CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR

The dog's attack was extremely simple.

In fact, that very simplicity caught Jason totally off guard.

During the mission, the watchdog Hemoborn had displayed only a few attacks.

While the Mech certainly carried a few weapons, Jason had taken advantage of the frames' low defense to kill the dogs before they could do anything.

As a result, he adopted an extremely defensive stance at the start of the match.

He planted his feet in place and raised his hands before him. He was ready to summon any weapon, to counter any attack.

He didn't know what the dog's attacks were, so he wanted to keep his options open.

However, the dog didn't bring out any weapons.

Instead, it just opened its mouth and charged straight at Jason.

Despite its size, the machine was absurdly fast. Jason had expected a slow and lumbering opponent like the Smoulderhulk.

Instead, this extremely powerful watchdog genetic sample relied entirely on speed and momentum.

Jason wasn't even worried about the machine's teeth.

Considering the difference in size and weight, that giant dog hitting the Red Minerva would be identical to a speeding freight train slamming into a human.

Jason stared at his screen, suppressing his worries.

He refused to allow himself to think of the downside of losing the battle. That was just a pointless distraction.

What was the way out of this mess?

What weapons did he have at his disposal?

His keen mind gravitated to the obvious option - his weapon used to destroy charging enemies.

He clapped his hands together.

BLAZING AVARICE: TITAN'S MACUAHUITL

To Jason's shock, the dog dodged the sudden pillar of flame.

Jason cursed.

The dog wasn't just extremely fast and large. It also had ridiculous maneuverability.

Usually, Mechs faced a massive trade-off between momentum and maneuverability.

This was just basic logic.

Extreme forward momentum made it hard to change directions.

However, the watchdog's powerful, muscular, and extremely well-padded paws meant it had no issue dodging from side to side.

Jason hesitated for a moment.

Behind-the-scenes pilots did not control the enemies in the Genetic Caverns.

Rather, the Mechs were operated by an advanced prototype of the Overdrive Corporation's STRATEGOS AI.

Jason didn't know much about the AI system.

He wasn't one of the mappers who'd mastered the AI's internal logic.

However, he knew that it almost never bluffed.

If the dog dodged to the side, that meant it was worried about taking damage. It stood to reason that the enormous Aztec club was the perfect weapon to defeat the gigantic dog.

As a result, Jason ordered the Red Minerva to bring the enormous club around.

He swung in a wide and vicious arc.

The gigantic flaming blades eagerly chased the sprinting dog.

Jason spun faster and faster, gaining more momentum.

The Blazing Avarice created flame-based replicas of weapons.

As a result, those weapons were far lighter than the original copy.

The original Valorous Ji was made of steel. A copy made of flames weighed far less.

The same was true of the Titan's Macuahuitl.

A bladed club of fire would weigh less than a bladed club of wood and obsidian.

However...

The Macuahuitl was still absolutely massive.

As a result, even though the weight had been reduced significantly, it was still a very large and forceful object.

As Jason built up more and more momentum, he began risking his mobility in exchange for power.

The force of swinging the large club made it difficult to dodge.

However, the more he swung the club, the faster it chased the dog.

At the moment, Jason's focus was solely catching up to his opponent.

Unlike the Aztec weapon that'd inspired it, Jason's titan blade did not require a significant amount of skill. The most important aspect of using the weapon was simply decision-making - choosing when to summon the gigantic blade and risk losing control his machine.

Right now, Jason saw no reason not to attack with full force.

Blargh!

Jason recoiled in surprise as the dog suddenly spat at him.

What the hell?

Although both the Red Minerva's Lamia form and this watchdog genetic sample used spittle-based attacks, the two couldn't be more different.

The Red Lamia's Pestilent Snipe was a highly concentrated sniping attack. In addition, its damage was increased by the deadly poisons in the cave dragon's stomach acid.

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The dog's globule of spit was almost as large as the entire Red Minerva. It was a pure blunt force trauma attack.

Nevertheless, the enormous bullet moved at a ridiculous speed.

Even worse, Jason was already commited to his current path.

His momentum was pushing him in a very specific direction - right into his opponent's attack.

He hadn't anticipated this kind of attack.

The saliva bullet was a hideous whitish blur that moved faster than Jason's eye could follow.

To dodge the attack, Jason relied more on the sound of the watchdog spitting than his sight.

Despite the large size of the spit bullet, the attack's movement speed meant it was difficult to track through eyesight alone. It left a long afterimage, looking almost like a comet as it seared through the air.

Jason was reminded of a bit of strange trivia he'd read about baseball batters.

The best MLB pitches had fastballs that sometimes broke over a hundred miles per hour.

Research showed that it was technically impossible for batters to actually see the ball - the speed was greater than the human eye could follow.

However, elite batters claimed that they could even see the seams of the ball as it spun.

In reality, an elite batter's brain somehow stayed a step ahead of their eyes, projecting the ball's pace as it soared forwards.

They weren't actually seeing the ball. Instead, their experience and intuition overlayed an image on their minds.

Before playing Overdrive, Jason had no idea what the "brain projection" could possibly entail.

But now, he understood completely how those elite batters felt.

He relied more on the sound of the dog's mouth and his pre-existing knowledge of quick-moving projectiles than he did on his eyes.

His projection of his opponent's attack was more intuition than science.

Unfortunately...

Jason's intuition told him he was screwed.

As things stood, he had no way to dodge the blob of spit.

By activating the Titan's Macuahuitl and swinging it around so aggressively, Jason had more or less committed his machine to a specific location.

The momentum would keep him spinning even after he dismissed the blade.

At this point, Jason's best hope was protecting his vitals.

His evasive maneuvers were more of a triage operation than anything else.

Thwomp!

Jason forcibly jammed his Mech's clubbed tail into the ground and dismissed the Titan's blade.

The heavy tail knocked his machine totally off course. The sudden change completely upended his machine's momentum.

In addition, dismissing the heavy blade midswing dramatically changed his machine's weight. As a result, it started spinning much faster than before.

The combined effect was similar to a top forcibly losing its balance and hitting the floor.

As a result, the attack missed Jason's head cockpit.

However...

There was a screaming crash as the enormous glob of spit blasted cleanly through the Red Minerva's foot, crushing flesh, bone, and the embedded thrusters.

There was a loud clang as Jason hit the floor.

The attack had almost knocked off his Genetic Absorber.

Losing the item would have been a mixed blessing.

If he lost the weapon, he'd be forced to regenerate it in order to end the battle. However, it would also temporarily increase his mobility.

Now, Jason's Mech had no foot and an exceptionally heavy leg - the worst of both worlds.

Jason scowled as his machine crashed to the ground.

It was just as he thought.

The other machine was so physically powerful that even its spit was a deadly weapon.

He barely ordered his machine to jerk its hands out before his partner totally face-planted.

Jason cursed.

This was terrible luck.

Jamming his Mech's spinning had naturally been a dangerous and highly random process.

After slamming his tail into the ground, his machine was guaranteed to fly in a random direction.

Unfortunately, losing his leg was utterly crippling.

It stopped him from trying to escape again.

He could use his Overdrive bonus to regenerate the leg, but the healing process still took time - time he didn't have.

The watchdog charged right at him.

After stopping the Titan's Macuahuitl, the monstrous creature instantly shifted from retreating to attacking.

In addition, a blazing red aura suddenly flared up around the enormous cyborg.

Jason's scouter identified the red aura as Bloodlust, an inherent Hemoborn ability.

Bloodlust gave machines an additional bonus to their attack and speed when confronting injured opponents.

During the battle, Jason had never attacked a watch dog while injured. As a result, he hadn't realized that they possessed the powerful Bloodlust ability.

But although it hadn't mattered during the Tournament of Assassins, the Bloodlust buff made Jason's situation even more perilous.

On top of that, this gigantic dog wasn't a regular watchdog Grunt - it was a genetic sample with the strength of twenty base machines.

As a result, its Bloodlust buff was far more powerful.

Jason groaned.

In the face of such a powerful opponent, he couldn't even walk.

The shot had completely ruined his leg.

Jason clapped his hands together and manifested the Valorous Ji.

He slammed the flaming weapon into the ground, pushing his Mech back to its feet before the dog reached him.

Jason skillfully used his tail to improve his balance, ensuring that his Mech would stay steady and avoid falling over.

The destruction of his leg had unfortunately nullified some of his greatest advantages.

With two solid feet, Jason would have been able to stand his ground and summon the Macuahuitl again.

With his leg destroyed, Jason knew he wouldn't be able to support the weapon.

He still had his three remaining thrusters, but a long and drawn-out battle did not favor him.

His machine could no longer keep its balance.

Eventually, his machine would stumble and simply get run over.

In addition, Jason's mobility was significantly hampered.

He couldn't run very fast, and he doubted he could use the tail jam trick again to avoid another attack from the dog.

On top of that, the Genetic Absorbers would severely hamper Jason's speed if he landed a successful attack. It was important to remember that his partner was still wearing the cumbersome bands.

The signs all pointed to an obvious conclusion.

Somehow, someway, Jason needed to destroy the watchdog in a single devastating blow.

That was the only possible way he could win.

Without his leg, even a blow that inflicted 99% damage to the watchdog would result in his loss. The Genetic Absorbers would swell up and effectively anchor the Red Minerva in place, and he'd fail to land the final attack.

However, it was well-known that destroying massive genetic samples in a single shot was impossible.

Nobody had ever done it before.

Every guide to the Genetic Caverns insisted on slowly dealing damage over time.

The hides of the genetic samples were exceptionally thick.

At first, it seemed like Jason could succeed with the Titan's Macuahuitl, but he couldn't use that item anymore.

Jason's eyes widened as a strange and desperate thought crossed his mind.

Perhaps...

In less than a second of realizing the new idea, he knew he had to do it.

It was the only possible way to win. Although it seemed overaggressive and foolish, Jason knew playing defensively was just prolonging the inevitable.

If Jason wanted to win the battle and save his machine, he needed to go all out right away.

Jason couldn't use any tricks.

There were no items he could steal with the Legerdemain Blade.

The dog was simply too tall for him to stun with the Gorgon's Flail.

The monstrous hound's footsteps grew louder and louder as it approached.

Jason bided his time, gathering his Mech's strength inside its thrusters.

Clap.

BLAZING AVARICE: TITAN'S MACUAHUITL

The move was totally absurd.

Instead of trying to skewer his opponent with the enormous club, Jason summoned it directly beneath him. He used the massive pillar of flame to propel him high into the sky, directly above the charging dog.

By using the Blazing Avarice system as a impromptu jet pack, there was no need for him to balance on his missing foot.

Once he reached his full height, Jason dismissed the enormous bladed club.

He promptly started falling again.

He drew the Ghostfire Dagger from his wristband and slammed the pale knife at the enormous genetic sample. He bashed the beast between the eyes as hard as he could.

The mighty Red Minerva hit the creature so hard that she propelled herself higher into the air.

With a leg destroyed, Jason knew he couldn't rely solely on his thrusters. Instead, he could move around using the sheer force of his blows.

The watchdog roared in pain.

The beast's mouth opened, revealing a pure black maw lined with shining white teeth. An enormous floppy tongue curled as the creature prepared to spit at Jason again.

Jason smirked.

Excellent.

Jason twisted in the air, allowing the attack to strike his waist.

The attack instantly blasted a massive hole in the Red Minerva's torso.

As a result, the Red Minerva fell into the creature's mouth, landing inside a dimly lit area filled with saliva.

The Red Minerva was dying, but now that he was inside the watchdog, he no longer needed to worry about the creature's tough hide and leathery skin.

On top of that, he no longer needed to worry about aiming or his opponent dodging his attacks.

This was a guaranteed hit.

He clapped his hands together again.

BLAZING AVARICE: TITAN'S MACUAHUITL

The enormous burning club burst into existence.

The razor-sharp blades instantly tore apart the watchdog from inside as soon as it spawned.

The flames sheared straight through the creature's organs, instantly inflicting fatal damage.

The creature's choked gasp reverberated hauntingly through its insides before the beast finally exploded, showering the Red Minerva with scarlet blood.

The Genetic Absorbers instantly gathered up all the material, swelling up to their full width and height as the battle immediately ended.

GENETIC INFORMATION ATTAINED: WATCHDOG (MAX QUALITY)