Chapter 134 Mink
Zarek's blade moved like the wind, his amber eyes leaving streaks in the air. He hadn't stretched his body in three days, using it as an opportunity not only to teach the others about the habits of the Turned and how to take advantage of them, but also to work on their coordination.
But right now, coordination wasn't what was needed. They needed strength, speed—a suffocating might that would overwhelm even the C Classes lurking in the shadows.
His heart revved like an engine, pools of Lurker's Godsfall snaking beneath his skin and coating his bones, tendons, and ligaments.
There was an added extra hint of darkness in his eye as his speed accelerated.
His movements became even more fluid, and when his blades arched across the skies, slicing into the flesh of the Turned, it didn't even look like he was hitting them at all. It cut through with such efficiency that there wasn't the slightest pause, not the slightest hitch, not the slightest catch in his blades.
'It's coming.'
Zarek felt it before it even appeared, and even when it finally did—bursting out from the water fixture in streaks of black and red—it was hard to truly see it.
Fast.
That was the best way to describe the mink-porcupine Turned. However, when Zarek saw it suddenly change directions in the air, suddenly going from a straight upward trajectory right toward him, his eyes couldn't help but narrow.
His eyes went past the small Turned, landing on the piece of the sky it had just changed directions in.
'I see.'
Zarek understood what he was dealing with immediately, and he exhaled a breath, his Lurker's Godsfall expanding. This was no time to hold back. A C Class was too powerful, and he couldn't afford any injuries to either himself or the group that followed after him.
His enemies could accept deaths.
He, however, could not.
The small Turned had already appeared before Zarek by the time he turned his attention to it once again. And yet, the instant it twitched once more, rather than facing it head-on, Zarek suddenly pivoted, his forward momentum becoming a sweeping turn as he about-faced.
As though reading into the future, the mink Turned slammed its palms down on the air as well, hopping in a series of quick jumps to appear at Zarek's back. Or… what would have been his back had he not turned around.
The mink Turned seemed to show hints of surprise, reflections of its intelligence pooling in its eyes as Zarek's blade swung right for its head.
Even taken off guard, the Turned reacted quickly, its crimson claws extending from its small paws until they were a shocking three-quarters the length of its body.
Deng.
The momentum of the clash sent Zarek's arm swinging back up, but the little mink was also far too light and small. Its own body went smashing down to the ground.
Peeling lines of Godsfall whizzed by Zarek in that instant as Priya began to fire at the remaining D Classes, keeping them off of Zarek's back so he could focus on the C Class right in front of him at the same moment the mink touched the ground.
The Turned looked as though it wanted to leap away instantly, to whip out and dodge to make some distance. However…
Zarek's steel-toed boots slammed down from above. The C Class tried to dodge, only to find its paws anchored to the ground by a sticky substance. Normally, it would be able to pull free in time, but its extended claws were pierced into the concrete—concrete that somehow had crevices also filled with this sticky substance.
It tried to retract its claws to no avail, the elasticity of the substance causing its backward momentum to become a second slam against the ground, causing its entire belly to stick to it as well.
All of this happened in an instant, and by the end of that instant, a boot had collapsed on it from above.
BANG!
The head of the mink was flashed with red, its porcupine-like hairs standing to meet Zarek's boots.
Unfortunately for it, it was a living, breathing being. Zarek had already seen the spikes that adorned its body, and though it was harder to see through all of its Talents and Skills because it was already at the very limit of his C Class Scouting Skill's abilities, he knew enough.
Enough to know that the mink couldn't eject its spikes, and his eyes were sharp enough to see that the fibers of its fur all aligned in a single direction. If one ran their hands down one direction, it would feel as soft as a feather. If it was the other, however… your palm would be impaled a dozen different ways.
Meaning… even if the mink raised its spikes, they would be angled away from Zarek's accelerating foot. In which case, if his boot was angled just right…
Zarek might as well have been kicking a pillow.
Spa… Tss…
The crunch of bone, the oozing splat of flesh—all of which wasn't even matched by a mournful cry, shallow or otherwise.
BANG!
Zarek reached down without missing a beat, completely ignoring the sudden jolt that came from behind him as he took in the Godsfall Droplet of the mink Turned, swallowing it whole.
In another motion, he cut its paws off.
'These are strong. Very strong.'
Zarek didn't have an easy way to store away the six claws of the mink Turned, but he definitely couldn't leave them here. They were about as strong as a weak C Class Treasure, and at worst, they were extremely elite D Class Treasures.
If his Lurker's Godsfall had been forced to face them directly, it would have been shredded apart. Luckily, he managed to stick onto the flats of their sides.
Zarek threw his daggers to the side, wrapping his palms around the mink's paws and separating its long claws between the gaps in his fingers.
This was going to have to do for now.
His Lurker's Godsfall wrapped around them, tightening their hold until they latched into place—just in time for him to turn to face the lizardman Turned.