CHAPTER 146: D-RANK CHTHONIX

Jayden exhaled, shaking the gore from his claws as he straightened. The hunter... the one still conscious, stared at him, his face pale beneath his cracked helmet.

"Who... are you?" the man rasped, blood trickling from his lips.

Jayden smirked, walking over to haul him upright. "Can you walk?" he asked.

The man clutched his shattered ribs, his breath ragged. "Y-Yeah. I think so."

"Good. Take your friend and get out of here." Jayden jerked his chin toward the unconscious pyrokinesis user. "That wound needs treatment."

The hunter nodded, limping to his partner’s side. With a grunt, he hoisted the wiry man over his shoulders, then turned back to Jayden. His voice was raw with gratitude, and awe.

"Thank you... for saving our lives."

Jayden nodded.

As the hunter staggered into the trees, Jayden turned back to the Chthonix corpse, his pulse quickening. The energy acquisition prompt hovered before him, making him even more exciting.

He had finally gotten it. After all this time, the Chthonix power was going to be he’s. He reached out to make contact with the corpse.

But just before he could respond to the prompt, the air suddenly shifted, and his instincts screamed.

A silver blur suddenly materialized in front of him, moving faster than thought. Jayden barely had time to register the glint of metal horns before they slammed into his ribs.

The impact sent him flying, his body crashing through the large boulder from earlier. Stone exploded around him, dust billowing as he skidded across the ground.

Gritting his teeth, Jayden wrenched himself upright, his Adamantine skeleton had prevented him from having any broken bones, but his flesh was bleeding from a deep wound in the gut.

His eyes locked onto the new threat... and his blood ran cold.

It was another Chthonix.

But this one was bigger. Its hide wasn’t earth or stone—it was silver, gleaming like polished steel under the fading light. Its horns were razor-sharp, its tail tipped with a spiked orb of pure metal. And Its eyes burned crimson.

Jayden’s stomach dropped. This was definitely D-Rank. Which meant it had Size manipulation.

And if his eyes wasn’t deceiving him... it looked like the beast’s skin was made entirely of metal.

Jayden’s mind was reeling. "A second Chthonix? But how?" he thought. But then, he remembered. This one could shrink. That meant the documentary guy never stood a chance at spotting it.

Jayden gritted his teeth as the beast lunged toward him, wild and frenzied. He vanished instantly, turning invisible and shifting positions... but the Chthonix eyes was still locked on his figure as it turned and followed him.

"Shit," Jayden muttered. The Chthonix couldn’t just sense him but... it could also see him. That was bad. His invisibility was useless.

He needed a new plan. Fast. He was out of sonic pulse grenades. His claws would barely scratch the Chthonix’s metallic hide. And he didn’t have a backup plan. Hell, he never even planned to fight a D-Rank Chthonix with metallic skin.

As he ran across the clearing, he turned to check on the creature... But it was gone.

His eyes widened. "Crap... it shrunk itself," he breathed in realization. His gaze darted to the ground, scanning. "I need to get off the ground," he muttered, launching himself toward the nearest tree branch.

But as his feet left the earth, something massive erupted from the shadows behind him.. growing mid-lunge. His eyes widened but he was too late. The Chthonix was on him.

Its tail slammed into his side, metal spikes slicing through skin and muscle, hurling him through the air. He crashed into the ground hard, rolling, dust flying.

Jayden spat out blood but got to his feet, staggering. His ribs ached.. but weren’t broken. The adamantine skeleton had done its job.

"I really wish I had a cold gun right now," he growled, as the beast charged again.

But this time, he didn’t run.

"Alright," he said, cracking his knuckles. "You asked for it."

He clenched his fists... and began to change.

His muscles bulged, swelling beneath his skin as his clothes stretched. Thick black fur spread across his arms, chest, and face. His frame doubled, then tripled, his mass increasing as bones snapped and reformed with thunderous cracks. His eyes glowed with primal fury.

The Earth Smasher hybrid form had been activated.

He let out a guttural roar, deep and savage, then charged.

Beast met beastman. Flesh, metal, and fury collided in an explosion of force and chaos as the forest shook with the fury of their clash.

Jayden snarled and launched himself forward, the ground cracking beneath his feet as he closed the gap in an instant. He grabbed the Chthonix by the throat with one hand and slammed his other fist into its face.. again and again like a piston. Each hit rang out like a cannon blast, the beast’s head jerking back, sparks flying from its armored skull.

But still, the creature fought back.

With a shriek, the Chthonix drove its horns upward, trying to skewer Jayden through the chest. He twisted just in time, the blades grazing his ribs. One horn scraped against his adamantine skeleton with a shower of sparks.

Jayden grabbed both horns mid-swing and wrenched the beast’s head downward, kneeing it hard in the snout. Metal dented, but didn’t break.

"You’re gonna break," Jayden growled. "One way or another."

The Chthonix roared in his face, and whipped its tail up over its back, stabbing toward Jayden’s head like a scorpion. Jayden barely ducked in time. The spiked tail clipped his shoulder, sending a burst of pain through him, but not enough to stop him.

He roared and tackled the beast, lifting it clean off the ground and slamming it spine-first into the earth. He mounted it, raining down hammer-like punches, each one shaking the ground. One blow left a visible dent in its shoulder plating. Another cracked the armor along its chest.

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Finally, Jayden saw what he wanted.

A seam. A tiny split between plates near the beast’s neck, exposed from the last slam.

"Gotcha."

He swung a brutal fist straight into the weak point... but before he could connect, the Chthonix twisted and shrunk, slipping free like a fluid shadow. It popped back to full size behind him and drove its horns into his back.

CRACK!

The force sent Jayden flying forward, tumbling through dirt and shattered trees. He skidded to a stop, coughing out blood but already pushing himself up, his body steaming from the heat of battle.

He grinned.

"You’re pissing me off now."

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The Chthonix charged again. Jayden roared and moved as well, his massive Earth Smasher form heaving with exertion.