'The fuck?' Adam thought as he jumped to the side. Just a second later, a large tail struck the ground he had just been standing on.
Gritting his teeth as he turned around, Adam ignored the surrounding screams as he studied the Kaiju. He knew that the rest of his class was useless here and that Varek probably wasn't going to intervene.
Basically, even though this was supposed to be a team effort, he knew he was alone.
Barely giving Adam time to land on his feet, let alone study the Kaiju, the tail was already aiming at his head.
Thwack!
Dust billowed from the spot Adam had just been. Once again, he had narrowly escaped death.
However, he knew that he couldn't run forever.
'Hearts. I'm supposed to figure out the Kaiju's hearts.'
Unlike the Kaiju that Aria fought, this one wasn't that big vertically. It was maybe 2.5 meters. However, its body was also very long—and covered with armor.
To Adam, this one looked a lot like an Ankylosaurus.
'Its top is going to be impenetrable...' Adam thought as he landed on the ground.
The beast emitted a low growl as it approached Adam. Its eyes held a faint but menacing red glow that tore at the soul.
Just its approach was enough to cause the ground to shake. Thinking through the weapons his only gadget gave him, Adam watched in bewilderment as the Kaiju continued its march. Every step created a crater underneath its feet. If that tail connected with him, he'd become red mist.
And of course, the rest of the class was still too scared to join in the fight. It was as if they had never even seen a Kaiju before, as if this was their first mission.
If the Kaiju had struck anyone else, they would be dead right now. That was the kind of mission they were on, and yet everyone besides Adam was paralyzed.
Within this group, there was a clear gap between him and Varek. But if he failed, there would be another—the gap between him and his new rival.
Scowling at the hulking creature, Adam decided that that was impossible. The current gap between him and Varek would never widen.
Starting with this Kaiju here, he was going to do nothing but kill and train.
Stopping 5 yards away from Adam, the Kaiju met this resolve with a tilt of its head. Then, it raised its head and let out a deafening roar.
Adam almost fell over just from the intense vibrations. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that his classmates had fallen over. So did a few trees.
'This is only a [Fletchling] class Kaiju?' Adam thought as a small trickle of blood fell from its mouth.
At the sight of this blood, the Kaiju growled in excitement as it patted the ground with its front hooves.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Lowering its head, the beast charged straight for Adam. This time, he wasn't able to jump out of the way.
However, this was because he had chosen to dive instead.
If the top of the body was covered in thick armor, it made no sense to try and attack there. From the start, Adam had realized his only hope was that the Kaiju had a soft underside.
So, when the beast charged headfirst, he finally had his first opportunity to test that theory.
Dropping onto his back and then raising his bionic arm, he turned it into a shortsword and plunged it straight into the Kaiju's belly.
Clang!
His sword hit true, connecting straight with the underside of its belly. Sparks flew from the connection and burned his skin.
'The beast is just as durable underneath? What the fuck!'
Worse than that was the tail heading straight for him. That was something he hadn't considered when creating his plan.
Honestly, he didn't even think he'd get this far. Once the Kaiju had lowered its defense, he had just reacted out of instinct.
And now he was going to eat a face full of tail because of it.
Thwack!
Colliding right into Adam's shield, the tail forced him into the ground. He gritted his teeth as rock and sediment scraped against his back.
Right now, he had to push. He had to push against this tail with all the strength he had.
Otherwise, the tail was going to drag him until he was smeared all across the field.
Push! Push!
Adam tightened his core as he slammed his shield against the tail. It budged a little, but not nearly enough for him to be free. At the same time his efforts failed, he could feel the Kaiju's succeed.
Blood was oozing out of him so much that he was beginning to feel dizzy. It was almost impossible to even think in between his futile attempts to push the tail off.
He wasn't becoming stronger. With every passing second, he was becoming weaker. The tail was slamming him deeper into the ground.
He was simply dying.
Even after getting a second chance, even after living through a lifetime of pain, he was just going to die. As always, strength was all that mattered.
And even if he thought he got stronger, the facts were evident here. Under the crushing weight of this Kaiju...
'No!'
Gritting his teeth, Adam focused all of his Qi into application and Quantum Energy into Kinetics. His defense would be greatly reduced for just a moment, but...
With a mighty final push, he shoved the tail off of him with so much force the entire Kaiju stumbled and lost its balance.
However, Adam was far too weak to really capitalize on that. His back was completely mangled, covered with blood and exposed muscles.
Taking in a deep breath, Adam willed himself to stand.
The fight wasn't over. Even if he couldn't penetrate its armor, the fight wasn't over.
Because the dumb beast had to look at him. It had 2 eyes, 2 spots for his sword to go into. And behind those eyes was the brain.
Pushing himself to his feet, Adam glared at the Kaiju as he formed his arm into a sword. The Kaiju glared back, annoyed that its toy was fighting back so valiantly.
The Kaiju charged once again, terraforming the ground with each step. Even as every vibration threatened to send him flying to the earth, Adam stood his ground.
For just a second, even the mindless and savage beast faltered at the cold, calculating gaze of a killer.
He wasn't worried about the damage he was about to take. All Adam focused on was its eyes.
But a Kaiju wouldn't stop. When it wanted to kill something, it would. They ruled the earth, the sky, the oceans, everything.
Just before the Kaiju would collide into Adam, he jumped. The next second, he extended his sword arm while turning in the air.
Clasping his legs around its neck, he offered no escape as he relentlessly stabbed into its eyes. The Kaiju squirmed and cried, blasting holes into the ground as its tail slammed wildly.
However, death wasn't impressed. Soon, it claimed the Kaiju.
A resounding cheer formed from the spectators, who suddenly felt their curse of fear leave them. Through the blood covering his eyes, he could see Aria nod in approval before ushering a command to the students.
Thea and Evan were off to the side, inspecting those dumb flowers. At Aria's words, Evan had turned around for a second.
[Fletchling Kaiju killed]
[Loading Rewards]
[Inheritor 1]
–[ General ]–
- Name: Adam Haeschutt
- Age: 18
- Rank: First Spawn
- Type: Enhancer
—
"Ahhh!!!"
A scream pulled him from his system.
Looking up, he could only watch as yet another Kaiju appeared from the flowers, impaling Thea.