"Argh, f*ck, finally..." Jared said, in his voice a tone of noticeable exhaustion and relief.
After spending a few minutes fighting off the rats with the metallic suit encasing him, Jared had finally managed to get rid of all the rats in the vicinity.
Though of course, it hadn't been easy by any means. The biggest proof of this was undoubtedly the blood stains on the metal suit, all belonging to him.
During the entire time Jared had been fighting the rats, Garel had done everything he could to obstruct his path, not to mention the metal spikes digging into his body over and over again, he had also made tiny but incredibly sharp razor blades in strategic places such as his tendons and neck.
While this did not achieve its goal of making Jared stop moving, it did help to further limit his movements, as each time he moved, the razors and spikes dug deeper.
Unfortunately for Garel, even though he had managed to hurt and weaken Jared considerably, he still managed to finish off the rats relatively quickly.
"I'll admit, this trick of yours certainly is really good. However, the problem is that you don't have enough offensive power to kill me. Besides, being in this form must cost you a lot of energy, even if you use your Core at full power, it's only a matter of time before you return to your original form. " He said with a confident tone before continuing, "And when that happens, I'll take it upon myself to skin you alive, see if you're really made of metal or not, heh."
Hearing this, although Garel didn't say anything, he couldn't help but feel bitter.
What Jared had said was true. Although he had mutated his Trait suddenly thanks to the Blood Pill, becoming just one step away from rank (B-), this consumed too much energy, in fact, if it wasn't for his Core, Garel was sure that he would have long since returned to his original form.
As for his offensive capabilities, although he wasn't using his full ability to inflict damage on Garel, he had no choice but to focus most of his ability on restraining him. After all, being in his current form, if Jared decided to run away, he wouldn't be able to stop him at all.
It was for that very reason that he had decided to become a "suit", taking advantage of the Grey Rats to try to kill him. Of course, he had already realized that hoping to kill Jared using these weak monsters had only been wishful thinking.
'If only some executive were here...' Garel thought, slightly regretting sending his assistants to other areas.
Although they were undoubtedly weaker than him and it was obvious that they would lose quickly in a direct fight against Jared, if they had Garel's help obstructing his movements and constantly wounding him, they would have a very high chance of winning.
Unfortunately, it was unlikely that they were going to disobey his orders and return.
'Then... there's only one alternative left.... I'll have to-'
*Tap tap tap tap*
"!"
Suddenly, interrupting Garel's thoughts and drawing Jared's attention, they both heard the sound of footsteps. They were not too heavy, but light and quick.
In any case, neither of them could help but tense up a bit. While the battle right now was at a stalemate where neither could kill or get rid of the other, this could very easily change with the arrival of a person.
'Please tell me it's one of my executives...!' Garel thought hopefully.
'Those footsteps.... Joe? No, they're too light...' Jared thought, trying to guess from the sound of the footsteps who this approaching person might be.
Because they had both ended up in a considerably large but not very deep crater, a product of the strength Jared had used against the rats.
As they couldn't directly see who it was, they could only make guesses.
*Tap tap tap tap*
Finally, a figure appeared, rushing down the crater and running towards Jared.
''...And who is this?!'' They both initially thought as they saw the unknown man covered in bandages rapidly approaching them.
However, their surprise only lasted a second before they remembered some detailed reports they had received.
Although the appearance of this man was somewhat different from what they had read, it's not like there were many people wrapped in bandages roaming around the South Zone either, so it had to be him.
Of course, recognizing him was one thing, figuring out exactly what he was doing here was an entirely different matter. Their minds working quickly in order to come to a conclusion.
Faced with the appearance of the bandaged man, Jared and Garel acted differently.
'...He has arrived at the worst moment, it would be better to kill him now!' Jared thought, tensing his muscles to throw everything he had at the man to finish him off immediately.
While I had planned certain things for this guy, the current situation was too risky to leave someone like him alive.
Then, just as the bandaged man entered a suitable distance, Jared lunged at him...!
Or at least he tried to, as he couldn't move a single muscle.
"Garel... you bastard!" He shouted, another vein appearing on his forehead due to the rage.
Seeing this, the bandaged man quickly passed by the side of the now motionless Garel, although the latter was using all his strength to attack him, the movement was so slow that even if he stood still, it would take several minutes to touch him.
At the same time, a thin strand of metal began to separate from Jared's body, heading quickly towards the bandaged man.
However, it had no chance to reach him due to the fact that he suddenly accelerated before climbing the crater and continuing to run like there was no tomorrow.
"..."
Both of them were momentarily stunned as they watched him pass by as if he hadn't even seen them.
'Was he... was he just passing by?' Garel thought after failing to communicate with him, quite confused by the bandaged man's actions.
*RUMBLE*
At that moment, interrupting Garel's thoughts, a noise that even made the earth tremble slightly made them turn towards the direction where he bandaged man had come from.
""EEK!""
The loud squealing of dozens of rats filled their ears as they watched one after another rat surround them, some even getting closer and glaring menacingly at Jared.
However, for some reason, none of the rats attacked him, but mecrely kept looking at him as they bared their sharp teeth.
"...So that's why he was running...!" Jared said, his words carrying a noticeable tone of anger.
*BAM*
Just as he finished saying that, a loud stomp came from the back of the line that the rats had formed, belonging to a particularly large rat, almost reaching 2 meters in height.
The moment it appeared, all the other rats in the vicinity unconsciously backed away, as if they knew their place in front of this big rat. Jared's expression turning even more sour.
'...There's even a Great Rat here?!' Garel thought, almost jumping for joy at this pleasant surprise. He couldn't be blamed, after all, this was just what he needed the most at the moment.
An opponent capable of killing Jared.
He knew that normal Gray Rats wouldn't be able to do it even if there were 100 of them, however, that changed completely if they had the help of a Great Rat.
After all, while the Gray Rats were considered rank (D-) common monsters, which meant that it only took a pair of supers of the same rank to eliminate one of them easily, a Great Rat was a monster on a completely different level.
It was the equivalent of two rank (C-) supers!
Whether it was in physical capabilities or intelligence, the Great Rat far surpassed any average Gray Rat, as if that wasn't enough, he could also command other rats that were weaker than him.
Although if one had to mention what this monster's weak point was, it would undoubtedly be his slow speed of movement. Thanks to its large and heavy body, although it was fast, it still couldn't compete with the speed of an average (D) rank super. Making his threat level not so high.
The next moment, the Rat King, seeing that there was much better prey than the one he was originally chasing, lunged towards the center of the crater regardless of the bloodlust Jared was emanating.
"SKREEK!!!" Shrieked the big rat loudly, the other rats also squealing in response.
Then, they all collectively rushed at Jared, who began to move with great difficulty to deal with the dozens of rats coming at him.
"IT'S NOT GOING TO BE THAT EASY TO KILL ME!" Shouted Jared suddenly, again clashing fists and shaking all the qi in the vicinity.
Suddenly, he stomped his foot heavily on the ground before assuming a fighting stance. The pressure he was emitting also changed, it was no longer a terrifying bloodlust and instead had shifted to a feeling similar to what one would get when seeing a small mountain.
Imposing!
That's the only way one could describe the feeling Jared was giving off at the moment. Even the Great Rat was momentarily intimidated by this, though it quickly recovered.
Due to the large amount of qi trying to enter his body, Garel had to prevent Jared from being able to recover his energy, so he had no choice but to cover his body completely, isolating him from the outside.
The reason Garel hadn't done this before was due to the fact that if he did, he would lack the metal to be able to form the spikes and blades together, but now that he would no longer be the one in charge of dealing the damage, he could afford to discard the more useless of the two, the spikes.
Of course, even without that, he could still hinder Jared greatly.
From that moment on, both supers went into full power, not to mention the fact that they activated their Auras, they were even using their Cores at full power.
One of them was blind, restricted and with a limited amount of Qi, pushing his body to the limits to fight a monster whose strength was a serious threat to his current self.
The other was doing multiple things at the same time, coordinating the attacks of all the rats with the times he retracted the metal from a certain part of Jared's body, maximizing their attacks while using that moment to drive the blades even deeper, not forgetting of course to slow him down at all times.
In this way, with neither of them giving in, this battle that pushed to the limit the two strongest super of the South Zone continued for a while.
***
After an unkown amount of time, the battle finally came to an end.
"ARGHHHHH!!!" Garel shouted, slamming both of his fists downward.
*BAM!!*
Although the sound was that of the impact of his fists smashing the ground, mixed into it was the sound of fractured bones, the product of the Great Rat's skull being broken.
All around him was only what could be described as a massacre, bodies of Gray Rats were everywhere, all with signs of having been brutally beaten.
Although Garel did his best to make fighting nearly impossible for Jared, he still failed in his task of killing him.
"...I will not... DIE TODAY!" Shouted Jared collapsing to the ground, his voice hoarse from all the blood he had spit out so far.
The amount of external wounds he had were only comparable to the amount of internal wounds on his body. In fact, of all the bloodstains in the crater, most of them belonged to him.
Although he had managed to survive this, he had paid a very high price for it. Not only was his energy and qi almost depleted, he also felt extremely dizzy from all the blood he had lost.
As for Garel, he had already reached his limit, his body was vibrating slightly, causing holes to appear in the "metal suit", showing Jared's bloody skin. It was as if at any moment he was going to return to his original form.
"Heh, looks like you... lost." Jared said weakly, a smile of victory on his face.
*Tap tap tap tap tap*
"!"
However, before they could do anything else, the footsteps of a person reached their ears.
Thanks to the fact that they had heard him before, this time they could recognize him almost immediately, it was the bandaged man!
The only difference would be that now it sounded much faster, it was clear that he was running at an even faster speed than before!
Instantly, Jared stood up and turned towards the direction in which he could hear the footsteps, because his vision was still covered by Garel, he could only guide himself with that.
However, just at that moment, his whole body stopped. Or rather, it became so heavy that it even looked like he wasn't moving.
"NOT THIS TIME!" Shouted Jared again, activating another martial technique that increased his strength temporarily. Normally he wouldn't use another martial technique in this state as it would be detrimental to his body, but he wasn't willing to let the bandaged man do whatever he wanted either.
*BAM!*
The sound of a punch hitting something solid could be heard.
"...What?"
However, the outcome was not what the two grade (C+) super had expected.
In the middle of the not so deep crater, the bandaged man could be seen resting his fist against Jared's chest, precisely in a part that the suit did not cover, making direct contact with his skin.
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