System Breaker: Surviving Apocalypse with Nine-Tailed Kitsune-Chapter 37: A Large Bait

Damon threw himself forward just in time to roll away from the massive blade of the orc’s weapon.

BANG!

With a deafening sound, it crashed where he had stood just a moment ago. Earth exploded from the impact, sending dirt and debris high into the air.

He barely had any time to recover from his dodge as the orc was quick to continue its attack. It pulled its axe out and turned toward Damon without wasting a moment, swinging the axe once more.

At the same time, Damon barely had time to recover from his roll before sending three shards of black ice straight at it. Each of them connected, but the impact left nothing but a series of shallow scratches, which looked not to bother the creature at all as it continued its charge at him.

Damon slipped beneath its arm at the last second, cutting across the orc’s side and leaving a deep gash behind. Dark green, almost black liquid sprayed from the wound, and a loud growl escaped the monster’s maw before the orc turned at a speed too fast to evade.

CLANG!

Damon raised his weapon just in time to block, but the strike sent him hurtling several meters through the air until he hit one of the nearby trees and came to an abrupt stop.

For a moment, Damon’s world became a blur of indistinguishable shapes and pain until his vision snapped back into focus to see the orc approach him with slow steps.

The orc didn’t seem in a hurry to strike him while he was vulnerable. It was almost as if it wanted him to get up and fight back.

’Where the hell is she?’ Damon cursed as he had just realised Eve did not take any shots during the whole exchange.

After raising quickly to his feet, he spared a second to look back to where they came from, only to see that the girl was missing.

Damon frowned at the girl’s disappearance, but with the thudding footsteps of the upcoming monster, he had no time to dwell on that thought as he turned back to his opponent.

The orc paused as their eyes met.

Dark green liquid continued to leak from its wound, leaving a long trail of monster blood behind it. But despite the severe injury, the monster stood unbothered, its eyes locked on Damon with a focus he hadn’t seen in any monster before. 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Suddenly, the orc slammed its free hand against its chest and let out a growl, which Damon somehow understood as a challenge.

Damon, not really sure why, returned the gesture.

Then, he raised his sword high, preparing to charge forward, but before he could have the opportunity to do so, and before the orc could do the same, a female voice cut through the battlefield.

"I’m sorry, Damon..."

Both Damon and the orc turned toward the sound. There, they saw Eve stand beside an open treasure chest, which was already slowly disintegrating into a pale blue light.

Damon’s eyes flicked between the disappearing chest and Eve until the realisation hit him. She didn’t need someone to help her clear the rift, she needed someone she could use as bait so she could get the reward.

His gaze turned to her left hand, where she held a small blue orb which pulsed faintly in a steady rhythm.

A dangerous smirk spread across her face as she stared back at Damon, who looked at her with a deep frown.

"I’m not crazy enough to take on a C-rank rift just yet. But how could I say no to this precious thing?"

Eve’s eyes shifted from Damon toward the orb, and when they did, the small orb turned to a mist of pale blue light which flew straight into her abdomen.

The moment it did, the orc let out a menacing roar, as if something that belonged to it had been stolen. With a speed that defied its size, it charged forward, but it barely managed to take a handful of steps before a loud sound cut through the entire clearing.

BANG!

The last thing Damon saw was Eve’s gun pointed straight at the rift core before their entire surroundings snapped back to the underground parking.

The sudden change left him disoriented for only a second before he saw Eve already standing beside her motorcycle.

"Eve!" He called after her, but the girl only turned around for a second.

"Try not to die, Damon. And you might just be lucky enough to stalk me again." She said with a smile. Her hand moved toward her red lips, and the girl blew him a kiss before her motorcycle roared to life, and she took off.

Damon’s blood boiled at the sight. He took a step after her, but before he could try to give chase, Kitsune’s voice cut through his head.

"Behind!"

Damon turned to see the orc’s axe already move toward him. He threw himself to the side, but his reaction was far too late. The axe connected, leaving a massive cut across his entire arm.

’How is it here?!’ Damon cursed as he quickly evaded the follow-up strike.

The underground parking trembled with each of the orc’s steps.

Dust and debris rained from the low ceiling as the monster forced its way forward, its massive frame was forced to hunch unnaturally. Its head scraped against the concrete above, while each step cracked the concrete below.

"From C-Rank onwards, destroying the core doesn’t just get you out of the rift, it pulls every living thing near the core out with you," Kitsune explained in his head as he circled around the enraged monster.

"Tskk," he hissed in anger as he evaded a few more of the orc’s attacks. Kitsune’s explanation only made his frustration worse.

First, the reward got stolen, and now, he had to face this monstrous thing all alone.

Suddenly, his sprint around the monster came to a quick stop.

"Sorry... but I’ll have to make this quick."

His grip tightened around his sword.

"I’ve got a thief to catch."