Chapter 104: Ch142. Black Nest - 6 (Vs. [ANTIBODY])
[YOU ARE FACING ANTIBODY #28436547]
[WARNING]
[- ANTIBODY #28436547 - IT IS A POWERFUL PARASITE]
[CAUTION IS SUGGESTED]
The words in front of Kurt’s eyes, and the voice inside his head didn’t denote the least sign of sarcasm, but it almost made Kurt let out a bitter laugh.
He raised an eyebrow.
"No shit..."
He already knew what that creature was, having encountered it once, back in the [MEMORY FRAGMENT], but he was surprised by the fact that it was different from that one back then.
It had eyes and a mouth, when the first one he had faced had neither aspect.
And yet, that had already been strong enough to make Kurt pretty tired.
He couldn’t imagine how he could get rid of it alone, being in the state he was in.
"But it’s a matter of trying or dying... So get in..."
Kurt gestured to the creature with his hand, signaling it to come closer.
The monster growled deep in his throat, and in a thousandth of a second, he was in front of Kurt, preparing to deliver a blow that, if it hit, would definitely break bones through the armor.
Kurt didn’t think.
Time didn’t seem to slow down around him.
There was no event that seemed to give him any advantage.
Even so, Kurt used all his focus on his basic stats to evade that attack, creating some afterimages around it, thanks to [GHOST STEPS OF A THOUSAND FEET].
Kurt equipped his [MOON SHADOW], and noticed that his palm was still bleeding, very slightly.
Nothing too serious, but it was still something he had to worry about, since it looked like that cut was what was causing him to lose his strength.
Kurt zigzagged around the monster, who looked from side to side, silent and concentrated.
And then, Kurt lunged from what appeared to be the creature’s blind spot, ready to slash at it.
However, before Kurt’s blades could even touch the thing’s silver skin, the thing’s head turned 180 degrees, looking straight at Kurt with those eyes that glowed red.
"Fuck! It’s now or never!"
Kurt gritted his teeth, and receiving a violent punch to the face, he still managed to make his blades graze that alien skin.
Kurt’s body flew against the rocks of the gallery, causing a small crater to appear where he had collided.
Kurt focused all of his senses on whether or not he had caused any damage to the creature.
And to his surprise and happiness, even if very slightly, the skin on [ANTIBODY]’s back was slightly scratched, with a disgusting yellowish liquid oozing from the wound.
A wicked smile crossed Kurt’s lips as he fell back onto the floor.
Gods, that hurt.
Kurt entered a new world of pain that he had never known before.
It was as if being punched in the face and colliding with something solid had taken on completely new and catastrophic proportions.
But he stood up, spitting out some blood, and thinking.
Kurt’s mind raced like the fastest car on a race track, analyzing information and possibilities as he prepared to move again.
"Okay, you bleed." Kurt spoke, more to the man than to the creature, through clenched teeth. "It’s already something to hold on to."
He prepared to move again, feeling that the thing was about to charge towards him again.
However, the monster had been faster this time, driven by an invisible rage, and making it close to Kurt in less than the blink of an eye.
Kurt felt his head being grabbed and held by a monstrously strong hand, and in the next moment, the only thing Kurt was able to feel was his body lifting into the air, and immediately colliding against the stone floor.
[YOUR VITALITY IS BELOW NORMAL]
If Kurt could, he would have rolled his eyes at that system warning.
It was obvious that his vitality was below normal, he was getting beaten more than a dog that stole meat from a butcher’s shop.
And the more Kurt tried to think, the more he felt his body colliding against the stone.
It took a while, but as Kurt felt his body hitting the cold stone of the gallery, he was finally able to start hearing the sound of his bones crunching.
If it had gone on like that for much longer...
’Shit... I need... I need... HOLY SHIT!’
Kurt’s eyes regained their sparkle as he regained his concentration.
Kurt knew there were consequences, and that he had very little energy to try to use that technique, but it was worth trying, since he was in contact with the monster.
Which meant his shadow was right within reach.
’Let’s see if you can dance...’
Kurt focused his strength on his most effective skill at that moment.
[SHADOW GRASP]
And as he felt the monster’s shadow, he also felt as if something was trying to reach something inside him.
The milliseconds passed, and Kurt gained more and more control over the creature’s shadow.
However, when he finally managed to make the monster cease its movements...
Kurt couldn’t move either.
Surprised, shocked, and speechless, Kurt tried to slowly open his fingers, and, little by little, the monster also opened his fingers, very slightly releasing Kurt’s head from that steel grip.
Kurt fell to the ground, still focusing everything he had on his skill.
Kurt stood up slowly, panting, spitting red.
But when he tried to move more, he realized that, just as that monster was frozen in its place, so was he.
"What the hell is happening...?" Kurt wondered, when the runes on the gallery walls caught his attention.
They glowed a shade of red that looked bloodier than before.
The gears in Kurt’s brain were moving dizzily fast, at the same speed as his strength was running out, but Kurt felt like he was close to something.
As if he was about to reach an answer that was there, for even a blind man to see, but that he was still having difficulty seeing.
Plop!
That’s when Kurt heard the sound.
A single drop falling to the ground.
Kurt’s eyes snapped toward the sound, as quick as a thought, and it all made sense.
The falling drop was Kurt’s blood.
And when she touched the ground, she completely disappeared.
As if being absorbed by the rock itself.
"Son of a bitch..." Kurt cursed, under his breath.
He wasn’t the one getting weaker from the loss of blood.
It was the [ANTIBODY] that was getting stronger, for some reason, as it absorbed Kurt’s life force, through the stones in that gallery.
"Looks like I’m going to have to destroy all this shit..." Kurt thought.
With a grin sprouting on his lips...
