CHAPTER 23: TERRIFYING THREAT (1)

At first, when the two brute men came at him with ruthless expressions, Ramie had thought that this might be the end. However, as they proceeded to hit him in an all out attacks, something astounding happened…

As the two men unleashed their ferocious attacks on him, he thought that they were playing a trick on him or something… Because, when their punches and kicks landed on him, he felt as though these two men were wearing spongy cloves…! He was not hurt by their attacks at all!

As such, he started fighting back with all of his might. However, then, yet another surprise revealed itself for him.

His energy – was like a bottomless pit! Even after minutes of engaging in a heated fight against two superior opponents, he did not feel tired at all.

Now, it had to be said that he was not the type of person who liked sport. In fact, he didn't even like watching it. And normally, even running for a short while would leave him gasping for breath. But now… he felt his body throbbing with energy the whole duration of the fight. And even after his opponents started struggling for breath, he was still in his peak condition, with not even a hint of exhaustion or even discomfort.

With time, the advantage started falling toward his side a bit by bit. By then, he had realized it…

Apparently, his vitality was now so exaggerated, that not even the superior strength of his opponents were effective on him, which was an incredible advantage!

It had to be said, that the savage beating he had received, was much more than enough to turn him into a mutilated, unrecognizable corpse by now.

But it didn't… in fact; it didn't even hurt him… He wasn't even feeling tired…!

'It appears that I have underestimated this morphing spell! Apparently, this bloodline gave me very strong vitality.'

It had saved his life!

He didn't want to think of how miserable his fate would be if he hadn't casted this spell before encountering these people.

Although, he had initially felt a bit envious of how powerful and useful Neil's spell was… Unlike his own spell that had possibly mutilated him for the rest of his life!

But looking at the result now… Neil was knocked out with one hit, while had had withstood a merciless beating by two thugs that were both larger and stronger than himself!

Anyway, with time, the brute men seemed to be completely out of their breaths. As such, he pressed at them even harder, wanting to drive them into a point where they can't pose threat on his life anymore.

As such, he kept throwing kicks and punches at them with his full power.

At this point, it was more than obvious that he had won this fight. All what he had to do now, was to keep pressing with attacks to drive these two into complete exhaustion, to finalize this pointless confrontation.

Anyway, his abnormally strong vitality told him that the morphing spell had not only forced morphological changes on him, but also, physiological. Which was why he had lost not only his nose, but he also seem to no longer breathe through his respiratory system, but through some other mechanism. He guessed that he was probably now breathing through his skin or something… just like plants breathe through their leaves.

However on the other hand, this spell did give him strong vitality and good defense.

Right now, he was having complicated feelings. As on one hand, this spell had turned him into an aberration of human! With a form that was as or even more horrifying than the creatures!

But! On the other hand… the spell had saved his live, and judging by how ugly the situation currently is, and can possibly be in the future, he started thinking that this might actually be for the best.

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Staying alive was more important than how he looked after all!

But there was still the problem of how others would react if they saw him. He feared that someone might act impulsively and shots him down on sight.

This was a possibility that couldn't be ruled out, as just yesterday; Neil had killed a creature that had humanoid shape. Which meant; that others too might have encountered similar creatures. And if these people ever sees him, then it would be only common sense for them to assume that he's one of these creatures as well, and shoot him dead.

Anyhow, there was no point in considering these matters now. First, he decided to defeat these two, and end this confrontation. As for the military's reaction to his change, he decided to ponder on it afterward, when he reaches a safer place.

To Ramie's relief, the two men seemed on the verge of reaching their limits, which was good news.

However… before Ramie completely defeats the two… one of them burst out his last remaining energy, and threw out a desperate punch at ramie's face. This hit shattered his sun glasses, and revealing his face as a result.

After seeing his face, the two men's reaction gave Ramie a glimpse into the sort of expressions that he'd have to expect from other people when they see his face from now onward.

Horror, shock, alarm, repulsion, and other similar expressions seemed to just mix together on the pale faces of the two men.

One of the men fell backward, instantly admitting his defeat, which actually suited Ramie's purpose.

But the other man was different… he completely gave up to his fear, and witlessly shrieked atop his lungs without holding back, like a panicking little girl. His cry was high pitched and piercing.

…

After failing to finish off the middle-aged man in the surprise attack, the boss fell in a tragic fight afterward.

His frenzied attacks were all evaded in systematic, precise, and short movements that enabled this damned middle-aged man to perfectly dodging all of his strikes by unbelievably narrow margins.

It was as if every movement this middle aged man made was accurately calculated, timely performed, without any excessive, unnecessary shifts and without wasting any energy.

It was as if this middle-aged man was seeing through his moves before he even makes them.

He wasn't aware that Lance was not only dodging his attacks… but he was also observing his fighting style, which is why he was able to predict his moves through the minute shift in his body posture and small movements.

After only few minutes of fighting, he was like an open book to Lance. Anyway, the boss was not aware of this particularity.

"How could this be?"

The boss was feeling very aggravated!

He could tell that he was a bit faster than his opponent, and that this guy was struggling to keep up with him. But… he still couldn't land a hit on this man…

At this point, the boss realized that this middle aged man wasn't a nobody, as his fighting experience was in completely different league above his own.

Opposite to his crude and simple attacks, this middle-aged man was definitely a specialist in martial arts or something… which was probably why he managed to avoid being driven into the corner again, again, and again, throughout the fight.

As such, the boss was completely suppressed afterward, as his opponent seemed to have completely grasped his fighting style, and never gave him any chance, even though he was the stronger party.

To break the pace of his opponent, the boss resorted to the frenzied barrage of attacks that he had begun the fight with, albeit being unsustainable option. Because attacking in that manner would cause his life energy to be depleted at a faster rate.

However his opponent did not give him any opportunity to land a significant hit. Afterward, and as a result of his frenzied manner of attack, he fell in unsolvable dilemma.

When he goes all out in attacking, using the maximum output of his life energy, his cunning opponent would then refrains from attacking, and only dodges the bombardment of attacks, like a monkey.

And when he tries to slow down the pace of his attacks, to reduce the consumption of his life energy, then, this sly man would then start his own barrage of attacks, which unlike his own, all landed on the intended destinations.

Now, it had to be said that the battle between them was different from the fight of those who didn't have life energy. As in a fight between none life energy users, landing a hit on a weak spot would usually concludes the confrontation instantly.

But the fight between life energy users – was different. As the life energy don't just boast the physical abilities of the user… but also the defense! And it can help the users to withstand strikes to their weak spots, and it enables them to absorb the damage, or even completely nullify it, given that it doesn't exceed certain limit.

So, as long as the life energy inside them isn't completely used up, then the users can also use it to shield themselves from inflected damage, aside from using it to boast their muscular output.

So, in the confrontation between the two, it was a battle of attrition. Whoever uses up his life energy first, as long as his opponent is still capable of movement, then he'd end up as the loser.

As such, a tragic struggle followed, with him being the suppressed side. At one point, he even tried to seize the unconscious man with the bracelet, and escape away.

However, the middle aged man gave him no chance, beating him to his current sorry state.

Right now, he could tell that he was on the verge of completely losing. As such, he decided to use the remaining life energy to escape from the store.

However, at that particular moment… he heard a shrill cry of fear, resounding within the store.

Turning to look, a fiendish face met his eyes.

His though process was petrified at the sight and his heart sank.

And before he could recover, a destructive combo of attacks swallowed him like a hurricane, leaving him no room to even find a footing. He couldn't even see where the attacks were coming from.

Apparently, the middle-aged man did not let this chance slip away, and he made full use of this moment of distraction to finish him.

After a short while, the boss was on the ground, gasping for a breath.

Finally, this fight came to an end.

"Mr. Lance, we must leave this place right away! The earlier scream was too loud!" before Lance could pick up his breath, Ramie urged from the other side of the store.

Warning lance, Ramie ignored the aching men that were sprawled on the ground, and he moved toward the unconscious Neil. He started slapping him on the face, to wake him up.

"…there is half empty… bottle of water… behind the counter… for your friend." struggling to get up, one of the men on the ground managed to squeeze out these words, while panting heavily.

Ramie casted a brief look at the man, before bringing the bottle of water, and pouring half of the content on Neil's face.

Seeing that Neil regained his consciousness, Ramie urged: "Neil! Get up. We have to leave this place at onc…"

Before Ramie could finish his sentence, suddenly… he sensed a strong, oppressive aura approaches the store from the outside with great speed!

Feeling an intense sense of crisis, he wanted to warn the others, when…

Boom!!

A dark silhouette smashed it way into the store, through the glassy front!

In a moment, every ones hearts ceased…

What they all had feared… has come to pass!

…