Azura leaped to the side when he saw the berserker go straight at him.
He was still processing the situation but got interrupted.
Clang!
A deafening clang echoed throughout the abandoned warehouse as the berserker lunged, in an attempt to strike Azura, past him—colliding with the machine behind him. He looked back over his shoulder and saw that the machine was now visibly dented from the impact.
Even though Zack could easily wreck a car, it was entirely different compared to this.
The car was made to break when being hit by something to protect the passenger inside.
On the other hand, the machines in this abandoned warehouse were not.
Naturally, the fear shown by this berserker was way more impressive than wrecking a car.
It just shows how strong this berserker was.
Growling inaudibly, shaking his head that struck the machine squarely, the berserker turned in his direction with his feline, bloodlust eyes. Sensing the mana inside of Azura, he wasted no time to come running again.
Bracing himself, Azura gripped the combat knife and swung it at the charging berserker.
Clang!
Even though he aimed at the berserker's head, it did nothing.
Moreover, the sound produced when his combat knife hits the berserker's face is very odd.
It sounded like he was hitting a metal, and that prompted a frown on his face.
"Use your mana! A regular weapon wouldn't be able to damage it!" Isadora shouted from the side as she quickly dashed in to help, forgetting to tell Azura that he should imbue his mana into the combat knife first for it to be useable.
Stunned by this realization, Azura got struck in the abdomen, hurtling him to the side.
Clang!
"Kahhk!" Azura grunted as he hit a nearby machine.
Coughing a couple of times, he lifted up his shirt and saw that his side was evidently bruised.
Had he not been a Hybrid, that attack would've shattered his ribs.
Ah~ fuck it, I'm doing this for the money. If I can get rich through this then why the fuck not?
Resolute that he wouldn't hesitate, prioritizing the money, and now convinced of the fact that the berserker was not a human anymore—able to only growl like an animal, Azura didn't need to hesitate further.
Even though killing is not his interest, he would do it for the sake of his little brother.
Tracing his eyes forward, he could see Isadora was fighting it.
Azura could also see clearly that her light green mana was encompassing her entire body, it also included her machete. Her movements were rough, but she could avoid the berserker's attack enough—it did the job done.
Moreover, every time she strikes, her machete is able to slash the berserker's skin open.
Squinting his eyes, Azura decided to try and control his mana.
Knowing that feeling mana was not a struggle for him, Azura was quite confident that he was able to replicate what Isadora was doing in a couple of tries. Calming his breaths, he decided to give it a try.
Feeling the dark mana inside, he could feel that they were gathered in his chest.
Nodding, he guided the dark mana to the combat knife in his hand.
It was going smoothly, nothing was happening.
But it was only then that Azura's eyes widened in surprise as his combat knife began to act weirdly, it started to vibrate intensely as a dark energy shrouded its edges—a clear sign of success, "But why is it like this?"
"I'm sure I poured in a lot of dark mana, but the aura is thinner than Isadora's" He mused.
Compared to Isadora who has the aura on her weapon as thick as a ruler, Azura's was starkly different—the dark aura that encased his combat knife was only as thin as a wire, barely, the aura could be seen through naked eyes.
[Dark Enhancements has been learned!]
———
[Dark Enhancements (level 2)]
Description: Infuse any weapon with dark mana to amplify its power output. Strikes from this enhanced weapon inflict doubled the pain endured, and also apply a Drain debuff, quickening the time to fatigue of the affected.
Grade: C
———
Upon seeing this, Azura was excited as he gained another skill.
It seems that he could learn skills himself aside from relying on the System like his first skill.
Refocusing back to the fight, he quickly went back in.
Meanwhile, Isadora was clashing against the berserker after Azura got hit squarely.
Utilizing her enhanced machete, she was able to deal some damage.
On top of that, she could also create a crescent green energy slash from her machete, one of her skills as a Fairy. Bolstered with the wind element, she has wind slash in her skill aresenal, a handy skill for a ranged attack.
Against a brute berserker such as this, the skill becomes even more effective.
Even though she knew that Azura was quite strong despite obviously being a newborn as a Hybrid, a solid attack from a berserker would definitely hurt him, 'I was hoping that he could be of help, but it seemed he needed to also be trained too. This is his first mission, I couldn't blame him too much'
As she thought that, she looked up as the berserker raised both fists and swung down.
Crack!
Isadora rolled to the side to avoid the attack with a frown.
'Judging from his mana and the way he fights, there's a big chance that he wanted to gain an Ogre avatar, an avatar that could be as low as E-grade. It explains why his strength was very high,' She pondered and nodded.
However, her pupils dilated seeing the berserker grabbed a steel part and threw it at her.
Swoosh!
One hit from that would knock her out cold, Isadora had to dodge it.
Leaning her head to the side, she dodged the steel projectile but was caught off guard when the berserker already had his hand reaching for her face. He uses the steel part he threw as a decoy to get close to Isadora.
Since the distance between them was already close, she couldn't dodge this in time.
But in the nick of time, a howl echoed loudly.
It causes the berserker to flinch before Azura comes from the side and stabs his hand.
Splash!
His thrust to the back of the berserker's hand was able to parry the attack from Isadora and following that stab, Azura punched the berserker in the face with his other hand, forcing the berserker to stumble back a couple of steps.
Growl!
Angered, the berserker recovered quickly and raised both hands into a hammer fist.
Out of instinct, Azura shoved his back towards Isadora, pushing her away from the trajectory of the hammer fist before he raised both arms to intercept the attack. Letting out a grunt, he staggered to one knee upon impact.
The berserker's attack was heavy, and he could feel the force permeating across his body.
However, the Ghastly Howl skill he cast helped lessen the impact.
Exerting more strength than he had ever had, Azura pushed the berserker back and stood on his feet again. Gritting his teeth, he shoved the berserker back before he began his series of attacks using the knife.
By all means, Azura was not an expert in using a knife to fight.
Prior to all of this, he only used a knife to cook or cut stuff, nothing more than that.
Due to that, his pattern of attacks was sluggish.
But against an opponent who was already consumed by madness—his lack of combat skills was inconsequential, it didn't matter. Now that mana was infused into the combat knife, he could easily cut the berserker.
Azura's new Dark Enhancements skill's debuff might not work on the berserker, as it's likely to not feel pain and fatigue, but the mana it provided made it extremely easy for him to cut and damage the berserker.
In mere moments, he was able to riddle the berserker's body with severe wounds.
Under the wounds, the berserker was moving slower too.
Eugh... It's gross but I have to do this.
Complaining inside his mind, Azura dodged an attack from the berserker before he closed in and stabbed the berserker in the eye. He did it to both eyes, rendering the berserker unable to see anything.
Now, it was hardly a threat to Azura who was exhausted but could function properly.
Making a move, Azura slit the berserker's throat.
"If you want to kill it, aim for the head to make sure!" Isadora suddenly said from the back.
Upon hearing this, Azura nodded decisively and drove his knife downward, piercing straight into the berserker's skull, ending his life in an instant. For a fleeting moment, the berserker's body continued its momentum before eventually collapsing heavily to the ground.
Thud!
Only then that, Azura could breathe easily and fall flat to the ground.
"Phew! That's a lot of work!" He commented lightly.
On the other hand, Isadora was looking at him wide-eyed from the back.
Aside from the fact that Azura handled the berserker single-handedly, there was a lot in the fight that she wanted to know like how was he capable of mustering such strength to block the berserker's hammer fist with his bare arms? And how did he skillfully save her from the difficult position she was in before?
In her eyes, it was almost as if he was used to this kind of thing.
His fight was sluggish, that's for sure, but the way he aimed for the eyes to incapacitate the enemy shows that he has fundamental knowledge of fighting. Isadora began to suspect he was lying to her all this time.
But out of all things, she wanted to know one big thing.
Looking at his combat knife, brimming with a thin layer of dark energy, she gasped in shock.
'He's definitely lying to me about being a new Hybrid, isn't he? Such control over his mana to the point that the aura was only a thin line is insane! If he was not lying to me about his story then he must be a genius!' She exclaimed inside her head.