I Hate Systems

"Shit we've been discovered" Prakash

"Run towards the electrical appliance section, we can lose them with all those debris there and the various barriers along the way" Li Qiu

The trio began to sprint towards the electrical appliance section with both the alligator and the spider hot on their tails. All those obstructions made from sofas, tables, and cupboards were like paper armor in front of the bulky frames of their pursuers.

The spider lagged behind the alligator in it's Chase due to missing four legs but still charged furiously with greed manifesting in its eyes.

The alligator too in its greedy charge failed to notice a grey colored sword beam 2 metre long cut across space traversing in various complicated pathways before accurately severing the alligator's tail from its body.

"Groowl..."

The alligator abruptly stopped in its tracks due to experiencing phantom pain and fear at the same time.

"Rustle, rustle....rooaaar"

The alligator twisted and turned it's head sideways to find the creature which wounded it when it's scaly eyes suddenly dilated in fear to discover a petite figure standing over its body radiating a rather fearsome aura.

The spider abruptly stopped in its tracks due to witnessing the sudden sneak attack on the alligator. It stood with trembling legs in one place because the moment the alligator had it's tail severed, a creature abruptly appeared to stand atop the alligator's body radiating with a suffocating aura.

The aura was so intense that it made even the spider's danger signals go haywire.

Even Li Qiu and Prakash were shocked by the speed Enbi Arin displayed which seemed as if she had almost teleported.

Since her aura wasn't directed at them, they were faring relatively well as compared to the alligator and the spider who faced the brunt of her might.

"Prakash, Li Qiu, lure the spider towards your direction and start running towards the electronics section. Since it has already been critically injured by those centipedes, the both of you combined probably wouldn't find it too difficult to hunt"

Li Qiu nodded his head and started to create a thermal flame marble in his hands while Prakash picked up a piece of concrete and threw it while using his ability with all the explosive force he could currently muster at the spider.

The piece of concrete accurately damaged another of the spider's eye enraging it completely.

Of the three two-legged creatures, all of which had the aura of an artefact, the spider noted that only the single petite creature that stood atop the golden scaled creature could threaten its life. On seeing one of the weaker two-legged creatures injured its eye, the spider started to chase after them while oozing out its bloodl.u.s.t.

After noticing that both Li Qiu and Prakash and the spider that chased after them were all far away from her, Enbi Arin finally focused her eyes on the still shivering alligator which refused to even counterattack.

"Hehe, are you that scared of me?"

"......."

"Petrified?"

"... growl"

"Well, your fate was sealed away the moment you targeted us"

Enbi Arin's hand started to take on a grey coloured glow as she raised her hand upwards slowly. The alligator's shivering intensified while a will to survive manifested in itself. But the alligator failed to even put up a struggle due to the overbearing aura unleashed by Enbi Arin.

"Slasshhh.."

"Grrooqaa..rgrrrrr"

The sword beam could only cut a couple of inches into the alligator's neck before it was nullified by the alligator's final desperate burst of golden radiance which enveloped over the entirety of its body.

The golden radiance shattered into tiny blobs of light after it's collision with the sword beam which further weakened the alligator.

"Ohh... It seems you still have some fight left in you" commented an amused Enbi Arin.

When the aura Enbi Arin was releasing fluctuated due to her amused mood, the alligator took the opportunity to wriggle furiously which threw off Enbi Arin into the air.

At the instant Enbi Arin was thrown off the alligator's back and had flown just a couple of feet above the alligator. Enbi Arin used her attribute juggler ability to instantly transfer most of her states into agility and reaction.

Due to the increase in her reaction time, Enbi Arin swiftly drew her katana from its sheath and threw it towards the alligator which accurately lodged a couple of feet into the cut across the alligator's neck.

The alligator lost mobility in its neck and its scaly legs were not long enough to remove the katana.

Enbi Arin calmly walked over to stand a few feet before the alligator and unleashed her aura again which instantly crushed any hope for resistance by the alligator.

"Any last roars? Not that I can understand any, well, off you die"

Enbi Arin launched another grey coloured sword beam which completely severed the alligator's head and then retrieved her katana. After that, she transferred all of her stats into her agility to rush towards the aid of Li Qiu and Prakash.

A couple of minutes earlier....

"Big bro run, a mad spider is hot on our tails" Prakash exclaimed after he witnessed the spider's eye get crushed by the piece of concrete he launched earlier.

"Shit, it's difficult to concentrate and compress Aria while running. Guess this will do for now" retorted Li Qiu and placed his thermal flame marble onto the floor under a protruding flooring.

The duo scurried away to the electronics section as fast as their legs could carry them when they suddenly felt a blast of a heat wave and a high pitched screech.

"Screeeeeeee"

Li Qiu turned back to assess the damage he dealt "shit, I hardly dealt any damage. It's too damn huge"

"It's better to aim it at its eyes, that way...." Prakash

"Prakaasshhhh" bellowed Li Qiu when a giant ball of web slammed into Prakash, throwing him a few metres away due to its momentum and burst into a multitude of cobwebs trapping him to the floor.

"Damn you insect bastard" consumed by rage Li Qiu raced towards the spider and blasted a breath of flames over it.

The spider started swinging its forelegs one way or the other trying to hit Li Qiu while the flames burned and distracted the spider's attention but didn't deal any significant damage.

"Arrgh" based on a sudden stroke of inspiration Li Qiu took hold of his Wooden rod and passed his thermal flame through it. He felt a bit of resistance when his Aria flowed into it but immediately after, the wooden rod started to burn with a blazing red flame over it.

Li Qiu sidestepped to avoid one of the spider's forearm and immediately brought his blazing wooden rod smashing down onto a joint on it.

"Tonggg...."

It was immediately followed by a squelching sound and smell of burning flesh. The spider reacted immediately and smashed its burning forearm over Li Qiu's body, instantly launching him in the air for a few metres.

"Ugh...grunt" Li Qiu sprang up immediately to lunge at the spider again when he heard it's death throes.

"Screeee....eeechhhh"

"P-Prakash…" Li Qiu was both shocked and relieved to find Prakash full of vigor.

The current look of Prakash was quite scary, to say the least. He had an enraged look on his face and sinister look in his eyes that viewed the spider as if it was dead meat. All the silk that was still attached to his body was wriggling or suspended in the air depending on his emotions.

The reason for the spider's death throes was the barbell which Prakash had brutally plunged into its spinnerets ( it's silk-spinning organ) and made it rotate inside it like a driller of death.

"Perfect timing" Li Qiu complimented him and charged towards the madly thrashing spider and began to scale over its body.

Before the spider could counterattack Li Qiu, Prakash jumped high up in the air and smashed with another barbell into the spiders face, disorienting it for a couple of seconds.

Not missing such a golden opportunity, Li Qiu made his trusty wooden rod blazing red with his thermal essence flame and plunged it towards the spider's Achilles heel ( the part connecting its head with its abdomen) ripping it into shreds.

<Ding!>

<New skill created: refinement>

Not having the time to look into that notification, Li Qiu immediately jumped off the spider's abdomen and threw some spirit flame in the spiders face. He used his spirit flame since the damage dealt by his thermal flame proved to be insufficient for the lower amounts he could throw out instantly.

The spider freaked out to see bluish-white flames suddenly wrap over its head which didn't harm it but unfortunately made it impossible for the spider to see anything.

But before it could even think up a possible solution, it felt a tremendous impact smash onto its face which instantly knocked it unconscious.

Prakash smashed with his barbell on the spider's face a few more times till its head caved in and Li Qiu took the opportunity to follow it up with all the thermal essence flame he could muster over the spiders face.

There was still some twitching muscles in the spider's body but it had already died when its head caved it and Li Qiu's thermal flames made sure that it stayed dead.

"Nice work little bro"

"You too big bro"

"By the way, awesome cosplay. Who are you trying to imitate anyway?"

"Medusa"

"Hahahaha, sorry to burst your fantasy but where's your petrify?"

"I forgot it at home, heh"

"Then, they can only be considered as tentacles, hehe"

'smack'

"Eiyouch, et tu Prakash"

"I didn't do it big bro" said Prakash as he raised up his hands to prove his innocence while all the web still stuck on his body also seemed to rise up into the air like a bunch of sea anemones.

"Perverted uncle, the least you could infer it as a sea anemone" Enbi Arin said sporting a disgusted look on her face as she stared at Li Qiu.

"Haha, you came back quite quickly, well that's our valiant Rooster Slayer for ya" Li Qiu said with a provocative look.

'smack' 'smack'

Li Qiu nonchalantly changed subjects while rubbing the two bumps that formed on his head.

"On another note, your sea anemone cosplay looks more suitable to you than that Medusa version. But don't you want to remove them?"

"I do actually, but their adhesiveness is greater than what I actually expected. Well, I'll figure something out eventually. Moreover, my control over my ability has been constantly increasing due to them. I guess handling so many at once is ample training experience" said Prakash with a look that was part amused-part determined.

"Well, off to the tiresome part. Time to shine pretty boy" said Enbi Arin as she winked at Prakash.

"Hehe" Li Qiu

"Damn, why is it always me" Prakash