Chapter 53: Survive!

[New quest received]

[There's always a bigger fish]

[As a Werewolf who hasn’t even experienced his first turning, you’re still too weak.]

[Survive!]

[Quest reward: ???]

Gary was quite surprised that for the first time the Werewolf System didn’t even hint at the type of reward he would receive if he could fulfill the Quest. Did this mean that it hadn’t decided what he would get or did it doubt his capability to actually survive the fight?

At the same time the conditions for completing it weren’t really clear. What would happen if he was to run away. If he was knocked out that would clearly count as surviving, right? Or did it mean that the person in front of him wanted to kill him?

‘It's impossible for the system to know all of that! It's just a system!’

Whatever the case, now wasn’t the time to worry about that. Seeing the baton light up, Gary was in no way inclined to allow his opponent to hit him with the weapon. He had experienced being electrocuted when he was younger through an open plug, and this looked far worse.

As he had discovered during his Rugby training, one of the benefits of cancelling the Charging Heart skill early was that the cooldown between each use would also be shortened. The downside to this was that no matter how long the skill lasted, he wouldn’t get back any of his spent Energy points.

Gary tried to pull away, only to find himself unable to do anything. The high schooler could barely tug his arm before the strange adult had gripped onto it tightly with his giant hands.

‘This is insane! Just how strong is this guy’s grip?!’ Gary thought. With the baton coming closer, he had no other choice but to use Charging Heart again.

[61/110 Energy]

The last time Gary had been forced to use up so much Energy was in his fight against Billy. Yanking his hand once more, the sudden spike in strength surprised the Altered Hunter, and his grip weakened for a moment.

Unfortunately, the high schooler failed to completely pull away. His captor managed to grab onto Gary’s other hand, this time even firmer than before, completely ignoring the teenager’s boost.

‘Even with Charging Heart, he is still just as strong! No, this guy might even be stronger.”

At the end of the day, these guys hunted Altereds for a living, and they had to have some way to combat them. At this rate Gary was suspecting that the Altered hunters were Alterds themselves, but what kind of hyprocary would that be.

Using Gary’s struggle, he threw him off balance and followed up with the electrified baton. The second it touched his stomach, Gary felt his whole body tingle all over. His green hair stood up and all the hair all over his body. No matter how hard he tried to move, while the baton touched his body none of his muscles were responding.

It was strange that the pain was quite minimal but he was unable to do anything. Although he saw the large fist coming towards his face, Gary was unable to block it. The great strength hurled him in the air, skidding him across the ground, and for what felt like the second time his nose was broken.

[You have been inflicted with a grave injury]

[-27 HP]

[68/100 HP]

[Would you like to activate emergency healing?]

[If you wish, you can set a limit as to when emergency healing will be activated.]

The only time he had experienced the emergency healing had been after Billy had broken his ribs by using the metal plate in his gloves. It had used Energy allowing him to heal his wounds and continue on fighting like normal. However, in this situation Gary didn’t have a high amount of Energy points to use, at the same time, he didn't really need his nose to help him fight.

“You clearly have abnormal strength for your size, so what are you waiting for? Why don’t you transform?” The Altered Hunter asked.

Wiping away the blood trickling down his nose, Gary got up again. He wasn’t sure if he could win this fight or not, but he was pissed. Beyond pissed that this person had interrupted him in the middle of what he had been doing.

After all, there was still another Quest active that had to do with Gil.

‘Trust me, if I knew how to transform I would have done it by now and ripped your freaking head off!’ Gary charged in with this thought in his mind. He kept his eye on the baton. The second the man pressed the button on the bottom, it electrified up again.

‘It looks like his weapon can only stay on for so long, otherwise he would have just kept the bloody thing electrified.’

Knowing this, Gary began to run in. The man confidently swung the baton towards Gary’s head, this time perfectly timing his attack, but Gary had dashed forward now running at his full speed that the Charging heart skill gave him. Ducking down at the same time, it allowed the hit to go over his head. He then threw an overhead punch as hard as he could towards the man’s face.

“Impressive, you fooled me into thinking that you were using your full speed the whole time. It’s just too bad that you weren’t the only one who held back.” The man said, as he lifted up his arm blocking the incoming punch.

As it hit, Gary felt something hard, far harder than bone, and his knuckles were sore. The man seemed surprised on his end as well, about how much force the punch had behind it.

‘Damn it, is he wearing armour underneath his clothes or something? Goddamnit, of course he is! How could an Altered Hunter work without that type of stuff?’

Jumping back, Gary was observing the situation. He was getting low on Energy, yet his opponent still seemed fine, not even hurt. Gil appeared to be barely conscious rolling about on the ground, while the abandoned grey coloured gang member seemed to be regaining consciousness, getting up on his feet.

Right now, Gary was sure that there was nothing he could do against the Altered Hunter. He didn’t like it, but he had to run. Turning away, Gary started to sprint as fast as he could. Slightly regretting not having put any points into Dexterity, he was praying that the Energy he still had would allow him to escape.

Turning around though, it looked like the Altered Hunter hadn’t bothered to chase after him. Nevertheless, Gary didn’t stop running, not even after he received a notification that the Quest for catching Gil had failed for getting out of range.

[Quest failed]

Eventually, Gary stopped by the convenience store. Although he had already completed his Daily Quest, he was in dire need of replenishing his Energy. He was already feeling hunger pangs the closer he came to reaching 0 Energy.

After spending the last of his money, Gary practically gobbled up the meat in an alley. He used some of that Energy to restore his broken nose before continuing on his way. Gary made sure to go through some alleys and only returned home, once he was absolutely sure that he wasn’t followed.

His mother had already arrived but Gary played everything cool with his family. Judging by the fact, she hadn’t immediately given him a lecture, it appeared that Amy had kept her word. After spending some time with the two of them, Gary headed back to his room, his head and whole body were shaking as he sat down on the bed.

‘That…that was so freaking dangerous! If that Altered Hunter had caught me… or if he had come in a bit later when I was weaker from fighting the others… Damn it!’ Gary wanted to punch something in his frustration, but before he did, he recalled what had happened to his school wall.

Above all, he was most upset that he had been unable to teach Gil more of a lesson. Sure, the 50 Exp he had failed to earn had left a bitter aftertaste in his mouth, but he was now worried about what the bully would do. Without knowing why he had been punished, there was an actual risk that he might try and do something to Tom again.

Gary swore that he wouldn’t let that happen.

Still, there was at least one piece of good news that came from the unfortunate encounter.

[Congratulations, you have managed to avoid getting captured by the ‘Suspected Altered Hunter’!]

[You’ve learned the importance of a strategic retreat in the face of an opponent who vastly outclasses you! Fortunately, as an apex predator, you’ll be able to grow in due time. Here’s something to pay him back, if you ever see him again!]

[Quest reward: Choose one skill]

*****

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