Ehem...before we begin I just want to express my thanks to [DaoistNox] for the support and I hope you continue to enjoy the dishes i serve next
***
Jordan, Lydia and Candice now stood just five meters away from the Bone Ape. It stood with its back hunched, sizing up the humans who had dared to stand up to it. Its entire face was covered by the bone mask- except for the hollowed out parts that were around its eyes.
Jordan stood in the middle of the trio, acting as the center pillar of this formation. His fists ready by his side, his mana ready and surging within him like a beast pulling against its chains- ready to break free and wreck havoc at any given moment.
Lydia was to his side. The wind around her stirring under her control as it lifted her feet off the ground by a couple of inches. The pressure she felt from coming from the Bone Ape's presence alone was enough to almost shake her resolve. It invoked an instinctual sort of fear within her causing her hands to tremble slightly. Lydia felt her heart skip a beat but her mind remained calm, her resolve unshaken. This was the very same sort of pressure she wanted to overcome and she would make sure to do just that.
"Lydia you're in charge of the ranged attacks, you're going to be attacking right behind me stay mobile and make sure not to hit me please?" Jordan said the last part a bit unsure. He didn't know just how much control Lydia had over her skill [Air Manipulation] so he didn't know just how proficient she was with her skills.
Lydia didn't say anything, opting to nod instead.
Then Jordan turned to Candice and said:
"Candice…You're our cannon. The moment you sense a significant opening I want you to fire off the strongest attack you can make out. In the mean time…" Jordan clenched his fist and released the storm of mana that was raging in his body. In less than a second it circulated within his body as he activated his skill.
[Lightning bolt]
He shot his left arm forward. A bright spark of yellow travelling from his gauntlets before it shot off like a bullet. The yellow bolt of lightning travelled in the air so fast that the Bone Ape couldn't even react in time. The attack landed on its chest.
BOOM.
A forceful explosion rang out and the Bone Ape was pushed back six meters, its feet and legs digging into the ground as it did so, before coming to a stop. But it wasn't knocked down, not one bit.
If the Bone Ape didn't have a bone mask covering its face, the sneer it held on its lips would have been as clear as day. It looked down on its chest- where the lightning bolt had struck. Part of the bone armor covering the area was charred black and even had a small trail of smoke from the heat of the impact climbing off it and rising into the air.
It looked forward once again, its eyes locking onto Jordan as it came to an easy decision. It would deal with him first.
Jordan felt the ape lock its gaze on him but he was already moving forward. He sprung forward, his fists at the ready. A faint purple aura shrouded his figure. His strength and stamina soared to higher levels.
"[Power Boost]"
[Power Boost] was a simple active skill really. All it did was increase his strength and stamina stats by +60 each. Alone, this boost wouldn't have meant anything significant in this situation, but his [Thunder Gauntlets] boosted his strength by +15 points while his [Bronze Armor] boosted all his stats by +30…so overall Jordan's strength was currently over 180 points while his stamina however was closer to 90.
Yes the boost wasn't as impressive as the boost Huey got from his title alone but for somebody who still hadn't unlocked their Special Trait and didn't have title just yet- it was impressive in its own right.
However such boosts still fell short as compared to the Second Star Order Bone Ape, whose strength was closer to two hundred points and even though its agility was the lowest of its stats- it surpassed one hundred points nonetheless.
The Bone Ape moved. Its steps heavy but faster than What Jordan thought to be possible. It intercepted Jordan's path. The two of them met half way through the middle.
The Bone Ape was the first to make a move, throwing out a straight fist covered in bone knuckles with its left arm. The air seemed to shudder slightly as the fist flew towards Jordan's face. Even though the fist was about a quarter of a meter away from his face, he could feel the wind pressure just from its momentum alone.
'Its got so much force! One clean hit like that one and that'll be the end of me!'
Jordan's pupils constricted. He dug his toes into the ground as his body came to a forceful stop. The movement shook his internal organs causing a spike of pain to travel through this body but he grit his teeth. He pulled his head back and bent his so far that the back of his head almost touched the ground- just inches away.
A sharp pressure grazed his nose as a large fist soared over his face with a rush of wind so powerful that Jordan would have thought it was trying to carve through his face.
Jordan didn't stop his motion and instead slammed a palm into the dirt, shifting his center of mass. Then he pushed upwards in a back flip motion that sent his knee colliding with the hard elbow joint of the Bone Ape's arm.
He felt the joint shudder and waver but for a split second before it stabilized. However, what Jordan was aiming for wasn't to break the Bone Ape's arm, from the beginning he knew it wouldn't be possible…at least not yet. What Jordan's strike did do however was send the arm skywards in a forceful manner, with the arm now far away from his face he was able to retreat and get back to his feet.
Jordan felt his spine ache just a little bit. That movement was too much, even for him. If he had tried to do something like this before the apocalypse, he certainly wouldn't have come out with just a minor back ache. Still the fight wasn't over
The Bone Ape realigned itself just as quickly as Jordan increased his focus.
There was a cracking sound coming from the ape's body before a white substance expanded from the palm of its right hand. It solidified into a large piece of white bone that grew and expanded. The mana that was surrounding it felt eerie and ominous like a dark power that shouldn't be allowed to exist and yet here it was.
Bone mana.
In the world, many would come to know that the various skills that were available through the system each had a very specific type of law- or a deviation, that they harnessed. For instance, Lydia's [Air manipulation] tapped into the law of wind or better known as wind mana. Clara's skills tapped into the laws of light, same as Candice and others tapped into more abstract universal laws such as the law of sound; or law of anti-magic or the law of death.
What the Bone Ape's skill tapped into was a deviation of the law of death…Bone mana.
Death cannot interact with the world as actively as the other laws such as Light, Life, Earth, Water, Air and Fire. However in the few times that it did actively interact with the world it would clash against its polar opposite- Life Force or the law of life.
Normally Death mana appears only when one is at the end of their life span or is on the verge of death, meaning that the being's life force is depleted. But in a case where its not- like this one, and Death mana, or even a deviant in this case such as Bone mana, was exposed, the life force that is closest to it would feel a repulsion and a strong urge to get rid of the source.
That was one the reasons why Death related classes were looked down upon- and even ostracized, in the universe even if they were some of the strongest. That very repulsion was what Jordan was currently experiencing albeit at a lower scale.
His eyes drifted between the Bone Ape and the massive bone club it held in its hands.
With a low menacing growl, the Bone Ape took a heavy step forward, the ground sinking beneath its foot. The bone club was raised above its head held in between two hands. And then it swung down with so much strength that the wind exploded.
Jordan's pupils constricted. He had no choice but to jump out of the way.
The club came down with a heavy stomp. It landed on the exact spot he had just been. The ground shattered on impact. It sunk and the force from the blow sent torrents of loose rock flying in all directions. Jordan felt the force knock him off his feet. He fell forward and rolled into the ground.
By the time he recovered a large block of rock was heading for his face.
"Shit" he braced himself and crossed his arms in front.
The bones in his arms shook and the block of rock shattered upon impact. Jordan had to close his eyes for fear of the dust blinding him. The force from the blow pushed him back a full three meters and by the time the residual effects of the impact calmed in his body the dust had cleared and the ground looked like beaten earth, almost as though it had been rocked by a large scale earthquake.
Gaps and cracks ravaged the ground, large fragments of rock were loose making it difficult to stand let alone move. Jordan felt as if his feet would fall out from beneath him at any moment.
"ROAR!"
The ground shook once more gaining Jordan's attention. His head snapped forward and his heart almost skipped a beat due to what he was seeing.
The Bone Ape rampaged forward, its feet digging into the loose ground and finding traction as though it wasn't loose at all. The bone club now looked different from before with sharp white spikes jutting out from the sides of its tip.
"I gotta do something fast" Jordan muttered as he took the moment to carefully observe the Bone Ape.
Yes, the ape was stronger, much stronger than Jordan in his current state, he felt that if he really resolved himself to use [Rampage] he would be stronger or on par with the beast, but he couldn't afford to use it- at least not right now, after all there was a bigger foe waiting to be taken down after this.
The Bone Ape continued to rush towards him swinging the bone club in its right hand. Jordan continued to observe the beast for a little longer. That's when he realized it.
The Bone Ape's forte wasn't speed. Yes, as a Second Star Order existence it was practically guaranteed to have all its stats above 150 as the lowest, but Jordan realized that it that truly was the case then that explained the Bone Ape's insane strength but what about its speed?
If its speed was a high as its strength then surely Jordan would have had a hard time following its movements. So how come he could see its movements clearly? The Bone Ape had to have been rushing towards him with its full speed so shouldn't he have been seeing afterimages or a blur of movement at least?
'Come to think of it. This ape's slower than Huey'