Snapping his empty hand downward, Xander activated the handheld shield that he had strapped to his arm. It unfolded like a fan into a round layered piece of metal that deflected several strikes from the tendrils attempting to wrap around his throat.

  He then used the momentum of the impacts to push himself to the side, rolling out of the way and getting to his feet as the mole rat scraped across the ground, its own weight pulling it past Xander’s position. It barely managed to stop himself from toppling over when it nearly tripped on its own feet.

  With the small reprieve, Xander took a moment to examine his arm. The shield wasn’t dented at all, but he could feel the tingling sensation of his gene-mods kicking in and fixing that damage that had transferred to his bones and muscles.

  Another loud roar rumbled through the small clearing that Xander and the mole were fighting in.

  Swinging his shield up once more, several tendrils were deflected. The mole rat hadn’t charged in this time, choosing instead to attack from mid-range. This gave Xander an opening to take his own swing at the tendrils on the beast’s face.

  “Oh, come on!” He let out a frustrated growl when his knife barely managed to draw blood.

  The hide was so thick that he had nearly lost his grip on the knife when the tendrils had swung away. Its muscles had caught hold of it and squeezed once he had dug in. The spray of blood was much smaller, but still painted parts of the ground, and Xander’s uniform, a dull and oily red.

  Internally, he marveled at the ease that he recalled Gerome showed when he had cut through several of these tendrils with ease. Something that displayed just how much his understanding of the scales of power in this world was different from everything he knew.

  If a high-quality knife made of materials that put it leaps and bounds ahead of anything he’d worked with before, was out paced by claws grown in seconds by an older man who wasn’t even a true combatant, what did that mean for everything else that Xander had seen?

  I guess that that’s just the difference in power when it comes to evolution. Xander’s thoughts wandered a bit, but he forced himself to focus when he realized that the mole was trying to get around his shield with a wider spread of attacks. Though, thankfully none came from behind him, since they still originated from the main body in front of him.

  The ground was wrapped up as the lashing tendrils tore into it, and a few of the nearby trees had their bark cracked when a stray strike clipped them. Such a sight made Xander appreciate his uniform’s body armor and shield even more.

  Tendrils came at him from above, from the sides, and from below. All trying to trap him in some way or another. Yet he deflected them all. Dipping and ducking out of the way as he dodged what he could and deflected what he couldn’t.

  He even managed to get a few counter attacks in here and there, switching to the offensive when the opportunity presented itself.

  Doesn’t this thing have any proper openings at all? My knife’s gonna turn dull at this rate! His mind went through a plethora of curses, all while he continued to narrowly avoid death at the hands of the wrinkled beast that was drooling and crying out in anger and pain.

  The world ignored his silent complaints, and he pushed harder and harder into taking the few shots he could, all while planning how he could finish this. Ideally with his knife in the mole rat’s head.

  Suddenly, one of the tendrils that was moving slower than the others slithered around his shield arm. He was forced to dig his feet in while he dug his knife into it. But that didn’t do as much as he had hoped. It also resulted in him being yanked off his feet when a second one went for his legs after his stood up too high.

  “Shit!” Flying through the air a moment later, he found himself slamming into a tree after rolling a few feet. Leaping to his feet, Xander dodged out of the way of another series of strikes from the mole rat’s prehensile limbs.

  One of which was much less active than the others. Several feet at the end of it had been cut off when he had ripped his knife through it just as he was being thrown.

  He could feel the disks in his back sliding back into place. Nothing seemed broken this time, but he was still somewhat sore. His stamina dropped in tandem with his healing, and he could only feel thankful that whatever he’d been injected with when he was in stasis had put him at peak mundane human ability. Otherwise, he might not still be able to fight right now.

  The mole also seemed to have learned its lesson and no longer tried to wrap around his arms. His knife was now an apparent threat to the thing’s health.

  That didn’t mean he stopped playing defensively, however, since he knew that rushing in wasn’t the right thing to do. He needed to find out if this thing had any other tricks beforehand.

  However, now that he knew, firsthand, just how tough it was, he at least had a sense of the kind of effort he would have to put into his strikes. Even more would be needed if he was going to strike its body, where the skin would be even tougher, since it didn’t need to be as flexible as it was on the tendrils.

  A back and forth continued for several seconds, with the mole’s tendrils whipping about and draining Xander’s stamina due to the continuous injuries he was taking.

  All the while, it was clear that the mole wasn’t that experienced in fighting, or was just too stupid to dodge or block, because Xander was slowly, but surely, whittling away at its flesh. Not even one of its tendrils was free of blood, each one having numerous cuts all along them.

  Xander could tell that his body was starting to fail, however, and it seemed like most of the battle elsewhere was wrapping up. This led him to weigh his current options.

  Two choices... Try to finish this myself, therefore proving that I’m worth the investment, or hold out until help arrives, and lose any respect I’ve gained in the process so far...

  The second choice was obviously safer, and even if his reputation was ruined, he would at least still be alive to build it up again. Though he’d likely lose some of his privileges as a VIP if it was determined that he couldn’t fight. Especially in this ‘might makes right’ society he found himself in.

  “Fuck it... It’s been a while since I did something this stupid.” Having struck it multiple times now, he could tell that he wasn’t going to be able to get around the tendrils anytime soon. Nor could he get anywhere while only playing defensively.

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  With that in mind, since there weren’t any visible openings, and it seemed like it didn’t have any unknown mutant traits, Xander decided that he would have to risk it, and make an opening of his own.

  He couldn’t stop the wide and toothy grin that formed on his face. Memories of his childhood, and the time when he was fighting in street gangs passed through his mind.

  The time that came before his acceptance into the security forces for Sage Pharmaceuticals. The time that he wished he could forget but was also the reason he was still alive to this day.

  “Let’s knock some of the rust off!” The words ripped through his throat; his yell being met with a challenging roar from the beast in front of him as he charged. His blood pumping faster and faster as he allowed his calm and collected demeanor fade away for the first time he could recall doing so in years.

  This time, instead of merely deflecting most of the strikes against his person, Xander held up his shield and powered through them. He felt his bones crack before pushing themselves back into place and knitting together.

  The attempts to trap him changed at that point. Now the beast was just doing everything it could to wait on him with hammering blows as much as possible.

  “That’s it... A little more...” Xander saw that the mole rat was focusing more on bigger and bigger blows, rather than a wide spread of them.

  Holding out his other hand, he used his knife to cut at any that tried to wrap around his shield to trap him directly. He was careful not to let his arm get bound and managed to push several feet closer to the mole’s body.

  He managed to push himself until he was only 6 feet away, when the tendrils that were hitting him suddenly split apart, spreading into a wide net, rather than bundled together to strike harder.

  “Finally!” Seeing the mutant beast do this, Xander couldn’t help but let out an elated shout. “I’ve been waiting for this!”

  The tendrils, having spread out to wrap around Xander, had left the mole rat’s head wide open, with the starfish nose on its face being only somewhat protected by the base of the tendrils.

  It’s snarling maw was opened beneath, but that just meant that there was another weak point that Xander could take advantage of.

  So, rather than try to get out of the net that was closing in on him, he pushed his body well past its limits, tearing the muscles in his legs apart in the process. The torn-up ground below him pressed down lightly beneath the force of his leap, the soft soil giving way beneath him.

  Shoving his shielded arm into the mole’s mouth, it reeled back as it began to choke on the plated metal. At the same time, Xander threw his body behind his knife, piercing through one of the tendrils entirely. It was nearly severed but still went limp given that there wasn’t enough flesh to retain its full strength. This left an opening past the tendrils, right at its head.

  Wide red eyes gazed at Xander in fear and hatred, but he ignored that. Instead, he shifted his shielded arm, even as the other tendrils wrapped around him.

  Blood gushed from both the missing tendrils and the beast’s mouth. All the while, Xander ripped his other arm free, releasing his knife, and ensuring that it wasn’t wrapped up in tendrils like he was.

  “Grk!” He felt several ribs crack under the strain that his body was now under, but no teeth or other sharp objects were cutting into him. He just couldn’t breathe without a piercing pain in his ribs.

  “Fucking die already!” Reversing his grip on his knife, Xander slammed it right into the mole rat’s head, right near the inner corner of its eye.

  Bone broke beneath this blow, and the relatively thinner hide was cut through, letting the knife dig deep, but not into the brain.

  The grip on Xander tightened, but he didn’t do much more than let out a grunt of pain, pulling his arm back and slamming the knife into the same spot, even as the mole rat reeled back in pain, squealing as blood sprayed into the air.

  “Die! Die! Die!” Lost in pain and adrenaline, Xander’s calm demeanor gave way to his old instincts. His body released steam, and he could feel his blood seemingly burning as his rage grew hotter and hotter.

  The larger part of his mind knew that he was losing sight of himself and his goals. Parts of himself that he had pushed down, and locked away, were coming back to the forefront of his mind.

  They played their part well, however, and after just three more blows, grey mist sprayed from the mole rat’s head. With its brain now successfully punctured, it fell to the side with thud.

  Now limp, its tendrils let Xander free, but his blood was still running hot. His injuries cracked and his body shifted. Flesh tensed and relaxed, while his veins seemed to pop as his wounds knit shut.

  The sounds of battle were much quieter now, with several soldiers returning to his position. Fights were wrapping up, and Xander took several very deep and very slow breaths to calm himself down.

  “Mister Mar,” one of the soldiers tentatively called out, “are you able to help us with the clean up? The pack alpha and its betas have been slain. It’s just getting rid of the stragglers now.”

  With a harsher than necessary tug, Xander yanked his knife out of the dead mole rat’s skull. The logical part of his mind knew that he needed to calm down. That he couldn’t allow himself to continue feeding the rage that had been quiet for so long.

  “Let’s get going,” he muttered, taking in the cautious gazes of the soldiers that were meant to be the accompaniment for himself and the scholars on this expedition.

  He could already feel the mental fatigue and physical exhaustion seeping into his bones. None of that stopped him. Instead, he threw himself into the fight, letting loose and crying out for all that he had lost, for the first time since he had woken up in this new and strange world.

  Swinging his knife and shield from one battle to another, even if easier due to having support and reinforcements, the world fell into a haze. One where Xander just kept moving forward. Seemingly never tiring, even as his breathing became more ragged, and his body started moving slower and slower.

  He quickly lost track of time, and while he didn’t strike at anyone on his side, he knew that he wasn’t properly communicating, even as he followed orders and plans with instinctive ease.

  It was nearly an hour later when he finally collapsed on top of the final lesser mutant beast that had been a part of the pack that had attacked them.

  Covered in blood and being cheered on by the soldiers that he now fought side by side with.

  ----------

  It was the next day, after Xander had woken up alongside the other injured people in one of the trucks that Gerome told him what his new arrangement would be. Right in the middle of lunch, as he was refueling his much skinnier body after losing so much biomass from healing himself.

  “You’re going to be traveling with the soldiers from now on. I’ve already picked out a team for you to join up with. I think that it’ll do you good, what with how you seem to be following your gut more than the scholars.” The older man handed Xander a new tablet. “It seems like the territory is getting more and more dangerous, so I’ll need to take a more active part in the convoy’s defenses.”

  Xander nodded. That made sense, even though he didn’t like his information source leaving him high and dry like this.

  “Before you go, what do you mean by following my gut?” He had honestly been expecting a reprimand, or something similar, when he had gone on to fight even more after that first beast he had slain. Especially since he was so worn out from fighting it.

  “I mean exactly what I said. Following your instincts is a good thing. Especially when you’re first getting started as a Genetic Warrior.” The term was new to him, but Xander quickly realized what Gerome was saying. “From this moment forward, when it comes to a fight, do what you feel is right. So long as it doesn’t defy order and bring us more trouble.”

  That said, the geneticist turned away, and Xander was left to finish his meal. Though, he kept what Gerome had said in mind for when he would eventually get the chance to ask more about it.

  “Oh! I almost forgot. Here. These rations are more nutrient rich. They should solve most of your food issues. At least until you figure out what path you intend to walk.” Gerome reached into a pouch on his waist and threw several white bricks at Xander.

  They were deceptively heavy, and he nearly fell out of his seat when he caught them.

  He also didn’t miss the grimaces on the various soldier’s faces when they saw what he had been tossed.

  “I’d recommend washing them down with a good and proper beverage. You can get some from my vehicle if you want. I don’t need much of it myself.”

  Xander looked down at the rations he’d been given. When he looked up again, Gerome was gone.

  Glancing around at the other soldiers, and seeing that no one was looking his way, Xander shrugged and took a bite from one of the food bars.

  A second later, one of the guys he had fought alongside the night before was patting his back as he heaved the last remnants of his lunch onto the ground next to where they were eating.

  The only other thought passing through his mind was how he needed to get whatever beverage Gerome had been talking about, because that nutrient bar was utterly disgusting.