Crouching behind a bush, Cullen looked past a few trees into a rare opening in The Island. Coiled in the middle was a large snake, about five to six meters long, with greyish-white scales. It appeared to be sleeping peacefully, but Cullen knew that Abominations didn't need sleep.
'Is it pretending to be vulnerable in order to lure prey? That would make sense, but sadly, it throws my sneak attack out the window. It would be reckless to attack something that had already set a trap, whether I think I can avoid it or not.'
Cullen made up his mind and stepped out from the bush, making enough noise to alert the snake of his presence.
Just as he appeared, the Transforming Snake immediately reacted and turned its face to look at him. It uncoiled and entered a fighting stance, opening its jaw and hissing at Cullen.
"Hsssssss."
Cullen carefully pulled his dagger out and prepared to defend against a blow, but the snake didn't immediately strike. Instead, its scales started to twitch and change colors right in front of his eyes. The greyish-white scales turned green and brown, blending in with the background of the lush jungle. As this was happening, its size also grew by about a meter. Cullen could also notice its fangs growing a little longer inside its mouth.
'It changed so quickly… tha-'
The Abomination lunged at Cullen, giving him no chance to ponder its transformation.
Planning to duck under the attack and launch a counterstrike, Cullen bent his knees but stopped halfway through.
The snake wasn't just lunging, it was growing as well! It extended its body to reach Cullen even faster, interrupting his plans and sending him into panic.
He quickly sidestepped the attack, barely missing its fangs as it flew past him. However, it wasn't over, as its tail quickly whipped at Cullen's face.
He ducked under without thinking, then desperately ran to make space between himself and the Abomination.
'Damn it… It's much more clever than I thought. I can't use the Cursed Mask until I'm sure it will die. If I fail to kill it, I'll lose my surprise, and it may adapt while fighting me. My armband is also pretty useless since I can't think of a situation where I would need to phase through.'
Based on its strength, Cullen believed a simple "stop" command would stun it for around half a second. Any other command may not work, or even worse, backfire on Cullen. He also had to make sure it was in a position that gave him the killing blow.
The snake briskly slithered towards Cullen, showing off its speed while preparing another strike. As it approached, he noticed its body shrink subtly, almost like it was trying to mask its change in size.
'It's preparing to do the same thing! This not only gives me a heads-up, but I now know what size its maximum is.'
The snake struck for a second time, slightly increasing its length and opening its jaw to bite Cullen. However, it was much easier for him to avoid this time.
Around 30 seconds of dodging passed as Cullen grew more and more familiar with the Abomination. It almost looked like they were dancing, since no contact had been made yet. From one end of the battlefield to the other, each one of them moved swiftly while reading the other's patterns.
After jumping over the snake's next attack, Cullen finally used his dagger, aiming to cut it in half. He didn't use his mask yet, though, because there was one more ability the archives had mentioned.
Its body was a 5 Tavros, so it should be easy for Cullen to penetrate. But when his dagger hit its skin, no blood was shed. Instead, its scales shifted and parried his attack, sending all of his force into the ground.
'By changing the direction its scales are facing, it can slightly misguide my attacks. When I go in for the kill, I'll have to make sure I use enough power to bypass this trick.'
Cullen landed away from the Abomination as he regained his composure, swearing to kill it next time.
Hssssss.
The snake lunged again, refusing to give Cullen any break. But as he dodged and blocked attacks, he noticed it was gradually getting slower.
'Is it tiring itself out? Does it plan to beat me in a battle of attrition? If so, it will be very disappointing to learn of my impressive stamina. I can do this all day…'
Once in a while, Cullen would attempt to strike the Abomination with his dagger. While most of his attacks were deflected, some of them damaged a few scales.
He was slowly chipping away, waiting for the perfect moment.
Then, it came.
The small snake landed next to Cullen, preparing to enlarge fully and strike while he was still adjusting. Cullen had previously jumped to dodge its last attack, making him an airborne target. As he slowly fell, the snake had already aimed for his head, knowing Cullen was incapable of dodging while midair.
It spread its jaw, sharpened its fangs, and let out a hiss as it prepared to sink its teeth into Cullen's face.
"Stop."
Suddenly, the snake was unable to move. It was still in the middle of its attack, yet lacked the strength to finish.
Cullen's feet touched the ground, and he looked to the frozen snake as its stiff body came flying towards him. He had already sensed the location of its core, and ducked under the Abomination, and it passed over him.
With nowhere to go, the Transforming Snake could only accept its fate as Cullen plunged his dagger into its belly, striking the core with perfect aim.
'This is it!'
He felt his dagger hit the core, piercing it, yet there wasn't enough time. Breaking free of Cullen's command, the snake moved its body to protect the core.
It landed on the ground next to Cullen, extremely weakened by his attack.
'This is already over…'
There was not much this Abomination could do with a nearly broken core. It was much slower, much weaker, and stood no chance against Cullen.
He dashed to catch up, holding his dagger and focusing his eyes to track the core.
As a last-ditch attempt, the snake had tried to move its core closer to its tail. This shifted it away from the open wound, requiring Cullen to pierce its skin again.
But that wasn't a problem for him.
He brought the dagger down, breaking through the weak scales and finding the core again. This time, Cullen had no problem shattering the core.
They both fell to the ground, one lifeless, the other exhausted from battle.
'I'd say that battle went well, not too much happened that I didn't expect. Since the report mentioned its fighting style, I was already familiar with its attack and how to counter it. Additionally, I had significantly more stamina than it did. After I tried it out, I went for the kill when it was least expected, and injured it enough to secure my victory.'
'Wait!'
Cullen jumped back to his feet and watched the core, which had already begun its transformation.
'I forgot! I need to focus quickly…'
He closed his eyes and thought of the weapon he wanted to create, not opening them until he was sure it was finished.
Then, he walked over and picked it up.
The sword created from the Transforming Snake wasn't a typical weapon. The blade was a coiled spiral meeting at a sharp edge, around 70 cm long. It wasn't sharp enough to cut, but rather was intended to poke its target. The hilt was a stronger bronze-like material, with a small design of a snake head at its end. While the blade was currently a greyish-white, it could change at Cullen's command.
Its other abilities were rather interesting as well. With enough effort, Cullen could extend the sword to double its size and reduce it to around half. He could also curve it a tiny bit.
'Overall, the material is definitely stronger than my dagger. I'm not sure of the dagger's exact power, and there haven't been any problems with it, but I can still tell the difference. After all, the sword was made from a Grade-B while the dagger was made from a Grade-D.'
'But this doesn't mean I won't use both. It's obvious that the dagger will excel in close-range combat, while the sword will help me keep distance from my opponent. And until I learn this fighting style, I will remain much more comfortable using the dagger.'
However, his fighting style would help much in his upcoming battle. The next Abomination on his list was the Mindcradle, its core sitting at a 20 Tavros.
'The Mindcradle will be a different fight. Although I'm certain I can reach the core, destroying it is still impossible for me. I need to train my strength until it reaches 20 Tavros. This is much higher than my strength's increase the entire time I've been a Gifted! It's also over double the strength of the Transforming Snake!'
Cullen didn't mind the training, but the problem would be the time. Every second he spent on The Island risked death. What if he randomly stumbled upon a Jade Titan? Also, the government may take action very soon. After stumbling across Eddie, they are certain he's alive and doing well. If they consider him a threat to their Abomination experiment, he will be in even greater danger.
'I have to figure out a way to speed up my training. If I can't, I might be on this troublesome island for years! Even my ability can't help that. Most of the time, creating a stronger weapon doesn't increase my strength; it just makes sure I can output 100% of it. At this rate, I'll be dead before I reach the Tavros required to shatter the core.'
After composing himself, Cullen began to plan his new training.