Patriarch Cock flapped his wings in a threatening display before lowering his head, revealing the crimson crest on it. Soon, the rooster charged at Kang with more speed than before, unknowingly falling into his trap and causing an intense ruckus that could easily bring more unwanted attention.
Executing his plan, Kang depleted his blood by summoning a handful of spears, all directed toward the approaching rooster. Ten were shot at the attacker's head in an attempt to stop its rampage, but they failed as the rooster swung its head up the moment it made contact with Kang, cutting his body in half from bottom to top, leaving behind nothing but the mask.
'I swear this damned crest is strange.' Remembering the feeling of being cut in half, Kang thought quietly. It felt like the crest itself was moving rapidly while tearing him apart despite showing no movement at all in his eyes. It reminded him of chainsaws.
Although his attempt failed, Kang continued his attack by forming fifteen more spears at each of the rooster's sides. Once again, the attack failed as the rooster flipped its wings, deflecting the spears with blade-like feathers. The failed attacks caused Kang to waste 1500 Blood, even though he summoned the weapons for about 20 and 10 seconds to reduce the consumption.
[-500 Blood | Remaining Blood: 4635]
While the mask actively reconstructed Kang's body, he was absorbed in his thoughts, thinking about a better way to kill this fucker who cost him more than 2000 Blood.
'I couldn't imagine it using its blade feathers as a defense mechanism, but I suppose I could counter it using the acid bomb.'
'Although it will be a gamble, it should reward me well, given it's a B-ranked beast. It surely can't keep running at such speed all the time, can it?' Making up his mind, Kang decided to execute his plan. While the beast might be fast and powerful, Kang thought it had one major weakness, which was most likely its stamina.
Twisting his body, Kang looked at the beast, which thought it had managed to get rid of him for good. Yet, for some reason, he was standing right in front of it once again. Discontent and anger were visible in its eyes as it released a low-pitched noise, confusing Kang for a moment.
Although Kang couldn't understand the beast's language, its action told him what he needed to know, as the younger chickens were forced to leave the scene. The fact that it knew it was in danger impressed Kang to a certain degree since the noise was clearly a warning to its offspring.
Never minding the chicks in the first place, Kang's entire attention was focused on his enemy. For a fleeting moment, its behavior made him think about the possibility of sparing it just to breed more for him so he could get more dexterity, but its rank made him insist on killing it.
"If C rank gives 10,000 Exp and D rank gives 1,000 Exp, would you give me 100,000?" Excited about the amount this beast could give him, Kang prepared to go all in. Despite the ridiculous increase in the Exp limit, it was still a whopping level or two, aside from the stat it would give him if he managed to kill it.
Discarding his human disguise, Kang took the initiative and charged at the beast while activating his Crimson Armor. As Kang closed in, he used Overdrive and Accelerate to boost his strength and speed, ensuring his plan's success.
Thanks to the ability merge he did before, Kang had the opportunity to land more effective attacks compared to before. Folding both of his hands open, Kang conjured two acid bombs before jumping high and slapping the blinded rooster's head, causing a massive blood explosion as the acid devoured the beast's face.
[Ding!]
[You've successfully killed a Patriarch Cock (B) and gained 50,000 Exp]
[Your level increased! You've gained 5 attribute points!]
"It's unfortunate that I couldn't get your stats…" Landing on the ground beside the corpse of the rooster, which caused a massive cloud of dust as it hit the ground, Kang spoke before deactivating all of his abilities, a little disappointed by the amount of Exp he got since he was proven wrong.
Shaking his head, Kang didn't dwell on it further before swiftly activating his Lifesteal.
[Lifesteal activated!]
[You've stolen 2800 blood and fifty years' worth of life force]
[Power absorption activated!]
[Pick one ability from the following: Precision(A), Accelerate(D), Sharpen(D)]
"Precision, of course." Watching the ability selection, Kang picked the first one right away without giving much thought. He was dead sure it was the ability the rooster used to make its crest move in a weird manner. While waiting patiently for the system to do its work, Kang thought about whether he should go after higher-ranked beasts or continue hunting normally.
"Exp isn't that much, and the Exp is too low to even consider it in the first place. Slaughtering a couple of lower-ranked beasts would earn me more Blood and Exp. That's beside the fact it's less risky." Having consumed a lot of blood, Kang understood that dealing with such beasts wasn't the right time yet.
[Extraction successful… Precision(A) added to Absorbed Abilities.]
Welcoming the system's notification, Kang knew it was time to check his status again.
{Blood Warlock System}
[Blood: 5140 | Lifespan: 314]
[Level: 10 | Exp: 34200/51200]
[Attribute Points: 5]
[Absorbed Abilities (4/10)]
[Precision(A): Passively allows you to control every cell in your blood precisely]
"What if I force the cells into a liquid form mid-attack?" Reading the ability's description, Kang remembered Argon's sword form alteration. It made him wonder whether he could do the same without having to switch between abilities.
"At the very least, I could do it temporarily to break the defense of my enemies. Or change the weapon's shape and form mid-fight as an element of surprise. Either way, the possibilities are definitely limitless!"
"Anyway, time to test this." Having done what he wanted, Kang added all of his attribute points to Strength before heading out for another hunt. This time, Kang decided to find a pack of weak beasts in search of some abilities that he could sacrifice to upgrade his precious ones.
'If two D ranks can combine into a C-rank ability, then how many abilities would I need to upgrade a C-rank ability?' Planning to upgrade his bomb ability due to its efficiency, Kang guessed it would be no less than three.
Unfortunately, it didn't take long for Kang's thoughts to be interrupted as he found himself being attacked by another beast before he could even embark on another hunt. Suddenly, Kang found his head flying across the air, along with the mask, no longer able to feel the rest of his body.
[-500 Blood | Remaining Blood: 4640]
'Oh fuck, this is gonna be painful to deal with.' Looking at the celebrating beast that had casually sent him flying, Kang thought about how to kill it before checking its information using his detection ability.
[Murder Chicken (A)]
[Description: A mutated chicken with an intense bloodthirst and third-rate autism, making it a killing machine despite being a vegan. Known for chasing its target to death, poor vision, and weak defense.]
What stood before Kang couldn't be compared to the chickens he had killed before. Its body wasn't that of a chicken, as its name and description implied. Instead, this thing was built like a glass cannon.
Standing on two massive legs, the beast had thick fur that covered the entirety of its lower body, forming a thick tail that fluttered as it moved. Two massive arms ending in sharp claws extended from each side of its body, while its long, bare neck stretched upward, ending with a slightly small head.
'Never mind, since I might not be able to deal with it at my current strength, I might as well escape.' Kang reconsidered his options and thought about a way to flee the moment he witnessed the beast's size and information.