In the center of the room, a pitch-black nutrient pod like the one she had seen at the very beginning slowly rose up.
At that moment, Natasha became completely focused and alert.
She did not believe that after going to so much trouble to lure her here, her enemies would use anything simple to deal with her.
"Roar!!!"
Soon, after the nutrient pod in the distance stopped filling with liquid, the unknown creature inside began to shake violently.
Then it let out a series of deeply intimidating roars.
At that instant, Natasha felt her whole body go numb.
She truly had not expected this company to be so far ahead in the development of bio-weapons. It was not just that monsters kept appearing one after another, but each one was more horrifying than the last.
And Natasha also noticed that more nutrient pods were beginning to rise one after another in other parts of the room.
It was obvious.
They were planning to throw another wave of monsters at her.
"Forget it. Stop deploying more. Let this one Licker test the combat data."
After thinking for a moment, Killian spoke to his deputy on the other end of the video feed.
The deputy froze for a second after hearing Killian's words, then respectfully pressed the stop button. As soon as the button was pressed, the nutrient pods in the combat testing room that had already risen halfway immediately stopped and slowly descended again.
Before long, the floor sealed shut once more and returned to how it had looked before.
But Natasha had no attention left to spare for any of that.
Because standing before her was already a creature that looked like a giant skinless ape, its exposed brain laid bare, facing her with an aggressively invasive posture and a pair of grotesquely long tongues.
What surprised Natasha, however, was that after she had remained in place and prepared herself for quite a while, the creature still had not charged at her.
That left her genuinely startled.
But she was not naïve enough to think the monster was being gentlemanly and letting her go first.
Then, as Natasha slowly shifted her feet bit by bit, something even more unexpected happened. Even after she had moved several meters away, the Licker still remained where it was, constantly waving its tongues like a snake.
At that moment, Natasha finally understood.
The monster in front of her was probably blind.
To confirm her suspicion, Natasha lightly moved her hand.
After seeing that the creature truly did not react to motion, Natasha did not relax.
Because she knew very well that when a creature lost one ability, nature often compensated it with another terrifying one.
And this thing in front of her probably possessed some horrifying strength in an area she had not yet discovered.
After slowing her steps and trying to find an exit without success, Natasha had no choice but to set her eyes on the monster crawling nearby, obviously trying to locate prey.
She knew that if she wanted to get out, she had to kill this creature first.
After that, Natasha tightened her grip on the fire axe in her hand and carefully approached the monster in the distance.
Bang!!
The moment Natasha circled around behind it, she suddenly sprang forward and brought the fire axe down directly toward the Licker's exposed brain.
She did not know where the monster's weakness was, but as long as it had a brain, she refused to believe it could still live after having it split open.
But the moment it heard the sound behind it, the Licker turned around with incredible speed. Its tongue, dripping with foul-smelling slime, shot out instantly and slammed into Natasha, sending her flying backward.
Before she could even react, the Licker followed up by slashing at Natasha with its razor-sharp claws.
At that critical moment, Natasha hooked the fire axe against the nearby wall while still airborne, using the rebound to throw herself aside and barely avoid the Licker's strike.
But before Natasha could catch her breath, the Licker, having finally sensed the movement of its prey, immediately turned again and charged straight at her.
Closing the distance with terrifying speed, it came at her with a huge claw swinging down.
Natasha raised the fire axe horizontally in front of herself, feeling the monster's claw grind violently against the solid steel axe in her hands, sparks spraying from the friction.
At that moment, Natasha happened to spot a bottle of medical alcohol nearby.
After dodging aside, she grabbed the glass bottle containing the alcohol and hurled it directly at the Licker in the distance.
Crash!
The bottle shattered against the Licker's body, glass fragments scattering everywhere, while all of the alcohol splashed across the monster.
"Roar!!"
Whether it was from the cuts caused by the glass or the sting of the alcohol, the Licker's rage instantly reached its peak, and it let out a massive roar.
Natasha did not give it the chance to keep roaring.
Gripping the axe with both hands, she brought it down in a savage downward chop straight at the Licker's head.
Driven by its instinct to survive, the Licker immediately raised both of its giant claws in front of itself.
Crack!
A sickening sound of bone and flesh splitting rang out.
Natasha's strike landed directly at the joint where the claw connected, and in one blow she chopped off one of the Licker's deadly forelimbs.
What followed was the Licker's miserable scream.
Its whole body immediately began thrashing about wildly in agony.
Seeing that, Natasha instantly retreated. With a leap, she landed on an experimental platform, then quickly dodged several more times to widen the gap.
For a moment, all that remained was the Licker howling in impotent rage where it stood.
Even though it had lost one claw, the remaining one still swung around violently.
In an instant, the previously intact training room was shredded into a wreck by the Licker's sharp claw.
Then suddenly, when the Licker slammed one claw into a metal wall, the harsh screech of claw grinding against steel sent sparks flying.
And one of those sparks, by sheer chance, landed on the Licker's body.
Boom!!
In an instant, the alcohol-soaked Licker ignited into roaring flames the moment the spark touched it.
Now the Licker's whole body was engulfed in fire.
But for it, this still was not the end.
As if determined to drag its prey down with it, the Licker spat out its tongue, several meters long, and began lashing it around wildly in the already cramped room, trying to force its prey to move even a single step.
(End of Chapter)
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