Seed of Titan-Chapter 172: Buried by the Storm

’Looks like my surprise attack was effective. I knew this would come in handy the moment I discovered that my energy blast can’t hurt me per se,’ Drai thought as he kept his eyes on the unmoving man. ’Now, I could pop this guy’s head and make sure he stays dead, but would it end up with his gang pursuing Max and me even in the outside world when they eventually find out about it? Hmm, maybe I should just leave now while he’s down...’

With his mind made up, Drai was about to step away. But right at that moment, a powerful shock struck his foot, which coursed through his body in a flash, jolting him hard. Immediately after, a blur of violet struck his arm, rattling his bones as he was slammed away to the side.

From the muddy ground, the enforcer slowly stood up. His face was filled with fury and his right hand was holding a two-meter-long javelin seemingly made of a translucent frame that trapped pulsating streaks of violet lightning inside.

"I’m done playing around, kid," the man hoarsely muttered before activating his skill, causing a deep red glow to spread across his veins as if tiny streams of flames were burning beneath his skin. At the same time, his breath became visible under the heavy rain akin to a cloud of steam. In addition, his pupils shrank and the white part of his eyes darkened, turning his gaze feral.

Meanwhile, at a short distance away, Drai had just re-maxed Nexus Augmentation. The pain from his fresh burn wounds rapidly subsided as his tissues transformed.

’Damn, he got me good,’ he thought while gazing at the reinvigorated enforcer. ’I intentionally lowered my augmentation level to avoid crushing his back, but it ended up backfiring instead. I probably should’ve just ended the fight there and then and deal with the consequences later. Anyway, what’s the deal with his makeover? Is he using some kind of empowering skill?’

It didn’t take long for Drai’s question to be answered, as the enforcer’s figure blurred and reappeared in front him, with the lightning javelin jabbed into Drai’s stomach.

Completely trusting his strengthened abs, Drai ignored the strike and delivered a counterattack instead, grab-jabbing at his foe’s head.

To Drai’s surprise, his practically point-blank punch was easily dodged by the man through a simple stance shift. At the same time, the javelin struck his abs and shocked him slightly, but as expected, it failed to pierce through the ridiculously dense muscle lining over his stomach.

What followed was a melee unlike before. For the next several minutes, Drai kept getting hit by the relentless javelin stabs and swings, rapidly accumulating damage, whereas the enforcer kept dodging Drai’s strikes with ease.

If he wanted, Drai could simply fly away and keep himself out of his opponent’s reach while figuring out a way to deal with the empowered man, perhaps bombarding him from a distance with energy blasts. However, that would go against Drai’s preference. Unless absolutely necessary, he’d rather engage in a CQC slugfest, grinding his stats and sharpening his combat intuition and techniques in the process.

That’s why despite being unable to land a single clean hit, Drai was enjoying this fight a lot. He felt a certain charm from such a mindless brawl, which was unlike anything his sparring sessions with Max or his strategic party battles with his friends had ever evoked.

On the other hand, the enforcer didn’t share Drai’s enjoyment. Despite having the upper hand, he was increasingly infuriated by the indecisive melee. Furthermore, unbeknownst to his target, the enforcer’s empowering skill was rapidly approaching its time limit. If Drai had been paying close attention to his opponent’s appearance, he would’ve noticed that the man’s breathing was slowly getting more ragged and his blazing-red veins had started to blacken.

Shortly after, the enforcer was starting to panic, thinking, ’Is this guy for real?! Considering his age, he should still be a first-stager, so what’s with his absurd defense and endurance?! I know he’s using some kind of empowering skill along with that white aura, but why haven’t they run out yet?! Even if they’re mana-based, it’s impossible for this greenhorn to have such a huge mana pool that could sustain such strong skills this long!"

Perhaps it was due to his unsettled mind or deteriorating body, but the enforcer’s movements began to slack. Eventually, Drai’s fist landed squarely on his jaw, slamming the man face-first onto the muddy ground once more.

The enforcer immediately deactivated both his lightning javelin skill and his empowering skill that had been burning his insides for a while before flipping his body over. He meant to plead with the youngster while trying hard to ignore a bunch of teeth, which had just been knocked out by the punch, rattling inside his mouth. But before he could speak up, steel-hard fingers had clenched his neck first, cutting off his respiratory system and silencing him.

"You’ll serve as an example for Jian to change his ways. Don’t resent me too much, okay? This never would’ve happened had you let my group escape peacefully earlier," Drai flatly said as he looked straight at the spiritless man. 𝓯𝙧𝓮𝓮𝒘𝓮𝙗𝙣𝒐𝒗𝒆𝓵.𝓬𝓸𝒎

The enforcer knew that death was likely imminent. But unlike what Drai was thinking, he didn’t actually resent his opponent but instead blamed himself for recklessly engaging the supposedly easy targets while he could’ve contacted his team first and moved together instead. His self-blame was unwarranted though, for how could he or anyone have foreseen that such a young man would be able to defeat a fully-equipped fourth-stager so easily? Alas, what’s done was done, and the man was now under Drai’s mercy.

Unfortunately for him, mercy wasn’t on the table. Instead of crushing the man’s neck, Drai activated Bio Drain and rapidly sucked out his essence, withering him in no time.

After dropping the lifeless enforcer back onto the rain-filled ground, Drai deliberated for a second before releasing a large energy ball that burst upon touching the corpse.

A devastating explosion instantly enshrouded the area in a blinding white glow. A few moments later, Drai could be seen flying away, heading toward his companions.

Taking one last glance at the large crater behind him, now rapidly filling up with rainwater, he mumbled, "That spent quite a lot of Nova Flux’s duration, but it should be worth it. Now his crew would probably lose track of the killer. If this doesn’t go as planned, I’ll just fight them at worst, but it’s better to restock my essence first in case they have a much stronger guy with them. Oh, right—that guy’s essence could be useful."

Drai then silently instructed, ’System, don’t use that person’s essence for recovery. I want to use it for the next assimilation.’

[Affirmative. Person A’s essence has been isolated.]

Afterward, Drai fell silent as he flew forward through the seemingly endless downpour, all the while contemplating his upcoming first human-essence assimilation. He wondered if this was unethical and how others would perceive him if they ever found out about this.

The small white streak in the sky soon vanished from sight, leaving an undisturbed gloom that evenly blanketed this particular area of the Strip.

Moments later, a figure flew over, clad in a powersuit just like the previous enforcer. On the person’s back hung a large, futuristic greatsword.

The newcomer noticed the large pool of water and flew toward it, stopping just above the water’s surface. After confirming the coordinates, the figure released a few small probes that scattered across the area and performed quick scans. One of them skimmed the water and scanned its depths. After the results came in, the enforcer tapped their wrist-mounted interface, activating the encrypted comms channel.

The figure then said with an obvious female voice, "Felicia reporting on-site. Based on the scanning of Enforcer Stuart’s last confirmed location and his abrupt signal loss at the same spot, he is presumed deceased. The particular area is heavily damaged, likely due to an energy-based explosion. No remains visible—possible incineration or disintegration. DNA collection is unfeasible due to the rainstorm, making it impossible to swiftly identify the perpetrator."

She then prompted the drones to scan the area once more, this time analyzing residual energy signatures. The results displayed faint but distinct traces that lingered in the atmosphere, ground, and water pool, indicating the use of an unidentified energy-based ability.

Felicia continued with her report. "No signs of the perpetrator at the scene. However, residual energy readings suggest an extremely high concentration of bio-energetic activity that doesn’t match Enforcer Stuart’s energy signature, likely the perpetrator’s.

"Preliminary conclusion: Enforcer Stuart engaged an unidentified target and was overpowered. Given the level of destruction as well as the quick and thorough disposal of Enforcer Stuart, the hostile should be highly skilled, at least a fifth-stager or possibly higher. Further investigation is necessary. Requesting additional enforcers for a perimeter sweep and to cross-reference energy signatures with known entities."

She glanced toward the darkened horizon, squinting beneath her visor as her eyes vainly scoured for her associate’s killer.

"Awaiting orders. Felicia out."

***