(XX) Modified

Jackson glared at the monstrosity before him, gritting his teeth as he dismissed the notification, "Why didn't my father ever mention that a challenge could be modified..? Was he never strong enough to receive one..?"

The Hollow Wolf roared, throwing both arms out, kicking off its feet, and charging on all fours before leaping toward him, snapping him back to reality as he harrowingly avoided the attack, his chainmail receiving a large gash across his chest.

Confirming he wasn't bleeding, Jax twirled his swords around him once and returned to his defensive stance, intent to not take any more damage in this fight.

The bipedal Wolf quickly spun on its hand, kicking off a palm tree, and breaking the trunk as it charged toward him. Jackson immediately stepped back as he parried the flurry of claws with his blades.

"Damn, you're ugly!" Jackson shouted, deflecting one of the Hollow's sharp nails with one sword and avoiding the follow-up attack before dashing behind it, slicing both blades across its abdomen, and spinning around through the dirt to face the now-wounded monster.

The Hollow Wolf swiped his claws over the young man's head as he slid through the dirt, turning to face him and unleashing a wail in frustration before vanishing with a blur, leaping toward him.

Jackson backstepped again, briefly startled at the sudden burst in speed, crossing both swords in front of him as the Hollow reappeared, ramming its massive skull against his blades and launching him violently.

He gritted his teeth, tensing every muscle in his body as he crashed through a few palm trees. As the momentum decreased, he tucked his knees into his chest, backflipping through the air, digging his heels and swords into the dirt to come to a halt.

He raised his head, his eyes glowing with the purple flame again, and the contorted tips of his blades began to burn once more. The Hollow Wolf charged on all fours as Jackson burst into a sprint with both swords held out to his sides.

The purple lightning arced underneath his boots, bounding into the air as he shot off the trees, raising both blades above his head; his eyes rapidly darting around as he calculated the Hollow's movements.

The Hollow Wolf easily trajected the man's movements, following his every action before jumping into the air, opening its jaw wide and jagged hands out.

Jax smirked as the entire length of both blades began glowing brightly, matching the flowing purple flames in his eyes as he flipped through the air as purple flames ignited from the swords, shooting like a bullet toward the Hollow Wolf.

"JUST DIE ALREADY!!" Jackson roared as skeletal fingers gripped his biceps as he plunged both swords through the Hollow's chest; the flames slightly escaped from the ends of the wounds as both crashed into the ground.

Despite the force and impact, the Hollow never released Jackson from its grip, exerting pressure on his biceps. The young man gritted his teeth, twisting his wrists as he pressed his body against the wolf's chest, struggling to avoid its snapping jaw.

The wounds began opening wider, flames growing more vigorous as they spread, catching onto the matted black fur. Jackson released the hilts, struggling to push off the bottom of the jaw, pulling his head away and getting his feet against the Hollow's chest.

He winced as the claws pierced his chainmail, scratching down his arms as he pushed off with his feet and kicked both hilts with his boots, dismembering the Hollow Wolf.

Jackson landed a couple of meters away on his back, gripping both of his bloodied arms, wincing in pain. The purple flames from his eyes had vanished as his emerald irises stared into the clear skies, his body panting heavily.

After lying exhausted for a while, he sat up and stared at the motionless corpse of the mutated Hollow, shaking his head, "For fucks sake..."

He looked at both wounds, sighing in relief as they weren't as deep as he thought. He grabbed the Gobbii Bag, pulling it into his lap as he reached into it, pulling out the <Climber's Cartridge Case>.

The grey metallic case was roughly the size of a thousand-page novel with a seam in the middle where it was magnetically sealed. Opening the case revealed a dozen tiny cartridges in various colors and designs on each side.

Jackson grabbed a white cartridge with a red band wrapping around it with a small cross in the middle. It was roughly the size of a floppy disk with the depth of a thick cellular phone.

He opened the seam that ran diagonally down the length of the cartridge's face, causing a puff of smoke to burst out of the cartridge briefly as a first aid kit appeared in its place, an information screen appearing.

[First Aid Kit]

[Rank: Mythic]

[A hard case containing everything required to stabilize a wounded person until they can seek proper medical attention. Each increase in rank provides more tools in the kit and the quality of the materials. Materials contained within are finite, and any used materials will be restocked automatically at the end of the day if funds are available.]

'Damn... This Climber's Cartridge Case is too strong! No wonder dad warned me about keeping this a secret...' Jackson thought, opening the <First Aid Kit> and tending to his wounds.

Having tended to his wounds many times growing up in Saint Mary's, it wasn't long before he had tucked his chainmail back into his gloves and stood up.

He approached the mutated Hollow and stood over it, staring blankly at the lifeless skull. He reached down, grabbing both of his hilts, pulling to reveal short jagged edges, groaning as he tossed them into the dirt.

"Just great... Inferno eats my weapons!" He groaned, turning around and sighing as he sat on the dead wolf's chest, resting his chin in his palms and his elbows on his knees, "I just bought those stupid swords with the last of my money! What am I going to do now?!?"

In the bottom right corner of his vision, oblivious to Jackson's notice was a tiny box flashing red and white with an exclamation point in the center.

Lying on her stomach on a cloud above him with one hand supporting her chin while the other grabbed popcorn from a bowl and kicked her legs casually in the air, Elissa laughed to herself, "Well, that was entertaining! I wonder how long it'll take him..."