Luckily for Tsukuru, the storage building was relativelyclose to the building he had found the dead Rattaclaws in. That meant that his run to it had been remarkably short.
However, that hadn't stopped him from running into a ton of Rattaclaws along the way. As he did, he simply created a Basic-Tier Black Obsidian Dagger, and threwit at the Rattaclaw, killing it instantly. Seeing how he was in a rush, he didn't even stopto extract the Beast Crystal. He simply kept running.
By the time he had reached the storage building, he had racked up another eighteen kills, netting him another 1800 XP. This brought his current XP up to 7036. However, he still required 18,564 XP to Level Up, so it was quite literally 'just a drop in the bucket'.
As Tsukuru reached the building, he noticed that the two large steel doors had been destroyed, with the remains littering the floor inside. Seeing it, Tsukuru narrowed his eyes.
"There's no way the Rattaclawsdid this." Tsukuru muttered. "Does this mean…that there's moreIntermediate-Tier Beasts on this planet besides the Palewalkers?"
***
Back with Quinn, the memories of his time as the Crazed Bloodsucker kept coming. He now saw himself slice the man whose torso was still in his grasp, in half. In response, Quinn looked down in front of him. As he did, he saw Ian's upper torso, two abnormally largepuncture marks in his neck. Seeing it, Quinn's eyes widened.
"That was me!" He cried. Although Quinn was in shock that he had killed another Human, he didn't have much time to think about it.
As a moment later, a new System message appeared in front of him.
[AB Blood Type has been consumed. One Stamina Point has been added. You have killed a Human. 100 Exp received. First Time killing a Human, First-Time Kill Bonus: 200 Bonus Exp. You have defeated a Level 6 Ability User. Bonus Reward: Victory Reward has been upgraded. 300 Exp has become an Instant Level-Up. You are now Level 10. Exp: 0/51200. You have received a Stat Point.
You have reached Level 10. Evolution Process will now begin.]
Quinn's eyes widened as he read the new message.
"'Evolution process'?!" Quinn cried. He remembered the lasttime he had "evolved". And he remembered the pain.
And just like Quinn had anticipated, his chest began pounding faster than ever before. Every vein in his body bulged, becoming visible under his skin as the blood rushed through them. Quinn could feel every part of his body, and it wasn't a good feeling. It felt as if his blood was made of spikes, and as it flowed through his veins, it felt as though his body was tearing itself apart.
It was the that a footstep could be heard entering the room. As it did, the voice of Vorden could be heard.
"Quinn?" Vorden asked.
***
Tsukuru stared at the now destroyed steel doors of the storage building. The shredded remains scattered across the floor inside like scrap-metal. Tsukuru narrowed his eyes. He suddenly felt a jolt run through him. If Quinn had come here, did that mean…he had to confront an Intermediate-Tier Beast? Tsukuru gulped, and proceeded to walk through.
When he did, the first thing he saw was the mutilated body of the Scordana. Its chest was ripped open from when Quinn was looking for its Beast Crystal. As Tsukuru locked his sights on the body of the Beast, the circular "vector" of his System appeared over it. Like normal, a line extended from the left, and led to a square which showed an up-close image of the Scordana's face. Underneath, information was written.
[Name: Scordana [Deceased]
The corpse of the Intermediate-Tier Scordana.]
Tsukuru tensed. The System's information confirmed his suspicion. It really was an Intermediate-Tier Beast. Tsukuru kneeled down next to the corpse to examine it. As he did, he noticed that there was a series of scratchmarks covering the Beast's exoskeleton. Scratchmarks that resembled the claw of a Beast. Seeing this, Tsukuru smirked. He had seen these marks before.
"Not bad, Quinn." Tsukuru muttered, recognizing these "claw marks" as the type of injuries Quinn's Blood Swipe Skill left behind. However, the smile soon wiped itself off of his face, only to be replaced with a look of dread.
Tsukuru narrowed his eyes.
"Wait…Quinn's Blood Skills use his HP as an energy source." Tsukuru muttered. "And I have no idea if I'm alone here, or if Vorden followed after me. I know he has his Blood Bank Skill, but if he's being forced to use his Blood Skills, exactly what kind of state is he in right now?"
Tsukuru clenched his fist.
"Peter, I swear to God, if Quinn truly is a corpse by the time I find him, I will never forgive you!" Tsukuru hissed. He grit his teeth. 'It's hard enoughto find decent people in this world, as it is.' Tsukuru thought. 'And someone like Quinn…is the kind of person we need more of in this world.'
Tsukuru was about to step away from the Scordana's corpse, when a System message popped up in front of him.
[You have received an Optional Quest: Allow your Pawn Grade Hobgoblin to consume the flesh of the Intermediate-Tier Scordana to allow your Summon to take on the Beast's characteristics, and acquire new Skills.]
***
Vorden looked around the room he had just stepped into. It looked like he had just walked in on a murder scene. On the floor in front of the bed, Ian's body could be seen lying on the floor. Blood oozed from the bottom of its body from where Quinn had sliced it. It was a scene that would cause any ordinary person to start puking up their guts. However, Vorden wasn't normal. And the Blade Family…well, let's just say they had a reason they were all crazy.
It was then that Vorden noticed Quinn kneeling on the floor in front of the bed.
'That Beast…' Vorden thought. 'It really was Quinn…'
Even though Quinn now looked nothing like the Humanoid Beast that had attacked him and Ian, it was obvious. He had Ian's bisected torso in front of him, and he still wore the damaged military outfit Sil had recognized.
"Hey, Quinn, are you alright?" Vorden asked. "Do you need anything?"
Quinn remained silent for a moment. Then, he spoke.
"Get…away!" He replied in a stained voice laced with pain. He could still feel the pain shooting through his whole body.
"Maybe I can help?" Vorden asked, trying to be helpful.
"I said…'Get away'!" Quinn repeated.
As he lifted up his head, Vorden could see his eyes glowing red.
"Hey, Vorden." Raten replied from next to him in the dark space. "I know being 'the voice of reason' is your kind of thing, but maybe you should listen to the kid. We don't know if he's going to turn back!"
Unfortunately, it was too late. Vorden had taken one too many steps into the room, and was now in close proximity to Quinn. Quinn lashed out, flinging his arm out at Vorden. Vorden immediately brought up the chair to block the attack. However, it didn't do much of anything. Quinn easily ripped through the metal chair like a hot knife through butter, and the attack managed to graze Vorden's chest. The force of the attack flung Vorden back.
"Blood!" Quinn yelled like a crazed animal as he smelled Vorden's blood from his shallow wound. "Give me blood!"
In the dark space, Raten snapped his head towards Vorden.
"I told you that chair was useless!" He shouted. "Quick, seal the door shut!"
Vorden no longer hesitated. Using Ian's Ability, he grabbed the broken door that was still currently against the far war, and slammed it back into place.He then held the broken door in the doorframe like a living magnet.
***
Tsukuru stared at the System message in front of him in utter bewilderment.
"Wait…feed the Beast's dead corpse to my Hobgoblin?" He repeated out loud. "I can do that?!"
Tsukuru stared there for a moment, thinking it over.
Eventually, he decided that he had nothing to lose by completing the "Optional Quest".
He was genuinely curious what would happen, and quite honestly nobodycared what he did to a Beast's corpse.
He held out his hand in front of him.
"Summon!" He replied.
The sound of electronic interference filled the hanger, and soon, pixels began to appear in front of him. The pixels clustered into the humanoid shape of the Hobgoblin. There was a bright flash of light. When it faded, Tsukuru's Hobgoblin was standing in the storage hanger next to him.
The Hobgoblin's eyes locked in on the corpse of the Scordana. Without even needing to be told what to do, she knelt down in front of the corpse, and began eating.