was healing at a visible rate, while the five holes Jin had pierced through Adam's abdomen had only just stopped bleeding.

Their self-healing abilities were not on the same level.

Adam crouched halfway to the ground, his soles gripping the earth, his dark-red beast eyes fixed on Jin.

Jin caught the falling stone and threw it with a flick of his hand. Adam had already vanished from where he stood, dodging the incoming stone and appearing before Jin with speed so fast it seemed like teleportation. Borrowing the momentum, he swung a fist at Jin's heart.

Jin stood still without retreating a single step. Before Adam's fist could strike his heart, Jin grabbed it with one hand. His other hand formed a knife-hand and chopped upward from below at Adam's neck.

Adam reached out to block it, only to hear a crack. The knife-hand, together with Adam's palm, slammed into Adam's jaw.

Adam staggered back two steps, while Jin felt his entire right arm go numb. His gaze flicked toward his hand.

A thorn from a poisonous tree had pierced straight into the center of his right palm.

The paralysis came quickly and went quickly. After pulling out the poisoned thorn with his other hand, Jin's right hand gradually regained movement.

"Hahahahaha!" Adam, who had staggered back two steps, laughed through a mouth that now leaked air, then pounced forward again. It was as though some force had erupted from within him, like a heavy stone pressing down upon Jin's heart.

"Now this is getting interesting!" Black smoke rose behind Jin as he pounced forward as well, colliding with Adam.

Thanks to Dreamer Gone Mad, Torrential Ink Rain, First Sun Dancing Light Snow Tears Cold, I Have a Role in Every Drama, and Is There Fish Food for the tips. Thank you all for your support. Please vote, bookmark, and add this to your reading lists.