Chapter 216: Ch.215 Symbiote
Chapter 216: Ch.215 Symbiote
Its force was immense, but it lacked finesse. While it\'s often said that raw power can crush any skill, Su Ming had mastered far more than just a handful of techniques.
This brute-force type of enemy was exactly the kind Su Ming liked best. As long as its strength wasn\'t at the level of destroying an entire continent with one strike, there was always a way to beat it.
With a quick backbend, Su Ming easily dodged the symbiote\'s heavy arm swing. Using the momentum of his waist, he rolled forward, swinging his Godslayer sword hard at the creature\'s leg.
One black leg was chopped off, resembling a swamp stump in appearance.
But the symbiote\'s severed leg quickly began to melt and ooze, forming sticky black tendrils that spread across the stone ground, connecting back to the fallen leg and reattaching it.
Even with four legs and four arms, losing a leg didn\'t slow its movements. Its rapid regeneration made it a tough opponent.
"Rapid regeneration, huh..."
Su Ming dodged another attack, using his Nightfall Greatsword to test it again. As before, an arm was sliced off, only for the symbiote to reattach it just as quickly.
"It\'s been magically enhanced."
Normally, a symbiote didn\'t give its host rapid regeneration—it kept that power for itself as a protective layer. But it seemed the sorcerers had gifted it new abilities, enabling the host to share in the symbiote\'s regeneration.
"Cloak, go find something useful," Su Ming commanded, rolling away from another heavy punch. This thing\'s limbs could extend and retract, making it tricky to judge distances.
The symbiote\'s attacks slammed into the ground, sending fragments of stone flying, muffling Su Ming\'s voice.
The Cloak of Levitation heard his request but wasn\'t sure what to do.
It set Dr. Holloway down on a nearby rooftop, then twisted into the shape of a question mark, indicating its confusion.
"The place where this thing jumped out earlier—check there. The sorcerers must have used something to restrain it. Bring me whatever they used," Su Ming explained between dodges, as the symbiote relentlessly pursued him.
The cloak understood now. Straightening itself from a question mark into an exclamation point, it soared over the battlefield, flying toward the spot where the symbiote had first appeared.
Meanwhile, the symbiote seemed to pause, as if thinking. Its massive feet crushed several charred corpses underfoot, and in the next instant, it changed its method of attack.
The thick, viscous black ooze covering its body began to pull back, coalescing into long tendrils that sprouted from its back in mere seconds, swaying like seaweed in deep water.
It started using these tendrils to launch rapid-fire attacks.
Like a frog\'s tongue or a chameleon\'s, the tendrils shot out at lightning speed. Su Ming, though fast, was facing an overwhelming barrage of dozens of tendrils attacking from every angle.
There was no way to dodge them all.
Su Ming realized this. The creature\'s combat instincts were sharp—it adapted quickly, changing its strategy based on its opponent\'s moves. It was learning how to counter Su Ming\'s fighting style.
Just as Su Ming had been studying it, the symbiote had been doing the same to him. Symbiotes weren\'t mindless—they had their own cunning. Although it appeared as a towering, brutish beast, in reality, it was a clever, fluid predator with rows of sharp teeth.
From watching Su Ming\'s use of long-range weapons, it learned that extending its attack range had its advantages.
As these thoughts flashed through Su Ming\'s mind, the tendrils struck. They hammered into his chest plate like connected cannonballs.
Su Ming was thrown backward, crashing into the ruins of a nearby building, leaving a human-shaped hole in the wall as he was sent flying into a room.
From a distance, Dr. Holloway immediately opened fire on the symbiote. His twin guns roared, each bullet landing precisely on the symbiote\'s body, only to melt into its flesh as if absorbed.
The bullets did no real damage but caught the symbiote\'s attention.
The creature quickly turned its gaze toward Holloway. Its powerful legs coiled and then unleashed, propelling it several dozen meters into the air as it leapt to capture him.
But it seemed to forget its own weight. The creature was far too heavy for the crumbling buildings to support.
While Holloway could nimbly navigate the rooftops, the symbiote could not.
The moment it landed on the rooftop, it smashed through, sending a cloud of debris flying as it fell into the building below.
Holloway reloaded his guns, breathing steadily as he watched the monster buried under the rubble, quietly assessing the situation.
Suddenly, two black tendrils shot out from beneath the debris. Trash and wreckage were flung into the air as the tendrils wrapped around a sturdy pillar, pulling the symbiote out of the rubble.
Its long, red tongue flicked out to lick its face, as if it had learned from the fall. It now knew its weight was a problem and would avoid making the same mistake.
Seeing that the creature had emerged unscathed, Holloway immediately moved to gain distance, firing his guns repeatedly.
But the symbiote, now standing on solid ground, advanced toward him, occasionally spitting globs of black goo in a ranged counterattack, steadily closing the gap.
The doctor had no idea what the creature was spewing, so he dodged every time. However, the symbiote\'s spit came fast and furious, like machine-gun fire, and its four legs allowed it to close the distance quickly, pinning Holloway down.
The symbiote seemed to have learned the value of long-range attacks from watching the guns. Now it was enthralled with the strategy.
It slowed its approach, transforming its toothy maw into a trumpet-like shape, continuously spitting black goo with the force of cannon shots. The rapid spitting sound filled the air, as the walls where Holloway hid crumbled under the onslaught.
Huge globs of black goo flew through the air, crashing into the walls with enormous force, then liquefying and flowing back to the symbiote\'s body, merging with it again.
"This isn\'t good. If you want to spit, why don\'t you go find your Lucy, Jack!"
Before the words finished, a massive black sword cleaved through the symbiote from behind, slicing it cleanly in half. Su Ming\'s Nightfall Greatsword was as reliable as ever.
Su Ming had returned.
The hit that sent him flying had only left him with minor injuries, thanks to his armor and X-metal enhancements. He had simply coughed it off and self-healed.
The tendrils, while powerful, were not as strong as the symbiote\'s fists and legs. Though Su Ming had been knocked into the building, he had also managed to slip out of the symbiote\'s sight.
Since he was hidden, why not take the opportunity for a sneak attack?
Su Ming had no problem with backstabbing or firing from cover. Seeing the symbiote engrossed in its spitting attack, Su Ming circled around, using the symbiote\'s blind spot to approach.
Raising his sword, he unleashed a powerful blow from behind.