A Trash Novel's Only Reader-Chapter 17: Hidden Skill

Shu’s grip on the bat went slack as the sheer size of the monster registered. The head alone was bigger than the cars crushed beneath it, and the pressure rolling off its body pushed the air out of his lungs.

’No way I can fight that thing,’ he thought. ’That is not a boss, that is a whole damn disaster.’

The system screen flashed again, red text burning in the corner of his vision.

[Warning: Extreme threat detected]

[Emergency Mission: Survive]

[Objective: Stay alive]

’Stay alive? That is your advice?’ he thought, already backing up. ’Thanks for nothing, you scam piece of shit.’

The serpent moved before he could turn around. One massive coil launched forward, and the head shot toward him faster than anything that size had any right to move. He threw himself sideways on pure instinct, feeling the wind rip past his ear as jaws snapped shut where his chest had been a moment earlier.

The bite cratered the ground, sending chunks of debris flying in every direction. One clipped his shoulder and spun him around, but he kept his feet somehow and kept moving.

’Running is the only plan right now,’ he thought, sprinting toward the tunnel entrance. ’That thing is way too dangerous for me.’

He made it three steps before the tail swept across the chamber and smashed into the pillar next to him. The impact cracked it in half, and the whole thing came down right in his path, blocking the exit.

’Shit!’ he thought, skidding to a stop, ’there goes my fucking life.’

The serpent turned its massive body with a grinding sound that echoed through the chamber, coils scraping across crushed vehicles and leaving deep grooves in the floor. Its tongue flicked out, tasting the air, as its eyes locked onto him.

’Dammit, the exit is blocked, I have no back up and not enough power to face that thing,’ he thought, tightening his grip on the bat. ’So basically, I am completely fucked.’

The head rose higher, looming above him while its jaws stayed open wide. A low rumble came from its throat, vibrating through the ground and up his legs.

’Wait,’ he thought, his eyes narrowing. ’Why is it not attacking?’

The serpent just watched him, coils slowly tightening around the chamber. It was cutting off space, closing angles, herding him toward the center where there was nowhere to run.

’It is playing with me,’ he realized, his jaw clenching. ’This thing is smart enough to trap its prey before finishing it off.’

That was worse than a mindless monster. A mindless monster you could bait, trick, or outrun but something that hunted with patience was a different problem entirely.

’Think,’ he told himself, forcing his breathing steady. ’I cannot outrun or outmuscle it, so what does that leave?’

The serpent answered for him by striking.

The head came down fast, and Shu threw himself backward. It still caught him, clipping his ribs and launching him into a car. Pain exploded through his side, and he barely got his feet under him before the tail came sweeping back.

’Fuck, fuck, fuck,’ he thought, grabbing the bat off the ground where it had fallen. ’One attack and I already feel like I am dying.’

The serpent coiled for another strike, tracking him with zero urgency since it knew he had nowhere to go.

’Fine,’ he thought, tightening his grip on the bat. ’If I am dying here, I am at least taking a piece of you with me.’

He activated Slaughterer, the purple aura crawling up his arms as the familiar heat settled behind his skull. The pain in his shoulder dulled to something he could ignore, and the world sharpened around him.

The serpent struck again, faster this time, and Shu responded by planting his feet and swinging the bat upward into its jaw with everything he had. The impact rattled through his arms and up into his teeth, but the hit was still solid, sending its head snapping sideways from the force.

’No a bad hit,’ he thought, feeling bones crack under his hit.

The attack barely slowed it down, whipping its head back around before he could reset his stance, its body slamming into him and launching him backward into a pillar.

"Gugh!!" Something in his ribs gave way on impact, blood sprayed from his mouth as he crumpled to the ground, his left arm becoming unresponsive, and every breath felt like his throat was being torn open.

The bat had flown out of his hand again, landing somewhere behind him, ’I thought for sure that attack worked, d-dammit, at this rate I will really die,’ he thought, coughing up more blood.

It loomed over him, jaws opening wide enough to swallow him whole, with venom dripping from its fangs, sizzling where it hit the ground near his leg.

He stared up at it, chest heaving, body broken in at least three places he could count. The Slaughterer aura was still burning around him, but even that felt like it was fading.

’Is this really it?’ he thought, watching the jaws descend, ’haha, I should have really turned back when I had the chance.’

Something inside him refused this situation as his right hand shot out and caught the lower jaw mid-descent. The impact still pushed him further into the wall, making him cough up more blood, but he still managed to stop it.

’What is this rush of power I am feeling?’ he thought, and then he noticed it, a faint warmth pulsing from the ground beside him, from where his bat had fallen.

The serpent thrashed, trying to pull free, but Shu tightened his grip and felt scales crack under his fingers. Dark blood poured over his hand as the monster screamed, the sound shaking the whole chamber with its body convulsing, smashing into everything nearby.

His fingers brushed against the handle of his bat, and the moment he gripped it, a pulse ran through it, traveling up his arm and into his chest.

[Hidden Skill Revealed: Arms Bond]

[Arms Bond Lv.1: Passive skill.]

[Weapons used by the owner gradually awaken and grow stronger through battle.]

[Bonded weapons gain increased durability, enhanced striking power, and the ability to channel the owner’s energy. The deeper the bond, the more the weapon evolves.]

[Bond Effect: While wielding a bonded weapon, the owner’s Frame and Core stats receive a temporary boost proportional to the bond level.]

[Current Boost: Frame +5, Core +3]

[Temporary rank: E-rank high]