Chapter 333 Behemoth (3)
The creature and Ashton locked eyes. But the emotions they felt were completely different. While Ashton’s eyes had a look of shock and puzzlement, the creature’s eye remained indifferent as if he was seeing a fly. In other words, the creature did not even view Ashton as a threat.
Ashton should have been happy that the undead creature did not lash out at him instantly. Instead, he was a bit taken aback that the creature had refused to even acknowledge his presence.
It couldn’t have been that the creature did not see him. After all, Seraph’s crystal was still ablaze, and its unique blue-black flames were a bit too hard not to notice.
‘I don’t like this feeling at all…’ Ashton gritted his teeth.
He was being looked down upon. As much as it frustrated him, he maintained his calm state of mind. If the creature had not noticed or acknowledged him, it would only make it easier for Ashton to strike the creature down.
The undead had a humanoid structure just like the others but looked different at the same time. It was easily twice as big as Ashton, both in height and in the area and unlike the other undead, Ashton had encountered so far, had a rigid exoskeletal structure covering the left half of its body.
It had a forearm which had been mutated into a shield-like structure that was as big and wide as Ashton. In contrast, the other side of the undead was made entirely of flesh with the ligaments and muscle exposed, the only exception to this was the fingers.
It had four bony, razor-sharp fingers that were roughly a couple of feet long. Not to mention its feet had a similar structure to that of a rabbit but were abnormally large. The most sickening feature, however, had to be the multiple spikes that protruded from its back like a cactus.
As for the tree, it was mounted on top of its shoulders. The creature had become one with the tree, or maybe it was the other way around. The moment Ashton looked at the face of the undead, he realised why it was bounded to the tree.
The creature did not have a mouth. Technically it did not have a face at all, just two eyes, no nose or mouth or any other facial characteristics were visible. Thus, maybe by becoming one with the tree, the creature was able to feed on it?
Ashton wasn’t sure about it, but it could have been possible. As there was no other way for the creature to feed off of the tree since it had no mouth and stuff.
[That is… one hell of a mutation.]
‘What even is that thing?’
[There are no records of such a creature. This is the first time someone has encountered the species. You know what that means, don’t you?]
‘You want to study this ugly shit, don’t you?’
[Consider it an advance valentines gift for me. No homo.]
By this time, it seemed the creature was bored of their staring contest and bean walking away. Ashton saw his chance and took it. He ran forward as fast as he could, before slamming both of his fists straight into the undead’s head.
The impact was quite powerful as the gargantuan creature was forced to take a few steps back to balance itself. Ashton did not care whether the undead wanted to fight him or not, he had to kill it, regardless of whether the creature fought back or not.
“Ew!”
Ashton immediately retreated while shaking his hands. Hitting the creature in the head might not have been the brightest idea. The moment his fists collided with the head, a suspicious liquid oozed out of the wound, covering Ashton’s arm.
The gooey liquid rapidly spread across his arm, as if it was trying to gobble the arm entirely. Ashton quickly used the flames to get rid of the substance. But by the time he did that, the undead was standing back where it was before Ashton hit it.
As for where Ashton had hit it, the spot had already been healed. His attack did not have any lasting effect on the creature whatsoever.
[This healing power far exceeds the ones you have fought till now.]
‘I know… If only I could use aggravate this wouldn’t have been a problem.’ Ashton thought, ‘Should I activate werewolf genes and take the risk? I don’t think I am strong enough to defeat it with my undead genes alone.’
[I would suggest keeping that strategy as your last resort. We don’t know how you will react once your ‘living’ genes come in contact with the tree.]
Ashton nodded. Astaroth was correct, the tree was said to overwhelm any living being that enters its vicinity. They could not risk him losing control over himself like that.
‘I need to figure out its weakness first.’
__
Name: Atlas
Species: Zombie (Active), unknown (Deceased).
Status: Behemoth
Class: Undead Absorber
Title: [Ruler of the Domain], [The Unconquered]
Age: Unknown
Gender: None, formerly male
Grade: C-tier (Evolution is no longer possible from to conventional methods)
Affiliation: None
Level: 99 (Caution is advised)
Stats:
HP: 60,000/60,000
Mana: None
Damage: 154
Armour: 269
Stealth: 90
Stamina: 420
Agility: 23
Intelligence: 32
Nature: .𝙘𝙤𝙢
Uncaring
Hostile
Assertive
Abilities:
>> Obsidian Wall: Reduces all types of damage (except true damage) by 70%.
>> Moskov: Can recover 2.5% HP/ second, upon being attacked at the cost of a permanent reduction of 5 points of stamina/second.
>> Absorption: Can recover up to 20% of lost stamina by causing damage to living or undead beings.
>> Divinity: Additionally absorbed stamina can be used to dish out increased damage based on the user’s HP. Deals 10 (+3% of user’s maximum hp) as true damage to the surrounding enemies every 2 seconds.
__
‘It’s not hard to beat it. But those damned abilities are making him too tanky.’ Ashton voiced his frustrations, ‘He is like a punching bag made to force the attackers to give up. Thankfully I have my own punching bag to take hits as well.’
<The Bone Goliath has been summoned.>