After the bat-faced man finished laughing, he muttered sothing into the communication device clipped near his mouth.
Ethan and the others couldn't make out what he said, but the effect was imdiate.
The woman who had been fighting Leo and Williams suddenly disengaged and sprinted toward Victor's position.
It didn't take a genius to figure out what the bat-faced man had just ordered. He'd sent her to take out Victor.
Williams and Leo tried to intercept her, but the remaining Mutant—a man wreathed in flas, suddenly unleashed his full power. His fists burned with a searing heat, each strike forcing Leo and Williams to retreat.
It beca clear that the Mutants had been toying with them earlier.
Leo took a direct hit to the shoulder, his shirt instantly burning away, leaving a gaping hole. His skin blistered and turned red, as if branded by a hot iron. Beads of sweat rolled down his face, but he gritted his teeth and pressed on, refusing to cry out.
anwhile, Victor's rifle cracked in the distance. He was clearly trying to snipe the woman rushing toward him, but no one knew what her ability was. She hadn't used any special powers earlier, and now she was moving fast.
Ethan didn't wait. In a flash, he closed the distance between himself and the bat-faced man.
The man's vertical pupils narrowed as he registered Ethan's speed. He hadn't expected Ethan to be this fast.
As Ethan closed in, he began testing the limits of his abilities. He rembered the description of his Divine Bloodline attribute: In human form, you can use certain Druid-form abilities at 20% effectiveness.
He quickly discovered that while he couldn't use the finishing moves of Panther Form, skills like Rake and Shred were surprisingly effective.
The bat-faced man dodged and weaved, but Ethan's relentless assault forced him back against a tree. Ethan swung his arm, activating Rake.
Swish!
The man dodged, but Ethan's fingertips left a bloody streak on the tree trunk. A shallow cut appeared, and green sap began oozing from the wound.
Anyone who knew anything about trees would find this strange—tree trunks don't "bleed" when cut. But Rake, a skill that caused bleeding in the ga, retained its effect in the real world. Even a tree could "bleed" when struck by it.
When Ethan used Shred, four claw marks over a foot long appeared, extending his reach significantly.
But despite Ethan's speed, the bat-faced man was no pushover. It seed he truly possessed the abilities of a bat—echolocation, like sonar, allowed him to detect and evade Ethan's attacks with eerie precision.
At the sa ti, the man's attacks were useless against Ethan. Ethan's Soul Sense was like a radar system, far more advanced than the man's sonar-like abilities.
The two clashed dozens of tis, neither landing a single hit.
This mission was Ethan's first real combat experience, and it was the kind of fight where the stakes were life and death. At first, he'd been nervous, but now, just a few seconds into the fight, he felt completely in control.
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Still, he was worried about Leo and Williams, who were clearly struggling. anwhile, Victor fired several shots at the woman, but she was protected by a translucent shield. Even his sniper rounds only penetrated halfway before getting stuck.
Victor switched to armor-piercing rounds, but they barely pierced the shield, slowing down so much that the woman easily dodged them.
As Ethan watched the bat-faced man's smug, twisted grin, a mory from his childhood biology class surfaced.
A cruel smile spread across Ethan's face.
The bat-faced man noticed and paused, confused. 'Is this guy insane? Your teammates are about to die, and you're smiling?'
Under the bat-faced man's watchful gaze, Ethan yanked the earpiece off his comms device.
He turned the volu to maximum and began twisting the frequency dial.
Screech… buzz… whine… howl… hiss…
The comms erupted with a cacophony of distorted noises, each one more piercing than the last. Ethan winced at the sound, it was unbearable, like nails on a chalkboard.
The bat-faced man's expression froze. In an instant, his hands shot up to cover his ears.
But it didn't help. Not one bit.
Ethan wasn't about to waste this opportunity. He lunged forward, closing the distance in a flash.
Heavy Strike…
As he swung his palm toward the man, a thought flashed through his mind: Crap, I forgot to shift into Bear Form!
But it was too late to stop now. Even without the skill's full power, Ethan's strength was nothing to scoff at.
The mont his palm connected with the man's chest, a faint shimr of a panther's claw flickered across his hand.
Ethan recognized it—the visual effect of a successful skill activation.
The bat-faced man was sent flying, stumbling back seven or eight steps before slamming into a tree. His grotesque bat-like mouth opened, and he spat out a mouthful of blood.
Ethan paused, staring at his hand. 'Wait, how did I just use Heavy Strike in Panther Form?'
But there was no ti to dwell on it. The man was still standing, and Ethan couldn't afford to let him recover. He dashed forward again, this ti focusing on shifting into Bear Form as he prepared another strike.
The mont he did, he felt the difference. His movents slowed significantly, but the power behind his strike was imnse. A heavy, crushing force traveled down his arm and into his palm.
The bat-faced man, already severely injured, was in no condition to dodge. His echolocation, once his greatest asset, was now his worst enemy. The deafening noise from the comms had completely disoriented him.
Ethan's palm slamd into the man's chest, and this ti, a massive bear paw shimred into existence for a split second before vanishing.
Thud… crack…
The man vomited another mouthful of blood, this ti with chunks of internal organs mixed in. The force of the blow sent him crashing into the tree behind him, and with a deafening snap, the huge tree—wide enough to take two people to encircle, split in half and toppled over.
Ethan yanked his hand free from the man's caved-in chest and took off running. He had to—the tree was falling right toward him.
As he sprinted away, Ethan couldn't help but marvel at the sheer power of that strike. The man's chest had been crushed flat, his front and back pressed together like two sheets of paper. Ethan almost wished he had a force gauge to asure just how strong that hit had been.
The commotion instantly drew the attention of everyone in the camp.
The fla-wreathed man turned just in ti to see Ethan obliterate the bat-faced leader.
"Captain!" he shouted, his voice filled with rage and disbelief.
So, the bat-faced man had been their leader.
The fla-wreathed man swung his fists, forcing Leo and Williams back. Then, with a dramatic flourish, flas erupted beneath his feet, propelling him forward like so kind of fiery chariot. It looked almost cool, like sothing out of a superhero movie.
Ethan saw the man charging toward him, flas trailing behind him, and braced himself for the fight.
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