CHAPTER 120: SWITCHING THINGS UP A BIT

Switching Things Up a Bit

Not too long later, Mike and the others set out.

Kris and Theresa had begun thinking more strategically as they used the map to pick their next targets in the sense of capturing flags and acquiring supplies. Even though they seemed to each have a decent amount of points individually, they were most certainly behind those like Namor, who had large groups of people providing them with points every second.

It was also then that Mike raised an interesting point.

Couldn’t they steal points?

He remembered that it was an option, though he hadn’t really gotten a chance to do so since he somehow hadn’t encountered a single person besides Kris and Theresa since arriving on Naraka.

When he said this, it was like the other two also remembered that doing so was an option, and Theresa suddenly felt dumb for taking out everyone she encountered before she could steal their points.

Luckily, it wasn’t a huge issue as there was still a lot of time left to encounter people. Moreover, if Mike’s guess was correct, he might encounter people shortly, too.

Kris and Theresa went for flags and supplies. So what did Mike do?

Hopping between the trees like a monkey, Mike quietly approached the chasm where the Titanic Corpse Flower stood in all its imposing glory.

Did he intend to fight it? Absolutely not. Even if the thing pissed him off, and though he’d gotten quite a bit stronger since the last time he got close, he had no confidence in even dealing substantial damage.

No, he came for a different purpose.

Scouting.

While the current him wasn’t strong enough to defeat it, it became a lot more complicated if one considered how much stronger he’d become by the end of the month, especially while the whole Juvenile Spurt Theory was in play, as Mike’s rate of growth was simply explosive thus far.

That said, it was hard to gauge how much stronger he’d become. As such, it was hard to say if he could easily defeat the Corpse Flower when he inevitably decided to fight it.

So, he decided to do something that he’d never really done before.

Usually, whenever he wanted to fight something, his instincts would warn him of the danger, and he typically split it into 4 types.

Won’t be an issue. Will take some effort. I’m gonna have to try hard for this one, and it might still be uncertain. And, I’m not even gonna bother.

Creatures like the twin-tailed felines fell under the first category. The Verdant Boa and those spiders had been in the second category near the peak.

The 6-armed creature was at the beginning to the middle of the third category, and the Rat King was nearing the top of that category.

The Corpse Flower fell firmly under the last category, though he could say with certainty that it couldn’t even measure up to someone like the Vice-Principal.

Anyway, with these four categories, Mike had a pretty clear range of action when it came to picking his battles. However, after he’d been forced to flee from the Titanic Corpse Flower, he’d started to feel dissatisfied with the whole thing, as mentioned many times prior.

As such, he made a decision.

For foes he wasn’t sure he could beat in the present or some time in the future, he would do his research to give himself an advantage.

He’d sort of expected himself to feel dissatisfied at the realization, as part of him thought that knowing what your opponent was capable of beforehand would ruin much of the challenge during the fight, but surprisingly, he felt fine about it.

After analyzing the feeling for a bit, he soon realized why.

He was a predator.

One might think of him as a battle-junkie with how he enjoyed difficult battles, which wasn’t entirely wrong, but also not fully correct. Battle-junkies just fought without a care. But predators? They were far more meticulous.

This was especially present when Mike considered the wolves.

Before they committed to a hunt, especially when their hunting target was strong, they wouldn’t just rush in. No, they would wait.

They would observe from a distance and slowly understand their target and its behavior. Its strengths, weaknesses, and things it was likely to do or not do, and when they felt like their understanding was sufficient, they would strike.

And in a strange sort of way, Mike was the same.

When he fought, the first thing he always did was analyze his opponent. He would read their movements, their energy, their habits, and so on. While it wasn’t the same as observation before fighting, Mike still read his opponents deeply while fighting, and it was only when he reached a sufficient understanding of their capabilities that he would adjust his own actions and move in to deal a fatal strike.

The methods were different, as the wolves observed before the battle, while Mike observed during the battle, but the results were more or less the same.

However, Mike intended to change that now. After all, his method only worked if his opponent was at a similar level to him or a bit stronger. Basically, if the gap wasn’t so big that Mike would instantly get annihilated.

Sadly, the gap was indeed that big when it came to the Titanic Corpse Flower. So, he decided to change his approach.

He would stalk the thing from a distance. Learn its habits. Understand its behavior. Look for weaknesses he could exploit. And when the day came, he would compound everything he knew.

And he would kill it.

As he neared. He started to notice something, and it took him a moment to realize what it was.

His senses were picking up familiar traces. Not in the sense of them being people he knew. Just... people.

He slowed down before coming to a stop on the branch of one tree, then he closed his eyes and focused on his other senses.

His range of perception was simply absurd now, and if he focused just a bit, he could become aware of many things in an instant.

His nose and ears picked up all sorts of sounds and smells for miles, but quickly, he caught a few specific ones, mostly in front of him, and isolated them.

He heard faint whispering, the sound of armor rubbing against the ground, and the smell of sweat, probably from staying in one position in this sweltering heat for so long.

He could also pick up faint traces of energy, but not in any sort of combat form. Instead, it felt subtle, like it was trying to keep something hidden.

’Stealth?’ Mike guessed, and his gut told him he was correct, which is also when he confirmed his guess earlier to be true.

The Corpse Flower was imposing and no doubt powerful. In fact, it was highly likely that it was the strongest thing in the area.

That also meant it could give the most points out of every creature in the area.

Was it greed or ambition? Were they even different?

Hard to say.

Not that Mike thought lower of them, seeing as he wanted to do something similar, if not more ambitious.

He did still think he was better, though.

He considered going and messing with them a bit, but after a moment, he shook his head.

He didn’t know which of them were a part of the group hunting him. Moreover, he didn’t know what their abilities were, and he wasn’t sure if there was someone among them who was great at stalling. If that happened, they could easily communicate their position, and more people would quickly close in on their position.

Besides, they weren’t his goal.

Now that he was closer to the Titanic Corpse flower, he could take a much better look at it, and it was only now that he realized just how massive it was up close.

The massive stem had a weirdly smooth epidermis from bottom to top, and the stem itself was impossibly thick. Thicker than many of the trees were tall, but that didn’t compare to its, well, titanic height.

Around it, more than a dozen of the thick vines swayed in a protective manner, and Mike didn’t doubt that they could achieve truly obscene speeds if given the opportunity.

In fact, as he stared at them, Mike could more or less gauge how much power each one possessed, and while they weren’t exactly the same, he came to a grim realization.

Each one was stronger than the Rat King, and not by a little bit, either.

Moreover, he knew that there were a lot more underground near its base.

Mike took a deep breath and jumped to ascend the tree he was on.

After a few seconds, he was near the top of its crown, and he found a decently thick branch with leaves around it, making it hard to spot.

Mike took a deep breath and lay flat on his stomach.

Then, he began to observe.