Apocalypse Baby

The Cockatrice General froze, feathers ruffled with a chill of fear as he watched Alex mercilessly take down the Speed Cockatrice.

The brutal ending—the crunch, the thud—left no question:

This human was no prey; they were.

With heavy breaths, Alex turned toward him, eyes fierce, almost feral. "Two down. One more to go."

The Cockatrice's heart raced. He was outmatched, and worse, he had no idea where Alex's next bomb lay hidden.

Any step could set off another explosion.

Just the thought made his skin prickle as he felt something unfamiliar.

'Sweat.'

The Cockatrice muttered:

"Am...am I sweating?"

It was stunned that a mere human had him this shaken.

Alex's gaze was locked on him, and the Cockatrice could feel his own heart pounding faster than he'd ever felt in battle.

Every step Alex took forward felt like the ticking of a bomb about to go off.

First one step, then another.

By the third, the tension snapped.

The Cockatrice General's instincts screamed:

It was fight or flight and the cockatrice general chose flight, leaving all thoughts of pride behind.

Alex couldn't help but grin, amused by the sight.

He called out, his voice taunting:

"What happened to all that confidence you displayed earlier?"

"What did you say...'I'll do you a favor—submit your head' is that accurate? You said that and now you're running."

Alex expression went cold and he launched into a sprint after the beast:

"I don't think so."

Realizing Alex was chasing him, the Cockatrice fired feather blades without looking back, hoping to slow him down, but Alex used [Aegis Arcane] deflecting each blade with ease.

He laughed as he ran, his cackling echoing through the trees, amplifying the Cockatrice's fear.

In a desperate burst of speed, the Cockatrice surged forward, putting more distance between them.

Alex, though, wasn't worried.

A notification flickered in his vision, a reminder of the new power he'd gained:

[You have killed Speed Cockatrice.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have acquired skill: Fast and Furious.]

With a smirk, he activated his new skill.

In an instant, his legs seemed to pulse with energy, propelling him forward with blazing speed.

The world around him blurred as he caught up to the Cockatrice in moments, closing the gap with startling ease.

The Cockatrice looked back, its eyes widening in terror.

Alex's grin widened as he called out, feigning disappointment:

"Hey, don't run! You're making me look like the bad guy here!"

The Cockatrice squawked back, its voice dripping with fear and irritation:

"You are the bad guy!"

Without missing a beat, it unleashed a barrage of feather blades at him.

Alex raised [Aegis Shield] just in time, the feathers clashing against it and scattering harmlessly away. Undeterred, he closed in again, noting the path of one of his traps up ahead.

With a snap of his fingers, an explosion erupted right next to the Cockatrice, sending it tumbling across the ground before slamming into a tree.

For a moment, it lay there, battered and burnt, its body damaged from the blast.

But then, to Alex's surprise, the creature's wounds began to knit themselves back together, closing up as it shakily got back on its feet.

Alex on a tree muttered, on seeing this:

"Oh, that's quite surprising?"

The cockatrice had some kind of regenerative power.

However, Alex wasn't intimidated. In fact, he was confident he could outlast it, and wear it down with enough damage, as he was sure the cockatrice's healing ability had a limit.

If the cockatrice was truly immortal then it would have taken riskier attacks and wouldn't be running the way it was.

Its healing ability would only delay the inevitable.

Alex then leaped into the air, bringing his sword down in a powerful overhead strike. The blade bit into the earth with a heavy thud as the Cockatrice narrowly rolled away.

The Cockatrice general, still wounded but healing, darted off again.

It had no desire to continue fighting as it knew its regenerative powers wouldn't save it if Alex kept riddling him up with injuries.

It wasn't strong enough to recover from repeated, severe wounds, and if it ended up with its body blowing up like the flame Cockatrice, then it would truly be finished.

Alex wasn't about to let it escape though.

He chased it with relentless determination, closing the gap with an intense burst of speed from his newly acquired skill, [Fast and Furious].

In a swift, calculated move, Alex feigned a grab for the Cockatrice's wing, causing it to flinch and react defensively.

The instant it shifted to protect itself, Alex changed tactics, drawing his sword instead.

In one fluid motion, he sliced clean through the creature's leg.

The Cockatrice let out a sharp, pained screech and, desperate, retaliated with a flurry of feather blades aimed directly at Alex.

He sidestepped the deadly projectiles, dancing out of their path.

Just as the last feather whizzed by, he vanished, leaving the blades to embed themselves uselessly in the ground.

The Cockatrice staggered, its eyes wide with terror as it looked around, searching for Alex.

The Cockatrice general groaned in pain from his injured leg. Though his wound was starting to heal, the process was slow, and his biggest problem now was the unknown—the fact he couldn't spot Alex anywhere. This was a nightmare scenario.

Panicking, the Cockatrice unleashed a massive number of feather blades, arranging them in a protective ring around himself, hoping to prevent Alex from getting close.

"Oh, that *would* have been clever…"

Alex's voice echoed around him. The Cockatrice immediately launched a volley of feather blades toward the source, but they hit nothing but air.

"…if I wasn't your opponent."

Suddenly, a rock appeared, falling from above right through the opening in the feather barrier and landing next to the Cockatrice.

"You messed up."

Boom!

The explosion shook the ground, sending the Cockatrice flying to the side.

But as the smoke cleared, Alex noticed that the Cockatrice had used its feathers to form a makeshift shield, absorbing most of the blast.

The Cockatrice's defensive reflexes had...