Jed was fully horrified by the cut off limb dripping blood, rather than from Max’s malicious killing intent. He didn’t know why the captain pursued him instead of getting his mutilated arm fixed. Was he okay with losing a limb?
The warhammer suddenly swung on his face. Jed’s quick reflex from his passive skill, Aerial Grace, played a big part in his survival. He leaped backwards, getting some distance between them. But, Max didn’t stand still. He dashed forward, a warhammer lifted high above his head.
Jed knew what would happen if that heavy duty weapon hit his head, it’d be game over for him. Eyes widened behind his white and jagged exosuit, he swiftly backed away from the powerful attack.
Bam!
A crater formed on the ground from the heavy impact. And Max wasn’t done. He followed Jed with eagle-sharp eyes, muscles bulging in preparation of another mighty strike.
Jed had to get away quickly.
For someone as tall and big as Ma
Jed was back in the cavern, dressed in his team’s white diving suit with grey linings on it. He waited for the water to fill up before it opened to the zero gravity diving pool.Ricky stood on his right, panicking despite his earlier declaration. While on his left, Ryan the menace checked on his Lightlock, still disgruntled for his unexpected loss to Jed. Today, both of them had to be Jed’s little soldiers, just like the other five people in this team.On the other side of the pool, Ellie Hawkins impatiently gripped her Lightlock. She had this unexplained anger directed at Jed, growing each day due to something he didn’t even know.“I’ll explain the game’s rules now.” Captain Reed stated through the built in communication device. He wasn’t present in the cavern, but monitoring from the control room of the diving pool. “The game’s objective is to get your team into the opponent's cavern in thirty minutes
He lost the game. No surprise.Jed knew fair well that he wasn’t meant to be a leader, nor a winner.Having a shooting fight against Ellie wasn’t as bad as he initially thought. He was more agile and had a great perception of where the obstacles were to use as his advantage. Furthermore, with Aerial Grace’s never ending effect, he could easily dodge her shots even in zero gravity area.Not only that, but the status points that only he could see from the floating white and blue panel told of his dexterity. It was pretty high, in his opinion. Apparently, it affected his ability to handle weapons, and in this case, the Lightlock. His final shot count almost caught up to Ellie’s stellar points, but he lacked the experience in fighting so he still lost.In the end, all of Ellie’s soldiers crossed the diving pool and into Team Crow’s cavern, while they shot at Ricky and Ryan who foolishly fell into their trap.At least
A steel chair was bolted in the middle of a cold room with white tiles as walls. Two people were there. One was wearing a lab coat and knee-high boots, taking something from the black-mated rolling table with a frown on his old face. While the other was cuffed to the chair, dishevelled with lack of sleep and some bruises.It was Jed. He nodded off.But the man in a lab coat looked up and slapped him in the face. “Don’t sleep.”Jed’s eyes were blank with dark circles under. The lab-coated man pulled at his hair and flashed him with a light, jerking him to wakefulness.“To endure this level of torture for three days... “ the white-coated man wondered, lifting up a syringe with unknown liquid inside. “However, there’s sure to be a limit.”Jed couldn’t do anything but see as the white-coated man injected him with unknown drugs. “…ugh.”“I’ll ask again.&rdq
True to what Max said, they did meet again the next day.Jed didn’t expect it to be so soon. He tried to shy away from meeting the strongest captain of the EADF’s eyes and walked past him without notice. That made him bumped into Captain Reed.“Watch with your eyes, soldier.”“S-sorry, Captain!”Henry Reed glared at him, but didn’t chastise him more than that. Instead, he asked, “Did your personal training with Captain Petrovich go well?”“What?”In his confusion, Jed turned to said captain and met his glare. He whipped his head around, refusing to meet Max’s eyes. So, that damn arrogant prick said he was having a personal training instead of torturing, huh?“Ah, that..” Jed chuckled, trying to play it off like nothing. “It went well. Though, I wonder why I receive that special treatment alone?”Captain Reed didn’t suspect anything. “You did a good job helping him during the last alien attack in his jurisdiction. It’s his way o
The operation had started.From here on, they would give all their might to eradicate the alien monsters and reclaim the Meersyn Coast area.Jed was nervous before, but he was eerily calm once his thought was all about Devour. Which wasn’t entirely good, as he lost concentration right at the start and was almost being run over by a sharp-toothed fungi-like alien.“Get to the back, loser! You and your three percent are too far out in front!” Ryan Tanner shouted at him, his rifle firing shots at the smaller alien monster.“I’m four percent now!” Jed yelled back, heavily offended.Not far from their bickering, a senior soldier with curly hair commented, “For crying out loud, why do we have to babysit the rookies? At least, stand someplace out of our way and observe.”Both rookies heard it clearly through the communication device that also connected to their masks. It was bitter, but they have yet to prove anything of worth.“Listen up.”
Fixing his mask for the ninth time, Jed made sure that it stayed on to cover his nose and mouth, preventing him from breathing the toxics.Strangely, the other soldiers still got their masks on, but they fell prey to the fungi-like alien monster and saw hallucinations. As far as he could see, he was the only soldier around who was still sane.Trying to reach the control room at the temporary base proved to be useless. Just like what Ricky said earlier, the communication was cut off without anyone even noticing. Could it be that they were deep in the alien’s hallucination to begin with?Meersyn's ruined city didn’t change in its environment, but how could Jed not realise it sooner?The freaking huge-ass fungi alien monster’s corpse had disappeared, leaving nothing but a crater as big as half a football field. The area Max destroyed by a single hit with his amped up warhammer.“Holy fucking shit…”“La
[Extraterrestrial cores detected.]Jed observed his surroundings.[Consume extraterrestrial core to activate Ultimate Skill – Devour.]The underground cave slowly being illuminated by the bioluminescent fungi alien monsters with an eerie, greenish glow. The air was thick with humidity and the pungent smell of decay.He was thankful that the Threxian Exosuit fully covered him, protecting him from the hallucinogens sprayed through the still air. Truly, the exosuit was a marvel of alien bio-engineering.Thousands of fungi-like alien monsters, each the size of a large dog, swarmed across the underground cave floor. Their chitinous shells glistened in the dim light, and their many eyes glowed with malevolent intent.“Time to clean the house,” Jed grinned, summoning a pink whip to his hand.[Item – Frogsbane Coil was drawn.]He flicked his wrist, feeling it crackled with energy as
Instead of calling the main base for reinforcement, Jed became one.It was a dumb decision, he knew. But at the same time, he was vibrating with ecstasy to try some of the skills he gained. He was going to die anyway. Maybe seven months later, maybe this afternoon, because for all he knows, Captain Reed and Max would kill him for failing to do what he was ordered to.Either way, he was going to die, so why not try his skills and discover the joy of being a strong man for once?With that idiotic plan in mind, Jed closed his eyes and tried to feel his surroundings through his passive skill, Mycelial Sense. As if seeing them with his own eyes, he could sense better the vibration and movements through the alien corpses-covered ground.Captain Reed and Max had found the final boss. Jed had to get there quickly and release them from the hallucinations they were in, or else, they’d lose from exhaustion fighting air.Still covered by his Threxian Exo
Ricky groaned as he slowly regained consciousness. The dim lighting of the infirmary comes into blurry focus. His body ached, a dull reminder of the events he vaguely remembered from the previous day.He sat up, wincing, and looked around the room. Several of his younger siblings were there, along with a few base personnel, all of whom seemed to be grinning at him.“Hey, sleeping beauty,” his brother Michael said, smirking, “Decided to join us again?”Ricky rubbed his eyes, confusion etched across his face. “What… what happened?”“You don’t remember?” his sister, Lily, asked, her eyes wide with excitement. “Your teammate said you took down two flying aliens. By yourself.”Rikcy blinked, his heart skipping a beat. “What? No, that can’t be right. I don’t even remember half of yesterday's attack.”“Believe it, bro,” Michael said, crossin
“…what the hell?”As he was busy trying to figure out the control panels, Jed almost missed the moment the humanoid alien and his Draquilonis were blasted from behind. Precisely, from the ground where the base was located behind the spaceship.Like lightning, the sniper took down the humanoid alien in one shot. Something Jed dreamed he was capable of doing, sadly, he couldn’t.Seeing as the humanoid alien was killed, he thought it was safe to land the spaceship now. The large viewport in front of him showed more city lights below. He had to turn the ship towards the west, where a desolated rocky plain with no building or civilian housing was located. Nothing was there, making it a safe place to land.Jed gritted his teeth as he pulled on the controller bracelets. The spaceship thrusters roared against the planet’s gravity as he tried to redirect the ship.However, he heard a sharp crack echoed through the alien spaces
[Active Skill – Molten Pierce]Jed grinned as he activated his skill.Molten Pierce took less than a second to form in his right hand. The jagged material of his Threxian Exosuit morphed into a drill with a fiery orange edge. He punched the alien’s chest with it, enhanced by a penetrating force that sent the alien through the metallic airlock.The slender humanoid alien was thrown out of the spaceship, but Jed was sure it’d still be alive. Moreover, with one Dracuilonis flew past the broken airlock to save its master. At least, this gave them enough time to do something about the nuclear bomb aboard in this ship.“Max–“Jed stopped himself, realising that he called the captain’s name. But, Max ignored him as he was busy trying to speak through his earpiece and connect to the base. “Control room, can you hear me?”He doubted it would work. The last thing Jed heard was that craz
Jed’s dual swords, Noxblades, glinted under the flickering lights of the narrow corridor. His breath came in measured intervals, each one syncing with the hum of the ship’s bio-engines. Standing across, a slender humanoid alien mirrored his stance, its own dual blades that came from its long limbs shimmering with an eerie, otherworldly glow. With a sudden movement, both of them lunged. Blades clashed against blades, sparks flying as they exchanged rapid, fluid strikes. Jed’s muscles burned as he parried and struck, his eyes locked onto the alien’s unblinking human-like gaze. The alien’s movements were almost dance-like, its agility matching Jed’s Hyperreflexia, a passive skill that granted him superhuman reaction times for dodging and countering attacks swiftly. Not stopping, Jed recalled the skills that came with these dual blades. ‘Crosscut!’[Active Skill – Crosscut][CD: 59 minutes 59 seconds][Core: -500]As if his arms were moving on their own, Jed gave a crisscrossing attack
Jed managed to find a small opening to the alien spaceship and cautiously stepped through the airlock.The spaceship was a massive, imposing vessel with an eerie otherworldly design. Its walls were composed of a dark, metallic material that seems to absorb light rather than reflect it. The corridor was lined with sharp, angular edges and adorned with pulsating crimson energy conduits that gave off a dim, menacing glow.The air was thick with mechanical hum, and the occasional flicker of blue and purple energy fields added to the foreboding atmosphere. It seemed that everything here felt almost organic in nature.“Alright, my awesome self, just stick to the plan.” Jed muttered to himself. “Find Max, get out. It’s all about stealth and speed. You got this.”He had less than five minutes to do that. Awesome, he said.Jed moved forward, his Sky Dominator boots didn’t make any echo as he thread inside, thanks to his n
[Item – Frogsbane Coil was drawn.]Jed swung the dull pink whip, snapping his wrist to make the end curl around the tailless manta ray reptile. It screeched in anger, but Jed didn’t let go. He gave a thug on his Frogsbane Coil, making him and the manta ray reptile to jerk each other.He managed to get on its back despite the flying monster’s useless roar of shockwave and struggles. Once he got a good grip on the manta ray reptile, Jed drew his right arm and shot it quickly to its thin back.The flying monster roared and roared in pain, but Jed didn’t let go. He curled his fingers on the small core located in the middle of its chest and wrenched it out. The manta ray reptile gave a final roar and its struggle ended. It dropped dead from the sky, along with Jed who couldn’t stop grinning.“Well, there’s no better time to eat a snack than now, hmm?”And so he did.[Ultimate Skill – Devour was activated.]“Damn right!” Jed laughed as he was free falling from the sky. “I better get the bes
“Do you think this is enough to defeat me?”The slender monster said as its cracked face reconstructed in a matter of seconds. Its twig-like hand reached out for Jed, the four fingers spread right in front of Jed’s face. From its narrow palm, a crack formed and opened, showing a small hole.Jed barely had time to react before the slender monster shot him dead in the head.[Active Skill – Fungal Shield][CD: 59 minutes 59 seconds][Core: -100]Bang!Agony exploded through his head, and he fell to the ground and screamed in pain. His vision went dark, and for a moment, he was sure he was dead.[Alert!][Alert!][Alert!][HP: 7/100]Through the haze of pain, Jed desperately tried to call for a skill in his repertoire.[Active Skill – Regenerative Spores][CD: 359 minutes 59 seconds][Core: -400]Miniscule spores were released from the small gaps
The air brushed fiercely all around Jed’s body as he tried to make sense of the monster’s strength. He had to do something before it greeted him in the sky and kicked him down to the earth.“Shadow Cloak!”[Item – Shadow Cloak was drawn.][You may activate its invisible feature at will.][However, attack initiation will deactivate its feature immediately.]A dark cloak shrouded around Jed’s body, and he disappeared into thin air.Invisible.“So I was right.” The semi-translucent humanoid monster remarked. Its slender face looked like a piece of chopped wood with a pair of slanted eyes and wide mouth, looking around it in wonder. “You absorb creatures to get their strength too. Just like me. I wonder if you can fly, too.”Jed couldn’t. It’d be cool if he could, though.The semi-translucent monster looked up at the sky, couldn’t
[Ultimate Skill – Devour was activated.]Boooom![You have devoured Velociphron.]Something fell from the sky. A tall humanoid figure with an ominous presence that sent Jed reeling.[You received rewards as follows.]He ignored the blue and white panel that only he could see. It told him the rewards he got from devouring the humanoid monster just now. How could he, when a more menacing creature dropped from the sky, like a bad omen for a curse after he ate another alien core.Jed cautiously observed the new alien.It stood taller than Velociphron, with a semi-translucent, shimmering skin that shifted colours every few seconds. It had elongated limbs and fluid movement, like a walking serpent as colourful as a disco ball.“What are you?” It asked curiously, staring at Jed with unblinking six eyes on its face.When he locked eyes with the colourful slender creature, he felt an eeri