The blast slammed into him, hurling him across the crater, his blaster flying from his grip. He hit the ground hard, rolling once, then twice, before grinding to a stop in a cloud of dust.
For a heartbeat, he just lay there. His shoulder screamed and his skin prickled with the electric sting of seared flesh.
And then… it stopped.
The pain was still very much there, but it had been reduced to little more than background noise.
[Thermal Resistance (F)] skill acquired!
Through exposure, your body has learned to endure extremes of heat and cold without faltering.
+1 BODY multiplier for acquiring a physical skill.
Knox pushed himself up and spat a glob of dirt on the ground. A laugh bubbled out of him, almost deliriously.
"What doesn't kill me- Oh fuck-!"
Another flash of yellow flared from the ridge above. Prepared this time, Knox pushed off the ground and rolled out of the way, using the pod as cover.
Coughing a bit, he pulled the cord attached to the blaster and caught it in one hand.
Absent-mindedly, he flexed his arm as it felt a little weird. When he looked down, it was just hanging uselessly at his side. A sick lurch went through his gut.
"…Oh, that's not good." He swallowed, leaning his back against the pod. "I hope I do this right."
Then he sucked in a sharp breath, braced his arm against the pod, and with a quick, brutal jerk slammed his shoulder back into its socket. The popping sound, despite the lack of pain, made his stomach turn.
With a ragged sigh, his expression sobered until it was completely blank.
"Alright, no more fuckin' around," He decided.
He clearly hadn't been taking this place seriously enough if he had been caught day dreaming of all things.
Knox leaned against the pod, catching his breath as another beam seared past the edge of the crater, leaving molten streaks in the dirt.
He peeked around the pod. The ridge was jagged, with broken slabs of rock offering perfect cover for the sniper.
The scouter chirped once more, displaying the number 83.
If the briefing was to be believed, then that was about the average power level for the people of the planet.
'But shouldn't someone at that level be able to blow me up completely with one blast?'
Instead, they were peppering at him from afar.
Plus, the blast was fast, but it was still slow enough that he could track it.
From what he knew of the universe, proper Ki control wasn't common. Even the Frieza Force, known for their soldiers all having "high" power levels, didn't have the precise control that those of Earth or Yardrat did.
It was more likely to be born with a high power level yet abysmal Ki control.
So if the outliers of this planet had power levels up to twelve hundred, then this sniper clearly hadn't trained much at all.
'Meaning that it's not Ki… but a gun.'
That explained the rhythm. Each one carried the same punch, the same searing trail, the same hiss on impact.
If the shots were all the same, then all he needed to do was read the timing.
Another flash lit up the ridge. The bolt struck the pod with a violent hiss, glowing metal warping but holding.
'I can't exactly sit here much longer anyway.'
With his body toughened against the heat and his eyes sharp enough to trace the beams, there was only one choice.
He had to close the gap.
Knox crouched low, breath hissing between his teeth. The sniper's fire wasn't going to stop, and sitting still was suicide.
So he moved.
He pushed off from the pod in a burst, sprinting across the crater floor. Another bolt sizzled through the air, cutting past his shoulder.
'I move, I live. I stop, I die. I move, I live. I stop, I die.'
That quote repeated endlessly in his head, a mantra he witlessly came up with to keep the fear in his heart at bay. Despite his enthusiasm for this world, he was still just a human at the end of the day.
A human who feared death.
His Ki flared in his chest, and without thinking he forced it upward, pooling it in his head and eyes.
Almost as if spurned by his desire to live, his mind raced against the clock to analyze the world faster and faster. The air shimmered in trails behind each bolt, breaking each attack down into simple to track trajectories and patterns.
'I move, I live. I stop, I die. I move, I… Huh?'
[Thought Acceleration (F)] skill acquired!
Through concentration and ki focus, your mind speeds up beyond its normal limits. Rapid analysis and lightning-fast conclusions become possible.
+1 MIND multiplier for acquiring a mental skill.
The world slowed to a crawl.
A shot hissed passed his head. Another slammed into the dirt where he'd just been. With each shot the angle grew sharper, and the distance between them shorter.
But each blast was the same, and every dodged blast replaced that mantra with the silent confidence to keep moving forward.
Another beam screamed toward him. He shifted, hips twisting, and slid just beneath it, scraping his back. His legs pumped harder, faster, his body reacting as the blasts became more and more… predictable.
[Dodging (F)] skill acquired!
Through repeated evasions under duress, you have learned a method to twist out of attacks without wasting excess energy.
+1 BODY multiplier for acquiring a physical skill.
'Wait, this isn't that scary… In fact, it's almost…'
He popped up from the slide and sprinted again, weaving side to side. Beams struck the dirt in furious rhythm, molten sprays kicking against his shins, but none hit true.
Each heartbeat lasted an eternity under his accelerated thoughts. Each step brought him closer to the terrified sniper behind cover.
By the time he reached the base of the ridge, his grin had returned.
__________
The rifle kicked against his shoulder as another bolt spat from the barrel, sizzling across the dirt below.
The creature dodged again.
"What… what is that thing?" the sniper whispered, red mandibles clicking nervously as he worked the next charge cell.
While they had never fought off any invasions from the stars before, his people weren't new to being invaded. He had never personally participated in the defensive efforts before, but it didn't seem too hard.
Just aim and fire. He had even managed to snag a few kills of this batch of invaders already.
But this one…
Every shot should've dropped the alien where it stood. It should've been turned into a pile of viscera and ash. Instead, the brown creature was baring its teeth widely as it sprinted toward him through a storm of plasma fire.
He discharged another bolt. It ducked under.
Another. It rolled aside, then came up with a mouth full of bestial sharp teeth. The light in its strange forward-facing eyes gleamed too intently.
It knew something. Something he didn't.
"Stay back! STAY BACK, I SAID!" he cried, claws fumbling to reload the rifle. His voice cracked in panic, the words echoing uselessly across the canyon.
The thing didn't slow down. If anything, it moved faster. Its body weaved like smoke, its gaze locked on him with a predator's focus.
The sniper panicked, his limbs stiff with dread as it finally reached the base of the ridge. The alien tilted its head up at him, dust clinging to its scorched skin.
"Hahhh… Hahahaha!"
It laughed.
'Why is it laughing?!'
The sound carried across the rocks like broken glass, jagged and wrong. It wasn't the laugh of a soldier or even a person. It was a wild, giddy thing that crawled into the sniper's chest and hollowed him out with cold terror.
"M-monster!" the sniper stammered, stumbling backward, forgetting the rifle entirely. "Get away from me, you monster!"
But the monster kept climbing, hands and feet tearing into the rock as though the ridge were nothing. Its grin widened with every meter closed.
The sniper raised in blind desperation.
"Please-"
The monster wasn't listening. Not once was there any indication that it heard him, as if his death were the only thing that mattered to it. It leveled its weapon with a dead calm voice, the barrel glimmering with an energy the sniper had never seen before.
"Oh, man," it muttered, teeth shining brightly. "That was fun."
Light was the last thing the sniper ever saw.