9 First Encounter (2/2)

On the other end of this bridge, Micheal could see a tall, gaunt figure shambling forward. It had leathery black skin and was extremely unsettling to look at. Its long arms were currently dragging something behind it, bumping along the wooden planks.

thud

thud

thud

'A Morenkai.' His heart began to pound as he listened to its monotonous footsteps, each step rumbling as it moved across the bridge. He looked at the freakish creature, and specifically what it was dragging.

The corpse of a young woman, ripped and bloody, clearly dead.

He clenched his fists, his anger surging. He had seen billions die in his time, yet now that he had a chance to stop that, seeing even a single innocent death was infuriating.

Immediately after, however, he regained control, forcing his rage down. A feeling of coolness swept over him as he began to analyze the situation, not letting his emotions control him.

'It's not a special Morenkai, just one of the regular ones. It appears to have killed recently, that woman is probably one of the new Chosen that went off on her own and paid the price.' His right hand slowly slid to his waist, resting on the hilt of his blade.

'It doesn't sense me yet.' The Morenkai had weak visual senses. Their sense of sound and smell were much stronger, but only when they were actively hunting. When they were simply shambling around, aimlessly, all of their senses operated weakly.

However, there was a positive to every negative.

In terms of raw Strength and Endurance, Micheal was hopelessly outmatched. Even the weakest Morenkai had at least 8 times the Strength of a normal human from Earth, which meant at least 4 times Micheal's current Strength, without even considering their abnormal Endurance that could easily block even bullets. In a head to head collision, Micheal would be directly pulverized.

Without hesitating, Micheal began to walk forward onto the bridge towards it.

thud

thud

thud

He was no ninja, and certainly not capable of hiding his footsteps and making no sound at all. Things like that required special shoes or a unique Ability. His movements, however small, were bound to make some noise. As he got closer to the Morenkai, even someone trying to be quiet would be noticed.

Instead of trying to walk quietly, Micheal timed his each and every footstep to land perfectly in tune with the Morenkai's own movements. Its own somewhat loud steps drowned out his own movements.

As he walked, he made no sudden or strange movements. While the Morenkai couldn't see easily, they could detect movement. He allowed his body to blend into the background, keeping the height of his head, chest, and arms continuous.

thud

thud

thud

Micheal had crossed half the distance to the Morenkai. At this point, he began to concentrate on his body, controlling himself precisely.

The Ability 'Ki Cultivator' was extremely important for the Human Race. The initial purchase of the Ability modifies the human body, causing one's entire vein structure and organs to mutate slightly, though not to the degree that it was considered a 'Type' Ability by the Shop. Micheal had always felt the 'Type' designation by the Shop was rather arbitrary.

The Ability causes one's veins and organs to become tougher and more durable, but even more importantly, it allows one to be able to handle blood that is energized with 'Ki,' a type of cool energy that is absorbed from the environment and can be used to become supernaturally powerful.

This single purchase was extremely important because the 'Ki Cultivator' Ability was an Ability that could be grown without the need for Points. Of course, one needed to get the Ability first to gain the modified veins and organs that allow the Ability to function. That roadblock had caused Micheal a huge amount of trouble when he first started.

Micheal could feel his entire body flush with energy right now. It was this energy that had caused the visible increase in his Strength stat. Because of this, despite looking like a slightly athletic human, he was as strong as a top tier bodybuilder.

By now, he was only a dozen or so meters away from the Morenkai.

Up close, the creatures looked even more horrifying. It's lack of eyes or a nose, or most facial features, was incredibly unsettling. A long slit could be seen where its mouth existed, shut tightly at the moment. Morenkai only opened their mouths when they were eating or on the hunt.

'At least it doesn't smell bad.' The creatures didn't have much of a scent, oddly enough, though the stench from the corpse it was dragging was nauseating.

thud

thud

thu-

Abruptly, when the Morenkai was around 2 meters distant it paused, its head tilting to the side in confusion.

Micheal's eyes flashed. Immediately, without hesitating, he leapt forward, whipping his blade from his sheath.

His entire body was focused on this movement, making the leaping strike with an incredible amount of fluid movement. Despite the fact that his muscles were relatively untrained, the long years of muscle memory he built up non-existent, Micheal managed to perfectly launch the attack with amazing precision.

The instant his sword left his sheath, it was coated in a layer of edged energy thanks to his use of the Grandmaster Sword Mastery Ability. It cut through the air at an incredibly fast speed.

SWISH

SHKKKK

Micheal tumbled to the ground and rolled forward, his movements smooth as he flipped up and around, his sword at the ready. His eyes pierced forward as he looked at the foreboding figure of the Morenkai.

The creature stood frozen for a brief moment. A second later, the upper half of its body slowly slid off, cut cleanly in two. Black blood burst out from the Morenkai as it tumbled, dead.

Killed in a single strike, easily shearing through its incredibly dense outer skin.

.

—- Points Obtained —-

Points: 11

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Micheal looked at the notification and smiled. He didn't even need to consider depending on his Life Orb Master Ability, or anything else, not for something of this level.

'Now THIS is something I can handle. Let's keep going.'

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