Anomaly of Fate
Chapter 76: Instinct vs. Instinct

Chapter 76: Instinct vs. Instinct

Velren sprinted across the rocky terrain, his lungs burning, his legs screaming in protest. He had fought beasts before. Hell, he had spent most of his life doing it. Tracking, waiting, and striking at the right moment—that was the essence of hunting.

But this?

This was not hunting!

This was getting confronted by an angry, half-buried lizard that refused to die.

The wyvern, a hulking mess of torn scales and blind rage, was barreling toward him like a runaway boulder, its broken wing flapping uselessly at its side. There was no patience. No control. No strategy.

Just a pissed-off murder-lizard that wanted him dead.

He was out of explosives. Out of cheap tricks.

But not out of options.

Velren skidded to a stop near a rocky outcrop, turning sharply as the wyvern lunged. He ducked, rolling to the side just as its jaws snapped shut where he had been standing a second ago.

The beast roared in frustration, whipping its tail around. Velren barely had time to react before the massive appendage crashed toward him. He raised his katana, bracing for impact—

BANG!

The force sent him flying, his body slamming against the rough terrain. He coughed, pushing himself up, and barely managed to roll aside as another clawed foot came crashing down.

This wasn’t working. Every stab he attempted barely scratched the damn thing’s hide. Even his strongest slashes only left shallow marks.

He needed a new angle.

As the wyvern lunged again, Velren shifted his stance. He focused, his form flickering—

And suddenly, three Velrens stood in the wyvern’s vision.

Afterimage—

The beast’s gaze flicked between them. For a split second, it hesitated. Then, with terrifying accuracy—

It struck the real one.

Velren gasped as pain shot through his ribs, the force of the blow sending him staggering.

What—?

How the hell did this thing know which one was real?! Was it just a bluff?

He gritted his teeth, trying again. This time, he sent out a different afterimage, shifting positions at the last second—

WHAM!

He barely twisted in time to avoid getting crushed as the wyvern again ignored the fakes and went straight for him.

"What the hell—" Velren panted, rolling to his feet. "You can sense me, can’t you?"

The wyvern growled, narrowing its molten-gold eyes.

Of course it could.

This wasn’t just any beast. This thing had intelligence, instincts sharper than anything Velren had ever fought before. It wasn’t hunting him through sight. It was sensing something else.

Heartbeats? No, that wouldn’t explain how fast it reacted.

Breath? No, the wind was too strong for it to track that precisely.

’What the hell is its weakness?!’

Velren launched himself forward, flashing his katana. He slashed at the wyvern’s underbelly, aiming for the softer tissue between the plated scales—

Only for the blade to glance off like he had struck solid iron.

He clicked his tongue. Stabbing didn’t work. Slashing didn’t work. Explosives sort of worked, but he was fresh out.

There was only one thing left to try.

Gravemaw.

For a brief moment, Velren entertained the ridiculous idea of just throwing the whole wyvern into the semi-null void and calling it a day.

He actually laughed at the thought—

WHAM!

He got smacked across the battlefield like a ragdoll.

"FUCK!"

He crashed against a boulder, groaning as pain rattled through his body. His vision swam, blood dripping down his temple.

Okay. Not funny anymore...

Velren panted, tightening his grip around his katana as the wyvern’s golden eyes bore into him. Its massive body, covered in thick, impenetrable scales, loomed like an indestructible fortress of flesh and bone. His attacks were useless—the blade barely cut past the first layer of its hide.

There had to be a way.

There was always a way.

His mind raced through possibilities, desperation clawing at the edges of his thoughts. If the outside was this damn tough... then what about the inside?

’That was... ridiculous!’

Absolutely, mind-numbingly ridiculous.

What was he going to do? Crawl inside its mouth and start hacking from within like some suicidal lunatic?

Even as he dismissed the idea, another thought followed—

It wasn’t impossible...

Just... incredibly, incredibly stupid.

He gritted his teeth. No, he wasn’t that desperate. Not yet.

The wyvern let out a bone-rattling roar and lunged again. Velren barely dodged, rolling to the side as the beast’s claws gouged deep trenches into the earth where he had just been.

He retaliated. His blade swung in a precise arc, aiming at the joints, the eyes—anything that looked even remotely vulnerable.

SHING!

The blade cut through the air—

And then, the world itself seemed to... split.

For the briefest moment, a thin, jagged rift appeared in space along the trajectory of his slash. It was like reality had been sliced open—a dark, shimmering gash in the air itself.

"What the hell—?"

But the wyvern didn’t react to it.

It ignored the anomaly entirely, never wavering its focus as it charged again, jaws snapping dangerously close to his head. Velren twisted his body, narrowly avoiding the crushing bite, and retaliated with another slash.

Another rift tore through space, forming just as his katana finished its arc.

Then another.

And another.

Every time he swung, reality seemed to fracture for a split second, leaving behind those thin, flickering scars in the air.

’What the hell are these things?!’

Could it be... a new Vital Echo?

That had to be it, right? What other bizarre explanation was there?

Velren’s grip on his katana tightened as he glanced at the flickering, fractured scars lingering in the air. They faded after a second, but each time he swung, more of them appeared.

Let’s assume—just for a moment—that this was a new Vital Echo.

’What the hell does it even do?!’

One thing was certain—it came from his katana.

Which meant... he had to figure out how to use it.

Velren exhaled sharply and turned his attention back to the wyvern, which was still locked onto him with unyielding, primal fury. He couldn’t waste time. If this power had appeared now, then it damn well better be useful.

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