Bab 9: Mutated Centipede
Zhan needed to think quickly. He was quite badly injured, in the past an injury like this would have been a serious issue. He was rapidly losing blood, but…his injuries were already beginning to heal!
Or at least, the wounds were closing. The system placed a sizeable amount of life-points into his vitality, but more specifically, it was his recovery from damage to the flesh and bone that was enhanced. He decided it was vital that he completely stop bleeding before the next fight, so he again added points into the specific 'flesh vitality' component. Since this was such a specific attribute, just a small number of life points would go a long way. Zhan placed another 0.2 points into this area, leaving him with 2.2 life-points.
He didn't add more than this into the flesh vitality stat despite wanting to. The system claimed that adding points into an area too quickly would result in his consciousness blurring. Last time when the system added his points, Zhan was already unconscious and didn't notice it, but this could prove to be a fatal error in the arena.
The vitality itself was simply the sum of all of the vitality components, his vitality was now at 5.0, well above each of his other attributes. He could already feel his wounds healing over and beginning to form scar tissue. His organs were also damaged and one of his ribs was broken, but no matter what he did, he couldn't heal a rib in the next minute.
What he could do, however, was to recover his energy. With his increased strength and speed, Zhan's stamina was unable to keep up. He wore himself down too quickly and it was quickly becoming a problem.
He placed 0.5 points into stamina, bringing it up to a clean 4.0. Since stamina was a full attribute, it wasn't such a problem increasing it by this much in one go. He felt slightly dizzy, but this passed by the time the cage reached the centre of the arena.
Zhan was somewhat relieved to feel his injuries healing and his energy returning. He went from exhausted and injured badly, to somewhat tired and injured, but able to fight.
He waited until he could see inside of the cage. He wanted to observe his opponent before increasing his stats, he would increase whichever stat gave him the best shot at surviving!
Zhan's face became pale on seeing his opponent.
Scuttle Scuttle Scuttle Scuttle Scuttle…
A jarring sound quietly came out from the cage.
"Hissss!"
The creature within had a hundred legs, its body was covered in a shiny brown carapace and two enormous pincers protruded from its mouth, leaking a corrosive green liquid. The liquid fizzled as it touched the metal cage below.
Zhan gawked slightly on seeing such a huge centipede. He knew that there were many mutated insects that suddenly became massive overnight, but seeing such a monstrous thing in person was something else entirely.
The centipede was around 8 feet long and a foot wide. It may not sound large, but it was fast, and insects were extremely powerful for their size. Zhan could feel a powerful aura from this insect that almost made him want to turn and run.
His eyes narrowed and his fighting spirit suddenly exploded. In the face of such an opponent, why would he run?! He wanted to fight, to fight and to kill!
Zhan placed 0.4 points into agility. He felt the changes in his body and his perception envelope him for a moment. It felt as if time had slowed down in this instant, the centipede that he previously struggled to track with his eyes, was now moving in slow motion.
The next instant, everything returned to normal…only, it was different. He felt like he had become far more agile, as if his reflexes were superior to any living creature's and his speed was a force to be reckoned with!
Zhan saw that the security guards were nearly at the gate. This was a gamble, but he gritted his teeth and went ahead with the risk!
He placed another 0.5 points into agility, 0.5 points into strength and the final 0.3 points into stamina!
The more points he added at one time, the greater the consciousness blurring effect would be and the longer it would last. The effect was lessened if the points were added to a full attribute rather than components, and lessened even further when spread across multiple attributes.
Zhan's vision became blurry for a moment. He felt an itching sensation throughout his body, and he simultaneously felt exhausted and over-energetic. The guards exited the gates and Zhan stumbled slightly, startling the audience. In the audience, everyone's hearts lurched…
Was he injured badly? What was wrong with him? Would he be able to fight his next opponent?
Zhan straightened himself up and blinked rapidly. Just as the beeping noise came from the cage, his mind returned to normal. His body now felt overwhelmingly powerful, as if he was holding the world within his palm!
His strength, speed and stamina were now all at superhuman levels!
Zhan grinned crazily as the cage door opened but an inch.
Clang!
The centipede tried to pass through the gap, but got stuck. A moment later the door raised a bit further, allowing the centipede to fit through the gap.
After it stepped into the arena, its body immediately became a blur!
Swoosh…
The centipede travelled quietly, but Zhan never lost track of the insect. Shockingly, it actually jumped, flying through the air towards his throat!
He ducked down quickly and stabbed upwards. He dodged the centipede, but amazingly, the gross creature curled its body mid air to avoid his spear!
Zhan span around and slashed down at the centipede. Its body twisted at an impossible angle, curling around the spear blade as if predicting its trajectory.
The centipede regularly came close to the spear blade, but always seemed to avoid being struck with ease. It was as if it were dancing, playing with Zhan, who was too slow and cumbersome to hit it.
However, Zhan was still adjusting to his newfound agility. Whilst the stat might be higher after adding the points, he had never moved at such high speeds before and thus wasn't accustomed to his own power. Each strike of his allowed him to increase his speed slightly, climbing again and again and getting closer to striking the centipede down.
Click click click!
Whenever the insect dodged, its carapace dislocated then rejoined, releasing a series of rapid clicking sounds.
Sli!
A stream of blood appeared at Zhan's neck as the centipede clamped down at his throat with its pincers. Zhan hastily pulled back, sweating as the blood dripped down his vest and he realised how narrowly he had just brushed with death.
He barely even reacted to the centipede's strike!
Zhan may have increased his agility, but this creature was clearly one that specialised in speed. The centipede was faster than Zhan, this was a fact that he couldn't change in this battle. Whilst its movement looked eloquent, it was simply using its superior speed to dominate over Zhan's own movement.
Sli!
Zhan's legs were cut, both shins bled out and even the bone was showing. He stayed calm and continued to fight.
It should be remembered that there was a corrosive acid leaking out from the bug's pincers, increasing the pain in Zhan's wounds ten fold. It also prevented the wound from healing, but it actually lessened the blood loss by welding the wound shut.
A creature would never develop such a useless ability through normal evolution, but the sudden mutations were seemingly random and not always beneficial to the creature in question.
Zhan's spear shot out time and time again. He was clearly moving at a much greater speed than in his previous match, startling the audience. Was he actually holding back until now? No, he had been injured quite badly, so that didn't make sense…
CHI!
Finally, Zhan managed to make contact with the centipede. Its agility was high, but its defence was too weak. He stabbed straight through the tough looking but actually weak carapace, tearing out a chunk of flesh near to the back of its body.
"HIIIIIIIIIII!"
The centipede screamed with a shrill ringing sound, almost bursting Zhan's eardrums. He winced slightly, but didn't let himself get too distracted.
SLI CHI!
"Ugh…"
Zhan grimaced. He finally received a heavy blow from the centipede. It clamped down hard on the side of his stomach. He pulled back, but the insect still managed to tear a small hole in his vest, penetrating into his stomach. Zhan felt an intense pain, worse than any other in his life, as the acid corroded his internal organs.
His eyes became bloodshot and he roared out loud, increasing his ferocity to a new height. With this injury in his abdomen, there was no way he could continue fighting for long, he needed to end this quickly!
Ferocity could pressure an opponent, but it also left oneself vulnerable.
Zhan forced himself to ignore the accumulating injuries on his body.
He managed to avoid any further blows to his neck or head, but another pincer attack stabbed into his chest and nearly hit his heart. He luckily pulled back in time, but this action ripped out a portion of his chest muscle and shattered another rib!
He didn't slow down at all and instead became more desperate, more aggressive. In the end, he really was near the end of his limits. Zhan completely forsook defence in favour of pure attacking power.
So long as he won this match…so long as he won, he could survive…he could use the life-points to improve his vitality and recover…the syndicate doctor would treat him…
He just needed to win!
With this desire filling his body, Zhan's eyes gleamed with a cold light. This light contained all of his killing intent, along with his desire to survive and to fight another day!
SLI!
The centipede stabbed into his stomach again, but Zhan actually planned this! He used his own body as bait to lure it in, then stabbed downwards after the insect rejoiced in its successful attack.
PUCHI! BANG!
The bug was split down the middle, impaled by the spear and pinned into the ground. Its flesh exploded outwards from the force and green liquid splattered over Zhan's body. The corrosive acid ate through his flesh as he fell down and hit the ground roughly.
His mind was a blur, but he managed to bring up his status panel as he fell. The centipede was indeed a powerful creature, actually giving him 1.5 life-points on its own!
Zhan placed 0.5 points into 'organs vitality' and another 0.5 points into 'bone vitality'. This caused a big shock to his mind, finally knocking him unconscious.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
stone