Multiverse: Deathstroke

Chapter 218: Ch.217 Yeti

Chapter 218: Ch.217 Yeti

"Is this a Sasquatch?" Dr. Holloway tilted his head, looking at the enormous creature lying in the ashes. A gust of wind caught his cloak, lifting it high.

"The ones in North American forests are called Sasquatch. Here, it's known as the Himalayan Yeti. It's said to be an intelligent creature, but unfortunately, it's still just an animal. Its willpower wasn't strong enough to resist the symbiote."

Su Ming explained to the doctor while taking a few steps to position himself between Holloway and the symbiote. Even though the creature seemed to have been subdued, it was better to remain cautious. Especially with a symbiote that had super regeneration abilities—it couldn't be killed easily, and if you weren't careful, it could reproduce via splitting, creating even more problems.

Su Ming pulled out the Godslayer and transformed it into a large pot, trapping the symbiote underneath it, deciding to deal with it later.

"I read about these creatures in story magazines. I thought they were just made-up by novelists," Holloway said, stroking his mustache. Today had been quite the eye-opener.

"Art always imitates life," Su Ming said with a sigh.

The Yeti, free of the symbiote, was no longer much of a threat.

For sorcerers, keeping a Yeti as a pet was akin to how the Mayans kept llamas. Many magical guilds sold Yetis, like at the Goblin Black Market or other sorcerers' circles, because its body resembled a human's, making it a good subject for magical experiments.

Even white sorcerers could experiment on it without moral dilemmas.

In the original canon, a Yeti was worth about 100 disembodied frog hearts or ten drops of a dead person's tears. A decent magical tool could easily be traded for several Yetis.

Of course, in the magical world, human money didn't have much value in trade. Precious metals like gold also held little value.

"Some stories say they're gentle, while others claim they're vicious. Maybe it can understand human speech?" Holloway asked in a low voice.

"Only God knows. This is my first time seeing one too," Su Ming replied, shrugging. However, he already had a good idea of how this Yeti would react.

It had been imprisoned in Kamar-Taj for so long, subjected to various forms of torment, then possessed by a symbiote, tortured by Su Ming, and had its once beautiful white fur singed black. Could anyone really expect it to be in a good mood?

Sure enough, the Yeti gradually regained control of its body. With the neural connection to the symbiote severed, it slowly got up.

Then... it touched its butt with a massive hand.

"ROAR!!!"

Red—its hand was covered in red blood! It hurt so much!

Its bloodshot eyes then locked onto the two men and the red cloak, teeth grinding audibly with a menacing crack.

Su Ming turned to Holloway, who was also looking at him.

Holloway scratched his head, the Yeti's roar making his scalp tingle. "It doesn't look... very friendly."

"Doesn't matter. Do you like rugs?" Su Ming asked with a grin, twirling the Nightfall Greatsword in his hand, the blade spinning elegantly.

"I've got a Persian rug in my study. It's pretty nice, but... are you planning to—"

Before Holloway could finish his sentence, Su Ming and the Yeti charged at each other. The ground beneath their feet kicked up dust, and their footsteps echoed through the ruins.

"ROAR!!!"

"Hahaha!"

The Yeti lunged at Su Ming with its massive hands, clearly intending to grab him for a crushing embrace. But Su Ming's response made it clear that he wasn't interested in a hug.

With a straightforward thrust, as fast as thunder and lightning, a sharp crack sounded.

Before the Yeti's hand could even touch Su Ming's shoulder, the pitch-black sword had already pierced straight up from beneath its chin into its skull, slicing through its brainstem and severing its brain in two. The sword's sharp edge instantly destroyed all life within the creature.

THUD!

The Yeti's massive body collapsed to the ground. Su Ming pulled his sword from its skull, flicking off the blood before slinging it back onto his shoulder. Blood spurted from the wound like a fountain, powered by the Yeti's still-beating heart.

"Your rug's ready for delivery. Sign for it," Su Ming said as he strolled back to Holloway, pulling off his helmet and lighting a cigarette. The Yeti, lacking regenerative abilities, had dared to challenge him—clearly a death wish.

It was a bit dirty, though. If it was going to be used as a rug, they'd need to find someone to professionally clean it.

Holloway sighed. "I almost forgot you still own Midnight Express. Too bad this primitive fur style doesn't really go with my study."

"That's easy to fix. Buy yourself a stone cottage near the Rocky Mountains, make it a hunting lodge. While everyone else has bear-skin rugs, you can have a Yeti-skin one. Doesn't that sound a little exciting?"

Su Ming took a deep drag of his cigarette, his powerful lungs burning it down to the butt in a single puff. He dropped the butt and reattached his helmet.

"Uh..." Holloway didn't quite know what to say. Buying a whole house just for a rug? Maybe he wasn't rich enough after all.

"Let's leave the rug here for now. No one's going to steal it." Su Ming bent down and lifted the golden pot trapping the symbiote. Inside, it had shrunk into a small, football-sized black mass.

He picked it up. The symbiote still had some use for him.

The most useful part of it was its ability to enhance the host's strength and speed. If he allowed it to bond with him, his physical capabilities would likely skyrocket.

However, its other abilities were of less interest.

Healing? Su Ming already had that. Defense? The symbiote suit couldn't compare to his Saint Icon armor. And as for attack power? Two greatswords were far more lethal, and probably even his promethium dagger outclassed it.

The symbiote communicated with its host via neural connections, which X-metal couldn't block. This meant that if he bonded with it, the symbiote could flood his mind with thoughts of slaughter and evolution, as well as the mental residue of its previous hosts. It could even affect his combat decisions.

That was the downside. Most of the time, Su Ming relied on strategy, exploiting his enemies' weaknesses rather than brute force.

Still, this wasn't Venom, so he didn't have to worry about it infecting him with Deadpool-level insanity. Maybe one day, he'd try bonding with it just to see what happened.

The symbiote seemed to sense Su Ming's thoughts, squirming slightly in his hand before turning black and yellow—matching the color scheme of his Saint Icon armor.

"Trying to butter me up won't work. I'll think about it. For now, sit tight in my pouch."

Su Ming stuffed the symbiote into his thigh pouch. Thankfully, it was a shapeshifting organism, so it fit snugly inside.

Once it stopped moving, he put away the Godslayer weapon.

Technically, this symbiote was Kamar-Taj property, but since they'd let it escape and he was the one to recover it, it was now his.

Besides, the symbiote's colors already screamed "Su Ming's property." The Ancient One probably wouldn't mind.

"Strange, why do I feel like the Cloak of Levitation is staring at me disapprovingly, even though it doesn't have eyes?"

Su Ming felt a shiver run down his spine but shrugged it off. He had given the cloak a Manhattan gem—it should have some sense of gratitude, right?

Acting as if nothing had happened, he continued giving orders. "Let's go, Doctor. We have to keep moving."

Holloway nodded. Leaving dangerous items in Su Ming's hands seemed like the right choice. To him, Su Ming represented government authority, while sorcerers were just hazardous individuals. So turning over an alien lifeform to the government? No questions there.

"Alright, but I hope we don't run into any more monsters. That thing spit at me earlier, and I felt like I was on a battlefield."

Su Ming shrugged, looking up at the massive column of gray energy towering in the distance. The swirling energy darkened the sky.

"Who knows? But isn't exploring the unknown thrilling? Beats filling out death reports in an office, doesn't it?"

"Heh..."

Holloway smiled bitterly and shook his head. A moment ago, when dodging those spit blasts that hit like bullets, he had felt like he'd brushed shoulders with death. That kind of excitement? Maybe a bit too much. He nearly wet himself.