Awakening of the Weakest Slayer-Chapter 117: Laboratory

Groaning, Sezel pulled himself upright with the help of the battered wall behind him and summoned the sword as a support for his injured leg.

'The core must be somewhere near.' Sezel's gaze took in the whole landscape around him.

Behind him, there was a wall of some kind of broken building, he was standing in between a major road which was elongated on either side.

And in front of him were the barricades that separated the outer grounds from the hotel where they were staying.

"Hmm... so i can't find the core and honestly, lying down and letting it all happen might be less embarrassing than dying running in circles." He announced it in a gruffy voice.

He flopped onto his back on the cold ground in an imitation of roadkill. And the tentacles that were just now moving suddenly stopped.

Sezel showed no movements, and as he expected the beast became frenzied and the several tentacles started to look around at other places for their prey that had... just disappeared.

'I'm an actual idiot. Moving with the cloak was dumb—should've just gone full statue from the start.' he almost laughed.

The cloak was not magical... it had its set rules for working effectively. As long as the wearer is moving it won't show its effects.

Now that Sezel laid bare on the ground he was... mostly invisible to the tentacles. But the tentacles can't see to start with... its the core, he had to lure out the beast's core.

He just waited... lying there looking at the sky. Not just out of fun, he had to watch out for the clouds.

If the clouds disperse and the moons shine, his fragile cover will be broken without a second. It was really dangerous with those tentacles just roaming around him, the moment they sense him, he is dead.

Or far worse...

"..."

But the wait did pay off, from behind a barricade at some distance something walked out. It was the central chest piece of the beast's whole body and... it walked on two hands.

'Eww... now this is beyond ugly... isn't it?'

It was still at some distance and for most part... it was cautious.

That's the intelligence of an enhanced beast after all. Still it was no match for the cunning of humans.

The moment, the torso walking on hands stepped inside the hundred percent hit zone of Sezel's sword, he moved.

CLANK!

'Fuck...'

The sword did touch the core, passing through the slimy flesh but that was it. The sword didn't break the core.

Sezel clenched his jaw and tried to jump back, but it was too late, the tentacles were already on both of his legs.

He felt the energy escape his body and fell to his knees.

The torso, or the main core body was stunned, looking at him... it had no face but it was clear that it was mused.

Sezel squinted at it; he could have bet money that the thing wanted to scream 'idiot' to his face.

"Huh… y'know what?" Sezel grinned, wheezing. "You're dead."

"..."

If sarcasm could kill, maybe he'd stand a chance.

The beast looked at him as if he had made some dad joke. When suddenly something grabbed it from behind and squished it like a cockroach under foot.

CRACKK!

[Congratulations You have slain a Parasitic Mob]

The tentacles covering Sezel's body suddenly paled and fell to the ground like dead slugs.

He sagged in relief, body sinking into the ground, panting. He was tired... utterly exhausted.

'But this isn't the time to be resting, sigh.'

He tried standing up, but his legs were not in the mood to carry weight yet. 'Tsk...'

His puppet stood their with its hand still clenched... blood dripping from its palm. It had squished the poor mob a little too much.

"Hey... drop it."

Following Sezel's orders, the Mountain Terror dropped the piece of squashed meat in its hand. As it fell on ground almost 80% of the body melted and dissolved into the ground, around it the tentacles too dissolved.

The only thing left behind was a small bug like thing... as large as a human hand. It was dead and bleeding.

Sezel's lips twitched at the sight... 'This... tiny mf!'

Again a proof to the fact that, here is Spirit Realm... Power tops Size.

He didn't waste any time and reaching his hand to the beast, absorbed its broken core. Ethereal, multi colored light surged from the beast's body to his and trans versed through his veins and finally collapsed into his Spirit Core.

Sezel's body felt at ease and the damage done by the beast was healed. Color returned to both his legs.

It was a good thing that he can heal any kind of wounds by absorbing a beast's core. Sezel learned that the healing effect was limited. For normal slayers, absorbing a core only increased the rate of normal healing.

While it was helpful in minor injuries... major damages to body parts were not healed.

But... for Sezel it was different. His body could even grow broken limbs by absorbing a beast's core. From that he concluded a simple theory... that his Fable let's him absorb the life energy of a dead creatures.

The clouds finally released the moon's silver beams, casting the city in spectral blues and whites that almost made ruin look like art. 𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝔀𝓮𝒃𝙣𝓸𝒗𝒆𝒍.𝙘𝒐𝒎

He lay back, letting the lunar chill cool his aching body.

"Laboratory… yeah. Like I'll just trip over one out here. Do monsters get together and work on their evolutionary upgrades in those places?"

Still, he had to continue.

First he absorbed the dead rat like beast too, that was killed by the mob. Why leave something when you are getting it for free. The corpse was worth 10 Soul Shards.

He clambered up, mounting Mountain Terror with the confidence of a man, with questionable luck, and just enough madness to call it a plan.

"Let's move," he muttered. The puppet shot forward, plunging deeper into the city.

_

_

_

Just some time latter, he was hiding behind a half broken wall, waiting for something beyond to move away without looking at his side.

Well... even if it did, he had the cloak.

It was a bad decision to move into the city full of monsters on his puppet to start with and right now he was just learning it the hard way.

The mountain terror's hefty movements had brought the attention of the beast's that dwell deeper inside the city.

CRUNCHHH!

A sickening sound of bones cracking sent shivers down Sezel's spine. 'Just pass straight damn it.'

A giant insect with multiple legs was walking around the street, looking for something. It was angry and furious, because of hunger apparently.

Actually just sometime ago, when Sezel was going around the city, riding on his puppet like a dumb bait.

This beast heard the footsteps and came running, anticipating a huge feast, but found nothing, since then it has been moving here in circles looking for the lost prey.

Sezel wanted to get away from the abomination because, even if he and his puppet strike it together, even if he would be equipped with better gear...

There was only one certainty... he will become the food, that won't even satisfy the poor beast.

For some reason, i know that Spirit Realm's culinary standards are deeply flawed.

However for now... Sezel hid behind a broken wall, gracefully melting with the darkness. If someone were to see him now, they would most certainly regard him as a statue and pass by.

'I love this cloak... i will definitely get a huge temple for this thing when i get rich.'

The Shadow Cloak was the only thing keeping him alive right now.

The beast had somehow found a rubble of some bones, and was chewing on them. Breaking them with its teeth as if they were cookies.

The sound of bones crackling and being munched, created a mental image of himself being chewed by the beast...

'No no no no...' he jolted his head.

Soon as the beast finished its bone meal, it moved. With several legs hitting the ground one by one... it created a symphony.

A melody of end.

Sezel was still on statue mode for some time until the beast's movements were just a far echo. He gulped hard and let out a sigh of relief.

Suddenly a small... barely audible snarl tore the fragile silence.

'Hell... this place doesn't even know the concept of a little break.' he snorted, inwards.

And without wasting any more moments he started on his way towards the heart of the ruined city. This was not Sezel's first time here, he was a regular hunter here... and was familiar with most of this place.

But still... being familiar in the ruined place was just like daydreaming. Sometimes it felt as if the city was changing shapes.

But Sezel's mission today was not hunting... but to find something he hadn't seen before in this forsaken place.

A Laboratory.