Chapter 19 - A Hard-fought Battle
Bai Zemin's body currently had a mana reserve of 134 points and his magic points were equal. Before the Soul Record showed up on planet Earth, activating the world's mana and displaying each person's status window, it was precisely his Magic stat that caught the attention of the beautiful and charming succubus Lilith.
Until now, Bai Zemin had never used all of his magical power to the fullest since he never found himself in need of it. However, in the face of the approaching giant elephant beetle, he had no choice but to give his all if he wanted to survive.
With a single thought, Bai Zemin spent his 134 Mana points immediately and pushed all that mana with his 134 Magic points towards the giant beetle. When the mana under his control flowed into the creature's body, Bai Zemin immediately activated his First Order Blood Manipulation skill.
His face turned as pale as a sheet and his whole body felt weak after the abrupt loss of his mana reserve. However, he endured and began to make the blood burn inside the monster while using all his magical power.
The results were immediately evident.
Roar!!!
A sound similar to that of a wounded beast roaring came from the mouth of the ten-foot elephant beetle. When it was only five meters away from being able to attack with its giant horn, its movements stopped and it raised its head to the sky while writhing uncomfortably as if it was suffering the most terrifying pain of all torments.
Bai Zemin's Blood Manipulation skill was indeed powerful, just as Lilith had mentioned earlier. It was just that until now, Bai Zemin had only faced mainly dead creatures that did not feel pain nor did they know the meaning of the word scared.
By controlling his mana to get inside the enemy's body, Bai Zemin could make use of all his magic to activate his Blood Manipulation. The problem with this was that the cost was too heavy, much heavier than Bai Zemin thought.
The elephant beetle writhed in pain and its giant body struck a nearby building. The seemingly sturdy and robust building's foundation couldn't even stand for five seconds before collapsing with a loud explosion and raising a cloud of dust.
Before the apocalypse, humans had no mana inside their bodies. However, with the intervention of the Soul Record, Bai Zemin's Mana points were especially high. Now that he had used all his mana to execute a powerful attack, he felt as if he had lost all the sugar in his blood and his body felt extremely weak.
However, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and hold on.
His pale face without a trace of blood looked at his enemy and a bitter smile appeared at the corner of his mouth when he saw the three-meter elephant beetle stand up again.
Roar!!!
The monster glared at him with murderous intent and its two eyes seemed to spit flames of rage as it headed towards him with somewhat unsteady steps. Its body was stained with blood and its armor-like shell had small cracks through which boiling blood seeped.
When the blood came in contact with the yellow flames on its body, the liquid began to evaporate at astonishing speeds rising in a gaseous cloud into the sky.
Seeing this, Bai Zemin inwardly felt happy not to use external blood attacks or else he would only be wasting mana. After all, flames could be considered the perfect counter to his Blood Manipulation skill.
The wounded elephant beetle reached the building Bai Zemin was standing on and slammed its horn forward with all its might.
Bai Zemin's face changed when he saw the creature's intentions and he hurriedly jumped off the building to the ground and rolled to the side.
Boom!
As if a demolition machine had hit it mercilessly, the three-meter-high building collapsed immediately and soon joined with the building previously demolished by the elephant beetle.
Stones of all sizes flew everywhere and, although Bai Zemin had rolled to the side at the first possible moment, he was still hit by a considerably large block of stone.
"Ugh..."
His body was sent flying two or three meters as he grimaced in pain and a small trail slid silently from the corner of his mouth. If it wasn't for the fact that his muscles were much stronger than in the past, that cement block would have left him half dead if not severely injured.
Without giving him time to rest, the elephant beetle turned and rushed in his direction while the fury in its gaze seemed to want to consume him alive. Although its defenses and attack power were quite high, its internal body was weak like that of any other living being; Bai Zemin's previous attack had damaged its organs, its flesh, and much of its blood disappeared due to the high temperatures of its flames.
As a monster that had already passed its first evolution, successfully becoming a First Order monster, the elephant beetle could be considered a small overlord in this area. Now that a weaker creature had injured it to such an extent, it was naturally furious.
After seeing what the elephant beetle did to the building with its horn, Bai Zemin did not dare to fight it head-on. Taking advantage of the fact that his speed was superior to that of the wounded creature, Bai Zemin endured the feeling of weakness he felt after the abrupt loss of mana and gritted his teeth fighting against the pain as he ran in search of another building he could quickly climb.
One running and turning into different streets while the other relentlessly pursued and crushed everything in its path, Bai Zemin and the elephant beetle sought to end each other's lives in different ways.
It was clear to Bai Zemin that he simply could not win in a face-to-face battle against the elephant beetle. All of his body stats were below the creature except for his Agility. Therefore, to survive and win, he had to make use of his intelligence.
After running mercilessly after its hated enemy for almost ten minutes, the elephant beetle had demolished more than seven buildings of different sizes. However, as a consequence, a look of exhaustion flashed in its eyes.
The constant loss of blood was something the creature could not bear and, although its flames were a powerful defensive skill, the elephant beetle could not use it to attack and therefore only served to keep its enemies away from its body. However, to keep its skill active at all times, the elephant beetle had to expend too much Mana and after so many powerful attacks, its Stamina was also quickly running out.
Bai Zemin also noticed the change of pace in the creature's steps and hurriedly jumped towards a nearby building hoping to end this battle as quickly as possible. His own Stamina had dropped by more than half and he had only recovered a bit more than 20 Mana points.
After reaching the top of the building, Bai Zemin looked up to see the elephant beetle prepare to strike with its powerful horn once again. However, instead of jumping to the side, Bai Zemin jumped with all his might towards the giant beetle.
Boom!
Another building fell. However, its previous attack had created a big opening in its defenses and the elephant beetle could not prevent its hated enemy from landing on top of its shell.
Bai Zemin had just landed on the mutated insect's upper body when a wave of fire assaulted his lower body at once.
"It hurts! It fu*king hurts!" he couldn't help but scream in pain as his face constricted horribly at the sensation of being burned alive. He felt as if his lower body was suddenly submerged in a pool of burning lava and such a feeling of pain was driving him crazy.
Although his defensive cloak protected his body, from the knees down he had nothing capable of fighting off the elephant beetle's fire. Bai Zemin could feel his legs starting to burn little by little and the only reason why they had not yet completely caught fire was thanks to the Treasure Normal Velocity Boots he was equipped with; however, he could clearly feel the boots melting rapidly without being able to withstand the heat.
Gritting his teeth and fighting the urge for his tears to fall involuntarily from the overwhelming pain, Bai Zemin ran at full speed until he reached the creature's neck.
The giant elephant beetle's entire body was covered by an extremely hard shell. If Bai Zemin wanted to break through its defenses he would need a lot of time and that was what he lacked at the moment, not what he had to spare.
However, the junction between the head and the rest of the body, the creature's neck, was not surrounded by that shell. After all, this would limit its natural movements.
Bai Zemin raised his sword and slashed fiercely downward, tearing off a large chunk of flesh in the process. Blood splattered everywhere and fiery steam caused by the struggle between the liquid and the flames surrounded him.
The elephant beetle sensed danger of death and its body began to shake violently as roars of pain escaped from its mouth.