Myles lunged at the dog first. After feeling the surge of power flooding his body his confidence also soared. For the first time in this damned apocalypse, he felt like he could take on anything by himself. His muscles burned with energy and his movements faster than ever.
The mutated dog leaped at him, but this time Myles didn't dodge.
He caught the beast's maw with both hands, its rotten breath washing over his face. With a furious snarl he twisted its head violently, yanking its entire body off balance. The creature thrashed, its claws scraping against the pavement as it tried to resist.
But Myles didn't let go.
With a brutal slam, he threw the dog to the ground, pinning its massive body beneath him. Then, with all his enhanced strength, he started pounding its skull with his fists.
His knuckles cracked against bone. Blood splattered across his face and arms as he kept smashing his fists down.
The dog let out a guttural whimper and its body start twitching under him but Myles didn't stop.
He kept going, again and again, until the skull caved in with a sickening crunch.
The mutated dog spasmed once before going completely still.
Myles slowly stood up while panting, his fists dripping with gore. His heart pounded in his ears, his body still burning with power. But he had killed the big mutated dog.
[You have killed a D Rank mutated soul.]
[You gained 70 EXP.]
Before Myles have the time to celebrate, he heard it.
That laughter. That disgusting, eerie laughter.
He turned just in time to see the monstrous woman right in beside him.
Her grotesque face twisted into a delighted grin, her jagged teeth glistening with fresh blood. She loomed over him and her long start reaching forward.
Myles barely had time to react before she swung one of her elongated limbs at him.
WHAM!
The impact sent him flying, his body crashing through the side of a ruined truck. The metal frame buckled from the force, glass shattering around him.
Pain exploded through his ribs but his enhanced body absorbed most of the damage. The damage that should've killed him now only makes him in a lot of pain. He thought that it was a great progress.
Growling, Myles pushed himself up from the wreckage and wiping blood from his mouth.
The monstrous woman cocked her head at him, looking disturbingly amused.
"Strong," she cooed with her warped voice. "I will be satisfied if I eat you."
Myles spat to the side. "We'll see about that, you ugly bitch."
His crimson aura flared again, and he charged with incredible speed, closing the distance in the blink of an eye before throwing a punch with all his strength.
He didn't have much time left but he wasn't worried. This enhanced power would give him the strength to kill his enemy in a short time just like the mutated dog.
His fist slammed into the monstrous woman's body.
BOOM!
She managed to cross her grotesque arms in front of her chest at the last second, absorbing the impact. But even with her unnatural physique she couldn't stop the force of Myles' attack after his Strength surge to 50.
The sheer momentum sent her flying backward, her big body crashing through a rusted car.
Myles's eyes narrowing. She blocked it.
He hadn't expected that. The mutated dog was tough but it still died under his fists in mere seconds. This woman... she was something else. She is stronger and probaly smarter than normal mutated creature. That means she maybe also were a Rank higher.
But he didn't let that stop him.
He grabbed the metal pipe on the ground and surged forward closing the gap in an instant again before she could even lift herself from the wreckage Myles was already upon her.
His foot slammed down on her elongated arm, pinning it to the ground.
With his enhanced strength still surging through his veins he raised Nadine's metal pipe high above his head and brought it down.
CRACK!
The pipe connected with her shoulder. A sickening crunch echoed through the ruined street. She let out an inhuman shriek.
Myles didn't stop. He lifted the pipe again.
CRACK!
Another strike. This time, straight to her grotesque face.
Her head snapped to the side, blackened blood spraying from her torn lips. But instead of recoiling in pain, she turned back to him with that same horrifying grin.
Then she laughed again.
Myles gritted his teeth. Even after all that... she was still smiling?
Then before he could react, she twisted her body unnaturally, her free arm lashing out at him like a whip.
WHAM!
The blow struck him square in the ribs, sending him flying once again.
Myles gritted his teeth as he tumbled across the ground, his body rolling over broken debris.
His enhanced endurance dulled the pain but he could still feel the impact rattling his bones.
He barely had time to push himself up before she was already standing.
She cracked her neck. The grotesque tumors on her body pulsed like living things.
Myles wiped blood from his lip, his crimson aura still flickering around him.
He could feel it, his Surge skill was running out. The skill only lasted 30 seconds after all. He had to finish this now.
With a deep breath, he tightened his grip on the metal pipe and sprinted forward once more.
Myles closed the distance in an instant again. The monstrous woman lashed out with her elongated arm straight for his throat.
But Myles ducked.
The wind howled above his head as her attack missed by inches. Without hesitation, he twisted his body and swung the metal pipe with all his might at the woman's leg.
CRACK!
The impact shattered bone instantly. But it wasn't just broken, that leg was severed.
The sheer force of the strike tore straight through the woman's leg, cleaving flesh and muscle apart as if it were paper.
The severed limb hit the ground with a sickening thud.
She let out a distorted shriek of pain and toppling sideways as blackened blood spurted from the open wound. The second her body hit the ground, Myles was already raising his weapon again.
He had no time to waste.
His Surge skill was running out. He could feel the power slipping.
"HAAAA!!!"
Roaring, he brought the pipe down again.
CRACK!
The metal slammed into her shoulder, sending another shockwave through her body. The woman scream in pain again.
CRACK!
Another swing straight to her ribcage.
The woman thrashed beneath him, her twisted face contorted in pain but her mouth still curled into a warped, bloody grin. Which is very disturbing.
One more. He only needed one more.
With a final roar, he swung down with everything he had, aiming straight for her skull.
CRACK!
The blow landed on her face and her grin faltered.
Her deformed head now broken, blood and brain matter spraying across the pavement.
CRACK!
Myles struck again and again. The seconds ticked by. His vision blurred.
CRACK!
The woman's skull finally caved in with a grotesque squelch. Her body twitched, her elongated arms spasming unnaturally, then she went still.
Silence.
Myles staggered back, his body drenched in black blood and terrible smell. His arms trembled, his grip loosening on the broken metal pipe.
The Surge skill was gone.
Then, in the corner of his vision he was notification from the system.
[You have killed a B Rank mutated soul.]
[You gained 300 EXP.]
He let out a laugh.
"HAHAHA!!!"
A laugh that sounded like a madness.
While Nadine, and the survivor inside the university gate saw and heard him.
---