Chapter 156: Fat Owls

The bullet from his unknown assailant pierced into his armor with surprising ease. More ease than he had expected from it. However, it further proved his suspicions. Whatever this monster was, it had an epic skill of its own or something involving a Concept.

While his armor was completely infused with his Sharpness or Fire Concept, it was still a skill that utilized both Concepts. That also meant that being able to break through it meant one of two things usually. One, overwhelming force. Or two, a Concept of its own.

And considering the smallish mass of the object, he was leaning toward the second one.

His armor did slow it down enough that it didn’t completely puncture him, the bullet-like object got stuck inside of him. However, a quick investigation of the object that was lodged in his chest showed that it was made of some sort of metal material.

It was shockingly dense and heavy for its size. It also had a really good ability to conduct mana, he was able to feel how seamless the flow of mana was able to flow through the small object.

He noticed that Declan had taken a worried step toward him when he saw Julius get hit by the ambush, but his calm attitude must have assured Declan that he was alright. He also removed his helm from his face and gave Declan a meaningful look.

It was a look that told Declan not to intervene no matter what. He could see that Declan was more confused than anything else, but the older man gave him a short nod in return.

Julius smirked to himself as he saw this. He had a plan that was a little bit risky, but one that he thought had a pretty good chance. It might be one of his only chances to lure this unknown monster to him.

He got as far away from Declan as he could. He didn’t want the Tier 4 old man to scare off this monster.

Then he pushed a small amount of mana through [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] and he felt as the skill pushed out the bullet from the opening and healed him. But he didn’t allow it to completely heal him. He let it keep bleeding just a little bit.

He pretended to hold his chest where he got hit and acted in pain.

Come on, take the bait, he prayed.

Fortunately, he didn’t have to wait long as the next strike came from his back. This time he also didn’t try to completely avoid it, he moved just enough that it struck him in the lower back.

He dropped to one knee and grabbed the spot in pain, making sure to heal it just enough that it didn’t inhibit his movements, but also keep it bleeding.

It was a little funny in some ways. He didn’t expect that there would be a day that he fight his healing skill not to heal him. [Pseudo-Phoenix Renewal] was trying to heal him with or without his consent. It was only due to his will that it didn’t.

While he wasn’t the best actor in the world, he tried his best to pretend as if the attacks were really hurting him. Though, to be honest, it wasn’t very hard to act like it.

He was still literally getting shot by this stupid sniper monster.

Fortunately, after ten or so shots the monster seemed to think that it was enough. Julius was crawling on the ground with blood pouring out of him like a punctured bag of blood. He looked the part of a person on the edge of death.

Finally, he felt the monster enter his perception. It was indeed a bird-like monster. But it was unlike any bird he had seen before. It was much chunkier and slower than he would have thought it to be. It looked more like a fat owl mixed with a swan.

It flew down very cautiously and landed a few feet away from Julius. He still pretended that he hadn’t noticed the creature and was dragging himself with one hand while using the other to stifle the blood.

He sensed that the monster was more at ease the moment it saw Julius’s sorry state. It waddled over to him and he was able to feel it gather more mana around its mouth. The amount of compression it was able to accomplish was ridiculous. It was at a higher stage than his own ability to compress things.

He could see why those bullets were so strong. Still, it wouldn’t be enough.

The entire time, Julius had been waiting for the perfect moment. He had lulled it into a false sense of security and patiently let it make a mistake. While it was gathering mana and creating another bullet, he used all of the mana and kinetic energy to swivel around and launch himself at the chunky bird.

He used [Quick Step] with more force than he had ever used it before. It was almost as if he teleported in front of it that was how fast he was.

[Quick Step lvl 14 -> lvl 15]

He tried to hide the grin from his face as he recognized the notification. He was busy wrapping his hands around this stupid bird’s ugly neck. He saw the shock in the creature’s eyes and when it felt his hands grip its neck like a steel vice, he saw that shock turn into fear.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

It tried its best to get away and free itself from its position, but Julius wasn’t going to allow this bird to escape him. Panicking, it shot the incomplete bullet at Julius from point-blank range.

While Julius had seen what it was about to do, he didn’t dodge it. He wanted to send a message to this annoying shit before he killed it. He allowed the bullet that shot at his face to tear through his lower jaw and shoot out the back of his head.

All the while he still had it in an iron grip and was giving the scared bird the most menacing smile he could. And it was pretty menacing. The gaping hole in his face really sold it if he said so himself.

He let the bird watch as he healed the rest of his wounds. Then it stopped struggling as fiercely as it watched the hole in Julius’s face seal over within a second. It finally seemed to realize its mistake.

It was only then that Julius squeezed his fist with a good amount of kinetic energy, crushing the throat of the bird easily. It was almost so much force that he practically decapitated it.