Since these new skills chewed through MP like wildfire, Luke decided to dump Selene's unallocated points straight into Intelligence and Wisdom.
Her physical stats didn't need any help for now—at her current strength, she could probably beat Captain America ten times over without breaking a sweat.
The numbers flickered before his eyes and then locked into place. Her mana bar surged upward, climbing from a pitiful 150 to a much healthier 390.
"Perfect. Now you've actually got the juice to cast those skills properly," Luke muttered, nodding proudly like some kind of coach who just upgraded his star player. He even folded his arms, satisfied, already picturing Selene mowing down enemies with cinematic flair.
"Selene, do you feel any chan—"
SHHH-CRACK!
His words were cut off when shadows suddenly burst from the ground like living snakes. In less than a heartbeat, black tendrils whipped around his legs, torso, and arms, tightening with an eerie hiss.
His body jerked upward, and before he could even curse, he was hanging upside down in a web of writhing darkness.
"What the hell—!?" Luke's shout echoed against the broken walls of the alley. He thrashed, but the shadows moved with terrifying precision, coiling tighter, lifting him higher until he spun slowly like some tragic decoration in a haunted house. "Oh, come on! This is straight-up Spider-Man cosplay gone wrong!"
"I do feel changes," Selene said calmly, her voice smooth but edged with curiosity. Her eyes narrowed slightly as if she were dissecting the sensation piece by piece. "It's like… new powers just clicked into place in my mind, almost instinctively."
There was a faint glimmer in her tone—quiet excitement, the kind only a predator feels when sharpening its claws for the first time.
And apparently, Luke was the test subject she picked.
"Then why the hell are you using them on me?!" he shouted, his face darkening as the shadows twisted tighter and spun him in slow circles, like meat roasting on a spit.
He flailed uselessly, trying to break free, but the strands only squeezed harder. "You've got dozens of zombies shambling right there—prime practice dummies—and you choose me!"
Selene gave him a tiny smirk, the kind that carried both amusement and just a touch of menace. "Hmm… no. You actually look kind of cute like this. Always running your mouth, always making trouble. I don't usually get to see you helpless."
Luke's face darkened even further, his pride taking a heavy blow. "...Cute? I'll remember that when you're the one hanging upside down." His voice was flat, but there was a dangerous promise in it, the kind that said he wouldn't let this humiliation slide.
Before he could rant further, movement caught his eye. Four zombies staggered toward them, their rotten forms dragging unevenly across the cracked pavement.
Selene's eyes flickered black for just an instant—like a shadow passed through her pupils—and then—WHUMP!
The ground split open with a violent lurch. A colossal, shadow-forged jaw erupted from beneath the pavement and snapped shut around the undead. The sound of crunching bone echoed sharply, the zombies crushed in an instant like they were snack-sized morsels tossed to a beast.
"Wow…" Luke whispered, his jaw slack, his eyes wide with genuine awe. Compared to his own straightforward fireballs, that attack looked metal as hell—like something pulled straight out of a nightmare boss fight.
The shadow-bindings holding him abruptly loosened, and Luke dropped unceremoniously, hitting the ground face-first with a dull thud. "Ow! A little warning next time would be nice…" he groaned, rubbing his nose with a scowl.
While Luke was still brushing off dirt, Selene calmly extended her hand, conjuring a small sphere of condensed darkness—no bigger than a tennis ball.
It pulsed faintly in her palm, rippling like liquid ink. She turned it over, studying it with quiet fascination, then casually flicked it toward a nearby wall.
BAM! The projectile slammed into the concrete, blowing through it cleanly as if the structure was made of brittle paper.
Luke blinked, unable to deny his amazement. "Okay, yeah… your skills are definitely busted."
Selene looked at him then, a hint of curiosity. "So… this is the same as you, isn't it? I just got powers out of nowhere."
She was absolutely certain it was Luke's doing—how else could she suddenly gain abilities that had never been hers before?
Luke grinned smugly. "Busted. Yes, you got 'em from me. And since you're clearly happy about it… want to say thank you with a kiss?" He tapped his cheek expectantly. "C'mon, give it here."
Selene's expression didn't move an inch, but the sharp glint in her eyes told him she was debating between indulging him—or ignoring him.
Before she could decide, a guttural RRRROOOAAARRR tore through the night air, so deep it rattled the broken windows around them. The sound froze them both.
Luke's smile slid right off his face. Slowly, he tilted his head upward. His eyes narrowed.
Perched on the rooftop was a nightmare made flesh—skin flayed away, raw muscle gleaming wet in the moonlight.
Its exposed brain pulsed like some grotesque lantern. No eyes in its face, only a cavernous maw crammed with teeth. A whip-like tongue slithered out, curling in the air with a wet slap-slap.
"…Fuck," Luke muttered, voice flat but very loud.
He didn't waste a heartbeat. FOOM! A fireball burst to life in his palm and hurled upward. KRA-BOOM! The flaming orb smashed into the creature's head, sending a shockwave through the rooftop.
The Licker was blown off the ledge, shrieking as its body slammed into the street with a THUD-CRACK, fissures spiderwebbing across the pavement just a few feet from Luke.
Luke stumbled back, clutching his chest. "God, that scared the hell out of me!" he blurted, his voice still shaky.
If he were being honest, his heart had nearly jumped straight out of his throat. The suddenness of it all—the roar, the grotesque body, the way it just dropped into their path—hit him harder than he wanted to admit.
It felt like something ripped right out of a late-night horror movie: a disgusting appearance, twisted muscles gleaming under the dim light, and the eerie silence of the ruined street pressing in around them.
Selene's gaze never left the creature as its mangled form twitched, its chest heaving like broken bellows. "What is this thing? It doesn't look like the others. It's… vile." Her voice carried no fear, only disgust.
Luke grimaced, "It's called a Licker. Another T-Virus mutation. And trust me—it's every bit as nasty as it looks."
The thing convulsed once, then moved with horrifying speed. WHIP-SNAP! Its grotesque tongue lashed out, the slick appendage wrapping tight around Luke's leg.
His eyes widened. "Uh-oh…"
Before he could even blink, his body was yanked upward with a wet SCHLLLPPP, swinging through the air like a ragdoll. "SERIOUSLY?! AGAIN?!" he yelled, flailing mid-swing.
Selene didn't waste a breath. Her heel slammed down, sending a reverberating CRACK through the ground. Instantly, shadows rippled like liquid tar, then erupted upward. WHUMP!—colossal jaws of pure darkness snapped into existence.
With a savage CHOMP-CRUNCH, the Licker was caught mid-lash. Bones splintered, muscles tore, and the tongue went slack with a wet splat as the jaws crushed the abomination into a mangled heap.
This time, Luke didn't just crash into the dirt. No, he twisted in mid-air, his arms spread like he was auditioning for a kung-fu flick. His boots scraped the ground as he landed perfectly on his feet, sliding back a few inches with a dramatic skrrrt.
"Thanks, Selene," he said, exhaling hard as his eyes flickered to the mangled corpse of the Licker. The creature's head was smashed so brutally it looked like a soda can stomped under a boot.
"God, that's nasty," Luke muttered, shuddering at the sight. The smell alone made him want to gag, but he forced himself to look past the gore. As disgusting as it was, he knew a monster like this wasn't just trash—it was valuable.
He raised his hand, focusing his will.
[Licker]
[Do you wish to sacrifice?]
Luke sighed, almost rolling his eyes. Yeah, yeah… don'thave to ask twice.
'Yes,' he answered in his mind.
[EXP or SP?]
Without hesitation, he thought, 'SP.'
[You have obtained 200 SP.]
Luke smirked, rubbing his chin. "Hmmm… quite good," he muttered, satisfaction slipping into his tone.