Is it Wrong to Copy Abilities in Apocalypse?

"Gahh!"

He could feel the pain in his abdomen; it was as if something broke inside him, making it hard for him to even move, and again before he could control his body...

*Boom!*

His body was slammed into the wall, causing his eyes to widen in pain, but he didn't let out a scream as he knew what that would mean.

His eyes hurriedly snapped toward the beast, only to find it still sleeping; its tail, which was responsible for all this, was waving around without a care of the world.

It was only then that Alex tried to get up...

"Arghh..."

He groaned in pain as he could feel his body pulsating in agony and his bones broken in many places.

But as he kept observing the surroundings for any changes, his eyes suddenly caught sight of something...

It was the chest, and at the last moment, he had somehow grabbed the chest knob, so when he was thrown away, the chest had opened up by the sudden jerk, causing everything inside it to be spewed out.

It was not like there were many things inside the chest; there was but a single item, and it was...

'A short sword.'

Alex muttered as he stared at the sword that looked just a bit longer than a dagger, making it easy to identify what the weapon was.

'Corporeal mend.'

Alex muttered inwardly, trying to heal himself before he did anything, as the pain was really making it hard to move around comfortably.

Soon, a cooling sensation passed through his body, relaxing his nerves.

"Sigh..."

He sighed in comfort, as he felt his body almost melting down before he took a step forward.

*Step*

But it was then that his body froze, and dread clawed his heart.

It was sudden, and he didn't even know why it was happening, but his beastly instincts were telling him to run—run as fast as he could.

Just then, something clicked in his mind, his head snapping toward the only being who could be responsible for this, and...

'Shit!'

The moment he turned to look at the beast, his eyes met a pair of golden eyes staring at him without any emotion apparent in them.

story-at-MvLeMpYr

It just kept staring at him, unmoving from its spot as if it knew that Alex was already within its grasp and that it could kill Alex anytime.

Alex, who could almost guess all that, couldn't even deny it, as he knew that he wasn't a match for the beast, no matter what ability he used.

[[Name: Unnamed Biltzodon.

Race: Biltzodon.

Title: --

Stats:

→ Strength: Level 53 (Tier 1)

→ Defense: Level 53 (Tier 1)

→ Agility: Level 51 (Tier 1)

→ Stamina: Level 52 (Tier 1)

→ Mana: Level 50 (Tier 1)

]]

It was a beast with stats higher than double his stats, and even if he had the boost of 'the first ones' title, he wouldn't be able to get his stats higher than level 30. The difference in the stats, however, would still not be something Alex could just wave off.

<The Xuanwu's shell.>

It was then that the AI reminded Alex of something, causing his eyes to sharpen.

His palm moved up to his chest, clenching the piece of Xuanwu's shell hung down a thread inside his shirt.

The beast, on the other hand, still kept staring at Alex, as if waiting for something.

The Xuanwu's shell was a one-time life-saving artifact, and once used, it would shatter, making it useless, destroying the possibility of someone ever collecting all six pieces and making it into a single artifact along with it.

*Inhale**Exhale*

Alex took a deep breath, knowing full well that his next steps could result in some very bad results, but there was nothing he could do about it; he was already stuck here.

It was just his luck, maybe—the thing that always pushed him into such situations.

There were people who had entered level 50+ gates, coming out of it safe and sound along with the artifact or relic that was hidden within it, even though they were in no way stronger than Alex.

They just had luck on their side, something Alex didn't have.

When he looked at the life he had lived until now, Alex realized that he was never lucky; even the moments in his life when he thought that he was blessed now looked cursed to him.

He was just unlucky—that was the conclusion he got after the short contemplation.

But he knew that crying about it wouldn't get him anywhere, not when the beast in front of him didn't seem to want to let him go.

He loosened his palm around the piece of Xuanwu's shell, and then he rushed forward, but instead of moving toward the gate, he was dashing toward the beast.

This action caused the beast's large eyes to widen a bit in surprise before a frown of contempt replaced that shock.

"Grrr..."

It just growled in a low voice, not even getting up from its spot.

Why would it move when it could see its prey moving toward it?

It just kept staring at the human, ready to make a move if Alex were to play smart with it.

Alex, on the other hand, had his eyes locked on the short sword lying next to the beast's tail, aiming for it, and in just a second or two, he reached the weapon, but just as he was about to pick it up...

*Woosh*

He heard the same sound as the one before, causing his hair to stand at the end, knowing full well what it was.

He pushed his arm, hoping to at least be able to touch the short sword, as that would allow him to suck that sword into his inventory, and the next second...

*BAAAMM—!*

Alex was again slammed by the tail of the beast—which was as thick as a human's thigh yet thin compared to the beast's body size—but this time, Alex had his shield activated, covering him with an illusionary tortoise shell, but...

*—Crack—!*

With a crisp sound, the barrier started to crack the moment Alex was hit, but somehow it didn't shatter, maybe because Alex had pushed 50% of his mana into the item, only to use 'Mana Heal' and continue expending more mana on the item.

Mana heal had filled his 50% mana into 100% in just a second, entering into cool down after doing it.

*—Shatter!**BOOM*

The crack, however, soon led the shield to shatter as soon as Alex crashed into the wall, but it protected him from the impact, and this time, he didn't have an injury.

Just like last time, though, he was smashed into the wall quite close to the door, so he hurriedly stood up, his eyes snapping toward the door of the room before he rushed toward it.

He didn't even look back; he bolted toward the gate with all he had.

*Rumble*

But just as he was about to reach the door, the whole room rumbled, causing his gaze to turn toward his back, only to see a large foot right above him, ready to crush him, causing the alarm of danger to go off in his head.

But with his fingers gripping the threshold of the door, he hurriedly tried to increase his speed.

The next second, however...

*BAAASSHHHH—Splatter!!*

"Gahhhhhh!"