OLD-WORLD EXTRA

Chapter 84 Salamander

The intense heat singed his skin, leaving angry red marks in its wake, but he somehow emerged on the other side unharmed.

Standing up he took a moment to catch his breath and assess his surroundings.

The monster, momentarily stunned by his wild maneuver, began to roar in frustration.

Unfazed, Emir readied his weapon.

His eyes locked on his adversary, knowing that he had to act quickly, as the monster would soon regain its composure.

The massive salamander-like creature stared at him with its beady eyes, finally quieting down.

Its scales shimmered in the light, and he could see that they were made of a strange, iridescent material that seemed to shift and change color as he looked at it.

The monster then let out a deafening roar, and he felt the ground shake beneath his feet.

It was clear that this was no ordinary creature, but something far beyond anything he had ever faced before.

Emir quickly assessed his surroundings, trying to find any potential weaknesses in the monster's defenses.

Its scales seemed to be incredibly tough and resilient, and its body was well-muscled and powerful.

There was no way that EMir could take it down head-on.

But just as he was about to formulate a plan, the monster charged at him, its claws extended and its mouth open wide, ready to eat its prey.

He immediately dodged to the side, rolling out of the way of the creature's lunge.

While it went past him, the monster's long tail whipped towards him, but he was able to sidestep it easily.

Emir quickly pulled out his rail gun and fired a shot at the monster's head.

But to his dismay, the shot ricocheted off its thick scales, hitting the wall behind it and causing debris to rain down on them.

The monster shrugged off the rocks and roared in anger, breathing a stream of fire at him.

Emir used his suit's strength to push himself off the ground, creating a shockwave that sent him flying out of the way of the flames.

And as he landed on his feet, he took out his assault rifle and began firing at the monster.

The bullets ricocheted off its thick skin, but they seemed to distract it enough to give him time to think.

Emir activated his TDS ability once again, slowing down his perception of time to the millisecond.

This gave him the time he so desperately needed to observe the monster's movements in detail.

He watched as it took a few steps back, preparing for another attack in its slow state.

However, during that time, Emir noticed a slight hesitation in its movements, a split-second delay between each action.

'Its movements are somewhat unorthodox, like a baby.'

Emir needed to come up with a new strategy, something that the monster wouldn't expect...

But what could he do?

Although it looked to be inexperienced at fighting, he still couldn't attack it head-on, and it was impossible to outrun it.

'My options are limited.'

'I should distract it for now, I might find its weakness in the process.'

He decided as he fired at the monster's tail with his minigun.

The monster roared, not slowing down one bit as it continued to chase him around the room.

And as Emir kept firing, he began to notice that the monster was getting more and more agitated.

Seeing it catch up with him, he quickly switched to his assault rifle and fired at the monster's head, hoping to delay it for some time.

The distraction worked for a moment as the monster turned its attention away from him and towards shielding itself from the incoming bullets.

Taking advantage of that, he aimed for the eyes, where the scales seemed less protective.

But even with his pixel-perfect accuracy, his bullets just weren't doing enough damage to even bother the monster.

So it soon ignored the bullets, deeming them harmless.

Emir took a deep breath and made a split-second decision.

'Melee it is!'

He charged towards the monster while dodging its flames by jumping up before it reached close.

Then its claws by easily stepping to the side as the monster lunged past him.

With his heart pounding in his chest, he took chase and jumped with a swift motion, plunging his daggers into the monster's vulnerable eye sockets with all his might.

"RRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOAAAAAARRRR!"

It roared in agony, flailing around in pain.

Emir quickly jumped off its eyes, pulling out his knives in the process.

He took many steps back while panting heavily, and pulled out his rail gun.

Aiming carefully, he fired a shot straight into the monster's right eye.

Whoosh!

The monster's whip-like tail swiftly swapped the shot, squashing his hope.

The shot deflected with lightning speed, increased in speed, and hit a nearby wall.

Zing! BOOM!

And the impact was deafening, rumbling the insides of Emir's ears.

But during that whole ordeal, he remained focused and used that moment to think with his TDS ability activated.

He recalled something that Lyra had mentioned earlier.

'She said that Arcadia must have placed restrictions on the monster, no matter what, as she could never go against her "fair" code.'

'If I can figure out what those restrictions are, I might be able to use them to my advantage.'

With a different plan in mind, he returned his focus to the monster, trying to identify any patterns in its movements or behavior that might give him a clue as to what those restrictions were.

And then he finally realized it.

The monster had a distinct pattern to its movements, almost like it was following a set of rules.

It would attack with its flames, its claws, and its tail, then back away, repeat.

As if following a script.

The monster had to obey a set of predetermined actions, no matter what.

And with this knowledge in mind, he quickly formulated a plan.

Emir waited for the monster to breathe fire at him once again and then dodged to the side, just as before.

But this time, he didn't attack it.

Instead, he ran towards a nearby rock formation and hid behind it, intending to bait the monster into charging at him and smashing into the terrain.

The monster roared in frustration and charged towards him once again, following its pattern of attack.

And just as the Fiend got closer to him, he stepped out from behind cover and pointed at it with his rail gun.

But all that filled his view was fire.

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