An interestingly shaped beast with the body of an elephant, the legs of a crocodile, and the tail of an Ankylosaurus charged at the mutants while swaying its tail sideways. The beast, looking like one of Mother Nature’s deformed children, reflected Jim’s attack using the tough bone plates on its head as he tried to engage it. Simultaneously, Ace quickly warned the others and managed to save them from getting their bodies smashed by the beast’s tail.
"Wow! What a powerful hit!" Anya gasped in amazement. "That thing would have ripped our bodies apart. Can’t even begin to imagine how we’d stop that."
"Everyone, we need to approach this thing with caution," Jim warned. "If we are not careful, we might lose more than appendages because of it."
"Anya, use your screams to disorientate the beast. I and the blood siblings will attack from the sides. Whatever happens, do not stand directly behind its tail or at its head."
Jumping into position, Anya took a deep breath, puffed up her cheeks, and let out a terrifyingly powerful roaring scream. The scream ripped out the loose plant life surrounding it while also damaging the beast’s hearing. Parts of its flesh started to tear slightly, and the louder she screamed, the more they ripped off.
As soon as Anya stopped roaring, the others stood on either side of the beast with blood spears in their hands. Ace, cutting his hand and lacing the spear with his blood, used his blood fire skill and threw a flaming spear at the beast. Jim and Cherry threw theirs as well, and together, the spears managed to impale the beast’s sides.
With their hands out, the mutants quickly got to work by draining the beast of its blood. However, the creature quickly spotted them and went on a tail-swinging frenzy. Immediately this happened, the mutants leaped away and landed as far away as possible.
"Its wounds are healing," Jim pointed out. "It must have a regeneration aspect."
"Crap. Cutting it wasn’t easy, and if we try to throw, it’ll use either its tail or head to block the attack," Cherry complained. Follow current novels on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝✦𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖✦𝕟𝕖𝕥
Upon seeing this, Ace took it as an opportunity to test out his Blood Control ability. With it being at the third level, he was anxious to see how effective it would be, especially in the given situation he was in.
[Blood Control-Level 3: Activated.]
’Let’s go for coagulation.’
With his hands aimed at the beast, the Blood Mutant put his focus on the creature, staring at it while using his Blood Strength to execute the attack. As the seconds passed by, the beast’s body started to develop a slight blue color. Its body activity was reduced, and the rampage it was once on ceased to exist. All of a sudden, the once ferocious beast was on the ground breathing heavily. Its eyes turned red and rolled back into its skull sockets. Its head fell onto the ground, and out of its mouth came blood and the food it consumed.
"What’s happening to the beast?" the others wondered and noticed Ace’s stretched arms pointed at the beast. They watched in fear as the beast’s body slowly started to become bloated, and it eventually died.
"What did you do to the beast?" Cherry asked as her brother reverted to normal with a grin on his face.
"A simple thing called Coagulation," Ace answered. "I simply thickened all the blood in the beast’s body until it stopped moving and died. Its heart overworked itself, and due to the lack of oxygen in its body, the rest of its body gave out."
"What a terrible power."
"You guys can do it too," Ace continued, surprised at how shocked Jim, Anya, and Cherry were. "It’s simple. Just like how you’d solidify and harden blood to make a weapon. The only thing is you’ll have to do it inside the source, and that takes a bit of time getting used to."
While still explaining the skill, the others kept their eyes on the beast and felt pity for it. Then, while still looking at the beast, they’d glance at Ace, who had taken its life effortlessly without extending much of his power.
’Now I get it,’ Jim thought. ’Now I get it. I now see why Grim wants us to be like Ace, but...his power’s just too wild. Could it be that the system is showing him what to do?’
"Remind me never to get into a fight with you, Ace," Anya spoke with fear in her eyes. The orange-haired man laughed, thinking that his former nurse was joking. However, the longer he laughed, the more fear he saw growing on her face, causing him to go quiet.
"From now on, you have to show me what your system shows you, Ace," Cherry spoke. Unlike the others, she was fascinated by the skill her brother executed. It was quick, effective, and would allow her to watch the literal life force escape her victim’s body. "I want to learn that skill and every other one you have got it?"
"Well, it’s not that...."
"I’ve said what I’ve said. I can’t let you have all of this fun," Cherry interrupted. "You’re holding out on us. Teach me how to do that and all the other skills you know, okay? I showed you how to make a clone, and whatever other skill I find, I’ll teach you as long as you teach me. Deal?"
Jim and Anya looked at Ace and asked the same question as Cherry. It was clear that Ace was getting above them and all of this was on his own. No one showed him how to create the skills he had, so they figured to learn from him. They all thought that if they grew to become as powerful as he was, they would grow to be strong enough fast enough to face the other Blood Mutants belonging to the Ethisians, but first, they needed to know everything Ace knew.