Parasyte System

After chasing the monster, Jay began to unleash a flurry of attacks on it, throwing his safety overboard.

Each of his blows carried with it incredible speed and power, which added to the fact that Jay was aiming for the parts of the monster's body that were burned, achieved an unexpected result.

*Chack!*

With that sound, for the first time, the monster's blood was spilled, a product of Jay's cutting wind.

In front of this, even though the monster was not able to show facial expressions, one could feel how surprised it was.

In all its time of hunting, despite having faced many other humans, with most being even stronger than this one, it couldn't help but feel its body getting excited.

Possessing a great ferocity combined with the vitality that only a young human would be capable of, all mixed with his desperation in trying to get out of this situation.

A desperation that had even led him to the fact that despite being much weaker than itself, he was able to inflict a wound to its superior body!

For some reason, this made its blood run even hotter, the monster, at this moment, couldn't ask for a better prey!

*BAM!*

Another clash ensued between the two, with Jay refusing to even give the monster a break and continuing his assault.

*Swoosh!*

Again, the wind shifted strongly from the sudden movements of both Jay and the monster, both of which had simultaneously used the Phantom Trace.

The monster's figure moved at breakneck speed, with its incredible physical abilities now being enhanced by the first and second step of the martial technique, it almost seemed to even fade away.

On the other hand, Jay, now being in complete synergy with his body and energy, disappeared without a trace.

As a result, for a moment, with both having seemingly vanished, the forest fell silent.

*Swoosh!*

Suddenly, the monster came to an abrupt halt and swung its claws, slicing through the air just a couple of meters ahead of it.

*TRSHH!*

Immediately, the sound of something being torn apart was heard, the source being Jay who was just appearing in front of the monster.

Now knowing how the technique Jay used worked, the monster had managed to keep up with him, launching an attack that predicted his route and as could be seen, in a way, it had managed to hit its target.

However, instead of flesh, what the cut had hit had been nothing more than the bandage surrounding Jay's left arm.

Not lagging behind, Jay had seen through the monster, and the moment it appeared, he had braced himself for impact, putting his arm forward to protect himself.

The bandage, even though it had now been completely shredded, like the magically-protected item propelled by a rank (B) mage that it was, even against such a strong opponent, did its job, protecting Jay from losing his arm.

Seeing this, the monster rushed to launch another swipe, but to its bad luck, Jay was already too close.

For some reason, it had a bad feeling, so just this once, it decided to use all his power to move.

*Swoosh!*

With an incredibly fluid movement, the monster positioned itself, in an instant, at Jay's back, ready to attack again.

"!"

This had been, of course, to take him by surprise, however, appearing right in front of him, barely a few inches away, the esper's face could be seen.

Apparently, he had also prepared himself for this move of his.

With a scowl on his face, his glowing emerald eyes managed to stand out in all the darkness, with these being completely filled with an intent that the monster could perfectly sense.

It was an intent to kill.

Without waiting another second, Jay hit the monster with everything he had, this time connecting the blow directly against the monster's jaw.

However, this time the monster did not immediately fly away as before, but its body, for a moment, put up resistance to Jay's blow.

The physical force behind this blow was considerable, but what made Jay's attack dangerous was not only the first contact, but what came after.

The next moment, starting from the base of his shoulder, a swirling stream of wind ran all the way up to the monster's face.

*BOOM!*

And that was when, despite its reluctance, the monster, again, was sent flying as its body spun.

Already having changed the area where they were fighting, the trees became full again, with their sturdy trunks blocking almost all directions.

As a result, the monster crashed head first into a tree, with some unpleasant sounds coming from its body.

With his gaze shifting to the direction the monster had flown off in, Jay again began to prepare to use the Phantom Trace.

"!"

However, at that moment, just as he had managed to gather the necessary energy, his body came to a complete stop.

"...Argh! F*ck...!"

Muttering those words with great difficulty, Jay then fell to his knees on the ground.

Immediately, he began to clutch his chest tightly, his face contorting in pain as he felt as if a wave of knives were running through his entire body.

Simultaneously, his mouth filled with a metallic taste that could only indicate one thing, the wounds on his body began to take their toll.

Although he had used the [Overload], which had increased all of his physical capabilities to an incredible level, that did not mean that the wounds inside him had disappeared.

Whatever the ability had caused, as reluctant as Jay was, it had only accomplished one thing, and that was to give him a chance to further delay his defeat.

Now, after using his last resort, it was time to pay the price.

His muscles were tired, his insides were a bloody mess, and his mind was in complete chaos from the repeated and intense use of the [Mind Network].

Finally, the cherry on top of the cake, the incessant system warnings that his energy levels had dropped to an all-time low.

Accompanying these messages was the ever-present pressure of something else, something inside him that although he didn't know what it was, was growing at an accelerated rate.

Although this was the first time Jay had felt this, he had a vague inkling of what this was, and he didn't like it at all.

This feeling that seemed to want to flood his entire body wasn't because of his injuries by any means, but was something else, something unexplainable that made even Jay nervous.

So much so that Jay refused to lose against it, using nothing but sheer willpower to stay conscious.

Whether he could concentrate on that or not, however, was not up to him, but to someone else.

*Crack!*

Far away from where he was, the sound of bones crunching suddenly sounded from the forest, specifically, from the direction of the monster.

The next moment, a strong gust of wind blew past Jay, indicative that right now, Jay was no longer alone.

Amidst all his grief, the esper slowly raised his gaze upward.

Standing in front of him with its imposing figure, the humanoid monster was looking down at him from above, but with a visible change in its figure.

Its head, which had been completely unharmed before, had now been forcibly turned to the left, making it obvious how unnatural this was.

Apparently, the esper's last attack had had a much greater effect than expected.

*Bam!*

"Argh!"

Without waiting a second longer, Jay was forcibly lifted off the ground, being grabbed by the neck, rising quickly until his gaze was level with that of the monster.

Gathering every ounce of strength remaining in his body, Jay managed to grab with both hands the arm that held him captive.

Unfortunately, in his weakened state, this served as nothing more than a futile attempt at resistance.

"G-GAH!!!"

With his throat being gradually squeezed, Jay could do little more than let out small sounds as he felt his consciousness fade.

As for the one responsible for this, the monster, now one could no longer see in its eyes the interest from before, but a silent anger at Jay.

Apparently, the esper's last blow had truly succeeded in making him enraged, for the first time showing some emotion in its empty eyes.

"Ah...u-ugh..."

Between reluctant sounds and limp grips, Jay, helplessly unable to do anything in this situation, finally couldn't take it anymore... and fell into unconsciousness.

Immediately, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, all the strength left his body, including his arms, which had been clinging as best they could to the monster's arm, falling.

Despite his desperate resistance, the result was one that could already be expected, this combat had ended with the monster's victory.

Now with its objective accomplished, the monster did not continue to choke Jay, but instead, still holding the esper in its grip, began to walk deeper into the forest.

***

After a couple of minutes, now the terrain surrounding the monster was completely new, with the forest being in an untouched state and without any sign of a fight.

Leaving Jay on the ground and making sure that he was between the borderline of living and dying, the monster then shifted its gaze to one of the nearby trees.

This particular tree stood out from the others because of its sheer size, measuring over 10 meters and with a trunk thick enough that even two people wrapping their arms around it wouldn't be enough to fully embrace it.

*Crash!*

The monster then dug its claws into the trunk and began to excavate the wood, slowly forming an oval-shaped hole.

This action barely took a few seconds, so having finished with it, it stood up while holding its still twisted head with both hands.

The monster had delayed it until now, but the time had come to fix this wound.

*Crack!*

With a fluid motion, releasing an unsettling sound, the monster returned its skull to its original position.

Although it hadn't made any sound or shown any expression of pain, this had really hurt, which made its anger at Jay increase even more.

However, that thought dissolved at the same time that from its 'mouth', a black liquid began to leak out.

Evidently, its excitement at infecting what had been its most interesting prey so far was so great that it was even beginning to manifest on its body.

The monster then decided to pick up the body of its victim and turned around.

"!"

However, the moment it did, surprise took over its body.

Standing in the middle of all the darkness, Jay, the very person the monster swore it had left at the point between life and death, was staring at him.

This time, it was the monster who did not understand how this was possible, it was no longer just the fact that he had stood up without even a shred of energy on him.

But also, even with its senses superior to those of a super, if it hadn't turned around, the monster wouldn't have noticed this either!

*Swoosh!*

Now moving at full speed, the monster was now determined to end this once and for all, positioning itself right in front of Jay to slice through his flesh and crush his bones.

Either way, dead or alive, the esper would serve its purpose just the same.

*CHACK!*

With that sound, Jay's chest was pierced by one of the monster's hands, with the wound being so bad that it only needed a little more to go through his body.

Now with this, the monster was sure he wouldn't be able to get up again, that was how humans worked.  The monster had already proven it dozens of times, this was a mortal wound that not even supers could recover from without help.

"..."

But still...

Still...

Why was it that the monster, being the one who had obviously won, was now feeling an incredibly strong sense of discomfort?

The monster, trying to find the source of this, took his gaze everywhere, his instincts becoming more alert by the second.

*Tap!*

At that moment, a sudden jerk forced it to focus its attention on its prey, which, against all odds, was now holding its right arm tightly.

It didn't know what the purpose of this was, but seeing it as one more desperate attempt to resist, the monster simply lost care of him.

*Shick!*

But before it could turn its focus, with a wet sound, the monster felt and more importantly, saw... how from the esper's hands, more than a dozen small worms began to emerge.

"!"

This alarmed it greatly, so without waiting any longer, it tried to pull its arm out, but in doing so, it noticed that it could not move in the slightest, since the grip the esper had on its arm was too strong.

The next moment, the worms, having taken advantage of the monster's surprise, wasted no time and introduced themselves inside its arm.

*Swoosh!*

This was the last straw for the monster, who, swinging its free arm at breakneck speed, sent Jay flying into another nearby tree.

*Bam!*

The sound of the collision was loud, but not content with this, the monster began to move to finish off the esper.

"!"

But just as it was about to move, its gaze fell upon Jay's body, and the monster, for the second time tonight, was shocked at what it felt.

Sitting under the tree, Jay's face was still dirty, the corner of his lips still bearing fresh stains of blood, the monster recognized this human face.

The only difference was the bloody hole that now took up most of the space on Jay's chest.

However, even though the face was the same, even though his eyes still gave off the same emerald glow, even though the body was the same....

The monster didn't know why... its instincts told it that the being in front was not the one he had faced before.

*Shick!

"!"

The next moment, as if confirming what its instincts were saying, as a shudder ran through the monster's body, there was a movement on Jay's part.

With its exceptional vision, the monster saw it as clear as day, as in the wound in his chest, several worms began to move.

And slowly but visibly... they began to repair the bloody wound.