Akira swallowed hard, Cursed Energy trembling slightly. The sheer density of the monster's aura was suffocating. Dropping down right now would just invite the thing to casually backhand him into the bedrock.
Where is the core? he thought frantically, Cursed Olfaction working overtime. Where is the densest concentration of energy?
The toad-car curse let out a low, rumbling croak reminiscent of an engine backfiring. As it breathed, the miasma shifted, revealing a pulsing, sickly purple glow radiating from a fleshy indent right behind the creature's thick, armored neck.
That was it. The nape.
Akira checked his positioning. Directly above the target, he clung to a reinforced steel beam about thirty feet up. The drop offered momentum, but there would only be one shot to bite through that asphalt-like hide and rip the core out before the beast reacted.
Despite lacking a wildly beating heart, the phantom sensation of adrenaline flooded his system. Gathering every single drop of his 120 Cursed Energy, Akira funneled it entirely into the stolen jaws. The muscular snout visibly bulged; razor-sharp teeth hummed with violent, volatile power.
The grip on the steel beam released.
Silence. A localized shadow plummeting through the dark air like a guillotine.
Ten feet. Five feet.
Sensing the displacement of air, the single yellow headlight-eye on the beast's face suddenly twitched. The Grade 3 began to turn its massive, armored head, a guttural roar of warning building in its throat.
It was too slow.
[Lesser Rending Jaws - Maximum Output]
Akira slammed onto the beast's back with the force of a falling cinderblock. Before the creature could buck, he unhinged his jaw to a grotesque, physically impossible angle, driving those teeth directly into the pulsing, armored nape.
The metallic CRUNCH of piercing hardened cursed flesh was deafening.
The Grade 3 shrieked—a deafening cacophony of tires skidding across pavement and metal crumpling. It violently thrashed, throwing its massive weight backward to crush the parasite against the cavern floor.
Holding on tight, Akira's skeletal claws dug uselessly into the thick hide. He bit down harder, ignoring the sickening cracking sounds from his own skull as the sheer force of the impact threatened to shatter his jaws. Tasting the scorching, bitter rubber of the beast's blood, he twisted his head violently in a feral, desperate maneuver designed to rend and tear.
Give it to me! With a sickening squelch, Akira ripped his head back.
The Grade 3 froze. Its shrieks cut off abruptly.
Clutched in his jaws, glowing with a blinding, condensed purple light, was a spherical mass of raw, thrumming Cursed Energy the size of a grapefruit. The core.
Beneath him, the massive toad-car curse shuddered once. Then, it dissolved into an absolute tidal wave of black ash and dissipating energy, dropping Akira heavily onto the dirt floor. He coughed and hacked around the massive core still in his mouth.
Without waiting to catch a breath, he swallowed the chunk of energy whole.
Swallowing the core felt like ingesting a lit stick of dynamite. A blinding pain erupted from his center, ripping a shriek from his throat as his gelatinous body violently expanded.
[ Host Condition: Critical Cursed Energy Overload. ]
[ Target Core Consumed: Grade 3 (Traffic Anomaly). ]
[ Evolution Condition Met. ]
[ Commencing Qualitative Breakthrough. ]
The volatile density of the Grade 3 Cursed Energy flash-fried his sludge-like cells. Black miasma erupted from his back in geysers, splashing against the dirt walls of the excavated cavern as his jaws rigidly locked together against the agony.
[ System Warning: Host structure integrity failing. ]
[ Action: Forcing rapid cellular reconstruction. ]
Consciousness shattered into a million jagged pieces, instantly replaced by the sickening, wet crunch of bones snapping into existence. The amorphous blob rapidly compressed, weaving thick, whip-cord muscle fibers over a newly formed, obsidian-black skeleton. His spine violently elongated, snapping upright. Spindly, broken-finger limbs thickened, lengthening and fusing with heavy calcified plating.
When the blinding purple light finally faded, Akira stood tall in the dim, flickering shadows.
He slowly raised long, muscular arms wrapped in leathery, ash-gray hide. Four double-jointed fingers tipped with wicked, curved talons flexed at the end of his wrists, sharp enough to shear through steel. A clawed hand traced his face, feeling the massive, muscular snout and jagged teeth seamlessly integrated into a hardened, bony skull.
"Status," Akira rumbled.
The single word echoed with a terrifying, layered bass that vibrated deep in his newly formed chest. A massive, pristine blue screen snapped into existence, illuminating the cavern.
Host: Akira
Race: Cursed Spirit (Vengeful Apparition)
Grade: 3 (Lower Tier)
Vitality: 850/850 (+700)
Cursed Energy: 1,200/1,200 (+1,080)
Unique Skill: [The Devourer System]
Active Traits: [Lesser Rending Jaws]
Passive Traits: [Cursed Olfaction], [Dense Carapace (New)]
Evolution Progress: 0.0% to Grade 2
A horrific, toothy grin parted his jagged jaws. The ambient energy radiating off his bipedal form physically distorted the air around him, generating enough sheer pressure to make a normal human vomit on the spot.
Before he could even test the strength of his new talons, the blue status screen shattered like glass.
The fragments dissolved into a blinding, iridescent gold that bathed the entire cavern in a holy, completely out-of-place light. A heavy, ancient church bell tolled in his mind.
[ Hidden Milestone Completed: The Predator's Gambit ]
[ Objective Achieved: Consumed a higher-tier core. ]
[ Dispensing Reward... ]