Chapter 370: Mutation?
Translator: Oneshotwonder Editor: Hitesh_
Even without using the Deva Lance, Patroclus was already invincible among his peers. Everyone knew that if there were any chance of gaining an edge on Patroclus, it lied with the initiative of the fight, since any odds would be lost once Patroclus started his attack.
To everyone"s surprise, Zader managed to pull himself up from the ground with ease, as if nothing had happened to him. All of Patroclus"s previous opponents were defeated after receiving one strike.
Although he couldn"t put the finger on it, Patroclus had felt something was off in Zader"s power compared to all the other opponents he had encountered so far. Perhaps, Patroclus thought, it was because he was from a distant galaxy.
With such great distance, even the same tactics might be taught very differently. Therefore, Patroclus wagered that Zader had used a tactic that was unique to the Andromeda Galaxy.
Zader stretched his body after he gathered himself. Eyes glinting, he growled and then dove towards his opponent with his short pike.
"b.a.l.l.s, how did he get this far into the tournament?"
"No kidding! I bet he is weaker than most A-Cla.s.s Academy students."
Zader"s attack does not follow any set patterns; it was direct and powerful. He had won all of his previous fights not with technique bu,t with overbearing brute force. His fighting style seemed to suggest that Zader was in an extremely fit physical condition.
As the short pike became a whirlwind in Zader"s hand, he attacked with abandon, without paying any consideration to defense. From the crazed attacks, the audiences could tell that Zader was determined to poke at least one hole on Patroclus, even though he was deemed to lose the game.
"Why is he in such a hurry? Being able to poke Patroclus once won"t give him the victory he wants." Hu Yangxuan shook his head. Hu Yangxuan had just recently got the doctor"s permission to get out of the bed, and he had come to the arena to watch the fight that he simply could not miss. After all, there was a huge difference in watching the fight live versus watching it on TV.
"Komm!"
Patroclus"s strike hit home again and forced Zader to stumble a few meters back. Patroclus didn"t follow up with more attacks. Instead, he paused and stared at his opponent. "What are you looking for?" He asked.
Zader picked himself up quickly. Despite his deft movement, he was injured, as his blood spattered on the ground.
To everyone"s surprise, his blood was green.
Could it be that the people who lived in the Andromeda Galaxy had green blood? Of course not! Even Kaedeian"s blood was red, just like that of every other human sub-races.
Despite the strange development, no one paid much attention to it during the heat of the battle. Zader could have born with a mutated gene, and the mutation was not unheard of anyways.
Zader pressed a hand on the wound. Even from a distance, Patroclus could discern an unnatural undulation under Zader"s skin. When Zader removed his hand, the wound had been completely healed. Zader licked his lips with an abnormally slender and long tongue, as the cold light flickered in his eyes.
"INSTRUCTION—obtain gene of the top fighters!"
Zader had already collected ample gene samples. Compare to the human gene pool on Norton, the tournament hosted a feast of various human genes. After a few days, Zader had obtained more human genes than he would on Norton for an entire year. By then, he only needed one more component to finish his mission—the gene of the strongest fighters.
After receiving a couple blows from Patroclus, Zader knew that his final prey was standing right in front of him.
"Git the jineee! The JINE! JINNNEEE!"
Zader"s words became a deep, beast-like growling.
"What the h.e.l.l is he mumbling?"
"G.o.d knows! It was the first time he even talked."
"Yeah, I don"t recall him ever said anything before. His voice is creepy."
"No Kidding!"
Despite the audiences" mean comments, it was hard to deny that the fighter from Andromeda had an alien and eerie vibe. As w.a.n.g Tong watched the foreign fighter, an idea suddenly occurred to him: Could Zader be a Zerg in disguise as a human?
Although even w.a.n.g Tong didn"t think that it was likely, the consequence of such an event would be catastrophic.
"What"s up?" Hu Yangxuan asked w.a.n.g Tong curiously.
"Nah, nothing. I had a brain fart."
"I don"t think Zader could win this match. Patroclus is too powerful for him." Hu Yangxuan said.
w.a.n.g Tong nodded; Patroclus was one of the toughest fighters he had ever seen, and the promise of fighting against him filled w.a.n.g Tong with antic.i.p.ation.
On the battlefield, Zader retaliated with more ferocious attacks. What puzzled Patroclus the most was that Zader didn"t seem to want to defeat him. Instead, he simply wanted to stab him with his pike.
Patroclus danced around the short pike, evading the blow effortlessly. He locked his eyes with Zader"s; he was certain that there was something hidden underneath that pair of nearly lifeless eyes.
"Komm!"
Zader"s attack missed its target as it landed heavily on the ground and caused an explosion, showering its vicinity with rocks and concrete blocks. Zader didn"t mind the deadly projectiles falling around him. He immediately threw himself at Patroclus, pointing the pike squarely at the Ivantian"s heart.
Patroclus ducked down and evaded the attack, followed by a chin-kick that sent Zader flying into the air.
Miao Xiu knew the weight of the kick from his first-hand experience. He was convinced that Zader was done for after having received such mighty blow. Due to Patroclus"s overwhelming power, none of his cla.s.smates were willingly spar with him.
As soon as Zader received a blow, a gush of green blood spilled out from his mouth. Before he hit the ground, Zader screamed with the most inhumane voice, and suddenly, a pair of wings forced their ways out of Zader"s skin on his back.
Everyone was shocked by this terrifying scene.
The audiences looked again to make sure their eyes didn"t deceive them. They watched as Zader hovered in the air with a pair of grotesque bat-wings. Zader"s face contorted, as if he was perversely enjoying the pain in his body. His bones started to grow larger, stretching his skin until it came apart at some places.
Finally, the organizing committee had realized the gravity of this development. They had previously received reports that all the Andromeda fighters had disappeared after their match, but the committee didn"t bother to investigate, since the Andromedians were a very discrete lot.
"Human, Dieee!"
Zader shouted as he swooped down on Patroclus. All the METAL fighters found his GN force very unfamiliar; it did not come from his sea of consciousness, but it was directly from his physical body.
"What kind of a monster is that?"
The wings had lent Zader speed and agility as he showered Patroclus with thrusts and pokes.
All the while, no one in the arena knew what was going on.
w.a.n.g Tong"s heart sank at the sight of the human-zerg hybrid. He had heard from Ma Sa about the infiltration of Zergs into the human society while masquerading as a human. However, he was surprised that the Confederation didn"t do anything to stop it.
"s.h.i.+t...Is he after Patroclus"s gene?"
Although w.a.n.g Tong was not sure why the Zergs needed human genes, he was certain that humans could not allow the Zergs to succeed.
Although w.a.n.g Tong was confident that Patroclus should be able to defeat Zader, it would be a disaster should the Zergs get their hands on even a single drop of Patroclus"s blood.
Li s.h.i.+ming"s face paled as he realized that Zader was actually a Zerg. He lamented that years of peace had made humans forget about their imminent danger, and allowed the Zergs to evolve to such advanced state.
Despite the fear and anxiousness among the audiences, Patroclus remained calm.
"Do you want my blood? Come get it!"