Frustrated by the terribly weak soul skill his weapon possessed, Ace resorted to killing the old-fashioned way. With the blood armor suit on, the blood mutant reduced his size and thickened the blade of his beast sword.
His stats, barely boosted by the weapon, seemed feeble once he compared them to the behemoth of a Granian standing before him.
[Blood Step Skill: Activated.]
Using his blood step skill, Ace quickly shortened the distance between him and the Granian. The creature saw this move coming and attempted to grab Ace by his head. Luckily, Ace was faster than the Granian. He managed to slip under it, flipped his body over, and jumped with his sword thrust into the creature's back leg.
"AAHHH!!" Screaming in pain, the Granian bled out a little and started to stomp its feet in frustration and anger. The Granian swung its tail vigorously but missed hitting Ace.
'I've hit it, but the sword hasn't hit deep enough.' He thought to himself as the Granian's wound started to clot, preventing blood from seeping out. 'Let's do it again.'
[Blood Step Skill: Activated.]
Once again, Ace dashed for the Granian and slashed at its leg. Making sure to cut at the joints, he aimed to cripple the creature and finish it off easily.
'Got it.' Ace cheered as he left his sword lodged in the Granian's leg. Like a splinter in the finger, the sword remained stuck in the creature's leg, and given that its arms were too large, the Granian struggled to get it out.
[Blood Step Skill: Activated.]
Once again, Ace dashed for the creature, but instead of pulling out the sword to slice again, Ace held it and activated his soul weapon skill.
[Soul Skill: Vine Manipulation: Activated.]
As soon as he activated the vine skill, the sword glowed brighter as vines grew from its crystal and shattered through bone and flesh. Before it knew it, the Granian's leg was ripped off its body, leaving it on its last leg (literally.)
Gallons of blood gushed out of the Granian as it roared and screamed in pain, gathering the attention of the last Elite Granian which was trying its best to hinder Cherry from killing the second.
[Blood Drain Skill: Activated.]
After successfully de-footing the Granian, Ace stretched out his hand and drained as much blood as he could from it. The Granian wailed and struggled, but its energy quickly left its body, like a man going to get milk. Before it could do anything else, the Granian died with all of its blood circulating around Ace.
[Congratulations: You've killed a great-sized Granian.]
[EXP: +100]
[Collect its crystal and forge a weapon from it.]
[Level Up.]
[Level 12: 0/450]
+2 Stat Points.
[!!Congratulations!!]
[You've managed to hold a great amount of blood in only one go. Your blood control strength has increased by six points.]
[Blood Strength: 18]
[Congratulations. New Skill Granted.]
[Skill: Blood Sucker]
[Description: Like this planet's blood-sucking insects, mosquitoes, this skill makes you a much stronger and deadlier version of them. The blood sucker allows you to draw out blood from an energy by only touching them. The blood will absorb into your skin, and this can be used to drain the life out of someone and place it into your own body. The skill takes no energy and mainly depends on the state of your hands.]
After being bombarded with messages congratulating him, Ace started to feel the pressure of carrying all the blood he had. The large Granians contained lots of blood in them, and carrying it for the very first time started to take a toll on his strength.
"You…I'LL KILL YOU FOR THIS!!" The last Granian cried as it ran for Ace with its weapon gripped tightly in its large hands. With each heavy footstep, the Granian dashed for Ace like an angry, charging rhino.
With the large amount of blood he had, Ace caused it to swirl around his body as fast as possible while solidifying its tips. Soon, the blood became as hard as a rock which he thrust at the Granian with all his might. The Granian's body was pushed back as some of the hardened blood pierced its body. As it did so, Ace would gather it and send it back to the Granian until he pinned it down.
[Energy: 40/80]
'Did I do it?' He wondered with his energy low. His system gave him no notification confirming his kill, so the possibility of the Granian having died was extremely low. 'I guess not.' He said to himself as the hardened blood started to break.
"RAAAAAAAARRRR!!!!" The Granian let out a loud and powerful roar so loud that Ace and Cherry were temporarily deafened by it. The remaining Hunters, who had killed the last of the lesser Granians, took cover to rest and let the two blood-controlling children handle the raging Granian. Its body, now twice as large, emitted so much raw energy with the crystal in its chest glowing violently.
[WARNING!!]
[The creature before you is on a rampage. Move out of the way to survive.]
While Ace's system warned him about the rampaging Granian, Cherry was nearly done with hers. Having made tendrils and pushed them deep into its mouth, she faced a slight challenge with it, but eventually, the tendrils overpowered the Granian, allowing Cherry to rip its body in half with its crystal rolling towards Ace.
'She has so much control over her blood mutant form.' Ace said as he admired the beast of a sister he had. 'I don't know if we'll be able to handle this Granian. How the heck are we going to stop it?'
Not thinking that things would get worse, the front hatch of Grim's ship started to open as more Granians stepped out. However, these ones came riding in small, egg-shaped pods with the upper half cut off. The pods had two barrels at the front, each designed with the purpose of firing heavy rounds at their targets.
[Objective: Use this as an opportunity to gather as much EXP as possible. You can also practice your blood skills and maybe learn to control your blood mutant form.]
"This is getting bad." Chris, who along with Sky, said to Ace as they stood in front of the fleet before them. "We can't take all of them. Especially with those weapons that they've got."
"You're not alone, Kids."