"That was one hell of a move you pulled back there, Ace!!" Cherry patted Ace’s back as she and the others deformed back into their normal forms. "How did you come up with it?"
"Better question," Jim joined in on the conversation, "Why didn’t you use that same move when that Granian ordered us to come up with our special moves? That surely would have done the trick."
As the two blood mutants continuously asked Ace questions, he remained in one place with his hands aching intensely. Even though he had regenerative abilities and his hands looked to be free from any injuries, he still felt immense pain growing from the inside of his muscles. The pain was so intense that he couldn’t move his hands at all.
"I can’t feel my hands...." Ace muttered to himself while his breathing became faster and shorted. "My hands....I can’t feel my hands. Why does my body feel so tired? I thought it only took twenty points, but why do I feel like I’ve exerted everything in my body?"
Just as Ace was contemplating why his body was not as responsive as he hoped for it to be, he and the others received a pop-up message from their M.O.S., mission objective systems. The message warned them about how their intended targets had spotted them and were about to call for reinforcements.
"We have to get moving quick." Jim said as he transformed yet again. "If those things call for backup, we’ll be screwed. I’m just hoping it won’t be Ethisians coming to their defense." Even though none of the blood mutants had ever faced a real Ethisian, they were still frightened by the clones ones which possessed nothing else but battle wisdom to help it fight. If they were to face a real Ethisian with more than just brute fighting knowledge, they would not stand a chance, let alone survive.
"I can hear them from over there!!" Anya pointed towards a giant sky-scraper-like building with smoke coming out from the top. "There are about five hundred of them if I’m thinking correctly."
"Then we have to move in quickly before they....."
"There’s more of them...." Ace mumbled softly while using his system scan skill to scan the vicinity just ahead of them. "...their numbers are much more than you think. They’re as big as preschool children though, with the exception of larger ones with weapons in their hands....."
"How are you knowing this?" Anya asked because she was the only one who did not know about Ace’s system. "Do you have some kind of drone that’s serving you a live video feed?"
"It’s more complicated and sophisticated than that..." he answered while standing upright. Still with no feeling in his arms other than pain, Ace still chose to press on and complete the mission. He did not wish to do it for the Granians, but rather for himself and the goals he set ahead. Becoming stronger than the Granians and finding a way back home were what he wished to achieve. "We must hurry. They’re already panicking and hiding in what seems to be some form of fortress."
"We move now and....."
"Wait!!" Ace interrupted again. "If we do this separately, we’ll end up blowing the objective again. We have to stick together...."
"Then let’s hurry and move one and quit lamenting about it." Cherry sneered, having gotten fed up with the back-and-forth going on.
Anya, Cherry, and Jim transformed into their blood mutant forms while Ace still chose to remain human. Even though his arms seemed to be busted, he could still use his other body parts to fight, a challenge which he was willing to tackle head-on.
Each of the blood mutants used the blood sprint skill, with the exception of Anya who had to learn it from scratch. Once she did, they all ran at the same speed and covered the distance between them and the creatures they came after.
"Ricknera....thractok mrlarr...." The creatures they were after shouted what seemed to be a warning to their comrades, prompting the larger ones to confront the Blood Mutants head-on. Meanwhile, the M.O.S. began to translate what the creatures had said so that the blood mutants would understand and use that knowledge to their advantage.
{Translation Complete}
"TAKE THE ETIL AND HIDE IT SOMEWHERE SAFE. WE’LL HANDLE THE THREATS!!" Those were the words the larger creatures said to the smaller ones as they rushed toward the Blood Mutants.
"We’re first handling the large ones before going after the Etil." Jim said to the others and once they came to an agreement, the bloodshed began.
[System Scan Skill: Activated.]
[Species name: Larger Haras.]
[Strengths: Incredible Strength. Large Bulky frame.]
[Weaknesses: Reduced mobility and agility due to their large size.]
"They’re strong but cannot move as fast." Ace said to the others once he scanned the creatures known as the Hara. Looking at them, the other three studied their opponent’s build and figured that Ace was correct. The creatures, or Haras, were as large as the Ethisians in terms of body size but were also shorter by three feet. They possessed dark blue skin with scales all over. Their legs were short and stubby with no toes and their hands were thick and chubby with four baby fingers. Their heads were shaped like rats with long pointy ears. Their eyes were small and yet opened as wide as they could.
"Seems like they’re no trouble at all." Anya said. "Their underbellies are soft. We should be able to inflict some damage on them." As they were still discussing amongst themselves while getting closer to the Haras, the Haras aimed their weapons and started blasting energy cannons at them.
The blasts were slow and heavy, allowing the blood mutants to dodge with ease, but they certainly did pack a punch. Wherever the blasts landed, a large hole was left in the ground so if any of them made contact with the blood mutants, they most certainly would suffer devastating injuries.
Jim and Cherry were the first to attack by shooting a series of thick blood spikes. Just as Anya said, the Haras’ underbellies were their softest parts, making them extremely vulnerable to whatever attacks were coming at them.
’My arms!! I can twitch my fingers a little, but it still hurts.’ Ace thought to himself while creating two large blood tentacles and covered his hands with them. With his arms down, he had no choice but to be as creative as possible if he wanted to inflict damage.
[For every creature you kill, you will be rewarded with eight experience points.]
’I think I’m starting to get the system now. If it deems an opponent weaker than me, it’ll give me simple experience collecting challenges. If it is stronger, it’ll tell me to survive. Alright then, here goes nothing.’
The blood tentacles covering Ace’s arms were controlled and turned into hardened vein-like structures which he then steadily used to deliver cuts on the bodies of his opponents. As soon as cuts were made, Cherry followed close behind and drained out strings of blood while following Ace. The Haras were baffled by this peculiar action for none of them had ever heard of these creatures known as blood mutants. They just stood still and watched their blood get drained from their bodies, a scary and painful process for one to behold.
After Ace cut a couple of the creatures, Cherry gathered blood from each one but did not take it all at once. She made sure to leave some of it on their bodies like some form of rope connecting them to her.
"Haha!! I’ve been waiting to use this again for a while." Cherry grinned while she stretched her hands and activated her special move. The ropes of blood started moving forward and backward repeatedly while increasing in size. The practice session where One Horn made each one of them create power moves of their own was starting to pay off for it was that same move that Cherry was using at that very moment.
The young woman’s move sliced through the bodies of the Haras, killing all of them on the spot. Given that they did not have any other serious form of protection, the task was relatively easy for Cherry to pull off, something she was pleased about.
As for Ace, he gathered the spilled blood and continued dealing with those who had luckily survived Cherry’s attack.
[+9 creatures have been killed.]
"That’s the last of them!!" Ace said as he let down his blood tentacles. Cherry, Jim, and Anya still remained in their forms and used this opportunity to regain some of their lost energy. Ace did the same thing and remembered something important that his system mentioned not so long ago.
[You have consumed a new blood type.]
[+1 Stat Point has been granted.]
[This blood has no special attributes to give you.]
While still reading what his system was showing him, the others noticed something peculiar going on ahead of them. In the large facilities, the smaller Haras creatures seemed to have shut down whatever it was that they were doing and the ground beneath them started to shake.
Slowly by slowly, the skyscraper-like facility started to break apart into giant mech-like machinery similar to the ones used in fantasy movies. What was once a giant skyscraper-like facility had now broken apart into three giant mechs shaped like three-legged crabs.
At the front of each of the mechs were a series of turrets with nine holes, each glowing with a violent orange color.