The humanoid tortoise, a bizarre fusion of arboreal and reptilian forms, launched itself towards Rex, the distance between itself and Rex rapidly shrinking with each lumbering stride of the creature. Rex could feel his heartbeat pounding madly against his ribs, a frantic drumbeat echoing the urgency of the moment, His palms slicked with sweat, and his breath came in ragged gasps.
Then it happened,
With every fiber of Rex's being focused on his approaching adversary and the impending onslaught of it's attack. He could see the veins that criss-crossed along the woody legs of the humanoid tortoise constrict as it's stump ended leg struck the ground shooting it forward, he could also see them relax as it shot itself forward.
As Rex continued to observe the aberrant creature, its movements seemed to become more clearer to him, each action becoming eerily predictable .
Suddenly as the humanoid creature came within melee range, It made it's move, it's fist clenched, as it's rapid approaching momentum were all channelled into a single, devastating blow.
Rex felt a chilling premonition, as a numbing electric tingle travelled from his spine to all of his body. Feeling Rex with a huge sense of foreboding danger. He could not tell if it was his instincts or a strange resonance with the attacking humanoid tortoise . But he knew.
The punch was aimed for his head, a swift left hook, fueled by the creature's relentless charge.
Swoosh!!!
Rex reacted instinctively, a bend of his knees that swiftly reduced his height and a forward roll. He narrowly avoided the crushing blow, creating some distance between him and the attacking creature.
As swiftly as the roll began, Rex ended it, using the momentum of the roll, Rex shot himself upward into standing and immediately pivoting a full 180 degree turn, to bring himself back into a confrontation position with the humanoid tortoise.
"Da**!!!", Rex roared, As he began to analyse what had just happened. He had felt the impending danger of the punch, before it's movement even began. It was like a form of prescience, a glimpse into the future, allowing him to ascertain the creatures attack path, the moment it initiated it's action.
As Rex attempted to steady his breath, a shiver ran down his spine as he came to a conclusion. If the punch of the Humanoid tortoise had connected with his face, his quest would have ended at that instant.
His research on Cosmic Ascendance, had made it clear to him that all head hits were awarded as critical hits. A game mechanic that works the same way for both players and monsters. Validating his conclusion on how lethal the punch was.
The humanoid tortoise, momentarily stunned, slowly brought itself around to face Rex. The puny human, had dodged it's punch. It could feel the energy radiating from the human in front of it, and it was weak. Signifying to it, that this creature was no threat to it and a weak one. It had not imagined it could dodge it's punch. It felt, its pride had been trampled upon.
As Rex's breaths calmed down, no longer coming out in quick gasps. He crouched, slightly bringing his left foot forward, as he put himself in a battle ready position. He could feel the result of his past six months of martial-art practice kicking in. He was going to best this foe. That was the only result of this duel. As he had to win this, to continue to tread on his path of achieving power from Cosmic Ascendance.
Rex recalling a popular slang, from his times at the dojo. "offence is the best defence", made his decision. With a powerful thrust from his right leg, he shot forward, he had narrowly avoided the punch of the humanoid tortoise, he couldn't afford to passively await for another.
As Rex dashed towards the humanoid tortoise, he once again felt the numbing sensation from his spine, as his muscles slightly tensed. A result of the sensed danger. He sensed the movement, a chest strike from a sweeping movement of the monstrosities right hand.
Rex crouched, swiftly switching to a familiar motion, a roll.
Woosh! The creature's limb whistled past Rex's head. As he rolled past, he quickly adjusted his center of gravity, forcefully planting his foot and driving himself to his feet.
The moment Rex stood up, he felt an imminent threat, similar to the last two sensations, he had felt.
He was facing away from the humanoid tortoise, a result of his previous roll. He had no idea what the danger was. The thought had barely formed in his mind before the blow landed.
Whack!!!
He felt a searing pain erupt from his mid back, through his spine and into his chest. As he felt his body become lighter, as if gravity had momentarily ceased to exist.
The Humanoid tortoise had sent Rex flying with a follow up attack after its right sweep, A back kick that has precisely connected with Rex's exposed back, from his roll.
BANG!!!, Rex's parabolic flight was broken by a brutal impact with the wall.
Rex tasted blood on his mouth.
He had not been able to make adjustments to the realism level of his game play. As the Overlord class quest had been triggered during his assessment and had skipped all the normal introductory phase to kick off the quest. This made it so that Rex was assaulted with the full 100% of the painful hit.
As Rex slid down from the wall, A red highlight pulsed on his POV, displaying his health bar, the kick has whacked 5HP off his health bar, and there was a subsequent bleed damage of 2HP.
His total HP: 3/10.
Rex could hardly from thoughts as he writhed in pain, on the floor. He had not felt any physical pain so intense in his brief 17 years of life. He felt like all of his internal organs had turned to mush.
"Eghhhh! Eghhh! Eghh!!" A rhythmic, raspy grunt, seemingly from the humanoid tortoise, indicated its satisfaction with the attack. It stood triumphantly, admiring the damage it had inflicted.
As the pain began to subside, switching from a world ending incapacitating pain to a numbing chill that spread throughout the whole of his body. Rex using the wall for support dragged himself into standing.A worse kind of pain began to creep into his heart, a knot of dread forming in his stomach.
He now had only a third of his HP left, just 3 more HP points till his dreams of power, would be shattered by the bald humanoid tortoise. He could feel an intense sense of sadness, A sadness borne from the harshness of reality, wrecking and crushing into bits his youthful dreams and aspirations.
As Rex stared back at the abhorrent creature, that was to end his youthful rally, he was filled with hopelessness. As memories of a time, when he had experienced, something similar, came crashing into his mind.
He recalled the false empathy of family friends, while like vultures, they picked apart his inherited wealth with flimsy justifications. The fake smiles of his parents' business partners as they swindled away what was left of his family's legacy.
This memories filled him with rage, reigniting his will to succeed in Cosmic Ascendance. He wanted the strength and power it could offer Him. He was going to rise above every single one of them and give them a taste of the helplessness they made him feel.
As the raging desire to succed, surged in him, he analysed his current predicament. He looked at his HP, which was currently being displayed in his view. As he focused on the HP bar, it expanded, displaying his recovery rate.
1 HP/ 45 mins. Recover rate boosted by 25% [Overlod Set Bonus]
His recovery rate was boosted by his Overlord set, Reducing it from 1HP/hr to 1HP/45mins. It would take him 5 hours 15 minutes, to return to full HP.
He took a look at his Quest timer, the 12 hours countdown, had now reduced by 45 mis. Bringing his total remaining time to 11hrs 15mins. He definitely couldn't afford to wait around, as this was only the first enemy he was meeting in the ruin and the mission demands he conquers the ruin, not survive it.
Rex gritted his teeth, a plan taking shape in his mind. His gamble to defeating this humanoid tortoise, that had almost ended his quest. His plan was a desperate one. He had never seen himself as the "scheming type", but it had become clear to him, he would not be able to defeat this creature that had almost ended him, with his current level of strength.
Aahhh!!!, Rex felt sharp pain travel through his stomach, up to his chest as he made his way back to the entrance of the hall. Keeping his hand on the wall as support. Each step reactivating the agony of the kick.
The pain in some ways, fanned the flames of his rage. He was definitely going to end the humanoid tortoise, not just for his goals. But also because he desired so.