The sound of screeching could be heard from the distance, as a chase was going on in the sky. A hideous-looking vulture the size of 2 people, flying after what could only be considered a literal pseudopod moving about at the same speed. Yes, even the microscopic had become macroscopic after the awakening. How would something like that even end up in the sky? And yet, there it was.
Looking through the pair of binoculars, David was observing this chase. A spectacularly bitter expression on his face as he does, for it is this very path that he must trot through in order to reach Berton. Looking around the plains around him, a plain of sheer nothing, covered entirely of grass, disrupted by a few trees here and there. A giant mountain in the north, it’s gonna be an uphill battle from here, literally.
I should be in Afghanistan, right? Or Pakistan? I Really should take a look at the world map after this.
Grabbing at his head in exasperation, letting out a sigh as he continued observing the battle. Apparently, that pseudopod can shoot lightning from its body, who knew…
“Think you idiot, think…” David, currently hiding under a tree, the [G-H] covered by a simple Camo-blanket. It’s essentially just a blanket that changes color to fit its surrounding, nothing too fancy.
A road laid out before him, leading uphill in a swirling fashion, with 2 supernatural monsters duking it out in the sky above him.
“Can’t just sit here twiddling your thumb can you?… fuck it.”
David muttered to himself, to overthink would take forever, and he had a schedule. Revving the engine lightly, a bitter smile couldn’t help but appear on his face.
“This is so fucking dumb…”
With that same smile, David drove the bike at high speed. He could feel the wind striking his face, the blood pumping through his heart. A loud screech behind him called out, that’s right, the 2 creatures that were fighting had stopped, and set their eyes on him.
“Fuck…”
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So there he was, driving on an old worn-out road with two monsters chasing him at what could only be described as “break-neck speed.”
A flash of light and heat blasted out on his left only a meter away as a bolt of lightning had struck, it’s that damn pseudopod. David pushed the bike to its top speed, dodging and weaving like his life depended on it, because it was.
For some ungodly reason, the wildlife of this new world is particularly hostile to humankind and their offspring races.
As lightning bolts rained down left and right, drops of sweat flew off of his face as the wind blew by. The loud screeching of that giant bird becoming closer, that thing, though faster than he is, was terrible at turning directions.
This can’t go on, the bike though theoretically could constantly absorb ambient Mana to power its engine. Also has a limit to its venting system, not to mention the waste that it will need to expel, lest a witch storm would occur.
A witch storm… could that work?
David had a dangerous thought, a harrowing thought. Turning his bike to take a detour, he turned away from the road, the beasts did not let up. The grass field really did not make his trip easy, slowing down his speed. One of the small indicators on the handles, a blinking informing him that one canister of three was filled, and the ‘waste’ will need to be ejected soon.
The Arcana engine that is powering this bike was old and had 4 stages, the absorption of ambient Mana, the purification of said Mana, and the final conversion to usable energy and exertion. The first absorption is self-explanatory, and the second is the most important part of the engine, as the ambient Mana is completely unusable for any kind of machinery without it, that is, if you want it to function and not gain sentience and go on a killing spree. And this one was an old one with no way to exhaust the waste ‘corruption,’ instead storing them in small canisters.
A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
David drove his bike far, far away from the road. The beasts weren’t the sharpest tools in the shed, as far as Mana-beast are concerned. After gaining some distance from the two creatures, making a sudden stop. David pressed one of the controls on the handles, causing a hatch on the bike to open.
Revealing a chamber with 3 metal cylinders the size of a drinking can, two of them are still blue, while one was becoming a brownish red. Looking through his rear mirror, the two of them were getting closer and closer. He began to speed up again, a bolt of lightning struck him nearly blind, barely missed by half a meter. Causing him to drive away in a panic.
Taking note of his surrounding rapidly, looking around for any form of indent on the ground, somewhere he could stop, to get away from that lightning-spewing amoeba. Seeing a semi-large dip on the right, making up his mind and turning abruptly. Nearly falling off the bike as a result, the dip looked as if something large had collapsed to the ground at a high speed, but that’s not the point. The point is that it is deep enough for what he was planning.
Driving directly into that dip. Practically crashing into it, causing the giant bird thing to sneer in delight, realizing that he was stuck. It dived down, spreading its claws and wings, determining to kill him then and there. A vicious and jubilant screech called out from the giant vulture, finally it got itself a human kill.
What the fuck is a vulture even doing here anyway? fuck you vulture. David thought furiously.
But something caught its eye. A small metallic cylinder flew by its head, causing its eyes to widen. There was something wrong within that thing, something dark and dangerous, its instincts driving it to flee the area as fast as it could. It was too late, as David sat on the ground, holding up his pistol, aiming his gun directly at the cylinder. A bloodied and manic smile on his face.
As a single second passed by, the sound of a click rang out. David was always a good shot, able to kill a bird from a kilometer away with ordinary pistols, shooting something like a can at such close range was as simple as pulling the trigger.
Before the hideous creature could even blink, an explosion by the side of its head erupted. causing a black and viscous goop to explode outward, splashing against its eyes. The vulture violently flapped its wings, stopping flight abruptly, falling on the ground outside of the hole David had crashed in.
A jolt of pain finally hit David as he looked at his broken left arm, that crash was quite bad, a bunch of bone fractures, a cracked left arm, and a few broken ribs.
But there’s something more important to deal with, like that damn pseudopod in the sky. It was gone. David frowned, apparently that thing was smarter than the vulture.
The bird however was struggling to claw at its own face, rubbing its head against the ground violently. Letting out a screeching one after another as it struggled to remove that liquid, a gruesome scene.
As he slowly get up from the hole, aimed his gun at the head of the thing and emptied a whole magazine. Riddling the head of the vulture with holes, causing it to tense up, letting out a death rattle before turning into a limp corpse at last.
With so much happening on just the first day, David could not help but collapse on the ground. Temy was right, maybe he does have a death wish. Breathing heavily as he pulled out a syringe with the [Lift] label on the outside. straightening his left arm with his legs as David stabbed the needle, bracing for the pain that is to come. Gritting his teeth, feeling the searing sensation as his arm slowly and painfully repairs itself.
After sitting by the vulture’s corpse for nearly half an hour, finally he could move his body again. Looked around for any danger, noting that there was nothing here but empty plains, grass, and sparse trees.
Climbing down the hole to get his bike, thankfully still in one piece, if not a little dinged up. The [G-H] was truly a sturdy thing, after dragging it out with a little bit of effort. David got up on the seat, placing an empty cylinder into the hatch, and closed it.
“What a fucking mess…” David smiled bitterly, shaking his head as he continued his journey.