Name: [???]
Role: [N/A]
Core Stats:
>[Strength: D-]
>[Dexterity: D]
>[Intelligence: E+]
>[Endurance: D-]
>[Charisma: E]
Talents:
>[Bending Pulse: D]
[Abilities: Bend]
[Your joints are as elastic as bands, wielding to your liking and flexible to an extreme. Use your limbs as though they were whips, dancing between the line of rigid and free flowing as you please]
>[Empty]
>[Empty]
—
Name: [???]
Role: [N/A]
Core Stats:
>[Strength: D]
>[Dexterity: D-]
>[Intelligence: E]
>[Endurance: D]
>[Charisma: E]
Talents:
>[Rigid Pulse: D]
[Abilities: Stiffen]
[Your muscles are your canvas, carrying a pulsing power that can instantly become as sturdy and powerful as steel with nothing more than a thought]
>[Empty]
>[Empty]
—
Two creatures, the first a Dexterity Type and the latter a Strength Type, rushed forward at once.
One was exceptionally lanky, looking like a pale, white-grey willow tree swaying forward. But its size made it look deceptively slower than it really was. In reality, it was covering ground even faster than Zarek could.
The other, the Strength Type, looked like a walking marshmallow—its limbs stocky and short, and its neck non-existent. But its speed was only just behind that of the Dexterity Type.
This Strength Type, carrying Rigid Pulse as a Talent, could have been very close to an Endurance Type. But from his experience, Zarek knew that those who ended up with this Talent and foolishly tried to use it as such weren't getting the full potential out of it.
He had once met an A-Class Warrior with both Rigid Pulse and Bending Pulse. All things considered, they were two inferior Talents with only C-Class Growth Potential. But when used in conjunction, Zarek remembered them forming one of the most unpredictable warriors he had ever faced.
The secret of Rigid Pulse was in its potential to store strength, not in its hardness. If one used it cleverly enough, it was possible to store the strength of two or even more attacks within it. If you then used it with the explosivity and suddenness of Bending Pulse—and put it in the hands of a martial arts expert—well…
You would end up with something truly frightening.
'What a coincidence… Maybe I'll try that out another time…'
Zarek felt an idea coming on.
He didn't feel like it was a coincidence that these two creatures held such familiar Talents. The A-Class warrior he had just thought of had once been a very good friend of his. That battle was one of the few he hadn't ended with a kill.
Clearly, Belladoll and Crux were trying to get into his head, even if it was just a little bit. They must have taken their time to pluck out this pair of Turned for him to fight.
But they wouldn't have realized that this would give him the inspiration to do something quite interesting. Something that just might cost them their lives very soon.
Zarek took one step back, sheathing his machetes with one motion and pulling out a long katana from his back with the other. He settled into a stance, bringing his elbows up and angling the curved blade down and across his body at a diagonal.
He might not like long weapons… but that didn't mean he didn't know how to use them.
The worst thing you could do in the apocalypse was specialize. Even a pipe by the roadside had to be as natural to him as the breath he breathed.
That was the only way to survive.
BANG!
The Dexterity Turned swiped down, its long white arm blurring like a whip cracking through the air. Its speed must have touched the barrier of what a C-Class would be capable of in that one, acute attack.
Zarek twisted his wrist. His blade was already prepared, but if he had allowed the lashing arm to cut against the sharp edge of the blade, he would have been hit with the residual strength.
Who cared if the arm was split in two if those two split portions would cut into him right after?
Instead, he sidestepped, his timing perfect as he parried the whipping arm to the side with the flat of the katana.
The echo of the arm slapping against the concrete rang out, cracks spreading in a wild array.
'Strong.'
It was about time he started running into creatures that could well and truly affect the environment. That didn't fill him with fear—it filled him with excitement.
The Strength Type suddenly arrived, its marshmallow-shaped torso pulsing as its arm expanded in response. A silvery glow formed over its hammering fist, smashing down toward Zarek.
Zarek moved like water. It was a beautiful thing to not have to worry about the durability of a weapon or its strength.
Sometimes it was fun to just go for it.
Chi.
The katana moved from a parrying motion, storing up the strength he had gathered while parrying the Dexterity Type and suddenly exploding forth.
He shifted forward with such power that the Strength Type missed over his head, its body lagging behind as a diagonal slash cut right into its large torso, severing the Godsfall Droplet within.
Zarek's movement caused the Strength Type's body to become his shield. Ending up behind it, he kicked out, sending its body flying toward the Dexterity Type.
'Predictable.'
The Turned dodged quickly, but because Zarek had biased the side it could move to, he was already there before it could steady itself. It was as though the Dexterity Type had presented itself to the blade, losing its head in one swift motion.
Zarek slowed his movement to a steady stop, exhaling a breath as he brought the sheath of the katana out and sealed the blade within in a fluid motion.
'I guess long weapons aren't so bad. But I still prefer my daggers. I guess machetes will have to do for now.'
Chi.
The hilt clicked into place as Zarek's boiling blood slowed to a crawl.
Looking up, he shook his head. That was a little more interesting than normal, but he was starting to get more and mroe of his original combat sharpness back. If not for this volatility to his Growth Potential, he would be even stronger.
'They're gone...' Zarek's eyes narrowed. He could feel that Belladoll and Crux weren't on the rooftop anymore. The question was if they had truly left, or if they were elsewhere.