I have an Apocalypse City

Chapter 18: Chapter 18: Earth Teeth Assault

Translator: 549690339

The excruciating pain almost made Song Jian drop his baseball bat. The mutated canine beastman reared up and charged at him. Its two front claws clawed at Song Jian’s body and its toothy maw bit down on Song Jian’s neck.

Song Jian horizontally placed the baseball bat to block the incoming bite, jamming it into the beastman’s mouth and pushing it away. The putrid smell emitting from the beast’s mouth nearly made him retch.

The beast’s claws squirmed on his body like octopus tentacles, with tiny suckers affixing tightly to his clothes.

“Off!” Song Jian used all his strength, raised his leg and violently kicked the stomach of the beast. The pain made the beast even more frenzied. Its tooth-ridden mouth continuously tried to bite the bat, his sharp fangs grinding against it, producing an audible grinding noise. The baseball bat started to splinter and cracks began appearing on its surface.

“I can’t keep this up, the baseball bat won’t last long.” Song Jian had a sinking feeling. He kicked the stomach of the beast once again, rearing back to deliver several additional kicks. Soon, the system made an announcement in his ear.

System: After inflicting effective damage on the mutated canine beastman three or more times with your foot, you have mastered the skill: Kick. Kick (Active), Level 1: Increases damage by 5% when using your foot to attack, with a probability to interrupt enemy’s skills. The skill uses 5 Vitality Points.

Song Jian didn’t have time to check the newly acquired skill. Desperately kicking the beast while holding onto the bat to resist the beast’s attempts to fight back, the beast bit down on the bat and swung it aside. A strong force spread up his arm accompanied by a searing pain in his palm, causing the bat to fly out of his hand.

Clang-

The beastman, shaking its head violently, sent the baseball bat flying far away where it hit a wall and emitted a slight cracking sound.

Song Jian’s heart sank even further. A thought crossed his mind as he quickly pulled out a double-barreled shotgun from his inventory and aimed it at the abdomen of the Beastman before pulling the trigger.

The recoil from the shotgun sent the Beastman flying back, leaving behind a gaping hole in its abdomen where the decayed innards scattered across the ground.

This shot rendered the Beastman nearly dead, however, the massive wound in its abdomen did not seem to deter it. It quickly forced itself up from the ground. Its blood-red eyes locked onto Song Jian, seemingly trying to etch his face into its memory.

Song Jian was unsettled by the Beastman’s vicious gaze. Canine beasts were known to hold grudges, and if he couldn’t kill this one now, his sleep would likely be restless.

Bang-

Song Jian aimed at the beast and pulled the trigger, the bullet dug into its body. But this shot wasn’t as powerful as the last one. The body of the Beastman just slightly shook, then it bared its sharp teeth at Song Jian, emitting a low growl.

System: After causing effective damage to the mutated canine beastman three or more times with the double-barreled shotgun, you have unlocked the skill:[Firearms (Shotgun) (Basic)]. Skill: when attacking with a shotgun or scatter gun, damage is increased by 5%.

Song Jian swung the empty shotgun away and swiftly switched to a pistol, aiming at the beast.

Bang Bang Bang-

The sparking muzzle of the handgun fired off a series of bullets. The agile Beastman shifted left and right, avoiding the bullets as it bolted for a room nearby. It charged through a glass door, disappearing from view as the bullets followed in its wake, hitting the ground, walls, and the frame of the glass door, causing sparks to fly.

Click-Clack-

The empty click of the gun hammer filled the air, making Song Jian’s brow furrow. His target was mobile and with more than a dozen rounds fired, not a single shot hit the Beastman. It seemed that Song Jian’s marksmanship left much to be desired against a moving target.

Suddenly, Song Jian remembered that upon reaching level three, he had gained a skill point which he hadn’t used yet. He decided to attribute it to [Firearms (Handguns)(Basic)].

However, when he opened the skills menu, he was confronted with a multitude of skills – five passive and two active – and for a moment, he was uncertain about where to allocate the point.

Just then, the mutated canine Beastman leaped through the window, sprinting away without looking back into a nearby alley. At this point, it only had less than ten vitality points left. The rancid blood from its abdominal wound spilled as it ran, marking a visible trail on the ground.

“I can’t let it escape like this. Otherwise, like a bone maggot, it could ambush me unexpectedly, anywhere, anytime.” Song Jian’s anxiety spiked. Suddenly, a wild thought struck him, and he forcefully slammed his right hand onto the ground.

Earth Teeth Assault!

A surge of heat quickly spread throughout his body, converging in his right hand. A ball of milky white energy gathered there, forming a fanged white glow in the shape of a stalagmite.

Whizz-

A sharp sound of cutting through the air arose as the fanged energy slid across the ground toward the mutated canine Beastman at an incredible speed.

With a “boom,” the Beastman let out a pitiful shriek. Its body was launched into the air, flying several meters before crashing heavily onto the ground and convulsing. It didn’t take long before its body was engulfed in transparent flames, quickly reducing it to a pile of black ash. Two or three items with a gray glow, and one item with a white glow, appeared beside the pile of ash.

Exhausted as he watched the Beastman disintegrate to ashes, Song Jian slumped down onto the ground, breathing heavily.

“Seems like this skill could only be used as a trump card, not as a normal attack method.” Song Jian thought to himself.

The Earth Teeth Assault skill was indeed powerful, but the consumption was also enormous. Executing the skill consumed ten vitality points. With Song Jian’s maximum vitality at eighty points, and considering his wound from the previous fight and recent attack from the mutated canine Beastman, plus the amount expended for executing the Earth Teeth Assault, his vitality was down to forty-three points, reaching the dangerous threshold.

After witnessing the power of the Earth Teeth Assault skill, Song Jian immediately thought of allocating his skill points to this skill, only to find out that to level up an active skill using points, mastery of the skill must first be achieved.

Behind the passive skills was a small plus sign. If he had skill points, it would glow gold, otherwise, it would be gray. However, behind the two active skills, Earth Teeth Assault and Kick, there was a long proficiency bar before the plus sign. To use skill points for these, the bar must be fully filled.

Song Jian heaved a small sigh, allocating his skill point to the passive skill [Firearms (Handguns)(Basic)].

[Firearms (Handguns)(Basic)], Passive, Level 4: Increases power of handguns by 20%, Accuracy +2

Upon reaching level four, the skill only added 5% more power with no new attributes. Sighing again, Song Jain moved towards the items dropped by the deceased Beastman.