Chương 351: Upgrades To Tear

Blood splashed everywhere as I mercilessly stomped down on the creature's skull, repeatedly crushing it to bits as it constantly regenerated. My assault was constant, and I made sure to keep it pinned down whilst attacking.

My many wires stabbed into the creature's back, delivering strong charges of lightning that quickly drained the reserves of the 'Faraday Battery', but even after receiving electrical currents that would have fried most and had actually caused the nearby blood to boil and partly turn to steam, it wasn't enough.

This damned monster should have received enough damage to kill even powerful warriors ten times over, if not more–But it just kept moving, and it just kept regenerating, its recovery speed not going down in the slightest. Well, shit. I can't ask for Nara's insight on the situation. I have no clue if I should just keep whaling on the bastard, or if I should be looking for another way out of this situation. Does it have a special weakness? Does it have something akin to a lich's phylactery?

Or is the right answer to escape this place instead of fighting? I truly do not know, but as far as I can see, the blood swamp extends far and wide without any changes in scenery whatsoever, so I would be inclined to believe that there is nothing special to find anywhere, or it is hidden in the shallow blood, which would make it pretty much impossible to find, especially with an aggressive creature giving chase. Heh…

Not knowing what to do is a bit annoying, but I guess I'll just follow my first instinct and try to beat this creature until it simply can't regenerate anymore. That's a common 'weakness' of stuff that relies on regeneration to fight. This is the kind of ability that just can't keep going infinitely. Eventually, it will fatigue and slow down.

Typically, when it is as extreme as this and the owner of the ability isn't a pushover, it doesn't really matter if there is a ceiling to how many times it can help someone recover from grievous injuries, most people would tire themselves out trying to fight a battle of attrition with such an entity, but I do not grow tired, and I don't really rely on anything with finite resources. My main weapon is my very own brute force.

As such, if there is a limit to how much punishment this foolish thing can take, then I will find it.

"L–Let's see how long you can put yourself together for!" The merciless crushing went on for dozens of minutes with no end in sight, but the more time passed, the more agitated the creature became. I still couldn't sense any emotions from this thing, but judging by how it was flailing around, it was either growing panicked or getting mad. Perhaps both…

If it is reacting, then it means that it isn't blacking out whenever I squash its skull flat, and is fully aware of the beatdown it has been receiving this entire time. Anyone would be getting quite irked about such a situation, that is for certain. For most, that would be the end of it, though… Without warning, the entity slammed one of its fists down, and before I could question the meaning of such an action, I was suddenly ejected high into the air.

The fleshy creature rose from the blood, its regeneration bringing it back to a pristine state. It turned to look at me as I flew through the air, before making a beeline straight to where I was going to land… While I was waiting to hit the ground, I had some time to think about what had just happened, and it wasn't good. The creature had seen a sudden surge in strength. I might have been able to keep it pinned down, but the surge of power had come out of nowhere and without any proper warning.

The strike it had delivered to the ground prior had been of the same strength as I had seen before… Was it a clever diversion? Make a demonstration with the strength I know before blindsiding me with an increased might? It definitely seems faster now as it is rushing. That's for sure. What a pain…

I crashed down into the swamp of blood, landing with grace and balance that even the monster seemed not to have seen coming, allowing me to sidestep its animalistic punch and grab its forearm as I began swinging this horrid thing around as if it were a wet towel, slamming its body into the ground until its body was sent flying with its arm still left in my grasp.

As its arm regrew rapidly, I saw the disembodied limb in my hand deflate until it turned into blood and slipped between my fingers–There was something a bit odd about this… The monster came slamming into me, but I stood my ground and intercepted its charge. This fucker got faster again, probably stronger as well. Not yet strong enough to contend with me without the element of surprise, though, but it might reach that level eventually.

I elbowed the top of the bastard's head repeatedly until it let go, punching him to the ground before using 'Flowing Metal' to morph my left hand into one of the many upgrades Mari had added to my repertoire–Due to their simplicity, I had stocked up on the upgrades I was aware of that would have once permanently altered my 'Base Form'. With 'Flowing Metal', that was no longer the case, and I thus had access to some pretty nasty weaponry while in this form. Stolen novel; please report.

Since this guy was insistent on being a pain in the ass, it would get to experience them firsthand–I hope you'll appreciate, this is a world's first! My left arm shifted. It was as though the steel melted before reforming on the spot without abiding by gravity. It twisted and solidified, replacing the hand with a large drill. The drill began to spin under my will, swiftly reaching dangerous speeds as the details of its appearance turned into a blur.

Before acquiring this upgrade, I had only ever seen such a spinning motion with spells. Never had I ever witnessed a truly physical and non-magical object perform the same thing. To think that such a thing had only been used for offensive spells when it could be used to dig through basically anything… What a waste. Well, I bet Leton already figured that out. This guy probably is already mining stuff with some giant version of this.

Regardless, I brought down the spinning drill right onto the creature's back, piercing through its body with ease. With its size and power, the drill massacred the monster's body, separating its body into two pieces, and for several minutes, it constantly tried to regenerate its lower half, and I watched as the regrowing pieces were torn apart and sent flying before melting into blood. … I think I am certain how to kill this thing. Who would have guessed?

I suppose I am just that good that everyone is in a bad match-up against me. Suddenly, the monster managed to break free with another sudden increase in strength, regrowing its full body within mere moments before charging at me once more, but it had made too much distance in its escape, and while its speed had increased, it was relatively mild compared to the strength improvement. Besides… It moved in a straight line without any attempt at a feint.

Even if it was faster than I could see, I could probably predict its movement well enough to hit it anyway. Since shifting an already transformed limb took longer, I transformed my right arm this time. It turned into what I would qualify as giant scissors, but the actual name of this cute little implement was 'Industrial Shears'.

Anyway, the blood beast ran straight into them, bisecting itself, but its upper half nonetheless landed into me, and it began to punch me repeatedly in the face, caving my skull inward, until my left hand returned to its normal shape, allowing me to pry it off. By this time, it had already regrown its lower half. My right hand also returned to normal, and I ran forward, clashing with the monster, which had once again increased in strength.

"Kee–Keep going, maybe you'll match my strength in a few decades!" I taunted an unresponsive audience. This guy is unfunny–Also, it will definitely take it only a short while to start being a much bigger menace, so it was time to start doing some real damage. I caught one of its fists and chomped down on it, the disembodied limb disappearing inside of my maw, consumed before it could turn into blood, and surprise, surprise, regenerating that limb took significantly longer than normal.

Now, it was still pretty damned fast by all meaningful standards, but it was nonetheless much longer than the previous instances. Meaning that I had been correct. This fucker and the blood swamp are connected in some way. Whenever a piece of it turns into blood and sips into the marsh, it is returned to it nearly instantly. Meaning that to defeat it, I either need to take it away from the marsh entirely, or force it to actually expend stamina or whatever else it is using to regenerate.

The former option would be way easier, but… I can't switch to another form. Not content with just cutting off my connection to Nara, the bastard responsible had also casually nullified one of my core abilities… I suppose that perhaps changing form was closely linked to the system, so Nara not being present was the cause. Regardless, I forced the monster into a close-quarter confrontation as I took every chance I could get to take a bit out of its body, tearing off limbs at every given occasion.

Rather than punch, I would dig into its flesh and pull out chunks before gorging on them, leaving its ribcage or other bones exposed for several seconds before the meat would regrow. … The several seconds were getting longer and longer with every feast I enjoyed, but the monster's strength was also increasing, to the point of dealing real damage with every well-placed punch.

Since my attacker was also my buffet, I was able to quickly recover on the fly, turning the fight into a grotesque slugfest as neither of us made any effort to dodge, just trying to pile up as much damage as we could. I was trying to nullify its regeneration, and it was trying to break me down before I could wolf down more of its body. The screaming was so loud that I couldn't even hear the impact of any strikes anymore.

Once it got used to me doing nothing but punching and kicking, I let my wires surge forth once more, emptying all of the lightning I had available in a single go, paralysing the monster for a little while, its weakened regeneration making the shock all the more effective. I took this occasion to grab it, lift it off the swamp, and shove its head into my maw, clamping down without tearing it apart. … I never actually gave up on the simpler option.

Just because I couldn't change form and get much bigger, it didn't mean that I couldn't keep it away from the shallow marsh. I just needed it to stand still for a short while. I kept my opponent stuck in my jaws and let another upgrade Mari had added to the work. An upgrade I had seen amidst options given to me a while back, but one that had never really left my mind…

Chipper - The inside of your maw gains a chipper A 'chipper' was a term I didn't really understand in full before getting the upgrade and experiencing it firsthand. Basically, there was something in my maw that no one would like to have their fingers get caught in.

'Chipper' shreds everything into minuscule pieces, and if that thing is something I can consume, then it basically makes things disappear. That's what I just shoved that poor bastard's head against. The moment this upgrade activated, the monster broke free of its paralysis and began thrashing around with all its might. Its strength was currently quite threatening, but I did my best to restrain its arms. Besides, I was being constantly mended thanks to the nice intake of flesh.

Unfortunately, that thing's flesh couldn't be stocked. It could only be used on the spot to heal, which I assumed was either due to its regenerative ability or its nature, as I was still doubtful whether or not it was an actual being or just something that was an accessory to this space. I soon got an answer on the matter.