Chapter 23: Machete versus Flesh? King dead?
"What kind of awakening skill is this?" Ray's pupils dilated with shock.
But he didn't stop his movement. With all his strength gathered in his hand, Ray swung his machete towards the palm.
As the machete and the palm met, King's eyes almost popped while Ray sneered.
How could flesh resist cold weapons?
If King was at that level, he wouldn't use guns to target him in the first place but instead instantly kill him to end it all.
As expected, when they met, the machete went right through King's hand and came down to the ground, slicing his entire arm in half from centre.
But Ray wasn't better off. He felt a terrifying rebound as if he were hitting metal instead of a hand.
His entire body tingled and vibrated at a supersonic level, causing internal bleeding.
"You…"
Ray looked at King with disbelief in his eyes. His strength was greater than King's, but King had still managed to cause such damage to him even though he had a machete. Machete versus flesh—the victory should have been clear.
"Haha, brat, I underestimated your brawn."
"And I underestimated your brain," Ray said, his tone extremely grave.
He swung the machete again.
"Ahhh—"
King cried out in pain as he clutched his right hand, which had blocked the machete, and backed away, narrowly dodging the machete's arc by a thin margin.
"It's over," Ray calmly said as he swung his machete again. King dodged by a hair's breadth.
Again he swung, and King dodged again.
When he swung the machete once more, King dodged by a thin margin.
Swing!
Dodge!
For a time, Ray swung as fast as he could, but King always dodged the attack by a slight margin.
This process continued for a whole five minutes before both were covered in cold sweat.
"You can't catch me anyway. How about you give up and call it a tie? If this goes on, the undead will be attracted to the house, and at that point, no one will survive."
"Okay," Ray said, swinging the machete again.
Just like countless times before, King dodged it by a hair's breadth, almost instinctively.
If the first time was a coincidence, the second was blind luck, but the third time was talent. To be able to dodge time and time again in the face of death was a skill.
"What kind of ability has he awakened?" Ray thought bitterly.
His awakening had granted him only a pitiful boost to his body and nothing more.
If his true attribute hadn't increased from spreading his genes, his condition would be even more miserable.
The only notable achievement was the permanent five times increase in his physique after his third advancement.
While this guy seemed to produce a terrifying unknown vibration which could help him attack and even check the surroundings. If that weren't the end, he could even have an ability where he was never hit.
Ray knew that this was a skill because there was no way that was humanly possible. The reason the king was so terrifying was because of his brute strength. Technique wasn't his forte.
King looked at Ray with a frown. "You don't keep your word."
"Do you, though?" Ray countered almost immediately.
"Hmph, if you think you can beat me so easily, you must be dreaming-"
"Done," Ray uttered with an amused smile.
"Huh."
That was his last word as the king's world turned blank.
Thud!
With a sickening thud, King's body fell to the ground, a pool of blood flowing from his body and staining the concrete floor.
Ray had a sneer on his face.
Behind King's body stood a ferocious dog entirely covered in eerie darkness, remnants of brain matter still clinging to its canine teeth.
If you looked closely at the corpse, you would see that King's head was missing, all his internal organs could be seen from the severed neck.
Ray fell to the ground, crimson blood flowing from the corner of his mouth.
Cough! Cough!
The violent internal injuries he had tried hard to suppress now caused Ray unimaginable pain.
Ahhh—
Ray roared in pain.
"Damn it, this guy was too strong," he muttered. "It hurts."
Although he had lived the life of a military personnel, the injuries he sustained were terrifying.
Outwardly, it might not seem like he had suffered much, but he had internal bleeding right now.
For those who have dabbled in the field of medicine, the terrifying internal injuries were nightmares.
Ray felt nauseous and almost vomited, but he restrained himself. This wasn't mild internal bleeding either.
If not for his physique, which was six times stronger, he wouldn't even be alive right now.
"Fuck, I will never do such a risky task again," Ray cursed while rolling on the ground, his eyes staring blankly at the ceiling with ragged breathing.
"Cancel."
The undead level one dog vanished, and he felt the mutation energy, which was rapidly draining, slowly start to recover again.
He didn't need to do any treatment. In just about two hours, Ray felt a lot better—better enough to at least walk.
Ray barely stood up from the ground with a pained expression, leaving the room.
However, what he didn't notice was that after some time, the headless corpse of King vanished as if it didn't exist in the first place.
In a distant place, a bulky and tall man was drinking a cup of coffee when his hand abruptly froze.
"Someone killed my clone." King sighed. "This was supposed to be my advancement into the third rank, but it seems like I need to kill the undead myself now. As for the one who did it, Ray..."
"This bastard must have already made the third advancement. That clone had 100% of my strength and the sage arts but was still not able to beat him."
His eyes flashed with murderous intent.
"Subordinate, get up. We are going to slay some undead."
"Yes, boss." Countless voices rang in the air, containing hundreds of people, their eyes filled with malevolence.
"As long as we follow the boss, we will get both money and women."
Gifts
-- Gift
received Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone