System Breaker: Surviving Apocalypse with Nine-Tailed Kitsune-Chapter 44: Berserker’s Fury
CLANG!
The sound of metal clashing against the ant’s exoskeleton-covered arm echoed throughout the entire courtyard.
Occasionally, arrays of bullets flew through the air in hopes of catching the creature off guard. Most simply missed as the monster’s speed was far superior to anything Damon had seen before, but even the ones that hit did nothing against its body.
Damon’s Corrosion ability had been running from the very moment the monster moved, but even with the debuff active, its speed and even its strength were far beyond what he had encountered so far.
With no other hope to get an advantage over his enemy, Damon activated his new ability, Berserker’s Fury.
Its effects were immediate.
His strength, speed and stamina all increased at once.
The sudden increase in his speed caught Eve off guard for a moment, but despite Damon breaching the gap in terms of speed between him and the monster by a great amount, the gap was still very much there, and the large pool of Damon’s blood on the ground was the prime example of that.
’Five stacks...’ Damon thought to himself, remembering his new passive ability, ’If I can get five hits on him, maybe then I can win!’
With the only possible way Damon could win being through stacks, he began to take calculated risks, taking damage in hopes of getting hits on his opponent.
Of course, it wasn’t so easy as the ant was basically hitting and disappearing with each exchange, almost too fast for Damon to retaliate, almost.
It took three exchanges and a lot of blood before Damon managed to land the first hit, and a boost from the first stack took effect.
’40 seconds,’ he thought, taking a mental note of how much time he had left on Berserker’s Fury.
The second stack happened only two exchanges after, and the third only one exchange after that. But despite each of them moving at inhuman speed, Damon’s time began to run out quicker than he thought.
After all, his ability’s length depended on his health, and right now, he was standing in the pool of his own blood.
From the far side of the courtyard, Eve’s revolver had long stopped shooting.
’I’m out of mana...’ she thought grimly.
For a moment, she took a glance at the exit, debating a quick escape, but for some reason, watching Damon somehow keep up and not die instantly to the overwhelmingly strong monster, she couldn’t help but feel captivated.
Suddenly, a fourth hit connected. Damon’s sword plunged deep into the ant’s side, slipping through the gaps between the exoskeleton.
The oversized ant leapt backwards from the sudden wound, its blood spraying across the ground.
For the first time, the monster slowed down for a moment, but that very pause was something Damon dreaded the most, as his health had just reached twenty points.
Unwilling to waste even a second of his ability, Damon’s gaze shifted to the nest to his left, remembering how the ant cared to check on it before even attacking him.
Without hesitation, he sent shards of black ice toward the nest, catching the ant completely off guard.
The creature dashed to block the strikes, just as Damon dashed to reach it off guard.
With its arms momentarily occupied, blocking his ability, Damon leapt with a thrust, his blade plunging deep into the exoskeleton, caving in a good chunk of it.
But with Damon’s sword deep inside of its chest, the ant couldn’t reach two of the ice shards before they struck the nest.
[You have slain a Level 20 Evolved Ant Egg]
[New Monster Index bonus: +5 Mana, +5 Vitality, +3 Stamina]
[You have slain a Level 19 Evolved Ant Egg]
The sudden boost of vitality from the monster index came as an unexpected blessing, but Damon couldn’t truly use that blessing before the overgrown ant in front of him let out a deafening shriek and swung its arm straight at him.
The overpowered strike sent Damon into the wall of one of the buildings. Debris and concrete fell on top of him as the entire wall exploded upon impact.
Damon’s consciousness slipped for a moment, deactivating Berserker’s Fury just as a loud system notification rang in his head.
[HP dangerously low! HP: 11/740] 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮
Despite rising to his feet, Damon’s vision swayed for a moment longer before his eyes finally locked onto the ant standing several meters away from him.
The boost from five stacks was still burning through him, but the lone increase of strength wouldn’t be enough to keep up against the ant, far from it.
With the ant preoccupied with checking on its slain eggs for a moment, Damon took a second to think through his options, but the idea he landed on was far from perfect.
Kitsune took a nervous step forward, her hand twitching to intervene as she was fully aware of his intent through their connection.
The moment the ant’s crimson eyes landed on Damon, it charged forward.
Damon lingered for a split moment, waiting for the right moment before he activated Berserker’s Fury once more.
His blade was already raised, the ability came to life, and just as the ant came upon him, he swung with all his strength.
The ant’s charge carried it far behind Damon, its right arm dripped with red blood.
For a moment, the battlefield grew silent. Only the faint dripping of Damon’s blood from the creature’s hand filled the air before the ant’s head suddenly slipped from its shoulders and fell to the ground with a heavy thud.
[You have slain a Level 52 Evolved Ant]
[New Monster Index bonus: +10 Mana, +6 Strength, +20 Dexterity]
[You have reached Level 32. You have received 1 Stat Point.]
[You have reached Level 33. You have received 1 Stat Point.]
.
.
[You have reached Level 36. You have received 1 Stat Point.]
Damon, however, couldn’t hear any of the notifications as the moment he deactivated Berserker’s Fury, his body slumped to the ground.
[HP: 1/740]
