Chapter 60: Poisonous Anima
Anima are known to eat their victims.
Mark has fought against multiple Anima in his time as GHOST, and he has always known them to eat their victims. So why were all these human bodies here untouched? There were many of the humans that were missing body parts and some of them were disfigured beyond belief, but there was no sign that any of them were eaten!
"We aren't alone. Try to keep your guard up. We can't see it, but I think there is an Anima in this cave."
Once Mark said this, Greg immediately froze as he felt something touch his back! The first thought that came to Greg at that moment was that he was going to die! He cursed himself and his stupidity as he remembered the anima that they just finished fighting against!
One of the lizards could disappear and it was only because of the fire that the female superhuman created that they were able to see the stealthy Anima! Greg should have known that there would be more than one of that Anima type in this cave! If there was one, then there would surely be more!
Greg was crouching down on the ground and examining a corpse when he felt the sensation on his back and his mind shut down as the only thing that came to the forefront of his mind was to either fight or run like a madman!
"Fuck it!"
Greg immediately launched himself forward using his toes, and he managed to get more than two meters away from the spot he had been crouching in before he felt something sharp and hard scratch a straight line into his back!
"ARGH!!"
Greg turned around as he felt the pain on his back and he was stunned to see a single green claw sticking out from thin air and dripping with his blood! He crawled back and tried to get as far away from that thing as possible. He was sure that the rest of its body was being hidden by its camouflage skill!
But if its claw was that large, then Greg didn't even want to imagine how big the actual monster was going to be! It must be at least twice the size of the lizard that attacked him in the other tunnel!
SCREECH!!!
The anima screeched as it reached towards Greg, but a hand suddenly grabbed the anima's invisible body and Mark glared at the invisible creature.
"Show yourself, motherfucker."
[Raiju Thunder God]
BZZZZTT!!
SCREEECHHH!!
A massive current of electricity passed through the anima's entire body as it was thrown back from where Mark touched it.
Mark was reassured once he saw that the skill worked on the anima. That meant that the anima was at least one rank lower than him and he didn't have to worry too much about being pushed in this fight!
The creature stayed on the ground and didn't move a muscle as it spasmed from the electric current, and Mark cracked his knuckles as he started moving towards it!
The Raiju Thunder God constitution gave Mark enhanced physical attributes, but it also allowed him to stun enemies that were weaker than him for two seconds. It didn't seem like a long time when it was put on a scale, but when you are fighting with your life on the line, two seconds could feel like years!
An experienced martial artist could deal life-threatening damage in those two seconds, and someone who was sufficiently stronger than you could even end your life!
The current that passed through the Anima made it lose control of its camouflage ability as it slowly began to reveal its true form. It was a large, grotesque-looking thing with the head and arms of a praying mantis and the body of a centipede.
It had multiple legs on its many body layers, but the most dangerous part of its body was the two large green arms protruding from its body with large claws at the ends of it!
Mark quickly grabbed the Anima before the two seconds were over and he dragged its two claws forward with both hands! He put his leg on its head and a brutal sneer appeared on his face as he pulled the claws with intense force until a loud squelch echoed through the cave as they were pulled out from the protruding arms!
SCREECH!!
Mark noticed that there was a liquid dripping from the ends of the claws and he quickly assumed that they were poisonous. He made sure he didn't touch that part of the claw as he turned them around and plunged them deep into the Anima's body with intense force! The anima screeched in pain as it stumbled back and began to skitter around like a headless lizard!
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
It slammed its body into the walls of the tunnel constantly as it tried to get the claws out of its body, but there was no way for it to remove the claws and it eventually succumbed to the liquid and stopped moving.
The liquid that it secreted from its claws wasn't poisonous, but they were relaxants that paralyzed the body of anything they were injected into. The Anima would use the claws to inject its victims with the relaxant and then it would wait for its victim to succumb to the relaxant before going in for the kill.
Mark was able to figure out that the liquid wasn't poisonous as he came closer to the Anima and noticed that it was not yet dead. Its body was paralyzed, but it was still breathing and staring at Mark with wide, terrified eyes. Mark could only chuckle as he placed his feet on the Anima's head.
What sort of stupid animal isn't immune to its own poison? Aren't you meant to have some sort of failsafe where you don't get hurt by your own poison? Or were the anima such freaks of nature that they weren't evolved enough to have that failsafe?
Mark knew that the Anima were still evolving at a high rate. The Anima that could talk from before was already a sign that some of the anima were more advanced than others. This anima couldn't talk, so it was probably less evolved than the other Calamity Class that Mark fought against.
Screech! Screech!
The anima screeched feebly in pain as it felt Mark increasing the force that he was using to press down on its head. Mark was leaning forward, and he was making sure to inflict as much pain as possible on the Anima as he killed it.
The sight of all the people that died here was not going to affect Mark personally, he had already seen too much death and destruction in his time as both KING and GHOST to be affected by something like this. But that doesn't mean that Mark was heartless.
He couldn't just allow the bastard that caused this much death to go scot-free. It had to suffer like they suffered. The souls of the superhumans that risked their lives here wouldn't rest in peace otherwise
Crack!
Crack!