Hojin could feel Solomon's presence. It was easy to notice... After all, a monster like that wouldn't be called Emperor for nothing, would it? His mana aura could be felt from miles away, but... That was wrong! Solomon wasn't a monster focused on mana, but on strength... So, he was in the same [MODIFIED] state as his servants.
— It's going to be a problem to deal with you... - Hojin muttered to himself, looking around with his ability to always be alert.
Behind him, then, the creature calmly rose from the mud; It looked like a much rger, imposing sword lizard, its purple eyes the same as those of the modified Sword Lizard he had just faced. He knew... There was something going on here. Maybe a conspiracy. But, before he could react, a growl came out of Solomon's throat;
— Grunhhh... - He "said". He seemed to be trying to clear his throat, and then, a strangely human and thick voice began to come out of Solomon - You... Are different. The other hunter was arrogant... - He said, while giving a harsh and harsh ugh. - As for you? You are analytical, and that is too dangerous for my reign.
The Emperor finished speaking, and then, quickly unched himself in the direction of the hunter, who, without much room or time to think, tried to dodge to the left, however, he was surprised by the abrupt and extremely fast change of direction of the Lizard, who grabbed him by the jaw and lifted him into the sky, where, after looking into the hunter's eyes, he threw him at high speed towards a tree as if he were a simple rag doll. In the air, however, Hojin managed to control himself and nded standing on the trunk, but soon fell straight into the mud because... Well, physics exists. He stood up and looked at the Emperor, wondering if there was anything he could do... If he tried a direct attack, it would have the same result or even worse. He had no resources to attack from afar... It was a situation where Hojin was the pool ball, Solomon the white ball and the pocket his death.
— This is going to be hard to win... - But, without retreating, he advanced, running a little slower because of the mud.
While Hojin was fighting for his life, on the other side of the world, an extremely important conference was taking pce that could even define the fate of this world;
.
.
.
.
< World Hunters Conference Room >
— Engnd, London, 02:00 p.m.
At the same time, on the other side of the world, a pne nded next to the enormous and imposing building of the World Monster Hunters Association. On the pne, a face was printed: Micah Valnce. The most powerful Hunter in the United States, and, perhaps, even in the entire world. The stairs descended from the private jet, and, calmly, a figure descended it; Blond hair parted and reaching the end of his neck, a white outfit with golden details on his body, and, the most striking feature: His blue eyes with pupils in the shape of four-pointed yellow stars, almost glowing. Micah had a small smile on his face, and, on his chest, he proudly dispyed the crest of his guild: The Kortana.
Kortana was perhaps the rgest and richest guild in the world. It was based in the United States and had always been involved in the world's rgest Dungeon Breaks, helping other countries. And of course, Valnce was the guild leader. Its symbol? A bck four-pointed shuriken with a red circle in the center. He calmly walked to the entrance of the building, and then, in the blink of an eye, he was already on the top floor; the meeting room. Around the oval table, there were some familiar faces: Ma Yoon-jae, leader of the "White Reflection" guild; Shi Jianyu, leader of the "Extreme Lotus" guild; and also Khonsu Sa-Ra, leader of the Egyptian "Golden Sphinx" guild. The four most powerful leaders were all together, and they could finally discuss what really mattered: The possible approach of a rift unlike anything they had ever seen... It would be something simir to the "Great Crisis", the event that started this whole world. The predictions said that, in a maximum of 1 year, this rift would open. And that was a DANGER for society! Especially for the unawakened...
Micah Valnce sat at the table, and then, with his fingers intertwined and a serious expression, he began to speak;
— We know that a possible second Great Crisis is approaching... It is too dangerous. So, gentlemen, I must ask: How is the progress of your guild members? - Valnce asked, with an optimistic smile on his face.
Jianyu was the first to answer.
— As you know, China is the second strongest country in the world... And our hunters are not far behind. We have more than 50 thousand members, and many of them have very well-developed strength and defense skills, and, in addition... - He paused, standing up and pointing to a 3D graph that the holographic table dispyed; - All the hunters in our guild are above level 30 thanks to our training structures. By the way... If this threat hinders our development, we will crush it without sparing any effort to do so.
That was an impressive feat of leadership! All three of the others cpped, and then Ma Yoon-jae also stood up, starting to speak:
— We in Korea have also managed to gather a good amount of members, and currently, we have at least 15 thousand members. - He said, "holding" a holographic chart in his left hand. - And most of our members are above level 25. The most powerful ones are all above level 100. I think we can deal with a possible threat in Korea together with other local guilds, and perhaps, if we can stabilize in time, we can send help to other countries in the alliance. - He finished, with a competitive smile on his face. He knew that, in terms of numbers, he easily lost to Extreme Lotus, but, in terms of strategy, everyone knew that the White Reflection guild was unreachable.
In the middle of the expnation, however, they noticed a strange sound... It was Khonsu snoring. He was sleeping in the middle of the expnation. Even though he was in the top 4 in the world, he didn't seem to care much about meetings... Even though this one could literally define the fate of the world. Irritated, Yoon-jae grabbed a gss of cold water and threw it in Khonsu's direction, who, even though he was sleeping, dodged the gss and pointed a finger at Yoon-jae, saying;
— Just because I'm sleeping doesn't mean I'm off guard, okay? - He said, opening his eyes with a mocking smile;
Sa-Ra had long white hair, a little below his shoulders, intense red eyes and dark skin. He wore red-lensed gsses, a blue kimono with a dark blue wave pattern, and also wore a gold bracelet on his left wrist and gold rings on most of his fingers.
— Well... Let me see here. - He stood up, scratching his head as he fiddled with the holographic table. Quickly, he chose some charts and took them in his hand with the 3D projection, saying; - So... The Golden Sphinx guild has approximately 20 thousand members, is very rich and most of our members are around level 25 and 30. - Khonsu said, scratching his head as he thought of what else to say. - Yeah, I think that's it. - He finished saying, giving a silly smile along with a little scratch on his head.
Micah Valnce had an optimistic smile on his face, and, with his eyes closed and fingers intertwined, he said;
- So, gentlemen... I see that everyone here is well prepared for this event, right? Please... Continue. We'll need strength for this. - He said, as he stood up, already preparing to leave.
.
.
.
.
Hojin shortened the length between them. 10 meters, probably, was the distance between them. He needed to be careful with 3 main points of the Emperor:
1. His Tail - He has a huge and powerful tail, even more dangerous because of the "Tail Impale" ability.
2. His Teeth - They are huge, and would tear his body apart without any difficulty, even using his tactical armor.
3. His Cws - His biggest concern in physical combat, after all, he had long arms and, because of the modification, his cws were even sharper and more dangerous. And, on top of everything, he still had the "Armored Cws" ability. An almost 100% risk of death.
He barely had any combat options. As he approached, Solomon watched him with his sharp eyes, remaining in a state of total attention. He was focused.
Hojin was surrounded by the situation, but without hesitation, he drew his "Corrosive Dagger" and advanced from the left, and then, when the Lizard was going to block the attack, Hojin stopped in the middle and revealed a feint, redirecting the bde to the creature's abdomen, which, even having very hard and resistant scales, was pierced as if it were butter, and then, the system message appeared:
Hojin was shocked. It was almost impossible for him to defeat the Emperor alone, now with even more enemies?! But before he could think, Solomon began to speak again;
— Before you think... No, I'm not going to bring my servants to fight with me. I just needed the physical buff... You know, I like FAIR FIGHTS.
And as soon as he finished speaking, a punch from the Emperor was thrown towards the left side of Hojin's face, who barely had time to react and was thrown far away, hitting a tree and falling back into the mud. He got up, seeing that his HP was already very depleted and his fatigue increased. Panting, he then raised his dagger again and tried to use his superhuman agility, until his legs began to hurt from fatigue, and Hojin almost gave in.
Solomon then ughed and the mud began to level up, while he said something about how he would show Hojin the true power of an "Emperor". The Swamp seemed to be alive and obeying him, but Hojin didn't care, and so, even with even more mud getting in his way and with all the exhaustion his body was being subjected to at the moment, he advanced and approached the Lizard quietly.
When the bigger one least expected it, he began to be stabbed over and over again. At least 10. He then used his tail and, as if it were a spear, pierced Hojin's abdomen and threw him away, singing victory with a smile on his face.
╔══════【? UPDATE ?】═════════╗
║
║ ? THE ENTITY "SOLOMON SWORD LIZARD EMPEROR" HAS LOST 50 HP.
║
║ ? [ 499 / 600 ]
║
╚════════════════════════╝
╔═══════【? UPDATE ?】════════╗
║
║ ? THE ENTITY "SOLOMON SWORD LIZARD EMPEROR" HAS BEEN AFFLICTED WITH THE POISONING EFFECT.
║
║ ? You will lose 0.11% of your health every second.
║
╚════════════════════════╝
Even though he was practically dead, Hojin smiled and raised his head. With his nose bleeding and his hair falling slightly over his face, he said;
— You only have... - He spat blood - Another 1 hour and 30 minutes to live, motherfucker! Hehehehehe.... - Hojin started ughing as he slowly passed out.
Solomon looked at him and thought the hunter was delirious before death, but he looked at his own HP bar and noticed that every exactly 1.82 seconds he was losing a life point. Then, he turned angrily to Hojin and, nervous, grabbed him by the neck, shouting;
— HOW DO YOU REVERSE THIS, YOU DAMN HUMAN?! - He shouted, as he watched his HP bar drop and drop...
— I don't know, hehehe... - Hojin seemed to be delirious as he lost more and more blood.
Nam Hojin had always been a normal guy. At least, until that moment. And, one of the most striking memories up until that moment...
A year ago.
Leaving school, the same day the apocalypse began.
How did she look...?
What was the girl's name again...?
*Oh Hyerin.*
Before he could think about it any further or go into a fshback, he was woken up by Solomon squeezing his neck and taking away almost all of his air. It had been 1 minute, and with that, he had 466 HP left. He still had a lot of strength, and a lot of life, but... He only had one hour left.
In anger, Solomon then threw him to the ground and activated his "Armored Cws" skill, determined to kill the boy. Hojin, however, was not at all in the mood to die, and as soon as Solomon threw his arm up and prepared to sink his cws into Hojin's chest, the boy rolled to the side and drew his dagger once more, stabbing him more and more so that the process became even faster.
— WHAT?! - The Emperor could already feel his Status slowly falling, and with that, his reaction was also getting slower.
There were 25 stabs.
And so, 0.36% of his HP is drained every second. Hojin stepped back and, with a smug smile on his face, said;
— It's been two minutes, you bitch. Your HP should be at... 301, am I right?! - He said, his smile becoming even more cynical and growing.
The Emperor looked at the counter, and to his surprise, a second ago it was... But it kept FALLING.
And a few minutes ter, it plummeted. Until it reached "0".
╔═══════【? UPDATE ?】═════════╗
║
║ ? YOU LEVELED UP!
║
╚══════════════════════════╝
The notification appeared 5 times. But besides that... A new window appeared:
╔═══════【? GIFT ?】════════╗
║
║ ? Hello pyer! Before all this started, we promised to give you a gift, didn't we? Look at your status bar again...
║
╚══════════════════════╝
Hojin, curious, shouted "STATUS", and thus, opened his status window;
╔═════【? INFORMATION ?】═══════╗
║ ? Name: Nam Hojin
║ ? Title: "First Pyer" (Exclusive)
║ ? Age: 19 Years Old
║ ? Height: 1.84 Meters Tall
║ ? Blood Type: O-
║ ? Css: ???
║ ? Level: 12
║ ? Rank: F (D)
║ ? Skills: Third Person Eye | Devour
║ ? Artifacts: N/
╚════════════════════════╝
╔════════【? STATUS ?】═══════╗
║ ? Strength: ? 10 (+10)
║ ? Agility: ? 30 (+5)
║ ? Endurance: ??? 5 (+15)
║ ? Intelligence: ? 5
║ ? Vitality: ? 5 (+15)
║ ? Senses: ??? 10
║ ? Mana: ? 5 (+100)
║ ? Free Status Points: ? 25
╚═════════════════════════╝
He was startled. He had gained a skill completely out of nowhere. It seemed that... In addition to the "Third Person Eye", he had also gained an extra skill...
With a smile on his face, Hojin expanded the skill and came face to face with this window;
╔════════【? SKILL ?】═════════╗
║ ? Name: Devour
║ ? Efficiency Level: 1
║ ? Rank: ???
║ ? Css: Absolute
║ ? Description: Devour EVERYTHING.
╚═════════════════════════╝
Just like that, this was the new skill he had gained. Curious to test it, he stretched out his hand, weak and panting, towards Solomon's dead body, and then shouted;
— DEVOUR!
For a second, the world seemed to tremble.
And then, a bck and purple aura came out of his body that expanded exponentially, and, from his arm, like pure magic, the figure of a dragon made of bck and purple aura materialized, "devouring" the Boss's body. While the boy tried to process what exactly this devouring meant, a new window appeared in front of him;
╔═════════【? SKILL ?】══════════╗
║ ? WHICH SKILL OF THE BOSS < "Solomon, the Emperor of the Sword Lizards" > DOES THE PLAYER WISH TO ASSIMILE? ╚═══════════════════════════╝
His life would never be the same again.
END OF CHAPTER 7.
