Chapter 144: Is This A Suicide Charge!?
The B rank immediately turned around and started to run away from the
Anima as she realized that she was going to get eaten! Why was it focusing on her? She didn't even do anything to it!
"Ahhhh!"
STAB!
The beast stopped moving as it felt two knives stab into the back of its head! It immediately reached back and grabbed whatever was there before swinging it towards the other side of the room! Selina's back slammed into a steel pipe and broke through it before sinking into a wall! She groaned in pain as she felt her body giving up on her and she dropped to the ground!
The Anima changed its target as it moved towards Selina! It reached out to grab her by the hair. Selina struggled in its grip, but she was too weak to fight back against it as it seized her and brought her up to its mouth.
"What the fuck are you? You look like some sort of omnitrix alien."
The Anima tilted its head in shock as someone spoke from behind it.
There was a certain amount of foreboding that filled it at that moment and it quickly turned around to look at what was behind it.
The Anima released a low growl as it saw Mark standing behind it in his black jeans and tank top. He was carrying the motionless body of Selina in his hands and the Anima was shocked as it quickly turned back around to look at its empty arm! How did he get her away from it that quickly!?
…
[New Mission]
Defeat the attacking anima. Civilian casualties are allowed.
Reward: +100 Stat Points
Failure: Nil
...
"You, come over here."
"W-What?"
Derek was standing at the side, dumbfounded as he watched what just happened. The anima might have missed what Mark did, but since Derek was standing right beside them, he was able to catch what actually happened. At one moment, it looked like Selina was about to get eaten, but then Mark appeared out of nowhere, and Selina just disappeared from where she was and reappeared in his hands.
Derek didn't feel any magic being activated, so he was sure that this was not a skill. That could only mean that Mark used pure speed to do that! Derek knew who Mark was. He saw the news showing Mark fighting against the calamity class in the city, but this Mark and that one seemed like two completely different people! He was far faster than before, and his presence was completely different!
Talking to Mark made Derek feel like he was the child instead!
"I said come take her and get out of here. Don't worry about the anima; I'll make sure it doesn't chase after you."
Derek was still looking towards the anima as he swiftly moved to get Selina from Mark. He was trying to make sure that the anima would not attack, but he didn't have to worry at all because the anima did not even look away from Mark. It seemed transfixed as Mark handed Selina to Derek and rolled his shoulder.
"Alright. Come to Daddy."
Boom!!
Mark had barely handed Selina over to Derek before the anima shot off the ground and was right on top of him in no time. Derek had already taken a large leap backward, and he was watching with wide eyes as Mark just remained exactly where he was with a growing grin on his face. What the hell is he doing!?
Derek knew that the anima had extremely high physical abilities, so it had enough power to destroy a low-ranked S-rank in one hit! There is no way that Mark could walk away from taking a direct hit like that without any injuries!
"Hey! GHOST! Get out of there!?"
Derek tried to shout loudly to warn Mark to move, but Mark's grin never faded from his face as he simply received the blow!
BOOM!
The surrounding area rumbled like an earthquake just passed, and Derek almost lost his footing as he tried to continue running away. He saw the large dust cloud that rose around Mark and the anima, and he knew that Mark was done! Was this some sort of suicide plan? Did GHOST really come here just so he could get killed by the anima!? That fucking idiot!
But as the dust cloud cleared up, Derek was shocked to see GHOST standing to one side without a single scratch on his body! The anima's arm was planted into the ground, and it also looked shocked by what just happened.
Mark hummed slightly as he took a step backward, the smile on his face never fading as he enjoyed the look of shock and surprise on the anima's face. So that is what the blessing does. That's fucking awesome.
Mark was not trying to get injured when he decided to stay back and allow the anima to hit him. Mark was trying to test out the new skill that he just got from Hades [Ignorance of the Death God]. The skill is supposed to give him one get-out-of-jail-free card when an opponent uses a potentially lethal attack against him, and Mark needed to know if it was actually true.
Would the hit connect, and he would be sent back in time to before he was hit, or would he be given some strange mechanism that allows him to avoid the attack? Mark needed to see what the skill does so he could figure out how to use it later in the future against stronger opponents.
It turned out that Mark's second guess was right. The [Ignorance of the Death God] skill worked by taking control of Mark's body for a split second. Just before the anima's attack landed, Mark could feel his body shift in the perfect way to just avoid the attack by mere millimeters.
It was strange, and Mark was completely unprepared for it, but it was also something that the anima never expected, so it was stunned for some seconds after seeing Mark move so perfectly.
Mark wondered if the skill would always work by taking control of his body and moving him out of the way. What would happen if he was attacked by some large area skill that destroyed everything around him? Would the skill still be able to dodge around something like that, or was he going to get killed because there was nowhere for him to run to?
Mark didn't know the answers to these questions, but for now, he was satisfied with the results of his test.
"I guess that should be enough playing around for now."
Mark cracked his knuckles as he began walking towards the monster with a wide smile. The monster immediately charged for Mark with a loud roar! It swung its hand in a wide arc that destroyed everything around it as it tried to bash Mark across the mall, but Mark easily dodged under the hit and shot toward the monster!
He shot into the air and delivered a wicked flying kick that sent the monster into the wall of the mall!
Bam!
The monster recoiled off the wall like a basketball, but before it could go anywhere, Mark was on it again!
[Critical Strike]!!
Slam!
Mark slammed his fist into the monster's stomach, and the monster crashed through the wall of the mall and into the road, and the screams of people running away became louder as they tried their hardest to get away from the fight. The monster roared in anger again as it used its arms to break down the walls around it!
It grabbed the stone and debris and threw them like missiles toward Mark, and Mark immediately ran to the side and avoided a few of the missiles. There were too many people around, so Mark made sure that he didn't get too close to the main road so they could get away. He drew the monster away from the civilians and made it focus all its attacks on him.
[Achilles Heel] has been activated.
Mark felt some strain on his eyes as the world blurred into a darker shade. Everything around him faded into multiple shades of black and gray, but there were many red lights littered around the area that showed the weaknesses of the things in his field of vision.