Chapter 46 - Creepy Old Man Vs Potato In A Girl’s Body

With that sentence, the feeling had completely returned to my body. I placed my hands on the floor and boosted myself upwards, smashing my head against the man’s jaw.

“You pervert, how could you just touch a girl like that!” I squealed, only to immediately feel a sense of horror.

“Fuck, I take that back. Just never touch me again.”

He gave a leering smile and adjusted his draw. “Wow, you sure are strong for a little girl.”

Why did it seem like all my enemies were weirdos?

All of a sudden, the man darted forward and thrusted the pocket knife straight for my stomach. I tried to twist away, but what remained of the paralysis caused me to stumble and trip over my own feet.

Splurch.

“Hurgh!” I coughed out some of the white substance as he pulled back out the knife, the blade completely covered in it.

I glanced around, expecting to see the error notification that my body couldn’t regenerate itself. Thankfully, it hadn’t appeared yet.

I didn’t know what this man wanted with me, but he was damn crazy, that was for sure.

Clutching the hole in my stomach, I tottered away to put distance between us and retrieve my fallen sword.

The man was still. He just stood there, staring at the white liquid dripping off the pocket knife.

“You don’t have blood.” He said flatly.

“No, I don’t.” I replied cautiously, hefting up the sword in both hands. My wound had already almost closed.

“But then my friend won’t stay by my side. She really loves blood.”

His friend. The spike-o-chidna? Apparently, it could be tamed if it was fed a lot of blood.

“So will you leave me alone now?”

He ignored me, and wiped the white liquid off of his knife with his shirt. “If you have no blood, that means no one needs to clean it off you when you’re dead!”

As his head snapped up, I noticed a black spiral symbol on his forehead, which had been hidden by his hair. It looked suspiciously like a mark of a Gifted-

___________________________________________

Keita Gown

Level: [Error]

Type: [Error]

Class: [Error]

Path: [Error]

Applied Faith: None

Combat Power: 195%

___________________________________________

The only thing I managed to grasp in that quick glance was the multiple errors next to each category. If a profile had been generated for him, it must mean that he was a Gifted. But since when was ‘potato god’s eye’ unable to calculate something? I’d never seen that error sign appear for this before. Thankfully, the most important part of his profile remained. His combat power.

He had nearly two times my combat power- and I was already in a human body. In a normal situation, I would’ve been intimidated, but I was wielding a sword, and he only had a small knife.

“Kill… Kill… I need to kill…” He muttered derangedly, biting his thumb’s fingernail while slowly pacing towards me.

What the hell was this guy doing?

A thought struck me.

If I killed him or injured him now, before he’d attacked me, did that make me wrong? Would I be punished by the mayor?

If this was this man’s plan…

I wouldn’t fall for it.

I’d already killed someone before, after all.

And I’d lived in this dangerous world long enough to know that anything could be dangerous.

“Hah!” I dashed forward, just like he had done, my sword in a thrust position.

I wasn’t really going to go for a simple stab. That was the most common mistake a beginner would make when fighting for their life. My hands were twisted, ready to turn the stab into an upward slice the moment I was in range.

However, just as I bent left to do so, the man stepped forward.

“Death.” He rasped, eyes beginning to bulge and froth starting to collect in his mouth.

He reached a contorted hand out straight for my face, completely disregarding the sword that was about to slice him in half.

“Fuck!” I cursed under my breath- well, maybe a little louder than that and spun around to avoid his hand.

His fingernail grazed my cheek, causing more of the white liquid to burst out. Using the momentum from swinging, I brought the sword back around, this time for a sideways slash.

“Death!” He shouted this time, and a loud crack filled the air. His left arm dislocated and whipped around, reforming at an impossible angle to catch the strike with nothing but his hand.

The sword dug deep into his hand, and the blood began to spill.

Even with a sword lodged halfway through his palm, the man still reached for my face.

I tried to pull it out, but it was well and truly stuck.

“Telekine-”

Before I could even try to knock his hand away, darkness shot out of the palm of his hand, covering my face and blocking off my vision. I tried to stagger away, but the darkness held me in place.

Dark magic? I’d never fought against someone with this kind before. I’d only caught a glimpse of Verity using it.

“Think, think, think, June, think.” I couldn’t increase the distance between us, but I could still feel the sword’s handle.

Losing consciousness by the second, I wrenched the sword out of his hand, drew it back, and plunged it straight into his general chest area.

“Hurgh!” I heard him cough and felt the sticky liquid splatter onto my hands.

Slowly, the darkness seeped away and my sight returned. A loud thud caught my attention. The man lay unmoving, my sword in his chest.

“You crazy bastard.” I muttered, dropping to my knees and crawling beside him to retrieve my sword.

Shink. Splurt.

“What the…”

An intense pain suddenly erupted in my stomach, and I looked down slowly.

A small wooden handle connecting to a pen knife, held by a bloodied hand rested on my lap.

“Hurgh!” The white liquid, once again, began to dribble out of my mouth. “How are you alive?”

I grabbed his arm with both my hands and tried to pull the knife out, but it didn’t move. His body did, though. I watched in horror as the other arm reached up and yanked my sword out of his chest like pulling a knife out of butter.

Although his eyes were completely black, tears rolled slowly down his face and he mumbled something over and over. Something that sounded like; “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

He should’ve been dead.

And yet, he stood up and threw the sword to the side. Pulled out the pocket knife, only to plunge it back in a different place moments after.

What made it worse was that my strength was disappearing. It must’ve been whatever he did just now. Did I get it wrong? Was it not dark magic? If not, what else could it have been?

“Death.”

Death.

Fuck.

[Warning: Your human body has been damaged beyond repair. Would you like to end the skill?]

Double fuck.

There was only one thing left to do.

“End skill!”

It looked like I’d have to finish this in my potato body.

‘Mutation. Hull.’

[You have mutated.]

[Temporary skills have been unlocked. {Saw}, {Absolute Counter}.]

[Time left until {Mutation} concludes: 20:00.]

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Saw

Category: Temporary

Type: Passive

Not tentacles, but saws. This skill grants them permission to cut through anything, whether that be stone, human flesh or wood. Be wary, for you may cut yourself with them too.

___________________________________________

___________________________________________

Absolute Counter

Category: Temporary

Type: Active

A skill that reflects any magical attack back at the opponent. While being a defensive skill, it can also be used for attack. This skill is unable to reflect physical attacks. Magical attacks can only be reflected provided they are aimed towards you.

___________________________________________

This was my second time using ‘mutation’ in my potato body. My fourth time overall.

Two limbs sprouted from my body, both incredibly sharp but flexible at the same time. They were similar to blades. Apart from that, nothing else seemed to have changed. A nice cocoon of potato roots surrounded my body. It would protect me from further attacks. I’d gotten lucky this time.

“Death…” The man repeated again, staggering forward. His limbs were hanging loose, but his head was held high. Those empty black eyes and the mark on his forehead, which was glowing- I can’t believe I’m saying this, but- an even brighter dark than before. It pulsed angrily, reminding me of my void magic.

“Must kill… Hail Gorgon… Hail Gorgon…”

Gorgon? Was he talking about G? I knew he went by many names…

No. There was no way G would do this.

Suddenly, the man’s status window flashed and changed.

___________________________________________

Keita Gown

Species: Upper Demon

Level: [Error]

Type: [Error]

Class: [Error]

Path: [Error]

Applied Faith: None

Combat Power: 1950%

___________________________________________

Combat power: 1950%?

I couldn’t tell whether it was because I’d transformed back to my potato form or simply because he’d become more powerful. But that didn’t matter. All that mattered was killing him as fast as possible.

Because if not, I’d be the one who ended up dead.

I lunged forward, much faster and nimbler than when in my human form. Now he didn’t have anywhere to grab on or stab with that damn pocket knife other than my small body.

Like a spinning top, I spun myself as I flew towards him. If he even tried to grab me, his fingers would be cleaved cleanly off.

“Death.” He repeated one more time, and simply opened his mouth.

His jaw dislocated with a loud crack, and a tearing noise soon ensued as his lips and the skin around his cheeks ripped.

Out of the gaping hole which was his mouth came dozens upon dozens of purple, semi-translucent objects, darting straight for me.

___________________________________________

Species: Ghost

Combat Power: 100%

Other Information:

Summoning a ghost is a high tier spell from the element death magic. Ghosts do not have a physical body, meaning physical attacks will not work on them. Their only form of attack is to invade the target’s soul and kill them. This is not a hundred percent success rate and will most likely fail if the target’s will to live is relatively high. To stop a ghost, you must kill its summoner.

Recommended Forms Of Attack:

None

Weaknesses:

None

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“Absolute counter!” I called, still spinning.

Boom!

As soon as the first touched me, a massive explosion filled the air and the rest of the ghosts were blown back.

But even that didn’t stop them. They only had one target. Me.

“Absolute counter!”

[Error: {Absolute Counter} is on cooldown. 0:9]

Stopping my spinning midway, I dodged below, skimming the rough surface of the ground and tearing away a few of the roots that made up my hull. Even my telekinesis didn’t work, since they didn’t have a solid shape.

If even one of them touched me… I shuddered. I didn’t want to find out.

The only way to survive this was to group them all together and take them all out at once. But even as I thought it, more of the creatures clambered over each other to escape the man’s mouth. First, I needed to stop him.

I couldn’t even get close enough to slice him up with my saws/

And then I spied my fallen, enchanted sword on the ground next to the very tree I’d used as a dummy.

Collapse.

‘Get the fuck away from me!’ I screamed, flying above this time to avoid another ghost. The rest were close behind. The agonizing headache from overuse of telekinesis had already begun. I couldn’t hold on for much longer.

‘Telekinesis.’ I tossed the sword in the man’s general direction, hoping it’d at least disrupt some of the ghosts.

It didn’t.

‘Absolute counter!’ I shouted once more, and the ghosts within the range exploded outwards. As they were doing so, I focused on the flying sword and stopped it with telekinesis and shoved it straight into the ground. Blade first.

Nothing happened.

‘Collapse.’

BOOM.

The ground shook and trembled in at least a ten metre radius from the sword. Its xera storage plummeted down to zero. Just as I thought, the man didn’t move. Not because he didn’t want to, but because he couldn’t. If he could, then he wouldn’t have needed the ghosts to protect him.

Now, the ghosts hurriedly returned to their owner, no longer interested in chasing me.

This was my chance.

‘Argh! I screamed, once again a spinning ball of deadliness, headed straight for his head. A stab to the chest didn’t kill him. Surely beheading would.

While flying, some of the lingering ghosts turned to face me. Since I had no way to avoid them, all I could do was fly straight through them.

A cold feeling wrapped around my heart. And then another. And another. And another.

“What’s the point of living?”

“If not now, it’ll be sometime in the future.”

“Death is inevitable.”

‘No.’ I said to the ghosts. ‘I have things to do. People to see again. Revenge I need to exact. But most importantly, I’m going to be a god.’

Splurch. Splurch. Splurch.

The man stood no chance. His frail body was torn into pieces, limbs flung about, blood soaking the floor. Head, coming to a stop on the side of the clearing. The symbol on his forehead flashed once, twice, and lay still. It would never flash again.

“Death…” The man muttered, blood dripping out of his mouth. “Hail Gorgon.” He coughed once more.

And then he laid still.

[You have slain {Keita Gown}.]

[You have received 78% XP.]

[You have leveled up!]

[You have received 91% XP.]

[Sword Swings: 111/1000]