[ Appraisal Activated ]
[ Name: Feren Fly
Rank: Tier One
Level: 15 ]
Staring at the four-foot-large dark green fly, Arthur was forced to look at its level again. His mind ran through the possibilities of fighting the creature with its six five-foot-long spiky limbs. Each limb ended in a serrated tip that glistened faintly under the dim light.
'A level fifteen, similar to the Thermogat. There is something off about this ranking.'
Arthur calmed his senses as he got ready to engage the creature. His heart slowed, and his breathing steadied as he tried to focus past the fatigue gnawing at his body.
"Follow my lead and attack when given the chance."
This battle was going to be one of the hardest for Arthur, because he wasn't only fighting the fly but also his own exhaustion. His muscles already felt heavy from earlier fights, and his head still throbbed from the lingering headache.
The atmosphere around them suddenly grew brighter.
It took Arthur a second to understand why.
Until now, the sun had always been hidden behind thick, dark clouds. But the clouds had shifted slightly, allowing rays of sunlight to pierce through the ruined building.
Arthur kept his eyes on the fly and noticed something strange.
The creature shifted farther away from the sunlight.
It didn't panic or fly away. Instead, it simply hovered a few feet farther back, deliberately avoiding the illuminated section of the corridor.
Rising to his unsteady feet, Arthur turned his head toward the people behind him.
"New update. Avoid the sun's rays until I figure out what it does to humans."
Without another word, he dropped his guns and dashed forward.
His squad followed closely behind, but the abnormally large fly remained hovering in the same spot above the ground, its wings vibrating with a low mechanical buzz.
'Before the apocalypse, what was a housefly capable of?'
Arthur reached the fly in seconds and threw a punch with his full strength.
His aim was simple.
The fly's huge compound eyes.
But the moment his fist reached its target—
The fly was already gone.
In an instant it appeared several meters behind them.
'It's fast… and all-seeing.'
"Noah, how long can you hold your speed ability?" Arthur asked.
"About five seconds before I have to reactivate it," the boy replied quickly.
Arthur nodded once.
Then he dashed forward again.
"You follow me and lead the main attack. The rest of you attack when you see an opening."
With those words, he and Noah morphed into blurs of supernatural speed.
They reached the fly in moments.
But then the creature revealed another capability.
Just as Arthur prepared to strike, the fly's proboscis swelled grotesquely before shooting out a stream of greenish liquid.
The attack wasn't aimed at them.
It was aimed at the ground.
Arthur grabbed Noah and pulled him backward.
The moment the liquid touched the floor, the concrete began melting like butter on a hot pan.
Steam rose violently as the acid chewed through the material.
While the ground dissolved beneath them, the fly vanished again.
But this time Arthur could follow it.
Because he was moving almost as fast.
Charging his fist with weapon augmentation, Arthur lunged forward.
But just as he closed the distance—
The fly ignored him.
Instead, it darted straight toward Noah.
Arthur's eyes widened.
The proboscis slammed against Noah's chest.
Arthur already knew what would happen next.
The acid attack.
He tried to change direction while maintaining his mobility skill so he wouldn't waste more mana.
But for a moment his movement faltered.
The skill cancelled.
And his mana dropped sharply.
Instinctively he activated the ability again and slammed into Noah, knocking him away from the fly before the acid could be released.
Arthur threw a punch.
It missed by only a few centimeters.
Stumbling forward from the failed strike, Arthur felt a sudden impact across his back.
The fly had slashed him with one of its spiked limbs.
Arthur crashed to the ground, his back going slightly numb from the hit.
The creature stabbed another limb downward.
Arthur rolled aside and barely avoided it.
Reacting quickly, he grabbed the limb and drove his fist into the fly's underside.
Although the fly's skin looked soft, the punch bounced off as if he had struck a rubber wall.
Arthur tried to punch again.
But suddenly he felt himself lifted into the air.
The limb he was holding had raised him effortlessly.
The next moment—
He was slammed into the wall.
The impact knocked the air out of his lungs.
While the fly concentrated on Arthur, his squad rushed forward.
Tamsin fired as soon as she was close enough, unloading her weapon at point-blank range.
But the effort proved useless.
The fly dodged all ten bullets.
Caleb hurled a metal pipe with all his strength.
The fly casually deflected it with one of its limbs.
Noah was the only one brave enough to rush in close.
But before he could even raise his wooden plank—
The fly stabbed him through the shoulder.
The force of the attack sent him flying into one of the classrooms.
The crash echoed loudly.
That alone made it clear Noah would not be returning to the fight anytime soon.
Arthur tightened his grip on the fly's limb and augmented his fists again.
Pushing himself off the wall, he tried to pull himself closer to the creature.
But once again his attack missed.
The fly jerked its limb upward.
Arthur was thrown over the creature and sent tumbling toward his squad.
He rolled across the floor before flipping to one knee just before colliding with Tamsin and Caleb.
"Run to the third floor and wait for me," Arthur ordered. "If I don't return… don't come back."
He prepared himself to fight at full force.
Now he understood the Feren Fly's capabilities.
Watching the creature slowly approach, Arthur felt irritation rising inside him.
Why were they still standing there?
"Do you think you can beat that thing?" he snapped.
"I could end up being the one to kill you. Leave me and go."
"Well we aren't here for you," Tamsin replied boldly.
She pointed toward the destroyed classroom.
"We're here for Noah. Come on, bro. We can't leave him bleeding out."
Without looking at her, Arthur shrugged her hand off his shoulder.
"You know what? Do as you please."
In the next moment he was already moving.
A small whirlwind formed behind him as he rushed toward the fly again.
But this time he did something different.
Before reaching the creature, Arthur began punching the air.
At first the action seemed wasteful.
Then it became deadly.
A barrage of telepathic strikes exploded outward.
The invisible blows slammed into the corridor walls, the floor, and the ceiling.
For the first time since the battle began, the fly was forced onto the defensive.
It darted backward and fled toward the end of the balcony before leaping across to the opposite side to escape the assault.
'That's not the only thing I have up my sleeve.'
The strikes left deep cracks across the building.
Chunks of concrete and broken tiles scattered across the ground.
While still running, Arthur lifted the debris into the air with telekinesis.
Fragments of the shattered corridor hovered around him before launching forward like bullets.
But as Arthur briefly turned his head, something else caught his attention.
Several fragments flew into the sunlight.
The moment they touched the rays—
They were instantly incinerated.
Arthur froze for a fraction of a second.
The fragments simply vanished into ash.
That discovery distracted him just long enough.
When he turned back—
The fly's proboscis had swollen again.
It was aimed directly at him.
Arthur stood exposed in the same balcony corridor.
The attack would be a guaranteed hit.
He immediately pulled back most of the fragments still floating around him.
At the same time his force barrier formed a shield in front of him.
The moment the attack fired—
It struck the barrier with terrifying force.
The impact blasted Arthur backward.
His body smashed through the door of the final classroom on the corridor.
He continued sliding across the floor until his back hit the far wall.
Then he collapsed face-first.
'I should seriously add more points to durability.'
Coughing up blood, Arthur forced himself onto one knee.
His stomach twisted painfully.
[ Fatigue: 70% ]
Officially unable to continue fighting normally, Arthur prepared his final trump card.
He raised his right palm toward the doorway and locked eyes with the unmoving Feren Fly.
The air above his hand began to heat.
Sparks flickered into existence.
His palm glowed red like heated iron.
From those sparks a small floating flame appeared.
Arthur compressed it slowly into a dense ball of fire.
He kept feeding the flame with mana.
The sphere grew larger.
And larger.
His fatigue climbed rapidly.
Although Arthur could barely see the fly through the expanding fireball, the creature tilted its head slightly.
Then it moved.
The fly glanced briefly toward the opposite balcony.
And surged forward.
Before it could cross the doorway—
Arthur released the attack.
The corridor erupted into flames.
The Feren Fly was swallowed instantly.
[ Fatigue: 99% ]
[ MP: 0.0 ]
[ HP: 20 ]
Arthur slid down against the wall.
His vision darkened rapidly.
The last thing he saw before blacking out was the silhouette of the Feren Fly hovering motionless inside the roaring flames.
Then everything went dark.