Chapter 77: How did human know?
Atlan carefully approached the Giraffe-Horse Canzer. It was sitting down in the soil, with its eyes closed and its defenses lowered. But once Atlan took one step closer to it, it suddenly opened its eyes and observed Atlan.
It took the Canzer one second to analyze him.
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'Weak…'
With no perceived threat, the Canzer closed its eyes and went back to its nap.
Atlan used this opportunity to finally test out his slingshot. This was the first time he would ever use this kind of weapon, but he knew the basics of how it worked. He simply needed to put ammo in the bands and stretch it before letting it go.
But without any prior experience, Atlan didn't know if he'd be able to do it.
He looked at the ground and saw a small pebble the size of a fingernail. He quickly put it in the middle of the band and pinched it before stretching it back.
With the Canzer's body as his target, Atlan released his grip on the bands and the stone flew towards his target.
However, the pebble soon lost its power in the air and failed to even reach the foot of the Canzer.
The Canzer still kept its eyes closed.
Hmmm…so that's how the trajectory works, Atlan thought.
If he wanted more power, then he could have simply stretched the bands in the slingshot further. The bands had a lot more to stretch and he had a lot more strength to show, but he chose not to. His first shot was only a test for him to find out how the trajectory of his bullet curved in the air.
He only used the lightest of his powers. And because of that, he was able to figure out the base parameters of the slingshot. He was able to guess exactly how much power he needed for his next shot to land properly.
He picked up another pebble and shot it out with a lot more strength than before. This time, the pebble blasted off towards the Canzer at fast speeds. The trajectory this time was almost in a straight line.
In just a moment, the pebble hit the Canzer's body. However, its chitinous armor protected it from any harm.
I was aiming for the head but it landed on its body…I need to put the ammo directly in the center of the pouch or else it will deviate from what I'm aiming at.
Now that he got a handle on how the slingshot worked, Atlan felt confident that he'd be able to use it in a fight.
He just needed proper ammo now. Pebbles wouldn't do much damage even if Atlan used all of his strength to wind it up in the slingshot. It would simply explode upon impact and have no piercing power.
Atlan then looked down at the ground and saw the thin layer of sand and dust over the solid ground and got an idea.
If there was one thing he learned from spending years underground in the Unclaimed Lands, it was that the ground became much harder as they went further below the surface. He learned early on that the pressure exerted at those bottom depths condensed the ground to such degrees that the sand became as hard as stone.
With enough pressure, grains of sand can become rock solid.
Atlan kneeled on the floor and used his full strength to punch the ground, creating a crater below. The whole arena trembled for a slight moment, surprising even the intelligent Canzer.
With his fist submerged, he then pulled out as much chunk of the ground as possible.
He now held a handful of soil in both hands. And using all of his physical strength, he pushed the two chunks together into a ball. Small chunks crumbled out of his hands, but the majority of the soil was retained in his hands.
He then cupped his hands and pushed it even harder. Slowly, his hands deflated and deflated until he felt a solid ball in his palms. Atlan opened his fists and saw an uneven brown pellet that was a hundred times smaller than the chunk it was originally.
But one was not enough. Atlan continued to create more pellets from the ground until he created ten ammo that he could use to fight the Canzer. Each one was faster to make and rounder than the previous ones.
With everything ready, he put the first ammo in the slingshot and aimed at the Canzer.
His left arm was outstretched and his right hand pulled the band back to his shoulders. With one eye closed, he targeted the Canzer's body.
THWATT
The pellet whistled through the air at dangerous speeds. The Giraffe-Horse didn't even have the time to open its eyes as it spurred out of its sitting position and dodged out of the dangerous pellet. However, it couldn't get away from the attack fast enough as the pellet grazed past its long cheeks and took away the chitinous armor with it.
Violet blood pooled out of the injury. The Canzer now stood on its toes, with its back arched, and its body flared. It was alarmed. It almost saw its life flash past its eyes with Atlan's attack.
'This human's dangerous…really dangerous…really dangerous…'
Atlan took out another pellet and readied it in his slingshot. This time, the Canzer regarded him with full alert. It couldn't be careless, especially with that strange pellet Atlan used. After all, it was able to crush its chitinous armor with ease.
If Atlan hit the Canzer with that pellet, it would surely pierce through the other side.
'I'll attack him close…it's humans weakness'
The Canzer didn't want to let Atlan have the time to shoot out another one of those pellets, so it charged toward Atlan with dizzying acceleration. A cloud of dust erupted behind it.
But just before the Canzer could even come close to Atlan, it suddenly felt danger as it heard that terrifying whistling sound come from his slingshot again.
The Giraffe-Horse was forced to jump to the side and abandon its attack to dodge from another pellet.
The ground from where the Canzer dodged suddenly exploded into dust and debris as Atlan's attack landed on the ground.
'The human's fast, but me is faster…dodge to the left and right to confuse the human…'
It used its fast legs to run towards Atlan from the left. The Canzer saw the human stretch his slingshot for another shot. Once it was sure that Atlan was going to release his grip, it suddenly decelerated and dashed in the opposite direction.
It thought that it could finally approach Atlan with this trick. Unfortunately, a sharp pain suddenly emerged from its hind leg as Atlan's pellet pierced through its body and out near its tail.
'Pain!...How did the human know?!'