The air reverberated with a monstrous roar that sounded too close for comfort. Zed's face visibly blanched a second at the chilling tone.
His eyes fell upon the grotesquely shaped creature at his feet - the Ghoultick.（Ghoultick, ghoul is an undead monster, tick a common parasitic creature, the picture is too evil to post at here)
"So, the mutations do give some additional abilities, huh?"
Zed muttered under his breath, a grim in his tone.
He glanced at the monstrous tick, figuring out the possibility of picking it up and run. However, the creature was far too heavy. A quick estimate told him it was about 50 kg. Even with his enhanced strength, carrying it over a distance would be quite a task, and more importantly, dangerous. A wrong step could cost him his life now.
Zed couldn't help but curse in his mind, "My Wild Diver time has barely even begun..."
The distant sounds of pursuit grew ominously closer. Obversly, they were searching for bug king.
Zed gritted his teeth.
"Damn it, let's just give it a try!"
The blade in his hand twirled elegantly, painting a silver arc in the air as he aimed for the creature's vulnerable yet not so easily fatal spot. The move was an elaborate one that he had practiced over a thousand times, but he was cautious, aware that this Bug King might possess some unexpected organs.
With each echoing slice and squelch, pieces of the tick's muscle membrane and minute joints flew, like finely sliced sashimi under Zed's skilled hands.
The task of opening the carapace went smoothly. Cutting the nerves controlling the creature's body also went without a hitch, causing the creature's limbs to collapse and more viscous fluid to seep out.
Zed, unphased by the gruesome sight, continued his task, chanting under his breath, "
These are all spores, all nutrient spores..."
His voice was a rhythmic mantra to ground him in the harsh reality of his situation.
His blade flashed again, prying open the connection point at the creature's head. His movements slowed considerably as he approached the weakest yet most critical part of the beast.
He grabbed a handful of salt, his hand poised mid-air when he suddenly froze.
A Brute was passing right before him, sniffing the air around them. Its milky eyes suggested blindness, likely a result of a past injury, yet its bloodstained hand came close to grazing Zed's nose.
He held his breath. If he startled this Brute, they would all be alerted to his presence.
However, the Brute kept coming closer. The salt in Zed's hand began to melt in the tick's juice until finally... a drop fell into the Bug King's head, making direct contact with its brain nerve - if you could even call it a brain.
"aaaaaaahhh——"
"Fuck you!"
Zed cursed inwardly. With no hint of hesitation, he scattered the rest of the salt inside, reaching for the prepared spores at his side.
Zed against the ground, military boots reinforced with steel nails forcefully kicking with the underside of the brute creature's jaw, shattering it in one fell swoop. With a swift pivot to the side, his fingers gripping the familiar chill of a gun within his grasp. Without a moment to spare, he fired, his shot piercing the parasitic beetle creeping up from behind with deadly accuracy on its eyes.
By now, the rest of monsters had gathered around, their numbers reaching hundreds. Zed dropped to a crouch beside the still screeching beetle king, his gaze fixated on the vibrant red spore clutched tightly in his hand.
"Good thing I topped up at the blood bank in that alleyway," he said, a sardonic lilt to his voice.
"Be you a vampire or anything else, if you can save me now, I'll start believing in you."
With a resolution firm in his heart, he crushed the spore within his grasp. At first, nothing happened, save for the pooling blood cascading down his arm, staining the soles of his boots crimson. However, just as despair began to coil around his heart, a transformation occurred.
Blood-red tendrils, akin to a sprawling spider's web, expanded from beneath his feet, seizing each charging brute with an eerie precision. Some of the brutes were crushed together, petrified into blood-soaked statues - a grotesque reflection of the monkeys from his dream.
[Blood Statue Spore - B2]
["Indeed, it can control more than just monkeys. Any being of equal rank will be controlled for 5 seconds, though the duration fluctuates with their level. Beware the counter!"]
[Cost: 10 blood points]
Hearing the growls of the bloodthirsty brutes surrounding him, Zed wasted no more time. Drawing from his knowledge of manipulating spores, he set his focus on the nearly dead bug king.
Having been a hunter of the brutes, he had previously learnt a few basic methods of controlling these beasts. His earlier attempts had proved that manipulating spores was similar to transforming objects in this world - no change in process.
His other hand continued to sprinkle salt so quick, so elegant.
The Ghoultick, looked completely lost, wheezed and coughed like a drunken man.
A coughing insect?
Zed kept his focus, relentlessly pouring until the king fell silent.
His spore manipulation also began to show progress.
Unlike imbuing skills, taming spores was akin to object spores - it depend on the understanding to structure of your target.
Zed had relied on dissecting brute parasites for his survival before, he just prayed that now the bug king's structure hadn't evolved too much.
When it fell unconscious, the process went surprisingly smoothly.
Among the roars of the brutes echoing throughout the jungle, Zed could hardly contain his excitement. His hair gradually turned white, his eyes a piercing crimson, changes that even he didn't notice. His thrill was palpable.
He had taken another step forward in his skills. Now, the process no longer required an exhaustive amount of time for him to make a object spore.
The whole process from getting bug here had taken no more than two minutes.
A crisp snap rang through the air, and no one knew that whether it was the red statues shattering first or the beetle king melting into a pool of golden spore under Zed's hand, it was hard to tell. The world seemed to set back into motion.
The clouds above the wasteland could no longer contain the impending storm, its lashing downpour a seemingly tangible entity, engulfing the scorched land in a rush of cleansing rain. Flashes of lightning danced across the turbulent sky, resonating with the shimmering gold of the spore clutched in Zed's hand.
An intense lightning bolt, like a fierce sword, cleaved the heavens, thunderous rumbles echoing above.
The deafening roar was reminiscent of an ancient, savage time, a narrative of epic cataclysms and fallen empires. It was dark, primal, overwhelming, yet majestic - the universe itself seemed to reverberate with the echoes of its own demise.
Boom!
[Raiden Shiny Ghoultick King - B2 (Evolvable)]
["Look at what you've got! I bet you never achieved such high scores in class. Now you've gained a formidable ally, capable of summoning a maddening storm of lightning."]
[Attribute: Electro]
[Parasitic Ability Level - B]
[Skill Cooldown: 24 hours]
For a moment, Zed shocked by the spore - a golden fragment of power nestled within his bloody hand. The sky, once dark and threatening, now resonated with his newfound strength. Thunder growled and lightning danced in chaotic harmony, a symphony of untamed energy echoing through the expansive wasteland.
It was like the this particular spore had cheated, topped up for more effect...
"Raiden? "
"Electro?"
Zed blinked, his mind whirling.
"Wait, evolvable?"
But before he could unravel the tangle of thoughts, a guttural roar jolted him back to reality.
"RUA!"
The air was filled with the terrifying sound again and again, followed by the cacophony of disjointed footsteps. Free from the blood-red statue, the Brute raced through the jungle at an unbelievable pace.
Zed didn't have time to think, he took off runnin. He could sense the Brute breathing down his neck, a relentless chase far more intense than when he was stuck in the office with Lucy. It was painfully clear: it wasn't just the humans awakening, the entire world was stirring to life.
Suddenly, he noticed there still a bodies hanging from the trees. An insidious smile crept upon his face as a bold idea sprouted in his mind.
"All that energy I've put on... it can't have been for nothing. Besides," he chuckled to himself, "I once knew a tall girl named Raiden, but she prefer purple when it come to color."
With a swift flick of his left hand, he threw out his dagger. At the same time, his right hand crushed the spore he held. The Bug King let out a resonant sound, one that carried an air of command, a majestic presence unbeknownst before.
It spared a quick glance at Zed. Astonishingly, the three pairs of compound eyes shimmered with complex emotions. Then, it plunged itself into the female corpse. The skeletal frame creaked and crackled, each joint snapping back to life, erecting itself from the dead.
Just in time to grasp the throat of an oncoming Brute and crush it.
"I hope you are a real king..."
Zed mused. An irrepressible laughter tore from his mouth, a laughter born of liberation. This exhilarating laughter was his first in two lifetimes, a laughter that held no inhibition, no pretense. It stirred memories of yesteryears, of his silver hair fluttering in the breeze, of the flamboyant robe he didn't remember donning.
But it all felt just right, the scene before him. It was comfortably chaotic, blood-soaked, natural... A short disappear of Lucy when he went out, a chance for him to vent out.
Just like a relax party.
Just like a stag night.
Just like a killing desire.
"Not bad at all."
His laughter still echoing through the jungle.
For a moment, one could not tell whether the brutes were charging at him or kneeling before him.