As soon as Cherry destroyed the blocker that was hindering her and her brother's Blood Mutant Gene, she quickly transformed into her blood mutant form as the Elite she was on top of got his vision back.
Cherry stood only a few inches shorter than the Elite, with pure energy and a wild sense of battle coursing through her body. The female blood mutant quickly dug her nails into the Elite's wound and drained more than eight liters of blood from it.
Due to blood loss, the Elite became drowsy and woozy, unable to stand on its feet anymore. Upon seeing this, Cherry went on the attack, lifting her arm as a blood axe formed. However, the second Elite Granian rammed into her, sticking its thick scales deep into her sides. The girl screamed in pain as she duplicated tendrils, which she used to pierce the creature.
"GET... OFF... OF ME..." Cherry shouted with her mouth wide open. She quickly bit the Granian as hard as she could while draining its green blood in the process.
"I... I SHALL NOT... FALL FOR THE SAME... TRICK!!" The Granian shouted as it triumphantly pinned Cherry under it. With its weight, the creature started to crush Cherry's ribs, slowly taking the air out of her lungs. "THE GRANIANS... REIGN SUPREME!! YOU SHALL NOT..."
With her hands free, Cherry duplicated longer, thicker, and sharper tendrils, which she stuck into the alien's open mouth. The Granian was pushed back a little, allowing Cherry to escape. As she stood up, the alien tried to bite down on her tendrils, but every bite ended in a bloody mess that regrew into a thick, sticky web-like substance.
"I SHALL NOT WHAT, BIG BOY?" Cherry questioned as she stuck more tendrils into the alien's mouth. The Elite struggled to set itself free, but Cherry created more tendrils, which she used to pin its hands and legs down.
"BROTHER, NO!!" The third and fourth Elites shouted as they quickly ran to help their comrade, who was about to face death. However...
[Blood Step Skill: Activated.]
With his body partially transformed, Ace used his blood step skill, quickly supplying his body with short, quick bursts of energy. The blood mutant rammed into the second and third dead mutants as he stretched his hand out towards the first one Cherry injured.
[Blood Drain Skill: Activated.]
With his fists folded, Ace drained the remaining drops of blood from the first Elite Granian and left it dead on the ground. Its once-glowing crystal grew dim with no energy in it. With the collected blood, Ace turned it into a green blood armor suit, for the blood of the Granians was green.
[Killing larger targets grants you more experience points.]
[Targets killed: 1]
[EXP earned: 100]
[EXP: 300/400]
[Congratulations! Your blood strength stat has increased by two points. You can now drain blood faster and yield much more than you used to before.]
[Blood Strength: 12]
"Acey boy, can you handle those two?" Cherry asked with a demonic grin that showed off her long, jagged teeth. As she did so, she duplicated more tendrils and stuck them into the second Elite's throat. She pushed them deeper into the beast until it literally swelled with excess blood in its body system.
"I can handle these two, Cherry," Ace replied as he completed making his blood armor. "You take care of what you have first. There are more of those blasted things behind you."
[Blood Inventory: One item has been removed.]
[No items in Blood Inventory.]
Having sold his intermediate-tiered gauntlets for meat, Ace was left with the bright green sword made from the crystal of the large plant-based creature he killed previously. The sword appeared in thin air as it took form in Ace's palm.
[Beast Weapon Acquired.]
[All attributive stats have been increased by a point.]
[Your beast weapon, being of such a low tier, only has one soul weapon aspect.]
'Soul Weapon?' Ace wondered. 'What does it mean by soul weapon aspect?' Ace asked as he looked at the Elites, who were standing back up on their feet.
[Every high-tiered beast weapon has a soul weapon aspect. The soul weapon aspect is the fusing of the user's body with the soul of the beast weapon. Every weapon can have different aspects depending on certain beast types and tiers. The soul weapon allows the user to use the power its beast once had, depending on the user's body strength. Your aspect is Vine Manipulation.]
[Aspect: Vine Manipulation. Allows you to create a spontaneous streamline of thorn-tipped vines at your target. This skill has a cooldown period of one minute and can cause severe injuries if used properly.]
Ace sneered at the aspect, for he could do the same thing at a much higher damage rate with no cooldown period in his blood mutant form. However, Ace appreciated that the weapon increased his overall stats, even if it was by one point.
"DIE, HUMAN SCUM!" The third Elite Granian roared as it trampled the ground it stood on, hoping to get to Ace. Ace, however, saw this slow move coming, so he decided to practice just what the Vine Manipulation aspect was.
[Soul Weapon: Activated.]
Ace's already transformed arms turned back to normal as the sword in his palms broke apart and fused into his skin. His arms then turned into thick, long veins with yellow thorns in them. Sensing that he was confused by this, Ace's system showed a simple three-dimensional image of Ace sticking his arms into the ground as a demonstration of sorts.
{Vine Manipulation: Activated.]
As soon as he dug his vine arms into the ground, the ground started to shake and break apart as a cluster of vines intertwined and drilled through the ground like a speeding snake. The vines reached the third Elite and wrapped themselves around its leg, all the way to the entire left side of its body.
Ace clenched his fist and watched as the vines squeezed the body of the Granian, slowly pulling it to the ground. For a quick second, he smiled, thinking that the soul weapon was working, right before he saw the dreaded message...
[Cool Down Period: 30 seconds.]
'Screw this,' he said to himself, upset that the soul weapon skill barely did anything to the Granian. 'Let's do this the old-fashioned way.'
[Soul Weapon: Deactivated.]