I Hate Systems

"Who the heck are you…?" The shawl-draped man glared in anger as the collapsed terrace of the nearby building revealed the figure of a man once the dust dispersed. A jet-black entity that seemed to have merged into the night, one harbouring personal vengeance against him.

He was akin to a king cobra, a creature famed for going to any lengths to seek vengeance.

'Where the heck did such a bastard come from?' The shawl-draped man was about to attack when suddenly, he could feel the temperature of his body rising up at an alarming pace. "What the heck?"

"The poison took some time, huh? I should make note of this for the future." The hooded entity spoke with his grating voice, leaping away from the collapsed terrace as he disappeared from view.

"Hah…haaah…" The shawl-draped man suddenly found himself panting, as if feverish. His body temperature was unnaturally going up when he realised what was up, staring at the knife in his hand with a foul expression, "This bastard has been playing me like a fiddle."

The underlings carried short swords each, for they were the frontline attackers in any situation. As for the shawl-draped man, he was like a mage, having stored plenty of lifeforce and faith in his stomach that he used to heal the injuries of his underlings and launch attacks at his enemies.

And as he typically operated semi-naked, he didn't have any space to store a weapon. It was also typically unnecessary considering his powers. But, it seemed the hooded man had investigated him intensely.

The knife he threw into the eye of the underling seemed to be coated with a long-acting poison. So, when the shawl-draped man observed worms squirming underneath his skin, he picked up the closest blade, which happened to be this knife.

And as a result, the poison seeped into his body. As it was a long-acting poison, he didn't notice it until its effects started to show, which was many hours later from the event.

The shawl-draped man never bothered with poisons and injuries. After all, there was nothing his lifeforce couldn't solve. But now, the mysterious worms fed on lifeforce to grow. And, even though he had used the electric currents to kill them all, it seemed some eggs were still in his body.

He would have to treat himself carefully at a later date to fully remove them from his body. The moment he used some lifeforce to treat the poison that was raising his body temperature, he could feel a couple of worms squirm once again.

Moreover, it was apparent that the hooded man held more of those terrifying capsules. Therefore, the shawl-draped man didn't wish to needlessly waste his lifeforce. Originally, he planned to play dead and sneak attack the hooded man when he came nearby.

But the other party was way too careful and despite it being hours, he never approached the shawl-draped man. Moreover, he had also shot some mysterious oil whose effects were unknown.

The shawl-draped man tried to wipe away the oil but frowned upon seeing that it refused to come off. And as his body temperature was rising, his concentration was waning. Without any delay, he activated the faith he had stored in his stomach.

Pat-pata-pat!

A cloud appeared overhead and began to drizzle, soon forming a rain shower. The cold water fell on his body and cooled him, giving him a sense of clarity. But, despite his solution taking effect, the shawl-draped man's expression was foul, observing the oil layer coating him was acting like an insulator, preventing heat from his body from being absorbed by the raindrops.

Hence, the cooling efficiency was a mere tenth of the original.

'Either I need to run away or deal with this bastard.' The shawl-draped man frowned as he stared at the corpses of his underlings, 'No, I must kill him now! He's amply prepared to face me. I have revealed too many of my cards. If I give him time now, he'll be better prepared to face me in the future.'

"I'll have to risk it, then." Muttering as such, the shawl-draped man condensed wind on his toes and leaped, crossing the building with the shattered terrace as he stared from his vantage point, observing the hooded figure running across a back alley farther away.

Boom!

He flew across the skies and slammed a bolt of lightning at the hooded figure, eliciting a scream from the other party who then collapsed to the ground. But, despite seeing the other party on the ground, the shawl-draped man wasn't convinced.

Hence, he unleashed a few more bolts of lightning until a charred smell wafted through the alley. He didn't stop at that and sent a few wind blades to dice up the figure into three, only grinning after that, "Just a tricky bastard…"

Gah!

He collapsed to the ground, noticing the oil layer on his body seeping through his skin to catch fire from the intense body heat he was radiating. The radiation came from within and hence, it was hard to endure.

The sheer heat almost knocked him unconscious as the shawl-draped man was alarmed, gritting his teeth in response, "Dammit!"

He hurriedly used the faith stolen from the followers of the God of Rain to summon rain in his area, expending everything at his disposal to create a downpour, barely able to maintain consciousness as a result.

The flames were still seething underneath his skin though as the oil seemed to have reacted to cause some sort of radiation. He was forced into a corner and hence had to pour in all lifeforce, watching a few worms erupt as he readily yanked them out using wind blades and then proceeded to heal the injuries too.

Upon seeing no other worms form, he could relax a little and work on his injuries when suddenly, his urge to curse himself worsened, noticing a couple of vials roll out of the diced-up corpse as they exploded, causing some of the smoke to enter his mouth when he cursed instinctively, "Fuck!"

Immediately, the tiny eggs in the smoke absorbed the rampant lifeforce coursing in his body at the moment, causing dozens of worms to burst out of the skin on his face and neck.

In the narrow alley during the night, accompanying the sordid rain was a grotesque figure with worms bursting out of his body in large numbers, a sight capable of causing even the strongest of men to faint.