Alter's Blood

The Alter moved closer to the unconscious magician to deal his final blow. He stared at his prey while smiling like he enjoyed the sight of the pitiful human. He raised his ax over his head. The ax started burning like it was just ignited out of nowhere! But before he could swing his ax downwards, a sword suddenly slashed towards him. He reacted quickly and stepped back. He was bewildered, where was this human came from?

Bug clicked his tongue. He didn't think that his target can react so quickly, especially from a surprise attack! He moved until he was standing in front of the deep crater where the bombard was lying unconscious. Bug pointed his sword at the Alter provoking him.

The Alter got out of his thoughts and rushed over to the newcomer. He didn't even care who this human was. After all, his new opponent was still a human, an insect that is destined to be squashed beneath his feet.

Red and green lines appeared and disappeared from Bug's view. It was when the two got closer to each other when the lines stopped changing. A red line appeared as a downward slash on Bug, while a green line appeared on the ground leading to the Alter's left side.

He timed it the moment the alter made his attack before changing his direction. With the Alter's great momentum, he wasn't able to move his body or change the trajectory of his attack. Successfully reaching his destination, Bug slashed at the gap between the thigh and the body armor which where the dot appeared.

Bug quickly stepped back when a red line aimed at his head from his right side. The Alter slashed thin air as his opponent was already a few meters away from him! The Alter was enraged. He ignited his ax once again and swung at Bug. Half-moon shaped fire came out of Alter's ax which greatly surprised Bug.

The fire was so fast that Bug wasn't able to react at all! He allowed the attack to hit him because he knew that he still has his trusty force field generator which can still take five hits.

BOOM!

When the Alter saw his most powerful attack hit the disgusting human, he felt great joy as he finally killed the insect. He turned around to finish another insect. Once finished, he will finally able to help his fellow knight. But then, a painful stab from behind caused him to falter and kneel.

"I'm not done yet, you monster!"

Bug successfully hit the Alter's lower spine. With this, he took the chance when his opponent kneeled in front of him. He raised his short sword and swung it downwards with all his might "dieeee!" He hit the Alter's head causing it to split in half! His first battle against an Alter exhausted him to the point of loosening his grip on his short sword.

The two other hunters and their opponent watched as the unknown person killed an Alter all by himself! This significantly lifted the faltering spirits of the two. They gained new hope, while the Alter became furious. Instead of facing the two, the Alter dashed towards the unknown person. The Alter didn't care anymore at the weak humans he toyed with.

Even though the Alter was furious, his facial expression betrayed him. Instead of a frown, a huge smile was imprinted on his face, it almost looked like he was excited.

The two hunters followed the Alter from behind. Although they were both badly injured, they still have the energy to fight until the end. Unfortunately, the Alter was too fast. The Alter's movements literally looked like a blur to them, even for Bug!

A quick straight thrust to his stomach suddenly came at Bug. His prediction skill didn't even have the time to warn him of the attack! Luckily for him, he still has four hits remaining on his force field generator.

The Alter frowned when his attack didn't pass through the body of his opponent. He tilted his head in bewilderment before smiling again like a maniac, he was enjoying this!

Two more attacks hit Bug without a warning from his prediction skill. The attacks were simply too fast! "How is he so fast!? I'm gonna need to upgrade my agility when I survive this!" Bug gritted his teeth as the third one finally landed on his head. His force field generator has now run out of power!

"This is really bad!" Just after the third attack landed, Bug immediately stepped a few meters back. But the Alter didn't give him a chance to breathe. The Alter became a blur once again and hit Bug with a slash on his chest. Luckily, his cascas vest was very resistant against slashes. Still, the attack left a mark on his brand new armor!

"Tsk!"

Bug clicked his tongue as he ran around while still getting hit on his back, arms, thigh, and chest every time the Alter caught up to him. The only thing that kept him going was his passive extreme regeneration skill. At some point, the Alter noticed his fast healing which made him more excited as he thought that he can play with this toy for a little bit longer.

The two hunters couldn't catch up to the two who were still fighting, so they decided to rescue their companion first and bring him to safety. The bombard was already awake when they arrived at his location. He was in a daze. The burly man lifted his companion and ran in the opposite direction from the fighting while the other continued to pursue the two.

By now, Bug already sustained enough damage that would have killed a human ten times over! The Alter was so fast that not a single green line or red dot appeared. The Alter clearly doesn't show any kind of weakness or opening combined with his incredible speed, the Alter is unstoppable!

"Just one opening and I will make you bleed!"

Throughout their fight, Bug noticed his armor losing its blue color and red became more and more prevalent on the entirety of the armor. Bug then remembered the powerful energy shockwaves it can produce. Bug hid his grin as he purposely let the Alter hit his armor.

When the attack landed on his chest, the armor started emitting a red aura around him. The Alter naturally didn't care about the aura. That was a mistake. The armor reached its threshold and produced a powerful shockwave that sent the Alter flying! Even the hunter almost lost his balance from the shockwave. Luckily, he was still far away from the battle.

While the Alter was still in the air, green lines started appearing, leading Bug to the predicted landing spot of the Alter. He followed the green path as he readied his sword. He also pulled out his ax from his inventory. He wielded the ax on his right hand and the short sword on the other.

Almost simultaneously, Bug reached the Alter as he landed on the ground. He attacked with a downward slash to the Alter's stomach, which the Alter couldn't block. But still, the armor proved to be tougher than Bug anticipated. He only made a deep groove on the armor. But before the Alter could recover, he followed his attack with a hack using his ax! he hit the same spot where the deep groove was.

With his formidable strength, his attack got through the armor. Black blood spurted out of the Alter's stomach! Bug didn't waste any moment when another red dot appeared on the Alter's left arm. He hacked the arm so deep that he felt his ax hitting the bone.

"Argghh"

The Alter finally recovered. When he was about to take another shot, the red line was aimed at his chest which he quickly evaded. His opponent was getting slower now! As the Alter got up, the green line leading to his opponent's left side. He approached the weakened Alter quickly. The Red line was once again aimed at his head. He ducked just before the Alter slashed at his head horizontally. The Alter became more and more frustrated. He can't believe that he, a member of a superior race, was being overwhelmed by this insect!

Before his opponent could deliver another attack, Bug hacked and slashed at the Alter's left thigh. The Alter kneeled on the ground as he lost his balance on his left leg. Bug practically rolled to the right side of the Alter before hacking and slashing the other leg!

The Alter was in a praying position after Bug's consecutive attacks. The green line that leads to the back of his opponent appeared. There, a red dot appeared on the Alter's nape. Bug spread out his arms, he slashed his ax and short sword where it met onto the Alter's neck instantly decapitating him!

"haaa! you're finally dead you damned bastard!" Bug sighed in relief as he flopped on the ground taking deep breaths. He then noticed one of the hunters "oh! you're still alive!"

"I know you're probably exhausted right now, but we have to move now! Those Alters were part of a large convoy. They will notice something's wrong if these bastards don't get back to them!"

Bug sensed the urgency of this old hunter as he shouted at him. Thinking about it, they can't possibly lure a bunch of alters on one of the nearest villages. Furthermore, the village was 5 hours away from their location! The Alter's would probably catch up to them before they can even reach the village.

Bug hesitated for a bit. He didn't think that he would need to hide there again so soon! "well, I know a place..." When he got up, he noticed the armor, weapons, and blood of the Alters glow. He needs to get these materials! He made an excuse to be left alone.

"go tell your companions first. I uhh...need to do something first here. I'll catch up to you" Bug scratched his cheeks while looking down to avoid the man's gaze.

"sure...my companion's that way. Come to us after you finished your business here. But make it fast, okay?"

Bug nodded not daring to say anything anymore. After the man was far enough, he picked up the burning ax. He wondered if he should decompose it or just use it as his weapon. But NAP clearly recognizes it as material so it must be a high-quality material like the cascas' vest and claws. In the end, he chose to decompose the weapon.

[DECOMPOSED MATERIAL - ??? AX - UNIQUE - CRAFT]

[??? AX MADE FROM AN UNKNOWN MATERIAL. WHEN INFUSED BY UNKNOWN ENERGY, ENABLES THE WIELDER TO PRODUCE A FIRE]

[+50 NUP]

[UPDATING DATABASE...]

Bug frowned as he read the description. Turns out, he won't be able to produce the same half-moon fire that the Alter attacked him with. He was also sure that the unknown energy refers to magical energy which he didn't have!

"What a waste. At least I got 50 NUPs!" Bug said with frustration on his face. He then decomposed the armor.

[DECOMPOSED MATERIAL - ??? ARMOR - UNIQUE - CRAFT]

[AN ARMOR MADE WITH STEEL COMBINED WITH UNKNOWN MATERIAL MAKING IT MORE DURABLE THAN NORMAL STEEL]

[+30 NUP]

[UPDATING DATABASE...]

"What's with this question marks?" He wondered for a bit but chose to ignore it after a while. The next really picked at his curiosity, how can this blood be material? He dipped his finger at the black sticky blood on the ground and proceeded to decompose it.

[DECOMPOSED MATERIAL - ???'S BLOOD - UNIQUE - CRAFT]

[???'S BLOOD WHICH CONTAINS AN UNKNOWN ENERGY]

[+100 NUP]

[UPDATING DATABASE...]

Bug's eye widened as he read the description. He almost jumped from excitement. This meant he can probably use the materials that required magical energy. Furthermore, he gained a lot of NUP just from a drop of blood!

Bug moved on to the next body. He lifted the blood-stained broadsword from the ground and decomposed it.

[DECOMPOSED MATERIAL - ??? BROADSWORD - CRAFT]

[???'S BROADSWORD MADE FROM AN UNKNOWN MATERIAL. WHEN INFUSED BY UNKNOWN ENERGY, GIVES THE WIELDER AN INCREASE IN AGILITY]

[+1 NUP]

Sadly this time, he only got 1 NUP from the material. As it turns out, both the ax and broadsword was made from the same materials! But, he didn't care much about it. Instead, he looked forward to the effects of this material.

"So that's how he was able to move so fast!"

When he decomposed the armor it also gave him 1 measly NUP! They wore the same armor! At this rate, Bug doesn't have much expectation from this Alter's blood. After all, they are the same race. But when he decomposed the blood, it still gave him 100 NUPs!

There's only one explanation for this, the unknown energy probably differed on each Alter! and NAP considered these energies as materials!

"so, if I can kill Alters, I can gain tons of NUPs! HAHAHAHA. Just you wait you bastards!"

All in all, Bug gained 282 NUPs! Which made his efforts worth it.