Hitman with a Badass System
chapter-681

The Orc and Michael looked at each other. They were in a staring contest. After a while, the orc finally took a step forward. A green mist enveloped the club in the orc's hand. Every other mutated being Michael had met was dumb, stupid, and brainless. However, the Orc seemed different. Michael didn't know the orc was ancient, several thousand years older than the mutated being Michael had faced. The treacherous ocean twisted the Orc's soul and mind to the point the orc developed a sense of intelligence. The orc was once a mindless mutated beast but not anymore. It had evolved.

Soon, the slow steps turned into running. Michael stood there without moving. Lightning bolts crackled around Michael's fist and feet. He waited for the orc to get closer. The distance between Michael and the Orc rapidly closed to the point there was only ten meters distance between them. At that moment, Michael dashed toward the orc. In a blink of an eye, the Orc's club and Michael's swords clashed. Sparks flew, creating clashing metal sounds.

The orc roared. Despite the orc's size, it moved with speed beyond mortal limits. The orc swung his club left and right with no technique but with brute force. A single blow could force a man's head to his chest cavity. Michael swayed his body to avoid the club. With lightning speed, Michael swung his swords. As Michael expected, the sword couldn't even scrap the orc's thick skin. He felt like he was trying to cut a concrete block. The ORc quickly retaliated by throwing his fist at Michael. The latter barely evaded the punch.

Suddenly, the Orc roared. A powerful sonic wave shot out of its mouth and sent Michael flying for a couple of meters.

"That's unexpected," said Michael when he landed on the ground. Michael was lucky to have the responsive shield in his arsenal. Otherwise, the sound wave shot out of the orc's mouth would have torn his eardrums and crushed a few bones. Still, the roar damaged Michael's organs a bit. The APD quickly pumped a healing potion into his bloodstream, keeping Michael in perfect shape.

Michael took a deep breath. He threw away the two swords because they were useless in this fight. Instead of using swords, Michael conjured the dark flames. He covered his fist with the dark flames. The flame burnt off his sleeves. Michael felt powerful and badass with the flaming fists.

"Let's see how thick your skin is," Michael snickered. Yet again, Michael dashed at the Orc. If there was no light coming from the energy behind Michael, he would have been stronger. Complete darkness with no light would boost Michael's strength several times. Nonetheless, Michael was more than strong enough to fight the orc. After all, the Orc was at the Fusion stage, but Michael was at the Half Immortal stage. Michael delayed the battle intentionally to give Gaya enough time. If Michael had killed the orc sooner, stronger mutated beings could appear next. But, for some strange reason, no mutated beings appeared in the area.

It worked in Michael's favor. He took his sweet time with the Orc. But that wasn't to say the Orc was an easy opponent. On the contrary, the Orc was stronger than any Fusion stage cultivator Michael had faced. The Orc threw his fist and, at the same time, swung its club. This time, Michael didn't evade. Instead, he just grabbed the club. A powerful shock wave appeared when Michael stopped the club with his hand. On the other hand, he grabbed the Orc's fist. Michael looked up at the orc with a snicker. The very next moment, Michael pulled the club and fist toward him and kicked the orc in the gut with his knee. The Orc spurted out dark blood. Michael quickly turned around before throwing the orc over his head. The orc hit the ground with a loud thud. The ground formed several cracks beneath the orc when Michael smashed him on the ground. Michael did not stop. He stomped the orc in the chest with enough force to break several ribs inside the orc.

The orc opened his mouth to roar, but Michael quickly raised his arms, casting the wind blast spell. The sonic wave from the orc's mouth and the wind blast from Michael collided in the middle. The collision created a shock wave that sent both of them flying in opposite directions. Michael landed on his feet comfortably, unlike the orc. The flames burned darker and hotter around Michael's fist. He cracked his neck.

Nightmare turned his gaze away from the battle to Gaya. She was still cultivating the energy. Her power had grown from Soul Refining Stage level 8 to level 9. Gaya's black hair fluttered in the wind as her entire body glowed. He noticed golden snake scales appearing on her skin.

On the other hand, Michael did not notice the changes on Gaya's skin. He focused on battling the orc. While the orc was getting back to his feet, Michael made his way to the boulder nearby. Michael punched the boulder, cracking it open like an egg. He grabbed the two large pieces of the boulder, lifted them up, and threw them toward the orc. Seeing the two large stones flying toward him, the orc quickly raised his hands in front of his face. The two boulders hit the orc before scattering into pieces. The orc was thrown backward by force. When he lowered his arms, Michael was in the air. He fired lightning bolts one after another.

Michael flew around in the air, bombarding the Orc with lightning bolts. In Nightmare's eyes, Michael looked more like a god of lightning than the god of darkness. The orc couldn't keep up with Michael's offense. After a while, the orc surprised Nightmare by leaping into the air. The orc tried to battle Michael in the air.

Nightmare saw the Orc and Michael fly across the sky, fighting each other. They moved too fast to the point Nightmare could only see blurry images in the sky. The battle between the orc and Michael continued for nearly fifteen minutes. Michael dragged the fight as long as he could. Although the orc began to fight aggressively like a wounded animal, Michael remained unscathed.

To Michael's surprise, Gaya rapidly reached higher and higher in cultivation power. He thought she would stop breaking through once she had reached the Fusion Stage level 3 or 4. On the contrary, her absorption of the energy increased by several folds. She climbed up the cultivation without slowing down. Fusion Stage level 3, Fusion Stage level 4, Fusion Stage level 5, Fusion Stage level 6...

Her power soared through the roof. Nightmare had a difficult time breathing standing beside Gaya. In the air, the battle continued. The orc was in much more rough shape than before. His entire body was riddled with burning wounds caused by Michael's flaming fists. Yet, despite all the wounds and broken bones, the Orc continued to fight with new vigor. His wounds even slowly healed.

Michael had enough of the orc. He wanted to finish the battle. The quickest way to finish the fight was to grab the orc's head and twist it around. Michael was about to evade the orc's punch and flew behind him when a bright beam of light shot out from Gaya toward the sky. The sound of rumbling thunder echoed through the treacherous ocean. Nightmare saw Gaya slowly starting to float in the air. Finally, her power stopped rising. Gradually, the bright ball of energy in the dragon's mouth lost its glow. In a few moments, the light faded away from the energy ball and around Gaya. She floated in the mid-air with her hair fluttering.

Just like lightning bolts danced around Michael's body, slithering snakes made of emerald green energy coiled around Gaya. They were in the hundreds. Tiny ethereal snakes coiled around her. Michael stopped fighting as he felt a strange force enveloping the orc. Gaya slowly opened her eyes. They were green with slit pupils. Suddenly, Michael's neck hair stood up. She looked over his shoulder to see a giant cobra materialize in the air. It glimmered like it was made of pure gold. The snake hissed at the orc, slowly wrapping its tail around the orc. The orc frantically wriggled his body to escape the snake's clutches. But the ethereal snake was too strong. It slowly crushed his body. Michael heard sickening bone crushing sounds. Slowly, the hissing snake opened its mouth, devouring the orc.

Michael saw the orc's skin melting inside the snake's mouth. Since the snake was translucent, he could see the orc gradually turning into a skeleton.

[Ding! Subordinate Gaya killed a Fusion Stage level 10 mutated Orc. The reward is 300,000 experience points]

Michael heard the system sounding in his head. The Gaya before him was just as strong as him, a level 10 Fusion Stage cultivator. By absorbing the purified first energy left behind by the Dark Lord, Gaya jumped from the Soul Refining stage cultivator to a Fusion Stage cultivator.

"I feel strong," said Gaya. She clenched her fist and looked at her arms.

"Yes, you are," Michael wrapped his arm around Gaya. He gave a gentle headbutt before a warm kiss on the cheek.

"System, pinpoint the curse-breaking artifact's location," Michael ordered the system. He accumulated enough badass points to locate the artifact instead of aimlessly roaming around the treacherous ocean. He didn't have any need to wander around. He got enough experience points to break through to the Half Immortal Stage. According to the system, he had to be in a safe environment to start the tribulation. The treacherous ocean was anything but safe. Finding a safe environment was Michael's next goal. But first, he needed to get the artifact for Eve's sake.

The system asked for 100,000 badass points to pinpoint the location. It was worth the price. After a while, Michael sensed a strange energy. That was the curse-breaking artifact. Without lingering around, Michael flew in the artifact's direction.

"Where are we going?" asked Nightmare. He had so many questions to ask Gaya, but for now, he chose not to.

"To take the artifact that would break Eve's curse once and for all,"