The God Virus

  Swish!

Brandishing his weapon backward with a swift spin, the longsword failed to hit anything as it moved unhindered! Whatever that was behind Virus before was gone as fast as it had shown up!

'What was that?' A deep sense of crisis was filling up Virus' heart. Whatever that had been standing behind him earlier had vanished so quickly that Virus couldn't even catch its shadow with his eyes. 

It looked like the assaulter didn't desire for Virus to see even its silhouette, unbeknownst for the attacker though, Virus' sense of awareness had already depicted a complete image of whatever that had flickered in and out behind him.

In his mindscape, Virus shockingly visualized the creature as something that had the head of a male human, the body of a lion, and the tail of a scorpion!

Referring to his own sea of knowledge, the only creature he could resemble and connect what he was witnessing to was something of a legend!

To be accurate, it was a Persian mythical creature called the Manticore!

Truly dumbfounded, Virus pondered to himself, 'So something like that exists here…'

'Could it be just a resemblance or…' As this notion passed through his head, Virus once again gazed at the skeletons hanged on the wall. 

Analyzing the shape and frame of all the bones, Virus noticed that all of them belonged to men only. Virus knew that pointed at the famous title of the Manticore called the 'Man-eater' as that was the literal meaning behind its name.

Furthermore, seeing how some of the bones only had some parts of them left with clear teeth marks left all over them, plus the flesh that was gone from most of the body parts of the freshly murdered representative, Virus realized that the Manticore was slowly savoring its food over the years. Virus immediately connected that to another legend which stated Manticores eat their prey whole, without leaving even bones behind!

'It's definitely a Manticore.'

'Maybe it's a certain type of evolution that's bound to happen at some point in various multiverses, something that might have happened at some point on Earth in the forgotten or buried past. Maybe it's some kind of alien race.'

Now that he had come across a Manticore, Virus knew he might be in deep trouble.

'Maybe I should run away?' Looking at the several recent footprints on the ground, Virus deduced that there had been others here as well, but they had run away without any delay, probably taking advantage of the time the Manticore was busy hunting the dead academician representative!

'So none of them dared to go against the Manticore, huh? Despite being in a large group.' Virus thought that was a pity. If they had grouped together, watching over one another's backs, they might have had a slight chance of killing the Manticore considering how strong all the representatives were.

'Well, it's not really strange though.' Recalling how the Manticore had silently emerged behind him much like a ghost, that in addition to its apparent startling speed, Virus couldn't really blame them.

'They must've been incapable of catching even a single view of their enemy, thus, they must've been scared out of their wits trying to escape as quickly as possible, thankfully though, they were in a group so the Manticore could only pick one prey.' Fully understanding just how much the humans feared the unknown, Virus thought their actions were justified.

'Ah, alas, I won't be able to escape since I'm alone. The manticore has already locked its fangs on me to-' Just as he had reached this point of his thinking process, a chill went down Virus' spine as he detected the creature silently standing behind him again!

Fwish!

Slashing backwardly, Virus yelled, "Stop doing that already, it's creepy! Come fight me head-on if you dare!" 

Virus could guess that the beast truly enjoyed hunting male prey that was utterly frightened. That's why it was currently busy silently dashing behind him without attacking at all! It wanted to see that trace of fear within Virus' eyes.

In the meantime, Virus had just uttered that sentence when the creature was at his back again. However, having seen that merely standing behind him wasn't scaring the prey in any way, it decided to shallowly maul his back this time!

'Impulse!'

Whiz!

"Argh!" The beast was so fast that Virus could not even react even though he was in the state of super-fast processing of time freeze plus his 'impulse' together!

That was because although he was successful in detecting the beast the moment it showed up, there was still nothing he could do since his body simply could not spin and retaliate fast enough!

Regardless, even after sensing the burning sharp pain on his back, maintaining his calm, Virus didn't show any signs of fear over his face since he knew that was what it desired. 'How should I deal with this bastard? Right now it's merely teasing me using its paws, but the moment it discovers a hint of fear in me, it will get serious and do fatal attacks using both its paws and sharp scorpion tail to make mortal holes all over my body!'

'My speed and reaction aren't fast enough, thus it doesn't matter what kind of devastating attacks I have, they're all futile since I can't land them on the opponent.'

By now, Virus had inferred that the Manticore's level of cultivation was 'at least' at the mid-Third Order, which was something Virus was currently helpless against!

'What should I do?' Reactivating his time freeze perception, Virus began calculating and searching for any type of possibility of him living past this hurdle.

Regretfully though, he soon came to discern that he was completely helpless against this beast. After having considered the possibility of escaping, Virus could guarantee that was not possible as the beast would shred him to pieces the moment it saw him start running since that was also a sign of terror.

Moreover, Virus was aware that using his 'cultivation level' to land some kind of attack was also pointless since he wasn't swift enough to land his attacks on the beast in the first place.

He couldn't even create and use the second form of his Peak-Human class movement technique due to him still being stuck with five liberated pathways alone!

"I concede." Virus announced helplessly, awaiting the teleportation.

Unfortunately, no matter how long he awaited the teleportation, it didn't happen.

'Ah… so even conceding isn't possible in this floor, though I had already anticipated it seeing how the archaic being didn't talk about being able to concede… the only way to avoid this type of dangerous situation was perhaps by choosing the easier green and yellow routes.'

Aaargh!

Another graze manifested itself on the back of his body.

'How is it so fast?' Virus wondered to himself while unconsciously blaming his inadequate level of strength. He simply could not comprehend why the Manticore was so quick. It was so swift that if someone said it was teleporting instead of moving on its legs Virus would've at least considered the idea. That's how quick it was!

It didn't matter if he used the pitch-black scales and his 'Impulse' to add a bit of speed on himself, it was all futile compared to the Manticore's unbelievable speed!

'Damn it!' Frustrated internally, Virus examined his surroundings carefully. Of course, most of his attention was fixed on his back.

He wanted to at least closely examine the beast and recheck if there were any weaknesses he might have missed.

Therefore, when it appeared again, after a vain attempt in trying to evade the sharp claws, Virus concentrated his focus on the beast's movement and overall physique and began studying them carefully. 

Unluckily, the result of his close examination was that he couldn't discover any apparent weak points on the sickening monster.

Of course, he had many strategies and tactics of dealing with it if only he was in a group, unfortunately, he was not, and defeating it alone was almost impossible without proper power to back it up!

Still, wanting to try the psychological card at least, Virus shouted in great annoyance. "You fucking bastard, face me head-on if you dare! I'll so fucking shred you into a thousand pieces! I dare you, bitch!"

Unfortunately, it didn't seem like the Manticore understood the language at all, instead, deeming his provocation as a sign of fear and giving in, the situation turned worse as it materialized behind him and actually darted its venomous scorpion tail right at Virus' heart!

Noticing that, in his own time-freeze perception, Virus' eyes went wide open as he realized his vain attempt had just backfired!

'There's simply no way to dodge out of the way.' Virus determined in a powerless manner. If everything proceeded as such, Virus was going to die soon.

However, utilizing his terrifying thinking ability, Virus immediately came up with a temporary method to at least defend against the incoming strike.

'Trigger Median Configuration – Fragmentary Integument!'

Instantaneously, the pitch-dark scales covered his shoulders nearly to the point of shielding his heart. But woefully, it was short by just a little bit. 

'Impulse!'

However, Virus' goal wasn't to cover and shield his heart in that manner at all, instead, having already achieved his initial purpose, utilizing every bit of his speed he could muster, Virus moved his shoulder toward the attacking path of the tail.

Bam!

Promptly, the scorpion tail hit the dark scales as it was deflected away!

'Yes!' Succeeding in his defense, Virus now successfully bought himself some more time.

'This can't continue, now that it knows my little trick, I will die by the next ambush!' Already aware of the fact that he had reached the finishing points of the battle, Virus had to admit that was the end of the line for him unless there were some hidden cards he may have left hidden until now!

'Fucking hell! This is such a big waste! I didn't want to squander it on this type of opponent!' A thought only Virus himself understood took root in his brain.

Even though Virus' upcoming course of action felt like a huge misspend of resources on just a Manticore at the mere Third Order, having no other options left, Virus could only bear with it and let it go since the circumstances had now elevated to either 'do' or 'die' kind of situation!

So, the first measure Virus took was to deactivate his ring while freezing his perception of time.

Subsequently, already knowing where the monster was going to crop up and try to ambush, Virus raised and brought his palm to the back of his shoulder.

Afterward, while maintaining time-freeze, all he did was to patiently wait in that position for the predator to show up.

Seconds passed in real-time as an absolute silence descended upon the area. At first, it looked like the Manticore had come to be suspicious of Virus' weird pose.

Seeing that, however, Virus gradually began to walk toward the end of the corridor while preserving that odd stance of his. 'Just don't show up and let me go, that'll be for the best!'

Indeed, Virus was sincerely beseeching the Manticore to stay its hand.

Unfortunately, Virus' step-by-step amble forward decreased the Manticore's suspicion as it come to realize that Virus was merely taking an unusual pose to make him doubt so as to escape his grasp!

"Hihihihi!" For the first time since its hushed emergence, the Manticore started chuckling creepily as it materialized behind Virus' with no hesitation whatsoever!

Following that, it simultaneously mauled and shot its scorpion tail at Virus' most essential organ, his heart!

In this round, the Manticore was also extremely careful so it would be able to adjust the path of its tail in case Virus tried to block using its earlier dark scales.

Meanwhile, sensing the Manticore already at his back, Virus pondered disappointedly, 'Sigh, why did you have to make an appearance?'

Then, he no longer hesitated as the resolution to let go intensified in his heart.

'Impulse!' Arcs of Electricity surrounded Virus' frame at once!

'Trigger Initial Configuration – Longsword!' The longsword, 'the Darkest Night, the Shining Moon', materialized inside his already raised palm as its hilt automatically positioned itself to his grasp.

Despite the longsword now pointing toward the direction of the attacking Manticore, however, both Virus and the Manticore knew it simply could not reach the Manticore's figure in order to even have the slightest chance of harming it in any way!

That recognition in return forced an eerie grin of victory on the Manticore's human face as it pushed an even deadlier might behind its offense!

'Huh, you think this is all I can do?' Woefully for the Manticore, a devilish smirk found its way over Virus' lips as he triggered the subsequent plan of action he had prepared.

'Trigger Terminal Configuration – Regulated Self-Destruct!'

Instantaneously, from the sharp end of the longsword, the weapon began to disintegrate. However, the eye-catching point of this odd phenomenon was the fact that as the tip began to disintegrate, it also sparked into an extremely long beam of blue light that rushed at the Manticore with the guidance of Virus.

HH—MM! 

Right away, as Virus waved his wrist downward, the beam effortlessly traversed through the flesh of the Manticore and even badly damaged the floor beneath it!

The following moment, as if a knife was just done cutting through soft butter, the two equally lifeless parts of the Manticore fell on the ground. 

The Manticore was dead, as simple as that!

By now, the disintegration process had reached the end of Virus' longsword as it dissipated entirely!

Even his ring was nowhere to be seen.

'Sigh…' Letting out a helpless sigh, Virus looked at the finger that had been priorly equipped with the special ring that he had made years ago.

Due to the insufficient level of technology Virus had access to at the time, the ring he had created then was something he had devised and configured three forms overall.

The first configuration was called the 'Initial Configuration' which could transform the ring into several types of cold weapons and firearms plus a few other convenient features such as clothes and masks.

The second configuration Virus had added to it was called the 'Median Configuration' which solely had the feature of partially adding dark scales to Virus' limbs. He had named the dark scales 'Fragmentary Integument' which meant an outer layer of protection that covers only some parts of the body.

And the final configuration he had planned for the ring was titled the 'Terminal Configuration' that just had one utilization called the 'Regulated Self-Destruct' which as the name suggested would lead to a guided form of lethal self-destruction and termination which could in return deal an extremely concentrated form of damage!

However, truthfully, the last configuration was something Virus wanted to utilize only when he was against someone or something that was absolutely unbeatable in every way!

Even though Virus hoped to never come across such an opponent, being the calculative A.I. he was, he had planned the terminal configuration to be one of his last lines of defense when he eventually came face to face with such an opponent.

Nevertheless, the reason why Virus had been so hesitant to use the ring against the Manticore before wasn't that it was an irreplaceable piece of item that could not be created again. 

No, in fact, now that Virus had left many worker robots on Virusia to develop it, he was certain that the next time he went there, he would be capable of developing and polishing a more overpowered ring with even more up to date and advanced configurations. 

The cause of his hesitance mainly had to do with the fact that he was just at the beginning sections of the red gate and he was already forced to throw his trump card into the fray! 

Furthermore, now that he was stuck on the Cultivation Earth for an unknown period of time, Virus was sure going forward, he will face many other desperate situations soon as horrible enemies would come knocking considering what his plans were for the upcoming future.

Phew~

'Let's just forget about it. It's a done-deal anyway and there's no point in crying over spilled milk.'

Shaking his head repeatedly, Virus was just about to briefly study his surroundings before moving on and heading deeper into the passage, when unexpectedly, from the carcass of the Manticore, a vast amount of energy stormed into his pathways!

'Huh? I thought Origin wouldn't absorb its energy since I killed it with the help of terminal configuration which is basically like a gun.' Touching his chin in contemplation, however, Virus soon figured out what was happening, 'No, if you really think about it, what I did was to extend the reach of my weapon, so I was in fact only using the longsword to kill the Manticore… and that qualifies for Origin's absorption!'