SSS Awakening: I Can Steal Attributes-Chapter 13: Danger

The man was still on his last breath.

The arms flailing around had already subsided, just weakly twitching every now and then.

His eyes were slowly dimming as life seeped out of his body.

A bloody hole could be seen on his left cheek, and another one slightly below his chin where Desther’s last two bullets hit.

Blood dripped off his chest as well. The previous bullet wound was nowhere in sight, now replaced by the dagger still plunged deep, without any sign of getting pulled out.

As blood seeped out of the man’s body, Desther, who had already completely loaded his revolver, raised its muzzle and aimed it toward Lexie.

Lexie slowly got up from her fall.

Blood was dripping off her mouth. Seeing her posture, it was obvious she had a few broken ribs constantly giving her pain.

When she got up and saw the muzzle pointed in her direction, her eyes could not help but constrict in fear.

Even though she knew that the muzzle was directed at her, there was no way she could dodge it at all.

The Tier 1 Awakened Professional was not able to do it, let alone her, who just awakened.

Badump! Badump!

Her heartbeat continued to rise; the revolver’s muzzle pointing toward her was akin to a rope tied tightly around her neck. One pull of the trigger, and she knew she was done for.

Even if she used her skill that came with her Talent, she knew that it would be a temporary solution.

Having escaped the Tier 1 Warrior, she did not expect that the next threat would be Desther himself, who helped her neutralize the Awakened Professional.

She did not know why he was now aiming the revolver toward her, but she decided to face it calmly.

She was already aware that she would be assassinated inside this dungeon and had, in fact, already accepted her fate. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

He just did not expect that the real assassin would not be able to kill her, and instead, the one who would kill her was the very person she thought was the only one who could help her survive.

Resigned to her fate, she succumbed to the pain of her broken ribs and was about to close her eyes and wait for the eventual ’bang’ of the gun.

"Dodge!"

At the next moment, Desther’s calm voice resounded in her ears.

Her heart palpitated, and not even questioning why, she trusted his words. And with her last bit of strength, she used her skill for the last time.

Her instinct, at this time, also screamed danger.

Her figure became a blur, reappearing a few meters away from the tree.

At the same moment her figure materialized out of the blur state, she heard the resounding ’bang’ that she was waiting for.

Contrary to her earlier expectation, the muzzle was still pointed at the same location she was situated before.

As the revolver was fired, at the corner of her eyes, right beside the tree, blood suddenly spurted out.

SHRIEEEK!

At the same moment, a creature materialized out of thin air, screaming at the top of its lungs, if it had any.

’The dungeon boss!’ This thought appeared in Lexie’s mind, seeing the creature that materialized out of thin air after getting hit by a bullet.

She shivered in fright, realizing how close she was to the creature’s ambush.

However, the thought that Desther had warned her earlier warmed her heart a little bit.

Having accepted death at that moment, she did not expect she would still be able to barely cling to her life.

The pain in her ribs, though, has become unbearable.

On the other hand, Desther clicked his tongue upon seeing the creature.

True to the description provided by the school, it indeed looked like an overgrown lizard.

The clear difference between it and a normal lizard was its massive size, even bigger than a dog. Its height could probably reach his waist, and it should be around four to five meters long.

Calling it a giant crocodile would not even be considered an exaggeration.

Atop its head was a ball the size of an infant’s head. It was glowing with a reddish hue, shining brightly in contrast to the lizard-like creature’s dark-green skin.

Although he was searching for this creature earlier, having it appear now was truly not something he was happy about.

Just having gotten out of an intense fight, both his mind and his body were already exhausted.

His Strength might have increased from the stolen attributes, but his Vitality remained the same.

In fact, he also did not expect that he would encounter the creature this way.

He also just discovered it by accident.

When Lexie landed on that tree earlier, Desther noticed an anomaly right away.

The impact was quite huge, and some dry leaves fell one after the other.

Some leaves, though, remained suspended in the air for a few seconds before eventually falling to the ground.

It was then that Desther realized that there must be something invisible to the naked eye in there.

This was also the reason why he hurriedly loaded the revolver even after knowing that the Tier 1 Warrior was as good as dead after taking all that damage.

His guess was spot on, and upon firing the revolver, he successfully brought it out of its invisible state.

Of course, doing that, the creature’s attention also shifted toward him.

Having failed its ambush, it was visibly enraged and eyed Desther like a venomous predator eyeing its prey.

Now that it had appeared, though, there was no way that Desther would let it escape unscathed and go invisible again.

That would be quite troublesome.

He might be exhausted, but his confidence remained at the top.

Relying on his Talent, he knew that he would eventually win in a confrontation against the creature.

The only question was how he would be able to do it while incurring less damage to himself.

A few meters away, he saw Lexie visibly exhausted.

’With that strange skill of hers, she can still be of use...’ he thought as a plan formed inside his mind.

At the same moment, Desther activated Theft Mark and then released Theft Mark-Attribute Theft toward the creature.

______________

______________

______________

A/N: 2/2 Chapter of the day.

Send some power stones. Once we reach 50 Power Stones, I’ll grit my teeth and churn out an extra Chapter.