The mass of poisoned civilians approaches as a swarm of famished predators. Ethan switches his DMR to fully automatic and empties his magazine at the first line. They drag each other in their fall. With a swift hand movement, Ethan throws a fragmentation grenade at them. He runs back up the stairs, fleeing the incoming shrapnel.
"You leveled up," the voice echoes in unison with the explosion.
Killing a handful of the remaining guards, Ethan leaves the building to return to his ride. He switches to his biker attire in a hurry and mounts his motorcycle. He calls Tombstone as he ignites his bike's engine.
"Welcome back, Reaper five," she says.
"Target is on the run; he left in a car at an unknown time. Anything that could correspond on the traffic cameras?" Ethan requests.
A long pause ensues as Ethan leaves the industrial area.
"A convoy of three cars exited a building near your location an hour ago; I'll guide you."
Ethan cuts through the rubbles and wreckage as Tombstone orders his turns. "Driving (Motorbike) leveled up."
Soon, he stops his ride along an abandoned hospital. He notices cracks and moss plaguing its walls, along with creeping vines that enter its shattered windows. A drug addict shivers near the entrance, hidden behind an industrial bin.
"They just parked in the garage; video surveillance is unavailable," Tombstone warns.
"Get me a potential ETA on any nearing helicopter," Ethan asks as he equips his plate carrier and pulls out his assault rifle.
Her mic cuts for a moment. "The nearest helicopter could be here in fifteen minutes," she finally informs.
"I'm going in, cutting comms," Ethan says.
"Good luck," Tombstone says as she hangs up.
Ethan enters through a broken window on the first floor. Predator's sight tells him that a host of humans are moving through the second floor. 'Silent steps,' he thinks as he hastens his space.
The drain of Ether caused by silent steps is intense, exponential to Ethan movement speed. He drinks drop after drop of his potion as he runs through the building. "Ether manipulation leveled up. Ether manipulation leveled up."
Their silhouettes suddenly spin, and their heart rates skyrocket. Ethan stops to listen and observe through predator's sight.
"Where is it!?" one of them screams. He aims his rifle to the side, breaking their airtight formation.
"Keep moving!" a woman orders. Her English carries a thick Russian accent. She stands taller than the rest of the group, her heart bigger and slower.
The group of ten people resumes their step. A discrete scraping sound echoes from above them. The closing member of their formation is lifted off the ground, his lungs emptying in an agonizing exhale.
Something drags the victim's dying figure into the ceiling. They spin and open fire in its direction. The gunshots pierce Ethan's ears as ice spikes thrust into his skull. He cancels predator's sight. 'That's on me; I watched Man of Steel; I should have known,' he mocks in his mind.
As the gunfire dies down, Ethan restores his Ether and resumes predator's sight. "Pavlov, close the formation!" the Russian woman orders. The enemy squad regroups, restructuring itself around one of them. They move quickly, their hearts beating frenetically.
'What was that?' Ethan ponders. 'It doesn't have a heartbeat; I just heard it moving.' Ethan's breathing hastens uncontrollably. He resumes his pursuit, focusing not on the group he hunts but on his own surroundings.
A scraping sound comes from above. Ethan dashes into a wall and aims at the ceiling. A dark purple, shell-covered tail ending in a harpoon-like stinger bursts through. Ethan shoots a dozen rounds at it and at the ceiling. A piercing shriek sends shivers through Ethan's skin. Tar-like blood drools from the bullet holes.
The tail springs back in as Ethan stands up and runs away. He can hear claws rushing behind and towards him. He passes a door where the false ceiling ends, finding himself before a series of elevator doors with no other exit. The creature drops to the floor behind the door frame.
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Thick scales cover its hunched humanoid body. Blood drips from the wounds Ethan inflicted – wounds that would have killed any human. It opens its maw, revealing layers of serrated teeth. It jumps on Ethan to bite him. His rifle blocks its teeth as he dodges its claws. Its tail springs at Ethan's leg. He dodges, and the tail burrows between an elevator's doors, bending them.
Ethan draws his Glock, thinking, 'Piercing shot.' The bullet penetrates the base of the creature's maw but doesn't stop it. 'Piercing shot,' Ethan commands again. 'Piercing shot.' The third round sends the monster to the ground. Its teeth rip off Ethan's rifle from his hand, crushing it with enough force to dig into the weapon's frame.
"You leveled up."
Ethan's heart suddenly tightens and bursts, altering between V-tach and almost no pulse. Black veins appear along his arms and neck, his skin becomes white, and his strength leaves him.
His legs give up, and he falls alongside the monster's corpse. He closes his eyes and sees threads of Ether forming from his own flesh, attracted by a void in his heart. His mind clouds, as if under the influence of a sedative gas.
With excruciating pain, he takes out the potion of Ether and sips a drop. His heart calms down, but the veins and his anemia remain.
"Adding the Life force manipulation skill. Based on your previous experience a level of 0 has been applied."
Ethan stands up. His body is sluggish and weaker than it should be. 'Is this what happens when you consume all of your Ether?' he wonders. 'How long was I paralyzed for? Seconds? Minutes?'
He shakes his head. Triggering predator's sight, he sees his targets moving upstairs. He tries to force open the elevator doors, but their mechanism resists him. "Status," he says.
Ethan Reed
Lv.4 (Harbinger) Human
Strength: 16 + Charisma: 12 +
Dexterity: 16 + Perception: 16 +
Constitution: 15 + Willpower: 18 +
Intelligence: 18 +
Available characteristic points: 6
Titles
Dungeon conqueror (F)
First dungeon conqueror (F)
First hunter
Slayer of the first incursion
Kin slayer
Kobold hunter
Abilities
Anonymity (F)
Identification (F)
Piercing shot (F)
Predator's sight (F)
Silent steps (F)
Alteration
Life force exhaustion (2/10)
Ethan presses the plus along his strength four times. His muscles tingle as they grow. Gripping the elevator's doors, he forces them open. The cabin rests at the bottom of the shaft. Jumping on one of the metallic cables, Ethan ascends to the highest accessible floor.
He leaps towards the doors, landing on the edge of the elevator shafts, and forces them open. Exiting into a corridor, he glances at a floor plan displayed on a wall. He and his targets are equidistant from the roof's access.
Using silent steps, Ethan is the first to reach the room giving access to the roof. He hides behind a door, aiming his G28 through its shattered window. His crosshair stays steadily on the entrance they are approaching.
'Just one more shot, and I can go home for the night,' Ethan thinks. 'There are only seven of them; did the monsters kill another two?'
They enter, shining their lights everywhere. "Clear!" one of them yells. "Clear!" another follows as he checks his angle.
Ethan's crosshair falls on his target's scar. He presses the trigger. A spark of golden light pierces through, brighter than their torches. The Plague Merchant's face reappears, unscathed. 'Piercing shot,' Ethan thinks, shooting a second round. The phenomenon reiterates itself and they aim their rifles at his door.
Lead rains toward Ethan. He falls back, sending a flash grenade into the room. The detonation doesn't render their guns silent, as they fire aimlessly. Ethan hears the roof doors open, and they rush outside.
Ethan places several walls between him and them. He chuckles lightly. 'Of course, he couldn't be that simple,' he thinks. The sound of a helicopter's blades reverberates through the walls, growing louder with each passing second.
Ethan moves to a peripheral room, one with a wall adjacent to the hospital's roof. 'Predator's sight, piercing shot,' he thinks as he shoots one of his target's guards. The man, who was running to cover, falls to the ground.
Their Russian leader shouts, "Take cover! Saitov! Lay down suppressive fire!" An LMG roars to life, unleashing a hail of bullets towards Ethan, riddling the wall with holes.
Ethan has already moved elsewhere. He takes a sip and reiterates the operation repeatedly. Soon, only the Plague Merchant, and the Russian woman remain, unfazed by the bullets that hit them. Ethan stops shooting. "When the helicopter arrives, I'll protect the pilot instead of you. You rush inside and get cover. Understood?" the woman orders after seconds of silence.
Ethan smiles as he aims for the Plague Merchant's head. The approaching helicopter's sound melts his brain as he maintains predator's sight to see his target through a wall.
The Plague Merchant starts running, and Ethan presses the trigger, 'Piercing shot.' The G28 barrel splits open as the bullet leaves it. The projectile tears off the Plague Merchant's jaw, sending him to the ground.
"Fuck!" Ethan yells. He unholsters his Glock, rushing towards the roof. He shoves the doors with his shoulder and finds his target lying on the ground. Ethan shoots at the man's head, but the earlier spark deflects the projectile into the helicopter's body.
The woman stands up from behind cover. Ethan sidesteps, taking cover as he shoots thrice. The bullets splatter on her skin and body armor before falling to the ground.
"I'm out of ammo, and not even your rifle was able to wound me," she says as she drops an AK12 and a Glock aside.
The pilot hides in his seat, without a weapon in his hands. Ethan holsters his pistol and unsheathes his knife. "I haven't tried everything yet," he says in Russian.
They organically move to an open part of the roof. Ethan keeps an eye on the still target and on the pilot. Both assume a stance as she unsheathes her own knife, ready to jump at each other.