Author's note [Hey guys, thank you for coming along on this journey this far. You can support me by voting, adding to your library and recommending the novel. Also, the sequel to this novel, [Dark Gene:Rebirth] is out on webnovel. Please Make sure to check it out. Thank you all ].
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The beast turned its large back and took the attack head on. It showed how strong its scale was as the attack that would have put most beasts down hadn't done much to it thanks to the hard scale.But this wasn't an assault battle, infact it was the opposite as Rodney had put his sword back into its sheath after that attack.
"I can't keep discharging such powerful attacks..I can feel the drawback kicking in" he said to himself.
He had already closed the distance between them with his hands now coated with the same white energy from before.And just as he was about to land a fist to the back of the gecko, it swung its large tail sending him flying back.He now had multiple openings visible on his body as he had torn his shirt which was already scorched.
"Fu*k this...the strain should be the last of my worries right now.That tail of it seems to be more annoying by the second damn it, it seems to be sturdier than the last two" he said.
The beast didn't waste time in spitting out its venom at Rodney. It spat out three balls in quick succession forcing Rodney to take a detour and go running into the cover of the jungle. The beast followed swiftly behind and while it didn't tear down trees on its way, it certainly left a trail of scorch marks on trees as its intended prey was slick enough to dodge the poison it spat at him. Rodney knew he couldn't run forever though and knew he had to some how find a way to beat the beast. Pulling up the system interface, he went on to check how much time he had left.
[Time left: 5:25]
"What!...I can't keep running like this!. I have to end this now!" Rodney said as he hid behind a tree.
They had now moved away from the bamboo tree like area and now were at a swampy area with more thick trees and few of the bamboo like trees. And just around the corner was a small body of water with odd looking insects flying around making noises that were as loud as a dog's bark.
The beast had it's snort out sniffing in an attempt to find Rodney. But that wouldn't be easy as the scent from the swamp and other things proved a little too much for the beast.
Rodney being behind the tree and watching the beast felt now was his best chance. Now the beast couldn't see him but he could, then he would launch a surprise attack and aim for one strike as this one looked to be a lot stronger and smarter than its comrades.
Picking his spot carefully not to make any mistake, he crept out of his hiding spot and got ready aiming for the perfect place to nail the hit.He picked his spot expertly and while the beast's back was turned, his CHI coating his arm began to glow brighter as he dashed from behind the tree and landed his fist right in the rib section.But something was different this time and he noticed it.
"That attack was far weaker than the others....I have to end this sooner".The beast swung its tail once more but this time he saw it coming as he evaded by back flipping and landing on the back of it.
"You poisoned me.....I can repay the favor by poisoning your annoying scale.....with my fists!!" he screamed out as he began to rain down fists after fists with the extra force of CHI added to it.
The beast let out a loud cry as it could feel it's shell giving in to this assault.It began to shake rapidly to try and get rid of Rodney from its back but he was more serious than ever as he held on tight with one hand then with his other free hand, continued the attack.
After a bit of a struggle, it was able to throw Rodney high up in the air.
"I can see an opening in its shell..this is just the final attack I need and I have to put in everything I got" he said to himself.
He drew his sword from its sheath and immediately it began to glow radiantly as he descended,the light was already blinding as he put in all the fight left in him into that attack which connected on the beast.As the glow began to die down, Rodney could be seen kneeling and in his hands were beast cores. He then stood up and staggered his way back to the trail he had ran from. While walking though, multiple notifications began to pop up one after the other.
[Quest completed: Defeat the beasts using only your new found power]
[Rewards:****]
[You have been poisoned]
[Extract poison]
[Time left:&$&@#*]
The segment where the time was shown was being blurred out as his vision was becoming blurrier.
A white light began to shine and he could hear some coarse sound that he couldn't quite make sense of. Although he didn't need to be told he was behind schedule as he could feel the cold feeling from earlier on disappear and now being replaced by a hot feeling and the blood that left his nose eye and mouth had now reduced in its outflow.And just then he heard his name being called and this voice... this voice sounded very familiar.
"Rodney.."
"Come on. Come back to us Rodney".
And then he opened his eyes to see himself in a strange yet familiar place. His eyes darted around as he took in every bit of information his eyes passed to his brain. Now he remembered where this was and the voice...no the person. It was all Coming to him now. Although not without the pain he felt shooting in his head. But this place was the hunters inn and the person in front of him was a friend.
" Bl...Blair" Rodney said as he looked at his teammate who had a bit of tear on the brink of falling off. Straight away Blair ran out and this action surprised Rodney who thought the latter was acting weird. He tried to get up and follow the other but that wasn't necessary as Blair had returned but not alone. He had come in with the whole gang and Yang who stood at the back of them all.
"Dude, you're finally awake!" Erwin said as he looked overjoyed.
"Man... I thought you were never going to wake up again". Blair said as he wiped the tear off his face.
Rodney hearing all his teammates had to say was a bit confused. Something was just not right with the reaction and everything he was getting. So just to clarify he asked.
" How long have I been out?"
"Dude.. Like a week now" Johan replied.
"Yeah, Corey had tried everything to heal you from the poison but somehow you would show signs of success and then fall back unconscious". Mia said with her arms folded. Looking at her now, she didn't seem to be in the best shape at all. She had bags under her eyes and looked like she could use a month sleep.
" Its been a really hard time for us man" Erwin said.
"Yeah especially because we had to always keep an eye on SOMEONE from doing something drastic". Blair replied and everybody looked at Erwin immediately with a not so pleasant look.
"Yeah,I extracted the poison from your body and it all healed up which is pretty amazing to me. But its like the effects wouldn't wear off" Corey said and the others nodded along in agreement. "Its nice to have you back hothead" Blaze said with a smile and then went in for a friendly punch.
It was safe to say they had all been through a lot this week but were glad it was all finally over. The others went close and ruffled Rodney's hair quite a bit. Although Mia had protested asking if it wasn't too rough for someone who had just woken up from being unconscious for a week. Eventually she would concede as she saw that no one listened and neither did Rodney complain.
"I'm glad you are okay" Yang said as he stepped forward to have a closer look at Rodney. "Is it me or the aura around him seemed to have changed" Yang thought as he stared at Rodney consciously. Rodney seeing this thought the latter might want to have a private discussion and didn't know how to say it.
"Uhm sorry guys. Can Yang and I have a minute please?" Rodney asked and just right away someone replied him.
"Really, this...." Erwin was about to say but got caught off and was dragged away by the others who on their way out gave Rodney a thumbs up gesture signifying everything was alright. Rodney seeing this action was left wondering what might have transpired while he was asleep.
"I'm sorry i failed...". Rodney was about to say but then paused as he saw Yang's open palms signifying he should stop talking. " Meet me at the dojo, when you are up. We need to discuss something". Yang said before turning to the door to leave. But as he then stopped in his tracks, turned back and looked at Rodney before saying.
"I've got a reward for you.....You earned it".
And with this he was off. Rodney was left there wondering what he meant by rewards but then he remembered something. The system rewards, he never got to open it to check what it entailed because he was too busy trying to make his way back to Yang then to care about some notification.
He had pushed it aside as it covered his already hazy view which was annoying. The only thing he had trouble with was remembering what he had done with the beast cores.
He then went on to open his system interface to have a look at what he had gotten from passing the quest.
" What the!.... "