Tatehan understood this perfectly well.
Even though it took only some seconds, he realized what was at stake here.
The call from the lunatic bruteneck would attract other perfectly normal brutenecks and even carapace brutenecks.
The thought of facing off against that many was already sickening. Sickening in the sense that how was he supposed to just direct rocks to their necks? He would likely be run over before he did so.
Well, he was thinking too much, although all these thoughts weren't up to a minute long (from the time he saw the bruteneck and it started howling). The only reasonable thing to do at this point was to act.
But…, there were no jagged pebbles on the floor he could use his gravity manipulation powers on to send towards the soft and exposed neck of the lunatic bruteneck.
The bruteneck was now hitting its chest like a gorilla and stomping its feet on the ground, doing so like a maniac.
Howling…
Chest hitting…
Stomping…
Tatehan could feel other brutenecks already coming at him, a mass multitude of them closing in. He clutched his backpack tight, thinking of a way to end this thing. For a second, he wanted to believe a weapon to bring the beast down would be inside his backpack.
But then, he killed the thought. Only a loaf of bread and three bottles of water were inside his backpack.
There was no way that would send the neck of this monster from its head.
How could he take the head of this monster from its body?
The option he had been trying to force himself not to think of was the only one remaining… use his hands… legs… his body.
He was a bit disgusted at the thought of touching something as disturbing as this. This wouldn't only give children nightmares—it was capable of giving adults nightmares too. The way these monsters were… disturbingly disturbing.
He would have to use his hands on this. The thought made him sick. But was it a must he actually came in contact with it?
While fighting the holographic dummies, he had resorted to using his hands and legs very well to defeat them all. It wasn't a must he used his hands here. A karate swipe move of his leg on the neck of the bruteneck would take it apart.
Brutenecks neck were soft. Ridiculously soft. If not the softest thing in the world, then easily in the top three.
The lunatic bruteneck continued its deranged display, howling, chest-beating, stomping. But Tatehan had found his answer. A kick to the neck would end it.
It wouldn't necessarily matter the force of the kick, even a light kick would do it. What mattered was the speed at which the kick would land.
He needed to make it quick. Before the monster ducked, its head had to already be off.
But the speed… he needed to be fast.
If the bruteneck were to dodge by mistake, his midsection would suffer it—or probably his head.
Thinking about it now, Tatehan realized that if he didn't have his gravity manipulation powers, or if the brutenecks didn't have such a fatal weakness, he would have a lot of difficulty facing these monsters. Their size, their speed… he wouldn't be able to match that.
Thooom…!
Tatehan dashed forward like a maniac, without weapons, without any aim to use his gravity manipulation powers. The gravity manipulation was still at level one, so he couldn't move a monster as large as a bruteneck. It was only limited to small objects.
If he could by chance move this monster as they fought, he would have a much better and easier chance at defeating it.
But it didn't matter, he still had a chance.
The distance between him and the monster was a bit far (not so much though), and as he ran, he realized it felt much farther. Not that it was, but the sensation, the sensation of facing a maniac bruteneck.
He realized he had to become a maniac to an extent.
As he drew nearer, he saw the howl of the monster intensify. It was shouting so loud… so loud with so much effort that it started to cough.
Tatehan leapt to close the distance quicker, landed, took a few running steps forward, and then leapt again, his time his legs going up, setting into that stance.
The karate stance.
He did it quickly, so quickly that the bruteneck didn't know what he was about to do. It seemed like a blur, like the flash of lightning.
Twiikkk!
It stuck…, struck and zipped the head from the neck.
Bruteneck necks were really soft. Tatehan even found paper harder to cut than them.
To be able to deliver the kick so quickly as he had done, Tatehan didn't apply much force. It was like sprinting, the motion of raising a leg. That was how Tatehan did it. Light but fast.
It was enough. He hit the neck, and as he watched the head roll down farther from where he stood, he couldn't help but feel disgusted.
Even the bruteneck's headless body slumping to the ground seemed too disgusting. This was the type of sight that made one faint. But Tatehan didn't. He just watched as the weird-colored blood poured to the ground, wetting it.
Well, that was… anticlimactic.
The build-up that led to the fight, the anticipation and all that, just to be wasted with a kick.
Tatehan grinned as he stared at the corpse. Honestly? He had been expecting more.
He then heard a low voice, the one that usually echoed his achievements:
[Congratulations host, you have just defeated a Lunatic Maniac.]
Tatehan froze.
Wait, so it was actually a thing?
To be honest, he had just given the bruteneck the name lunatic. He never thought it was an actual classification, its real name: Lunatic Maniac.
He looked at the corpse and saw a glowing rock beside it.
Tatehan froze again. So apart from carapace brutenecks, brutenecks who were lunatics actually had a glowing rock, or rather, a core? He was surprised.
He picked it up and across his retina he saw:
[Glowing Rock]
[Color: Light Green]
[Name: Upgrade Glowing Rock]
Tatehan furrowed his brow.
Upgrade Glowing Rock?
Then he saw more words:
[Which of your abilities would you like to upgrade?]
[Gravity Manipulation]
[Partial Regeneration]