Episode 74: Steel Ape Varlin
“Get ready, Yuma!”
“Yes!”
Yuma set a white cylindrical bomb on his pickel and activated his Metallization ability.
As his entire body was covered in steel, he poured Liquid Metal into the pickel, creating an enhanced hammer.
“Okay, I’m ready!”
The CEO peeked out from behind the rocks, carefully observing the surroundings.
One Varlin was wandering relatively close by. There was another one behind the rock behind it.
Since there seemed to be many Varlins on top of the cliff as well, the CEO, wanting to separate those two from the group, picked up a small stone and tossed it in an arc.
–Clink.
A small sound echoed. The two Varlins noticed the sound and approached, looking around. The CEO and Yuma exchanged glances and nodded.
In the next moment, the CEO jumped out and ran towards the Varlin.
“Come on, you’re on! You gorilla bastards!!”
The Varlin that was nearby noticed the CEO and approached, lumbering on all fours.
Seeing this, the CEO stopped and shouted, holding up his Hexagonal Rod.
“Now, Yuma!!”
Yuma also jumped out from behind the rocks and activated his Bloodstained Ore (Bloody Ore) ability.
Yuma, approaching from behind the Varlin, held a pickel in his hand, and numerous streaks ran across his entire body like flowing red blood.
“UOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!”
Yuma swung down the pickel with all his might.
The Varlin, with its back turned, was slow to react.
–Got it!
The tip of the slammed pickel exploded. A roar echoed within the cave.
Yuma, blown backward by the impact, somehow landed on the ground and looked at the attacked Varlin.
It should have hit its head directly. Yuma thought so, but when the rising smoke cleared, there was a Varlin with its left arm missing.
It gritted its teeth, glaring at him.
“I missed!?”
At the moment the pickel was slammed down, it was defended by its left arm.
The Varlin roared and attacked Yuma in a frenzy. Another one that was nearby jumped down from the rock and started running.
–Damn it! I have no choice but to do it!!
There’s no time to set up a bomb. Yuma raised the pickel overhead and poured even more Liquid Metal into it.
He swung down the even larger “hammer” at the one-armed Varlin. But–
“What!?”
The Varlin firmly grabbed the handle of the pickel, and he couldn’t move it at all.
At this moment, it dawned on him. This Bloodstained Ore (Bloody Ore) power was originally a Varlin ability. There’s no way he could win in a contest of strength.
When the grabbed handle was pulled with all its might, Yuma lost his balance and floated in the air.
He was swung around as is and slammed into the ground.
“Gah… ah!”
There was no pain, but the Liquid Metal wrapped around the pickel dissolved from the impact.
Yuma let go of the pickel and rolled on the ground, and the Varlin indifferently threw away the pickel, now free from its prey.
Yuma immediately got up and looked ahead.
The one-armed Varlin was coming from the front, and another Varlin was coming from the side.
Having lost his weapon, the pickel, Yuma stood still, not knowing what to do. At that moment, the CEO’s voice came from behind the Varlin.
“Yuma, don’t flinch! Coordinate your body movements. If you use your muscles well, you can blow those guys away too!!”
He was startled by those words. Body coordination is the basis of martial arts, something the CEO had taught him countless times, but the only thing he had become able to use was the Seiken Zuki (Straight Punch).
He didn’t know if it would work, but he had no choice but to do it.
The Monsters were approaching right in front of him. Yuma opened his feet to shoulder width and set his fists on his waist.
He regulated his breathing, widened his eyes, and stepped out with his left foot.
From his foot to his waist, from his waist to his shoulder, from his shoulder to his arm. Power was transmitted like a wave.
With all his heart and soul. When he put everything he had into it, the red streaks running through Yuma’s body began to shine thicker and more intensely.
The CEO, who was in a distant location, also noticed the change.
“What… is that?”
The Varlin reached out its right arm to grab Yuma, but Yuma brushed aside the Monster’s arm with his left arm and unleashed the fist he had pulled back to his waist.
–Seiken Zuki (Straight Punch). With this one blow that he had practiced so many times.
The rotating fist caught the defenseless Varlin’s face.
Crack–
The sound and sensation of crushed iron was transmitted through his arm. The punched Varlin recoiled its face and flew backward.
It was slammed to the ground with a thud, spun around once, and collapsed.
“I, I did it…!”
His joy was fleeting, as another Varlin attacked from right next to him. He deflected the grabbing hand with his right hand this time and adjusted his stance.
“Come!”
Yuma’s Seiken Zuki (Straight Punch) met the Varlin’s fist as it punched.
The moment the fists collided, a violent metallic sound echoed. Both were metal fists. Their strength should have been about the same, but–
“GUGYAAAAAAA!!”
It was the Varlin’s fist that was crushed. Yuma stood there, having swung through with his fist.
The Varlin fell to the ground, holding its right hand, writhing in agony. It works. His power works.
Yuma was convinced of this, but the red streaks flowing through his body were rapidly disappearing.
“Huh? Why… it hasn’t been three minutes yet!?”
Regardless of Yuma’s question, the Varlins on top of the cliff jumped down one after another.
He couldn’t exert any more power. Yuma thought it was bad if things continued like this, when the CEO came running.
“Yuma! Let’s escape from here for now!!”
“Y, yes!”
Yuma and the CEO looked around, trying to escape.
However, they were completely surrounded by the Varlins who had landed.