Chapter 30
Tring!
(Warning! Warning! Warning!)
{Host is about to encounter something he has never encountered before.}
{Host needs to escape now as opponent is changing.}
"Changing? Changing into what?" Max muttered, his dragon eyes flaring alive. The sight before him made his heart skip a dozen beats in a second.
{Host has encountered a demon vessel! Run now!}
'A demon vessel?!' Max screamed inwardly.
__
"ARGHHH!" The man roared, his cry tearing the air apart. His eyes rolled back before snapping open again, now pitch black with no trace of white. He stood slowly, almost too steadily, a sinister smile spreading across his face.
His hands cracked and warped, flesh stretching into deadly claws, obsidian black, their edges gleaming under the sun as though polished by blood. A horn ripped its way out of his skull, long and sharp, pointing upward like a twisted parody of a unicorn.
Thick black veins spread across his skin like wildfire, crawling over his neck, winding down his torso, and wrapping his arms in ink-like coils.
His lips curled into a predatory grin, exposing rows upon rows of sharp, jagged fangs. Then, with a wet tear, a tail burst from his spine, lashing the ground with reptilian menace.
"The sweet taste of power," the demon vessel hissed, running a clawed finger through the air as if caressing the atmosphere itself.
'A… a demon vessel? Shit! What the fuck does the system mean by that?! I should have seen this coming. Damn it!' Max cursed in his mind. 'I was called a dragon vessel, wasn't I? I should have known dragons weren't just legends here.
I'm living proof. So if I'm a vessel for a dragon, then this… this is the same thing but twisted. Sooner or later, I might even become a dragon myself. But this… this is something else entirely.
I thought I was supposed to live a calm life, hoarding a group of beautiful girls and enjoying myself. So why the hell am I standing in front of this nightmare?!'
The demon vessel flexed his claws, testing their razor sharpness with a satisfied smirk.
"You know," he began, his voice now warped and guttural, "when that scientist gave me the syringe, he told me it would turn me into a hybrid. I didn't believe him. That's why I didn't use it… not until now. But I'm glad I did. Because I've become something more. I've become a real hybrid."
'Hybrid? What the hell is this idiot saying? Who or what is a hybrid supposed to be?' Max thought, his confusion gnawing at him.
The educated man at the far end of the street, the one who had been observing silently, finally shook his head. His face had drained of color.
'No. That is no hybrid. I've seen hybrids before. They are powerful, but they do not feel like this. This is darker… far darker. Something otherworldly is moving inside him. What is this man becoming?'
"I feel so powerful!" the demon vessel shouted into the sky. His voice cracked the air like thunder. The ground shook as a massive shockwave erupted outward, blasting through the street.
Max was knocked clean off his feet, his body sent tumbling across the ground like a ragdoll. Stones shattered, dust exploded, and wooden beams collapsed under the pressure.
Groaning, Max struggled to rise, his body aching, his lips smeared with blood. The demon vessel chuckled, wagging his new tail back and forth like an excited predator savoring the moment.
Tring!
A system message flashed across Max's vision.
{Quest Alert!}
{Find a way to defeat the demon vessel for rewards.}
{Rewards: Instant level up ×3; +700 XP; +1 skill; +5 INT stat; +4 AGI stat.}
'What the… these rewards… they're insane!'
"They are immense and juicy," Pix said sharply in Max's mind. Her tone was uncharacteristically tense. "And the more juicy a reward is—"
"The harder the quest is." Max mumbled beneath his breath, gulping loudly as he forced himself upright.
"Now," the demon vessel said, its claws gleaming as it pointed forward, "how shall I kill you?"
"Kek!" Max chuckled after swallowing hard, his shaky stance barely holding. "How sure are you… that I won't kill you first?"
{Sin; Wrath has been activated}
His vision flashed crimson. His eyes blazed, shifting from gold to a hellish red glow as a wave of murderous intent burst out from him. The gang members froze, their spines stiffening, every hair on their bodies rising. The air itself seemed to vibrate, thick with suffocating bloodlust.
"How arrogant." The demon vessel sneered, and in the blink of an eye, it shot forward like a bullet.
BANG!
Max's body burst forward at the same instant, the ground cracking beneath his feet.
BOOM!
Their fists collided with a thunderous shockwave that rattled the street and shattered windows. Dust exploded into the air as the two locked eyes, teeth bared, fists grinding against one another. For a moment, they were equals — then Max's arm gave way.
Pain tore through him as bones cracked like dry twigs. His body was flung backward, skidding across the dirt, his wrist hanging at a grotesque angle.
ZOOM!
The demon vessel appeared before him in a blur, its uppercut roaring toward Max's jaw. Max barely had time to cross his arms...
CRACK!
Agony split through him as his palms caved under the impact. Blood gushed from his lips as his body was launched into a brittle building. The structure collapsed instantly, burying him beneath rubble.
"Buhahahaha!" The demon vessel threw its head back, laughing, trembling in ecstasy. "So much power! Ahhh!"
From the dust, Max staggered out, coughing up blood. His chest heaved, his body trembling, his hands mangled — yet his crimson eyes still burned with wrath, his lips twisted into a defiant smirk.
{-20 HP}
{HP: 47/100}
"You should have just joined me," the vessel croaked darkly, "but instead you'll die like a fool."
Max grinned wider. "Are you sure about that?"
He raised his arms, and before the vessel's eyes, the torn flesh and shattered bones stitched back together. Muscle reknit, skin smoothed, until his hands were whole again.
"Dragons have immense healing and regenerative speed. Despite being a vessel, you got that trait," Pix's voice echoed in Max's mind.
"How about we try that again?" Max muttered, his stance tightening. His aura rippled violently, sunlight gleaming against his crimson eyes.
"But this time…" He leaned forward, every vein throbbing as power coiled inside him.
"I attack."
With a sound like a cannon firing, Max vanished, rocketing forward at terrifying speed.