Chapter 2: Dance with the Black Mamba

"What the hell was that?!" Blade asked no one in particular.

What did he just see?

A Grade two beast that was comparable to a magnetic manipulator!

This was really dangerous! He didn't have a good combat gear in the first place and was even sneak attacked by a Grade two beast that was a class above him. If not for his wealth of experience, he would have been a dead man now.

The Grade two Black Mamba didn't give Blade time to think or simulate, but that was enough for Blade to place the battle on a more favorable side for him. One mistake the Black Mamba made was to give Blade enough time to orient himself.

Instantly, a fierce fight unfolded between man and beast. Blade closed in and threw his body underneath the head of the lunging Black Mamba while he struck the snake underneath the belly but just as he expected he heard a loud 'clang' and his dagger was repelled.

He took a quick look at the scales of the snake and observed that it just had tiny scratches, Blade frowned, this didn't look like the defense of a grade 2 Black Mamba…Taking a quick dodge, from the returning head of the snake, Blade began to ponder this strange phenomenon.

Unless, this Mamba was on the cusp of becoming a grade three and was looking for extra energy for its breakthrough would it's defenses be this strong. At that moment, Blade grew a bit angry as he did his best to dodge a devastating tail sweep.

"You dare to think of this Blade as food?" Blade asked the snake as he kept harassing it intermittently with nothing but sounds. Though he was struggling to hold it off, he still persevered in striking the scales creating a form of weird rhythm were neither side was unscratched.

“Would you reply or not? My patience is thin!“ Blade gave the Mamba a warning that fell on no ears.

"….." No one replied.

"Fine! I shall take your silence as a yes" Blade declared as he decided to increase his offense. Right now it seemed as if neither side could do anything to each other but he knew that his endurance could only last for long. Meaning that when tiredness set in, he would become no different from a meat on the chopping board. So with interweaving strokes, Blade scratched some parts of the snake's body and slapped an anti magnetic film on its skin which temporarily paralysed the activity in its cells. The moment the Mamba was paralysed, Blade dashed forward to the snake's den in the car and saw a rare scene: an egg, surrounded by a wreck of magnetised metal.

"Holy cow!" Blade exclaimed. There was a car that had absorbed magnetic elements and become filled with dense magnetic energy after suffering a wreck from the magnetic storm. It was in this vehicle that the snake made it's den.

Within a split second, he turned around to face the snake and said,

"You stupid creature you actually stole from me!"

If the snake had intelligence, it would definitely had protested the fact that Blade was lying shamelessly.

"Ha! Today, there is no reconciliation between us. It's either you die or I die" Blade said and charged forward as he raised his weapon.

Hiss!!? The snake hissed and finally broke free from the effects of the anti Magnetic film around it.

Instead of rushing towards the greedy intruder, it reared it's head up and almost seemed to stand on its tail. Blade jumped out from his spot but the familiar thud he expected to come didn't. Instead, the Mamba stayed in position while observing him with its beady eyes.

Blade stared at it for a moment wondering if the Mamba had beome crazy but on a second note, there must have been something that prompted the Mamba to behave in such a manner. So, Blade observed more closely before he noticed something striking. The Black Mamba's scales were moving up and down which made it seem the snake as breathing but why was it's head swelling up?

Realization struck and Blade cursed in anger “Sh*t, godammit!“

The Mamba meanwhile, continued to gather energy. Although it couldn't uderstand why, this human was very annoying to it and it had to deal with him fast.

When the realization that the snake was gathering energy hit him, Blade knew that he had to strike now, rather than later or else he might just become another bone on the ground.

The signature move of the Grade two black Mamba was it's magnetic lock down skill. Although, it was not as strong as the ability of a Grade three beast, it was infinitely close to it.

The magnetic lockdown was different from the gravity pull it unleashed the first time. Then, it used it's primary ability as a Grade two beast to control the magnetic field in an area to increase the pressure on other bodies in the area. This was how gravity was performed through magnetism.

Blade closed in on it as the concentration of energy in the throat of the snake got denser and denser. All of a sudden, it opened it's mouth in preparation to unleash a destructive beam.

"It's now or never!" Blade grunted to himself as he pushed his hands forward and threw two metal objects towards it's mouth.

Blade felt a pang of pain in his chest while doing this. Those two objects were level two field disablers. They were quite costly to get and had almost drained him of his savings. They actually cost a total of 125 black Magnetic tokens!

With expectancy, Blade waited for the disablers to take effect when he saw an astonishing sight. The disablers had begun to emit high intensity heat in a wide area as they powered up while employing a disabling field but the snake broke the disabling field without much effort with a short but powerful energy beam. Instead of a long and drawn out full powered beam, the snake stopped and kept powering up.

"Son of a b*tch! This thing is upgrading forcefully" Blade almost peed himself at this uncommon sight.

Even if it was a newly promoted Grade three beast, he stood no chance against it. Although it would be in a weakened state, after forcefully promoting it was still possible for it to kill him five times over.

Blade began considering the possibility of withdrawing before it was too late. After considering it for a bit, he gritted his teeth and moved towards the snake with his short dagger. His simulations had revealed a 30% probability of success. That was his driving force. As far as he had a chance of success, he would hold on to it.

With all the strength he could muster he pushedhimself from the ground and employed a short range leg booster that increased his speed but even while doing so, another pang of pain hit his heart. Those boosters had cost a fortune of ninety five Black magnetic tokens! Focusing his mind, he thrust the dagger towards the Black Mamba's lower abdomen once more. The snake looked at Blade in disdain, then the next moment, a heart despairing clang was heard as the dagger got blocked again.

Blade started to feel despair rising. How was he supposed to tackle this beast?

Before Blade could withdraw, at a speed so fast that his cognitive senses couldn't keep up with, the snake moved and everything that happened next looked like a blur. By the time he came to his senses, the snake's tail had wrapped around him and began constricting around him.

It was over! Blade felt hopeless, the beast had finished upgrading and he had still forced himself to look for that slim chance of success.

Did he regret it? No, he didn't because he would still do the same thing if he was placed in such a situation once more. Was this how he was going to die? Blade questioned himself.

No, he couldn't die now. He was not ready for all of this but then, pain brought him back to reality.

A terrible force that could crush bones was transmitted to Blade's body and then the snake opened it's mouth to bite.

It's fangs were long and black, it's breath had a foul stench to it that could kill a thousand fishes in the ocean. Blade smiled bitterly while waiting for the darkness to engulf him as he prayed for a painless death.