Now that the Scordana had spotted him, Quinn had no choice but to fight. Although he could make a run for it and head outside, the commotion caused might attract even more dangerous Beasts. And that was the last thing he wanted.
Looking at the crushed Rattaclaw, Quinn could tell that the Beast was powerful. And he needed to avoid getting hit by those claws. Using the Flash Step to escape from the attack had already taken up a substantial amount of his Stamina points.
At most, he would be able to perform it one more time during the fight. As the Scordana turned, it immediately started charging towards Quinn. Hoping to scare the Beast away, as well as deal at least some damage, Quinn let out two Blood Swipes.
Two System messages popped up in front of Quinn.
[-1 HP. HP: 44/45.]
[-1 HP. HP: 43/45.]
This time, the attack was more powerful than before, due to the Skill Leveling Up after him defeating the ten Rattaclaws. The lines of red aura looked thicker and larger as they left his hands. The Level Increase of the Skill, as well as the extra Stat Points into Strength, had really improved the attack.
However, the Scordana wasn't stupid, and just used its four claws to block the attack. As the Blood Swipes made impact, the Beast was pushed back a few steps, but no damage could be seen. Not even a small scratch mark on its claws.
"Damn it." Quinn muttered. "Those claws are an exoskeleton!"
Like with insects, a Beast having an exoskeleton meant that its bones were on the outside. And looking at the Scordana, Quinn saw that all of the Beast's insectoid parts, which was everything except its humanoid torso, was covered in a thick, insect-like carapace. That meant that the humanoid torso was the Beast's weak spot. That's where Quinn needed to aim if he wanted to kill it.
With a plan set in his head, Quinn charged forward once again.
The Scordana opened up its four insectoid claws, ready to attack. The first claw came down, however, Quinn was able to swiftly dodge the attack. Then, the next set of claws followed.
Avoiding the claws was difficult, but right now, Quinn was in full concentration mode. As the fourth claw came down to attack him, the Beast's humanoid torso was now wide-open.
However, as Quinn readied his hand to unleash a Blood Swipe, he felt a sharp pain in his back. Looking up, he saw something arcing up from behind the Beast's back, and going over his head. It didn't take a genius to guess where it led.
'A tail?!' Quinn thought. 'I didn't see that before!'
The Scordana then lifted Quinn up with its tail, its stinger still piercing his back, and flung him hard into a wall. As Quinn fell to the ground, a System message appeared in front of him.
[HP: 13/45]
Slowly, Quinn started to stand up, as he did, he could feel something cold on his back. Reaching his arm back to the spot in question, he felt a sudden wetness on his hand when it made contact. Quinn brought his hand back up to his face to look at it. When he did, his eyes widened. His palm was now covered in blood. Unknown to Quinn, he now had quite a large puncture wound on his back. And blood was quickly flowing out of his body.
A System message popped up in front of him.
[You have received a Critical Hit.]
Then, System messages began appearing once after another.
[-1 HP. HP: 12/45]
[-1 HP. HP: 11/45]
[-1 HP. HP: 10/45]
As the blood continued to leak out of Quinn's back, so did his HP. In order to stop his HP from continuing to drop, he had no choice. He activated his Blood Bank Skill. A System message popped up in front of him.
[Skill Blood Bank has been activated.
10 millilitres of blood has been consumed.
Blood Bank: 40/100ml. HP: 15/45]
As the Blood was used up, he could feel the puncture wound in his back disappearing. Moments later, he could no longer feel the cold sensation on his back. However, it wasn't enough. He needed more healing, And with the Scordana charging toward him, Quinn needed it fast.
"Just use it all!" Quinn replied. A moment later, a new System message appeared.
[Skill Blood Bank has been activated.
40 millilitres of blood has been consumed.
Blood Bank: 0/100ml. HP: 35/45]
With his health now nearly full, Quinn's wounds had healed up almost instantly, and he was able to move again. Looking at the Scordana, Quinn saw that the scorpion tail that had just stabbed him was now gone again.
"Is it able to take it back into its body at will?" Quinn thought out loud. "If that's true, this is going to be a pain." If it wasn't for all the Level Ups he had received from absorbing those Ability Books and Skill Books in the container, he would have already been a dead man. And with his Blood Bank now empty, Quinn was unable to take another blow. There were no moresecond chances.
Hoping to stop its charge forward, Quinn threw out Blood Swipe after Blood Swipe. The Scordana held up all four of its claws, crossing them in an "X" in front of its humanoid torso, protecting it. The Scordana was powerful, and continued to push forward despite the barrage of Blood Swipes. It got closer and closer, but Quinn never stopped using the Skill. System messages racked up one after another.
[-1 HP. HP: 29/45]
[-1 HP. HP: 28/45]
A battle of strength was being displayed between the two. The red Blood Swipes were powerful, and started to knock the Scordana back. Eventually, even the Beast's exoskeleton began to crack. However, neither the Beast nor Quinn were ready to give up.
[-1 HP. 13/45]
But Quinn couldn't keep this up forever. If he kept on using the Skill, he would eventually run out of HP. He had no choice but to change his plan of attack. When the Scordana was close enough, finally, the scorpion tail appeared, arcing above it. While the Scordana's claws covered and blocked its body from the Blood Swipes, its tail was poised to attack from above.
As the tail thrust downwards, just before it could pierce Quinn again, he activated a Skill.
"Flash Step!" He replied.
Suddenly, Quinn was no longer in front of the Scordana, and was now directly behind it. He lifted his foot into the air. He gathered all his strength into the bottom of his body. It rose up from his toes, all the way to his fist. He pulled his fist back. In one, swift motion, he slammed his foot down, and thrust his fist forward, releasing all the attack.
"Hammer Strike!" He yelled.
A sound like a gunshot rebounded through the empty hanger.
BANG!
As soon as the blow had hit the back of the Scordana's softhumanoid torso, a large hole was created. It was around the size of a human head, and a chunk had blown clean through. Allowing Quinn to see clean through to the other side.
A few moments later, the Scordana fell to the ground, as had Quinn, completely EXHAUSTED.
As Quinn lifted up one of his hands to look at it, he saw that the Black-Horned Gauntlet had been completely shattered. Having been compromised from the Rattaclaw biting down on it and cracking it, the gauntlets no longer had the strength to handle the force of the Hammer Strike. He could no longer feel the Beast Energy flowing from them into his body, strengthening him.
However, before he could dwell on that any more, a System message popped up in front of him.
[You have killed an Intermediate-Tier Scordana. 1000 Exp received. First time killing an Intermediate-Tier Beast. 5000 Bonus Exp received. First time killing a Scordana. First-Time Kill Bonus: 2000 Exp received. Exp: 8600/12800]
Seeing the message, Quinn let out a light chuckle. It was a huge amount of Exp. However, now that Quinn was a higher Level, it took a considerable amount of Exp for him to Level Up again. And right now, he had a serious problem. His HP was incredibly low. His current HP was only 13 out of a maximum of 45. And with his Blood Bank empty, there was no way for him to heal himself.
Then, Quinn had a thought. If the System truly was like a video game, would his HP go back up to full if he Leveled Up?