?"Raaaaah!"
A primordial scream reverberated throughout the vast, messy jungle, with elevation changes happening almost every meter.
The muscular, black-furred creature smashed its enormous fist on the ground and cracked it open, creating a small crevice.
Its back started to arch, and its bones started to crack and snap, morphing and shifting into a new, terrifying form.
Its fur started to fall off in patches, revealing the exoskeleton beneath, which was black in color and looked as solid as steel itself.
Its muscles looked like they were made of metal, and it harnessed the power of a thousand raging storms.
"Raaaaah!"
Its screams became louder and far more powerful.
At that moment, its beast-like face started to change, and the long face, which was somewhat shaped like a fox face, slowly transformed with the nose turning shorter and more human-like, and the rest of the face also started to resemble that of a human.
At the head, black hair, dark as the fur before, appeared and fell down the side of its face in long, flowing strands.
It had a strange charm to it, and its red eyes made it look surprisingly charming but also very malicious.
"Argh!" The creature let out a rageful scream that echoed through the jungle, causing birds to scatter in all directions.
Its long, spring-like limbs turned straighter and resembled more and more of human form with every passing second.
At the current time, it looked almost indistinguishable from a human, except for its steel-like muscles, pitch-black skin, and glowing red eyes that seemed to harbor all the maliciousness of the world.
It was also very tall, towering over three meters.
"Rah!" The creature punched its fist into the tree, causing it to splinter and shatter into pieces.
It was just trying to lean against the tree, but it still managed to destroy the tree with one powerful blow.
…
Beep, beep, beep!
"What is this?" A glasses-wearing woman nudged her glasses up and looked at the computer in front of her.
At the moment, she was sitting at Martial Company's headquarters with hundreds of other workers, keeping a close eye on how the tournament operated.
At this moment, she received a very worrying message.
She took her phone from the table and snapped a few pictures of the messages.
She pocketed her phone and pen, then rose up from her seat and walked up the stairs of the room, where hundreds of people were working on their computers.
At the top of the stairs, their superior overlooked them with his arms crossed and looked around as if his eyes were those of an eagle.
"Umm, boss?" She called out timidly, hoping to grab his attention.
"What is it?" The superior asked, his gaze shifting from the computer screens to hers.
"I, umm, received a message, and I am not too sure what it should mean." She took her pen and used it to scratch her head while taking out her phone.
She opened the camera and pulled out the pictures.
The superior took his glasses from his chest pocket and began examining the pictures closely.
Even though the pictures were somewhat low-quality, he got the gist of what they were depicting.
"That must be a mistake." The superior said and took off his glasses. "This message is about a late-endgame boss that the A.I. had been developing for quite a while.
"It is about 'Code Kitsune' that is supposed to be as strong as black-ranked bosses. Well, it isn't as strong from the start, but it is even scarier as it grows stronger over time with each encounter.
"It is supposed to take the "skin" of the first person they meet and use their appearance. However, since it is A.I.'s job, it will also decide the best time for it to appear, and it definitely isn't now.
"Especially in the tournament rank. The codename Kitsune would be far too powerful for anyone there, so there is no way that A.I. would decide that now is a good time!"
"But the message…" She opened her second picture and showed it with a worried look. "It was also said that the codename Kitsune had undergone a second phase of its skinning process."
The superior's eyes bulged, and his hand started shaking uncontrollably as he realized the severity of the situation.
"T-that cannot be…" He whispered. "I-It is A.I.'s job to decide the best time…"
At that moment, they both shook and turned to the end of the hallway, where they saw the A.I. control room through a glass door, illuminated by a dim red light.
There, they saw beeping lights coming from the control panels, as if it were working as normally as before.
"Motherfucker…" The superior whispered.
"Ohh… fuck…" She whispered under her breath with a horrified look.
…
Knock, knock!
A group of two flinched and looked at the front door with shocked expressions.
"W-who could it be?" A no-eyebrowed man stammered as he slowly pulled out his wooden spear.
"The hell…" His teammate whispered with a frown and pulled out his machete. "Who in the world would knock?"
"Tch…" The no-eyebrowed man turned to the stairs that they had barricaded with the stuff they found.
There was another team on the second floor, and they didn't want to get attacked suddenly, so they barricaded the stairs, but that also blocked their escape path.
"W-who is it?!" His teammate shouted.
"I am alone, and I don't have a weapon." A voice sounded from the other side of the door. "I can share half of my food for shelter."
The two players shared glances and smirked at each other, knowing that they had found a potential victim. They were already short of food.
However, they didn't only want half of the food; they wanted it all.
Also, since the person was alone, it was an easy way to get rid of another team.
"Sure, come on in, buddy!" The no-eyebrowed man nudged his friend to be ready and slowly approached the door.
He slowly touched the door handle and was about to open it, but at that moment, a black hand broke through the door and stabbed through his heart.
"Cough!" The player coughed up blood, gasping for air, and he still couldn't realize what had just happened.
"W-w-what?!" His teammate shouted in shock and then saw the door open.
A black-skinned figure with steel-like muscles waltzed through the door with a bloodstained arm. It pulled out its hand from his friend's chest and held a still-beat heart in its grasp.
"I-it is a monster?!" The player screamed. "B-but it talked!"
"Disgusting meatsacks, you all sound the same." Kitsune squeezed the heart and shattered it. "Where is he? Where is my progenitor?"
"W-who the fuck are you talking about?!" The player asked with a shout. "W-why am I even talking to you, fucking monster!"
"Fuck you." Kitsune slashed through his head with its hand, and his body crumpled to the ground, lifeless with only half of the head left.
"Your fucking heartbeats are all the same." Kitsune clicked his tongue. "Where are you?"
It perked up its ears and heard all the heartbeats in the vicinity, along with several whispers coming from a few nearby buildings.
However, it couldn't recognize the voice it was looking for because the whispers were too quiet.
…
"I'll contact Mister Graham immediately!" The superior pulled out his phone with his shaky hand. "He has to know."
"What will Kitsune do?" She asked. "If it ruins the tournament, we are ruined!"
"For now, I think we'll be fine." The superior said. "You already said that it has finished the second phase of the skinning process.
"It means that it has already found 'skin' to use.
"However, since it hasn't finished the third phase yet, it hasn't killed its progenitor yet!"
"Progenitor?" She asked with a confused look.
"Yeah, Kitsune's main mission is to kill its progenitor!" The superior shouted. "It won't stop until it has finished that mission. It wants to be the only person with that skin, and it can't live knowing that its progenitor still lives. free(w)ebnovel
"It is obsession that consumes it completely!
"We have to wish that Kitsune's progenitor doesn't die yet. Otherwise, Kitsune will massacre everyone once it has finished its first mission!"
?"Raaaaah!"
A primordial scream reverberated throughout the vast, messy jungle, with elevation changes happening almost every meter.
The muscular, black-furred creature smashed its enormous fist on the ground and cracked it open, creating a small crevice.
Its back started to arch, and its bones started to crack and snap, morphing and shifting into a new, terrifying form.
Its fur started to fall off in patches, revealing the exoskeleton beneath, which was black in color and looked as solid as steel itself.
Its muscles looked like they were made of metal, and it harnessed the power of a thousand raging storms.
"Raaaaah!"
Its screams became louder and far more powerful.
At that moment, its beast-like face started to change, and the long face, which was somewhat shaped like a fox face, slowly transformed with the nose turning shorter and more human-like, and the rest of the face also started to resemble that of a human.
At the head, black hair, dark as the fur before, appeared and fell down the side of its face in long, flowing strands.
It had a strange charm to it, and its red eyes made it look surprisingly charming but also very malicious.
"Argh!" The creature let out a rageful scream that echoed through the jungle, causing birds to scatter in all directions.
Its long, spring-like limbs turned straighter and resembled more and more of human form with every passing second.
At the current time, it looked almost indistinguishable from a human, except for its steel-like muscles, pitch-black skin, and glowing red eyes that seemed to harbor all the maliciousness of the world.
It was also very tall, towering over three meters.
"Rah!" The creature punched its fist into the tree, causing it to splinter and shatter into pieces.
It was just trying to lean against the tree, but it still managed to destroy the tree with one powerful blow.
…
Beep, beep, beep!
"What is this?" A glasses-wearing woman nudged her glasses up and looked at the computer in front of her.
At the moment, she was sitting at Martial Company's headquarters with hundreds of other workers, keeping a close eye on how the tournament operated.
At this moment, she received a very worrying message.
She took her phone from the table and snapped a few pictures of the messages.
She pocketed her phone and pen, then rose up from her seat and walked up the stairs of the room, where hundreds of people were working on their computers.
At the top of the stairs, their superior overlooked them with his arms crossed and looked around as if his eyes were those of an eagle.
"Umm, boss?" She called out timidly, hoping to grab his attention.
"What is it?" The superior asked, his gaze shifting from the computer screens to hers.
"I, umm, received a message, and I am not too sure what it should mean." She took her pen and used it to scratch her head while taking out her phone.
She opened the camera and pulled out the pictures.
The superior took his glasses from his chest pocket and began examining the pictures closely.
Even though the pictures were somewhat low-quality, he got the gist of what they were depicting.
"That must be a mistake." The superior said and took off his glasses. "This message is about a late-endgame boss that the A.I. had been developing for quite a while.
"It is about 'Code Kitsune' that is supposed to be as strong as black-ranked bosses. Well, it isn't as strong from the start, but it is even scarier as it grows stronger over time with each encounter.
"It is supposed to take the "skin" of the first person they meet and use their appearance. However, since it is A.I.'s job, it will also decide the best time for it to appear, and it definitely isn't now.
"Especially in the tournament rank. The codename Kitsune would be far too powerful for anyone there, so there is no way that A.I. would decide that now is a good time!"
"But the message…" She opened her second picture and showed it with a worried look. "It was also said that the codename Kitsune had undergone a second phase of its skinning process."
The superior's eyes bulged, and his hand started shaking uncontrollably as he realized the severity of the situation.
"T-that cannot be…" He whispered. "I-It is A.I.'s job to decide the best time…"
At that moment, they both shook and turned to the end of the hallway, where they saw the A.I. control room through a glass door, illuminated by a dim red light.
There, they saw beeping lights coming from the control panels, as if it were working as normally as before.
"Motherfucker…" The superior whispered.
"Ohh… fuck…" She whispered under her breath with a horrified look.
…
Knock, knock!
A group of two flinched and looked at the front door with shocked expressions.
"W-who could it be?" A no-eyebrowed man stammered as he slowly pulled out his wooden spear.
"The hell…" His teammate whispered with a frown and pulled out his machete. "Who in the world would knock?"
"Tch…" The no-eyebrowed man turned to the stairs that they had barricaded with the stuff they found.
There was another team on the second floor, and they didn't want to get attacked suddenly, so they barricaded the stairs, but that also blocked their escape path.
"W-who is it?!" His teammate shouted.
"I am alone, and I don't have a weapon." A voice sounded from the other side of the door. "I can share half of my food for shelter."
The two players shared glances and smirked at each other, knowing that they had found a potential victim. They were already short of food.
However, they didn't only want half of the food; they wanted it all.
Also, since the person was alone, it was an easy way to get rid of another team.
"Sure, come on in, buddy!" The no-eyebrowed man nudged his friend to be ready and slowly approached the door.
He slowly touched the door handle and was about to open it, but at that moment, a black hand broke through the door and stabbed through his heart.
"Cough!" The player coughed up blood, gasping for air, and he still couldn't realize what had just happened.
"W-w-what?!" His teammate shouted in shock and then saw the door open.
A black-skinned figure with steel-like muscles waltzed through the door with a bloodstained arm. It pulled out its hand from his friend's chest and held a still-beat heart in its grasp.
"I-it is a monster?!" The player screamed. "B-but it talked!"
"Disgusting meatsacks, you all sound the same." Kitsune squeezed the heart and shattered it. "Where is he? Where is my progenitor?"
"W-who the fuck are you talking about?!" The player asked with a shout. "W-why am I even talking to you, fucking monster!"
"Fuck you." Kitsune slashed through his head with its hand, and his body crumpled to the ground, lifeless with only half of the head left.
"Your fucking heartbeats are all the same." Kitsune clicked his tongue. "Where are you?"
It perked up its ears and heard all the heartbeats in the vicinity, along with several whispers coming from a few nearby buildings.
However, it couldn't recognize the voice it was looking for because the whispers were too quiet.
…
"I'll contact Mister Graham immediately!" The superior pulled out his phone with his shaky hand. "He has to know."
"What will Kitsune do?" She asked. "If it ruins the tournament, we are ruined!"
"For now, I think we'll be fine." The superior said. "You already said that it has finished the second phase of the skinning process.
"It means that it has already found 'skin' to use.
"However, since it hasn't finished the third phase yet, it hasn't killed its progenitor yet!"
"Progenitor?" She asked with a confused look.
"Yeah, Kitsune's main mission is to kill its progenitor!" The superior shouted. "It won't stop until it has finished that mission. It wants to be the only person with that skin, and it can't live knowing that its progenitor still lives. free(w)ebnovel
"It is obsession that consumes it completely!
"We have to wish that Kitsune's progenitor doesn't die yet. Otherwise, Kitsune will massacre everyone once it has finished its first mission!"
