The Beast Mole Cricket

****

"Shit!! Damn it!"

Marcus could only cuss frustratedly as he found himself in front of a small construction site in a nearby neighborhood having followed the arrow direction.

The building was about two stories which was still under construction with cranes looming over it like skeletal hands, there was loose earth all around including trenches and piles of rocks.

Marcus walked around the site, walking over loose earth and dirt.

'Where is the fucking beast cricket!'

The day was already getting darker by the second, having walked about 1.5 kilometers, Marcus felt tired since he was still recovering, he felt stressed.

[Host shouldn't move another inch!]

He froze at the system's sudden alert, Marcus had walked a considerable distance from the front of the building to the edge of the back when the system alerted him, and then he saw a boulder the size of a sports car smeared in earth shell at a distance.

No, it wasn't a boulder, Marcus looked closer, it was a creature that perched on the ground at the far end of the back of the building.

"Don't tell me that is the beast mole cricket" Well, it wasn't that he was stunned or something, Marcus was surprised because the mutant beast wasn't as big as the one he had witnessed.

'Perhaps it is because of its grade'

'I can't even see its eyes, it is completely smeared in thick earth, if it digs a tunnel beneath the building, no doubt, collapse is inevitable, given its size'

[Name: Beast mole cricket]

[Ability: capable of producing a sound 170 decibels to incapacitate enemies]

[Notice!: Beast has weak sight and hopping ability, its legs are mostly for digging, and its strength is like that of an average cricket]

[But beast possessed good sensitivity with antennas, front legs, and anal cerci]

Marcus listened attentively then he noticed some protuberance from the front side of the cricket which he thought was a boulder.

The two long protuberances were probably its antennas, Marcus got the wrong idea from the thick earth that smeared its body, with its flattened and broad head and cylindrical body, it is probably mistakable because of the amount of thick earth it was covered in, it probably gets smeared while digging.

"So the only overpowered ability it has is its chirping sound of deadly intensity and its sensitive antennas, front legs, and cerci"

Marcus whispered.

[Exactly, the antennas are for tactile sense but the front legs and anal cerci can sense the faintest vibration sound, the cerci is even more overpowered, even if it was a flying opponent, it would sense it due to the change in air current]

"Whew, it is a relief it doesn't have an armored body, I can just find something strong to bat it and break it into pieces then"

"But man, bypassing its sensory would be difficult, even ninja can't move without a slight disturbance in the air"

Marcus was starting to get flustered, he underestimated the parasitic system, he wanted to get the punishment done with so that he could leave, isn't there a single way to bypass it sensory?

Judging by the distance, Marcus and the mutant beast were about thirty meters from each other, so when the system alerted him, he was almost in the range where it could detect his presence.

If Marcus had stepped in the range, 170 decibels of sound would have been released at once, and that would be deadly.

Suddenly Marcus recalled the gear he crafted, Almighty Surgical Hands, but he wondered if that would really work.

Well, Marcus thought it was better to believe because he would end up dead if it didn't.

And the fact that this system could point out where a mutant beast hiding place such as a mole cricket which could dig tunnels and hide was surprising and made the whole system thing more believable to Marcus.

[Host could take advantage of flaws in its sensory defense!]

"Really" Marcus was happy and felt motivated at once.

[Yes, within the 360-degree area around the beast cricket, the area where vibration could be detected by the front leg is 140-degree arc from the center where it lay on while the area where the anal cerci could detect vibration and air current is a 180-degree arc from the center, this gives a safe zone of 20-degree arc in each side of the beast!]

"Eh!! That's plenty of complex information even though I study math in school"

Marcus was perplexed, his once motivated spirit was demotivated immediately, unless the area was being mapped out, he didn't think he could get it.

"Let's do the maths"

He said and crouched, Marcus picked up a short stick and drew a circle on the loose earth.

"So I can only move within a 20-degree arc which extends from both sides of the cricket thorax area"

He was wondering how he was going to do it.

"Show stat screen"

The floating screen materialised in front of Marcus immediately.

[Strength: 1]

[Agility: 5]

[Speed: 1]

[Dexterity: 5]

[Constitution: 3]

[Perception: 3]

[Intelligence: 2]

[Charisma: —]

[Luck: 1]

[Will: 2]

"Five times more agile than average human, let's test my nimbleness then"

Marcus scanned the building which was under construction, an inch step forward and he was already in the sensory range of the beast.

He scrutinized its movement, it wasn't moving but its front leg—the particular legs with ears that look like a spade—sprawled on the floor, and its antennas and anal cerci were also touching the ground as if weary of its surrounding.

Marcus started planning, he could walk back to the front of the building and enter, he would then exit it in the back, which would make him enter the safe zone directly.

Looking at the building's architectural design, it was probably a mall, although it was still under construction, still a two-story.

Marcus walked swiftly back to the front, slipping through the scaffolding and metal beams, he entered the building.

The air was thick with dust and the space was dim due to the time, the day was already dusking, the space was filled with different construction machinery, and it seemed it wasn't long that the workers round off work here.

Marcus ceased his breathing to avoid inhaling dust as he walked into the silent space.

The structure was still raw and incomplete, with gaps where windows and doors would eventually be installed.

He walked towards some metal beams to find one he could use as a bat, he picked an I-beam, which was around four feet long.

HEAVE HO!!

UMM!!

Marcus groaned...

He couldn't even heave it completely from the ground, Marcus could only heave one end from the ground.

Marcus recalled his strength, it was of an average human, and he thought the beam would probably weigh more six 15 pounds due to its density, it was very thick, so he released it.

CLANG!! GBRANG!!...

Marcus moved toward another, he was starting to breathe in slowly, he had reached the limit he could hold his breath, but he tried not to breathe heavily to avoid irritation.

'This one seemed light enough for me to carry'

He picked one, although with both hands, it was about five feet long but it was lighter and less thick than the previous one.

Marcus walked towards the back, how he was able to move in the space which was filled with suspended dust in the air and dimly lit was surprising, then he thought back to his stat, his perception was three which meant he was three times sensitive in all his sense organ than an average human.

"Humm—humm"

Marcus muttered while motivated as he walked.

'I can do this' he muttered while he leaped over beams and construction materials.

The idea of an ordinary person who wasn't an Awakened confronting a mutant beast would sound absurd in the ears of other people.

Finally, he reached the rear exit of the building with unfinished walls, it was already twilight but he could somehow make out his surroundings, the weather remained cold, Marcus wondered if Mei Ling would have reached home.

Then he headed straight for the perimeter which was free from the cricket sensory range as he had drawn from the circle earlier.

About twelve feet from each other, Marcus was now facing the thorax region of the beast mole cricket which perched on the floor and was as big as a sports car.

Marcus gripped one end of the metal beam tightly with both hands ready to smash it back to pieces and break it into two, thank God insects don't have backbone and its body was just like an average cricket's strongness, only overpowered chirping, and sensory.

"Let's start sneaking, it shouldn't take time" Marcus whispered under breath.