Zarek had calmly sidestepped the leaping gorilla. It hadn't been able to maneuver properly in the air under the pain of the assault, but it was also lucky that Zarek had personally crafted those bolts—otherwise, it might have survived the bite long enough to kill him.
The Endurance of the beast might be high, but there would always be parts of its body that weren't so easily defended.
Opening up its mouth and roaring like that was certainly one of them. But Zarek also sensed that the moment it became infuriated, a ruby energy began to waft from it, and its Endurance stat began to increase.
Its hairs bristled, and when it pounded the ground and leapt toward him again, it was as though two diamond mallets had left their imprint onto the ground.
It unfurled its fists, sweeping crimson claws launching themselves at Zarek's head.
'Oh…'
Zarek ducked and rolled. Popping up to his feet, he unfurled his whip, extending it to a tree trunk at the side and taking advantage of the sticky nature of his whip to rip himself to the side.
Scythes of Godsfall cut across the air, and Zarek raised an eyebrow as they passed through where he had just been, the gorilla Turned landing not too long after.
That was odd. He hadn't expected the Turned to be able to emit its Godsfall like that. Of course, he had been ready nonetheless, but it was peculiar for a creature with such low Intelligence.
He had already noticed the [Slashing Claw] Skill, but it should have been a tangible amplification applied directly to the beast's claws—not one that could be emitted.
Even Zarek couldn't emit his Godsfall yet.
Zarek's gaze shifted toward the Godsfall Tear.
'It seems that it's even more dangerous than I thought…'
There was another way to tell the difficulty of a Godsfall Tear, and that was by measuring the mutations it could trigger in the Turned that stayed around it for extended periods of time.
In all likelihood, this gorilla was only able to claim this Tear because it was the closest. But very soon, it would receive one challenge after another for this Tear, and if Zarek was correct, a much more powerful Turned would come to own this territory.
Zarek's eyes narrowed.
Was this someone playing around with his luck and Karma again?
No. This felt different. This wasn't a lucky chance.
The odds he could benefit from the Cursed Talent were high. He was almost guaranteed to claim a reward from the Challenge Hub as well. Until now, the lucky encounters that defined his journey had all practically been placed on a silver platter.
This, however, wasn't such a thing. In fact, there was a term for Godsfall Tears like this.
Death Tears.
Godsfall could only trigger mutations in Turned in one of two ways: quantity or volatility. The former was displayed by the Crimson Rain just a few days ago. The latter, however… that was much more subtle.
This Godsfall was dangerous—far more cancerous—carrying within it a chaos that could trigger almost anything at any time.
Zarek seemed almost too distracted by his thoughts, seemingly not noticing the gorilla leaping toward him again, but as though he had eyes on the side of his face, he reacted casually.
With another tug of his whip, Zarek accelerated, his body shifting out of the way.
The head of the gorilla slammed into the tree, just enough for Zarek to shift behind it, his whip tightening as he spiraled across the back of the Turned.
The gorilla Turned tried to pull back, only to fail to build up enough momentum. After failing the first time, it was even harder the second as Zarek wrapped around the tree again, and then again.
After the fifth time, Zarek stood firmly on the gorilla's back, one foot pressing its heel into the back of its skull.
The maw of the gorilla was opened wide, having tried to bite at Zarek, only to fail miserably.
A grunt came from Zarek's lips as he pressed harder, pulling on his whip with more power and forcing the gorilla's jaw even further apart until it began to split at the skin.
There was a flash in Zarek's eyes and he unleashed a roar. His foot stomped down and his arm pulled back at the same time, flattening the gorilla's open jaw against the tree.
At that very same moment, the bolt stuck in the creature's throat finished its path upward, severing the Godsfall Droplet hidden within.
The beast went limp, falling to the ground in a heap.
'It actually held up, not bad.' Zarek nodded to himself.
Lurker's Whip was only an E Class item, but it held up against the Endurance at D Class. It was frayed a bit, but its flexibility actually allowed it to have some quasi self-healing abilities.
Though, this wasn't too surprising. Treasures tended to have far higher durability than living beings of the same level. It wasn't as though an E Class blade would easily break against D Class skin. Unless you were facing a real monster, that is.
Zarek released his whip and let the gorilla fall to the ground. Punching through its eye socket, he dug around until he pulled out the Godsfall Tear.
'Volatility…'
Zarek stared at the Godsfall Tear for a long while, observing it in silence before he eventually popped it into his mouth.
He felt a surge at that moment.
[Limit Break]
—
[Intelligence has shown great progress]
—
>[Intelligence: E+]
-
>[Intelligence: EE]
—
Zarek felt as though his cells were rapidly splitting in his body, a great amount of fatigue overwhelming him quickly.
He began to circulate [Tearing Gut], trying to manage the feeling, but it wasn't until several minutes later that he regained the slightest semblance of calm.
Indeed… volatility.
This was a D Class Turned with Endurance that was off the charts, and yet Zarek only experienced tweaks and changes to his Intelligence alone.
'Perfect. This is the exact sort of risk I need right now.'
His gaze shifted to the Godsfall Tear. Leaping to his feet, he rushed toward it, stepping in without hesitation.