Outmatched

Kaz stared at the being in front of him, feeling the threat it was emanating. He braced his spear as another slash came at him, feeling the spear give off a slight pained feeling as the attack sent him tumbling. The Husk King continued staring after sending him flying.

'What the fuck is up with this one, it's different. It seems like it may have an intelligence.'

As Kaz lay back, he looked at the husk King more closely, it wasn't as big as some husks, it just seemed like a wild human with additional features letting him know it was still a type of husk. Suddenly it came at him again, this time Kaz was more prepared and was able to dodge to the left while scraping the spear along its side only for a slight scratch to appear, almost like this thing's skin was steel. After his spear left the Husk King's side, Kaz spun around dropping down to slice at its legs, only for it to slice at the spear again, parrying it with its brute strength.

'This thing should have dodged and countered me, maybe it's not used to fighting things that fight back?'

Then it clicked with Kaz, it was hunting, the other husks weren't, they were just desperate, maybe this one isn't in need of energy that it freaks out, but the fact it was hunting meant it wasn't too buddy buddy with other husks. Though it had some intelligence, it's fighting sense is adjusted for instant kills, not multiple exchanges.

The husk continued his parry with his talons straight out and grouped together, aiming at Kaz's neck. Kaz bent his neck to the side as the claw scratched his shoulder instead, leaving a slight mark. Kaz used the momentum of the parry to spin around and slice at the chest of the Husk King, trading a cut back with him.

The Husk King looked down at his chest as blood came out, weirdly enough it's blood seemed more red than other husks. Most husks had a dark purplish color of blood, or even rustic looking, but this one's blood was closer to red, only slightly dark, but passable as living.

Kaz immediately felt a pressure arise from the being pointed at him, not of anger, but of something taking him seriously. Kaz immediately felt it, a hand piercing his shoulder which he barely moved in time to dodge a fatal hit, but the hit was strong enough to severely hurt him. Kaz felt fear start to emanate from the spear and immediately used the system to shift out of there and back to his compound, leaving the creature in a sense of confusion.

Kaz appeared in his transport container slightly gasping from the pain. The spear felt as if it was worried next to him. Kaz, even though he was in pain, he didn't feel worried, but the idea that someone or something else cared for him brought him comfort in this pain. If it wasn't for the spear's reaction to him getting hurt, Kaz would have probably continued. He knew that creature was too strong, and that he didn't have many chances in winning but wanted to prove to himself he could overcome it. He immediately took out some crystals to start absorbing the energy to repair his wound and heal his health. He then asked the system about the husk king.

[The husk king seems to have some sign of intelligence, and is not completely feral, this is probably in part due to the development of it's nexus gland, which is at a further grade of development than you, though it is still only a pseudo soul. Normally this type of development is not possible once a planet is completely abandoned, but this planet, though energy was stopped being given to life, it still has a slow influx, emerging as ores and such, which is sustaining the husk's. This is just one of them managing to get to a higher realm. If the god truly had cut off his energy to the planet, it would not have existed.]

This gave an interesting perspective for Kaz to think about. What exactly happened with the god and this planet? Kaz stood up as his wound finished closing, he looked into his storage at the that had been collecting just normal Nexus crystals, but just one crate, and he started to absorb more energy. Even though it was filled with crystals, only about 200 of these would give 1 drop of nexus, so he got just barely enough to pass the 100 drops mark.

[Milestone mark reached: 100 Nexus Drops]

[1 skill token acquired.]

[Dawn is now 30 minutes away.]

'Well at least I survived the night, too bad I didn't get to try again with that monster.

Kaz's brief power up was suddenly stopped short as he felt it again, the aura of that beast standing at the light wall.

'WHat the fuck, 'how did it find me? Did I just call it here with my thoughts?'

[Your wish of fighting it again and it showing up were mere coincidence.]

"I told you to not respond to thoughts you didn't matter in."

Kaz immediately activated his turrets, which didn't even phase the Husk King. Bullets bounced away like flies and it started to ascend the wall. Kaz quickly turned off the turrets, not wanting to waste more quickly pulled out his spear and pistol, he was going to fight with everything he had.

The Husk King made it up the wall only to be met with a spear aiming for its neck, which it quickly forced back. Kaz re-angled the spear for another strike, only to cancel it at the last second to dodge a claw slashing past his face. Kaz followed his dodge with a dash backwards covering his movements with pistol fire, as the being swatted to keep the bullets from hitting anything vital.

'So he can tell this is stronger than the turrets huh?'

The Husk king caught up to his retreat and they engaged with more strikes and narrow evasions, slowly building up slight injuries. Kaz though was still on the losing hand, but nowhere near as much as before. Suddenly, Kaz struck with his spear, expecting the Husk King to step back, but engaged the end of it with energy, causing an extension of light to come from the spear, landing a solid gash on the stomach of the husk king.

It looked down at the injury, but Kaz didn't stop as he pulled the pistol up and shot the beast point blank in the head, causing it to stumble back.

It slowly looked back at Kaz, as a grimace started to appear on its face. It for the first time screeched, but it's screech was more of a yell. With the yell Kaz felt a sudden rise in its strength. The wound on its stomach slowly closed and the bullet that was embedded in its forehead fell out. It swung forward as Kaz stepped back.

[5 minutes until Dawn.]

'Just a little longer.'

Kaz continued attempting to keep up with the pace of the husk king, only to continue losing out on ground, taking more and more hits. Kaz swung his spear for the neck but then shot his pistol at the spear, deflecting it's path down as the bullet ricocheted towards the Husk King.

[3 minutes.]

The spear continued on it's trajectory hitting it in it's beast like legs, feeling the leg buckle a bit, it slashed out again, knocking Kaz down with a gash on his pistol arm.

[1 minute.]

The Husk King yelled again, causing Kaz to wince a bit as it stood over Kaz. Suddenly the sun started to appear over the horizon, letting an amber light fill the sky. They both looked over, for Kaz to realize something.

'Why is this thing not leaving?!'

The Husk King looked back, as if it wasn't bothered and lunged.