"As long as you're okay, that's what matters." Cha Hyun-soo eyed Ivan's torn clothes and the dust all over him, but didn't question the story.
He quickly told Ivan everything that had just happened to him.
"A monster with a giant eyeball?" Ivan nodded. He remembered that one. If he wasn't mistaken, the poor bastard's desire had been voyeurism. Extreme peeping had twisted him into that freak.
Ivan followed Cha Hyun-soo to Han Du-sik's room. That's when he realized the uncle was disabled—paralyzed from the waist down, stuck in a wheelchair.
"I'm Han Du-sik. You guys?"
"Ivan Greevs. Cha Hyun-soo," Ivan replied smoothly.
Han Du-sik offered to upgrade Cha Hyun-soo's weapon.
He bragged that back in his Cheonggyecheon days he was a famous mechanic. Give him a blueprint and he could build you a fucking tank.
He proved it right there. He slapped a small generator onto the steel pipe and wired it so that when you hit the switch, electricity would run straight to the fruit knife taped on the end.
He even wrapped the bottom with electrical tape so the user wouldn't fry themselves.
The whole thing looked like backyard junk, but it was actually pretty damn effective. He finished the whole mod in just fifteen minutes.
"Can I kill them with this?" Cha Hyun-soo asked, eyes full of hope.
"No. You can't kill them with this. Run. Run like hell if you see one. Better yet, don't let them notice you at all." Han Du-sik handed over the electrified pipe, then stared hard at Ivan. "I don't think you need a weapon, do you?"
"Why do you say that?" Ivan asked with a small smile, genuinely curious.
Han Du-sik didn't answer. He just nodded at Cha Hyun-soo. "Remember. Be careful and stay sharp. Those monsters are way worse than you think."
"Can I borrow that cannon?" Cha Hyun-soo asked, eyes drifting to the big homemade launcher behind the uncle.
"Not possible," Han Du-sik shook his head and made a gun gesture, pressing two fingers under his own chin. "That thing doesn't last long. Only two or three shots max. I already used one. If that bastard had broken in earlier, I'd have fired the second and saved the last one for myself."
After Cha Hyun-soo left, Han Du-sik turned back to Ivan. He picked up a military merit badge from the table and held it out. The photo showed a younger Han Du-sik posing proudly next to a tank in full lieutenant uniform.
"I've been to war. I can sense things other people can't. You can call it reading people well. That kid looks dumb as a rock, but he's got a good heart. I think he's got real potential."
Then he stared hard at Ivan, brows furrowed. "As for you… I can't read you at all. But I feel danger. The same kind those monsters give me."
"Sorry, I've got something to take care of. Gotta go," Ivan said. He could already sense the new signal coming closer through the walls. His next prey had finally arrived.
...
Not long after Cha Hyun-soo left Han Du-sik's room, he caught a nasty rotten smell near the elevator. Following the stench, he found a styrofoam box full of spoiled fish. He was about to leave while holding his breath when he suddenly ran into the half-headed monster.
It was clinging to the elevator doors. Its hands had mostly regenerated, though the burn scars were still visible.
The second it started turning toward him, Cha Hyun-soo ducked into the corner of the elevator lobby and held his breath. He waited until the monster shuffled away, then carefully peeked out. The tiny sound he made was enough.
The Giant-Ear Monster's arm shot out and grabbed for him instantly.
While Cha Hyun-soo struggled against the freak, Ivan had already found his target after leaving Han Du-sik's room.
A massive, muscle-bound monster stood in the stairwell, constantly muttering "Protein… protein… lift… lift!" Its entire body looked like it was made of nothing but swollen, veiny muscle. It completely filled the stairway, blocking the whole space.
"Protein! Protein! Pumping iron!"
The muscle monster had clearly been a scrawny little twig before infection. Its biggest desire in life was getting jacked.
It didn't expect anyone to stand in its way. It swung a massive fist straight at Ivan's head. The punch was slow, but the sheer power behind it felt crushing. Any normal person would've turned into red paste.
"Analyze!" Ivan pulled up the panel while dodging. The stairwell was too fucking narrow. Even when he twisted sideways, the monster's fist still clipped him.
Boom!
The punch smashed through the wall, burying Ivan under a pile of broken concrete.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The muscle monster didn't stop. It hammered down with both arms like steel pistons, over and over.
Ivan could only raise his arms to shield his head.
He waited for a split-second gap in the barrage, then morphed both arms into razor-sharp blades and slashed forward hard.
Schlick!
The blades sliced deep into the monster's arms but got stuck on its thick bones. Blood poured out instantly. Then dozens more blades erupted, slicing and carving like crazy. In seconds the muscle monster's arms were shredded to hell.
The creature roared in agony and crossed its arms, ripping out every blade with raw strength. It grabbed Ivan and hurled him into the side wall.
Boom!
The wall caved in around him.
The insane power left Ivan looking pretty roughed up, covered in dust and debris.
But compared to the monster, it was nothing. The second Ivan's blades had cut into its arms, they had sprouted like vicious thorns, growing wildly. In just a few breaths they had completely covered both of the monster's massive arms.
If the muscle freak hadn't reacted fast enough, those thorn blades would've already burrowed inside its body. Once that happened, Ivan could've diced it into ground meat in an instant.
"Too bad. Looks dumb as hell, but its fighting instincts are solid," Ivan muttered. No wonder this thing had devoured every monster outside the apartment and eventually became the Muscle Titan.
"I'm going to kill you," the muscle monster growled, raising its mangled arms. Bones were visible through the torn flesh. Stinking blood dripped everywhere, but the wounds were already closing at a visible rate. The regeneration was on another level.
Nothing like the Hungry Woman or the Giant-Ear Monster.
[Analysis Complete]
[Innate Skill: Gluttony Reinforcement]
[Fusion Condition: Kill a complete Muscle Monster]
[After fusion, the player will develop an overwhelming desire to grow stronger through consumption. The stronger the monsters devoured, the greater the increase in strength and regeneration. The player's body will mutate. If rational thinking loses to the desire to grow stronger, the player will fully transform into a monster.]
[This skill possesses extremely high growth potential… Friendly reminder: the desire will grow stronger over time. Once the player completely overcomes the desire, the skill will stop growing.]
Ivan scanned the panel. This monster's desire was far stronger than the Hungry Woman's. For him especially, the direct feedback of eating monsters to get stronger was dangerously tempting. Even he wasn't sure he could fully resist that kind of rush.
If he fused it, there was a real chance he'd get addicted.
His eyes narrowed with caution. No matter how good the ability looked, if it ever overpowered his will, he'd end up as just another slave to desire.
"Kill a complete Muscle Monster…"
Ivan figured that in the original story, the Titan form wasn't the final complete stage. It was just an evolved one. Meaning if he killed this current version right now, he could fuse Gluttony Reinforcement immediately.
The choice was clear.
Ivan's next move gave the answer.
Several razor-sharp tentacles burst out from Ivan's back and stabbed deep into the walls on both sides of the stairwell. They lifted him into the air like a goddamn spider. He stared down at the regenerating muscle monster, a vicious grin spreading across his face.
Rip!
He tore off what was left of his shredded shirt, exposing his ripped upper body.
Cracks split open all over his arms, shoulders, abs, and face. Eyeballs pushed out from every slit, locking onto the monster. Blue light started glowing deep inside each pupil.
"Let's see how fucking strong that healing of yours really is!"
Ivan slowly raised his right hand, palm facing the monster.
The muscle freak sensed the danger. It slammed its fist into the wall, ripped out a massive chunk of concrete, and hurled it like a cannonball. The irregular stone block whistled through the air, weighing hundreds of kilos.
"Thought your brain was all muscle, but you actually know how to use tools. Cute," Ivan sneered.
His other arm blurred through the air. The blades he generated could cut steel, so the concrete exploded into harmless rubble that rained down the stairs.
Sizzle~!
The second the debris cleared, a blinding blue laser exploded from Ivan's palm and slammed straight into the monster's forehead.
"Arrg!"
The muscle monster roared in agony and threw both arms up to block the beam. Sizzle!
Flesh proved useless against the laser. In just a few breaths, both of its massive arms burned open with huge, charred holes.
"You can take a hit, huh? Bon garçon, keep it up!" Ivan growled, that French accent dripping with amusement.
Every other eyeball across his body began glowing blue, all of them charging up at once.
___
[]~(￣▽￣)~*
Read 12 Advance Chapters—P@t- Captain69