(AN: Please check the review I have posted recently, no, that isn't really required.... Anyway, from here on, the novel's genre is going to be Weak-to-strong, not extremely weak though, so from here on the story will get slightly serious, thank you for reading, happy ugadhi, hoping you enjoy reading, [Peace!])
***
BAM!
With an uppercut, I pointed up my pistol at a Scorpio-Pede's exoskeleton-covered neck, and
BANG!
I pulled the trigger, and with a subtle ting, the bullet stopped without piercing through. "Tsk." I clicked my tongue and backed away, and just as I expected, after assuming their prey, me, to be weaker, they began to rush towards me. Well, I could tell their "assumption" was right on point, but they shouldn't underestimate me too much.
BANG! (2x)
I pulled the trigger of my handgun twice, aiming at its hand joint, hoping to at least form a crack that I could break, well, not everything will work as intended. With two subtle tings, the bullets dropped without even leaving a scratch.
'I should try other guns....' I muttered in my mind, and using [Link], I took out an AR as the pistol and handgun in my hands dematerialized.
DADADADA....
.....
...
'Not that effective, but still, it does the job... slightly.' I muttered as I looked at the crack that appeared on a Scorpio-Pede's arm joint, and without further ado, I zoomed towards the Scorpio-Pede I had been targeting from the beginning.
With a small toss, I grabbed the barrel of the AR and swung it down at the Scorpio-Pede's cracked joint.
CRACK
'Hot....' I mumbled in my mind, feeling the hot sensation on my barrel-held palm. And again, with a small upward toss, I grabbed the grip with my index finger on its trigger, I shoved the muzzle into the Scorpio-Pede's broken arm, and with purple blood painting my AR's barrel and disgusting flesh noises, I pushed in a bit deeper, ignoring the bug's screech, and pulled the trigger.
BABABABABA...
.....
[Level 5, Rank-D Scorpio-Pede has been slain.]
[5 experience points acquired]
"...Tsk." I jumped back after killing one bug, while the endless swarm of bugs still remained in front of me.
[Level 5 (1005/1250)]
"250 exp per level up?" I mumbled under my breath.
'We'll see if that really is the case.' I muttered in my mind and using [Link] I changed the AR's magazine.
BAM!
"!?" I landed right on a Scorpio-Pede's back when I was abruptly hit on my back, though the blow was strong, I didn't receive as much as damage as I expected.
'I guess, heaven defying martial body isn't a legendary ranked skill without a reason....' I muttered in my mind, and at that thought, I suddenly remembered [+39] next to my stats.
'Will I know how strong [+1] is now?'
(AN: Question from ch 11: Sector One)
With the AR in my left, I pulled back my clenched right fist, inhaled sharply and tensed my muscles,
BOOM!
CRACK!
The exoskeleton on the Scorpio-Pede's back cracked together with my knuckles, as a strong gust of circular wind pressure shot out from the impact.
[Level 5, Rank-D Scorpio-Pede has been slain.]
[5 experience points acquired]
'I guess I am slightly stronger than these bugs around me.' I muttered and pushed myself off of the dead Scorpio-Pede's back, and with my AR's stock supported on my left shoulder, and its barrel rested on the back of my right wrist, I pulled the trigger without much thought.
DADADADADA...
...
....
A few minutes later.
After emptying a few magazines,
[Level 5 (1060/1250)
I had killed ten of them, twelve of them in total. I only stopped because I understood that, except for wasting my bullets, I wasn't doing much; hence, I stopped firing any as I stood on top of three Scorpio-Pede dead bodies.
How should I kill these bugs? With that question in mind, I dodged the claw attacks thrown at me by the Scorpio-Pedes. Slowly but surely, small, minor cuts were getting accumulated on my body, since even though I could dodge them, I couldn't completely avoid them, and I definitely couldn't dodge everything while being in the middle of that many.
'I would have at least swung down a sword if I had picked one.'
"I guess I have no other choice." I mumbled under my breath and activated my newly gained martial arts skills as the AR in my hand dematerialized.
With a small shiver and a few subtle snaps, my body completely relaxed as my senses sharpened, and maybe it was because of my IBOTT title, but I couldn't help but see the bugs in front of me as nothing but prey.
BOOM
And even though it wasn't intended, a strong killing intent oozed out of my body.... I felt,
Disappointed.
I was disappointed because my killing intent felt so weak and my aura manifestation and all the other abilities had completely disappeared, but I wasn't that bothered by it since it wasn't the first time, but I was disappointed because of how disappointingly weak the aura oozing from my body felt. With a sigh, I released my killing intent.
BOOOOOMMM!!!
"!" With a few strong ripples, reddish-black ominous killing intent exploded out of my body, and even though my black king cobra's aura manifestation had disappeared completely, I felt the same amount of killing intent I had previously.
Ignoring the screeches of the bugs around me, 'Then? the previous aura wasn't my killing intent?' I asked myself inwardly and retracted my killing intent.
'Is it something like the presence of the strong or something like that?'
"Doesn't matter, I guess?" I mumbled and pushed myself back towards the cunning, naughty Scorpio-Pede that was closing in on me from behind.
'They are sentient?' I didn't know that fact, since I hadn't ever really "fought" against these bugs; I would just go around on a slaughtering spree whenever I went out on a "hunt" in my previous life.
With a backflip, I aimed my foot at the bug, and using [Energy Manipulation], I employed aether into my foot, and
BAM!
Crushed the bug's head, deflected its stringer's attack with my right wrist, and punched at the headless bug's whip-like tail with my clenched left fist, and gazed at the whip-like tail spurting out purple blood from in between the cracks in its exoskeleton.
[Level 5, Rank-D Scorpio-Pede has been slain.]
[5 experience points acquired]
I picked up the dead bug and threw it in the air, and as it was flung up into the air, I activated [Stealth] and zoomed away. Since I didn't know if my actions caught the attention of all the bugs, I searched for a corner so that I wouldn't have to worry about my back and a corner where there were the fewest bugs.
It wasn't long until I found a perfect spot for myself. I zoomed, and with my back facing the wall, I took out the Devil's shotgun from my inventory, and
"Grrrrraaaaa!!!" And a loud, angry growl sounded out from my Devil's shotgun. It was angry at the bugs because of the cuts on my body and my cracked right knuckles, which were caused by, and because of them, the bugs. Since I have remembered my past life completely, I also remember it being with me sometimes. Well, why would I keep it with me when all it does is roar and growl all the time? Though it only gets angry only it involves me, every time, I couldn't really explain "everything" to it, so I kept it in my inventory most of the time.
And again, without me even pulling its trigger, thin, black veins shot out from the shotgun's grip, and since I held it in my left arm, it completely wrapped around my left arm, until my arm looked like a black-dyed robot's arm.
Small thrones formed on the veins, pricking into my left arm entirely as black-coloured, cold smoke rose from the gaps in the veins, and after a few subtle squirms, the veins completely settled down on my left arm. Only now, after everything it had to do was done, did I pull the trigger.
"Gruuu!!!" With another loud, angry roar and growl,
BOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!!
With a loud 'boom,' black-coloured, cold smoke shot out from the muzzle, which soon covered my view. Only after the smoke cloud died down after a few seconds, could I stare at the 20 or so frozen bugs in front of me with an apathetic expression on my face.
[Level 5, Rank-D Scorpio-Pede has been slain]
[5 experience points acquired]
[Level 5, Rank-D Scorpio-Pede has been slain]
[5 experience points acquired]
[Level 5, Rank-D Scorpio-Pede has been slain]
[5 experience points acquired]
....
.....
....
[Level 5 (1175/1250)]
"Well, you did a great job...." I glanced at my shotgun and felt it snuggle around my arm in joy, while my arm hurt from all the pricking. The throns on the veins that shoot out from its grip are used to suck in energy directly from the blood stream, so since there won't be any blood loss, it's not that dangerous.
"But your energy consumption is crazy." I mumbled with a stoic expression on my face.
TAK-KAT (67x)
"We still have quite a lot of prey to hunt."
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