Chapter - 20

Rex froze when he heard the growling. He realized exactly what had happened now. A stronger predator had shown up.

"*Groan* Why does this happen to me?" (Rex)

ROAR!!

A loud roar rang out and suddenly Rex's wall received an extremely heavy impact. Rex was startled, his Earth Wall already had cracks in it. He hurriedly tried to reinforce the wall, however, something unexpected occurred.

"Wha-What is this? The Earth Mana around here isn't in my control!" (Rex)

Not only was the Mana no longer under Rex's control, he could actually sense it gathering on the other side of the wall. Suddenly, the wall around Rex crumbled because of the lack of Mana in it.

'Ah....so you can do that too....' (Rex)

In a daze, Rex failed to notice the massive beast in front of him.  What appeared to be a tiger with faded fur, with a metal mask on its head and spear tipped tail, stood looking down on Rex's crouching form. 

"Wh-What....A Metal Liger!?" (Rex)

The mental bestiary in Rex's mind instantly identified the creature in front of him. Rex was instantly terrified. He knew that a Metal Liger was a low A-Rank beast. However, from what he was told, that was only if there was a gem on its forehead and it hadn't fully formed its metal mask. A Metal Liger with a fully formed mask was practically an upper A-Rank beast, bordering on S-Rank.

'I thought the area around here was only filled with D-Ranks!?' (Rex)

While he was thinking such useless thoughts, the Liger pounced towards Rex. Rex wasn't able to react in time and suddenly his left arm was in the Ligers mouth.

'No. No. No! NO!' (Rex)

The Liger promptly tore off his arm.

"AAHH!!" (Rex)

Rex was in pain. He felt almost blinded by it. In addition to that, he was also losing blood rather quickly. He was beginning to lose all control of his emotions.

'It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!' (Rex)

The beast didn't pay any attention to Rex's pain, it simply started gorging itself on his left arm. It didn't take it long to realize that an even tastier and bigger piece of meat was right in front of it. 

Grrr...

Rex was really panicking right now. He was terrified, his instincts were telling him to flee.

'I have to run. I-agh-have-gah-RUN!' (Rex)

With every last bit of willpower left in him, Rex stood up. The Liger was actually eyeing him warily. It seems to have sensed something within him.

'Have to....Haa.....distract...' (Rex)

Rex tried focusing on the Mana around him. He willed the red-colored Mana to surround the beast. The Liger didn't seem to sense the change at first, however, once the heat rose, it growled and its eyes shone. Countless spikes flew up from the air, all made out of some metal.

"GAAH!" (Rex)

With no energy to move, Rex was unable to avoid the majority of the spikes and was pierced in several places on his body. He was bleeding from his stomach, from his hands, knees and chest. No normal living being could survive such damage.

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'This....ugh...this is it. But, ugh....I don't want to die...will I still live, if I have will?' (Rex)

In the region known as the Coastal Jungle, there stood a man and a beast. The beast stood proudly, in all its armored glory, while the man stood impaled and bleeding, close to deaths door.

The Liger stood patiently, waiting for its prey to die. However, as time passed, it noticed that the light in its preys eyes did not diminish. It shone, steady and bright.

Growl...

'I. Want. To. Live. I. Want. To. Survive.' (Rex)

Unique Ability Triggered!

Because of certain conditions being met your Unique Ability(UAB) has been activated!

UAB Active: Survivor's Instinct

On the brink of death, when your will is strong, the Survivor will awaken. It has no name. It is your primal instinct. It is Survival.

Suddenly, Rex no longer felt anything. It was as though he was detached from his body. He could see, he could hear, he could smell, but, everything else was out of his control. It was like someone had taken control of his body, no, it was like something possessed it.

BOOM.

 The Liger was startled. Its prey had broken free of its restraints. What was even more shocking was how fast its preys body was healing. However, that wasn't all. The Metal Liger was suddenly struck with terror. It had seen the eyes of its prey, no, now it was the predator.

Rex's body suddenly moved. He, it, was faster than before. Rex immediately realized why.

'The Wind! It's using Wind Mana to bolster its speed!' (Rex)

The Metal Liger wasn't stupid. It immediately retreated while erecting an Earth Wall of its own. Rex's body, however, simply shot a palm out and siphoned the Earth Mana from the wall to make it crumble. The Liger was quick to retaliate, it fired several Metal Spikes at it. But, the body conjured multiple small fire bullets and intercepted the spikes, almost effortlessly.

Rex watched all of this happen in astonishment. He had never been able to control Mana so well or for that matter aim so precisely. 

As Rex's body removed the threat of the spikes, he got closer to the Liger and at the opportune moment, made a chopping motion towards the neck of the beast. It seemed like a futile move, except that Rex was aware that its hand was layered in Void Mana.

The hand chopped downwards. The Liger gave one final defiant roar. Suddenly, something dropped to the ground. It was the Liger's head. Rex's body only gave it a glance before it suddenly started running. Abruptly, Rex found that they were out of the forest and were approaching the city. As soon as Rex was able to discern the outline of the city gates, his body stopped. 

'Wh-What's happening? Wh-Why am I-uhh...uhh' (Rex)

Rex felt exhaustion overcome him. His conciousness was slowly fading. He felt himself suddenly regain control of his body and also the senses that he had been cut off from. The blinding pain came rushing back. His head went white. Before Rex could even scream, darkness overtook him.