Parasyte System

Chapter 35 - Busted?

'Wow, I really didn't expect everything to go so well...' Jay thought after he had calmed down a bit, although no one could blame him for being so excited.

Ever since he acquired the system, his stats had been in the (E) rank, after he trained, he managed to increase them to (E+) rank, getting a stronger body than most people his age.

However, that was not enough for what he had in mind, which was to get more hosts from the South Zone, so he had to learn the Phantom Trace, buy some items and use a metal bat as well as the Wind Control to protect himself.

That way he had managed up until now, depending heavily on external factors to improve his lack of power, defense and speed.

Unfortunately, these external factors had a limit.

The metal bat, though strong, ended up being heavily damaged after a few minutes of continuously hitting Taylor, forcing him to resort to another method in order to defeat him.

The Phantom Trace, a martial footwork technique that gave him great mobility to dodge hits at close range and even could be used to run away, unfortunately, Jay could only use the first and second steps, resulting in other people to still be able to corner him anyway.

Finally, the magically reinforced bandages that Sarah had given him, they were incredibly resistant to cuts, Jay had proven it's defense before, but because his opponents so far had only used blunt force, they had not had a moment to shine.

Now, however, with the "Parasite: Limit Breaker", Jay would be able to improve his body to Colt's level, improving his defense, attack and speed all at the same time, just the thought of being as strong as Colt made Jay excited!

'Anyway, as good as it is...it would be best to save this to use at home, I don't want to end up passing out here...'

Jay clearly remembered what had happened the first time he assimilated a parasite, and it was a pretty painful experience that almost caused him to lose consciousness.

So even though he could assimilate it right now, being a parasite that could break the limits of his body as the system indicated, Jay was sure it would hurt as much or even more than the first time he assimilated a parasite.

Then, without wanting to delay any longer, Jay gathered his things, which were inside a small plastic bag at the bottom of the metal trash can and quickly changed his clothes before Colt returned.

"Hm?"

But the moment he grabbed his smart watch, Jay saw that there was a new message, and the sender was Noah.

This surprised him a bit because he wasn't expecting a message from Noah right now since they had nothing to talk about, at least not until Jay got to Noah's home.

[There's trouble, don't go to my house, let's meet in this place instead...]

"!"

This message, though short in content, made Jay quite concerned, making his mind work quickly to think of what might have happened...

'...It can't be, we've been discovered...?!'

Although the word "trouble" could mean many things, in this kind of situation, the first thing Jay could think of was that they had been discovered.

While they had successfully passed through the entrance, it was quite clear that they had caught the attention of the guard, so although he seemed to have just let them go, perhaps he had followed them or something.

In that case, the guardian, as a rank (C) super, he could have easily followed them without him or Noah noticing anything...which meant that he could have discovered them.

Jay quickly wrote a message to ask Noah exactly what had happened as he hurried away from the neighborhood he was in.

However, even after waiting for several minutes...Noah didn't answer.

'This...is bad...'

***

"Argh, that idiot, always leaving me alone!" Said a tall, thin man with wavy black hair, visibly upset and nervous as he walked in circles around a small fountain in the center of a dark park.

This man's name was Mark and he was one of the two guardians of the 30th District, he was currently patrolling a park which was part of an abandoned residential area.

This was just part of his job as a guardian, patrolling as he did every night.

However, like every night, his mood was not the best, that was partly because his partner had left him alone again, this time with the excuse that he had to go to the bathroom desperately.

"I understand that sometimes you can't avoid going to the bathroom but in addition to going... you even had to take my damn smart watch!??"

*Bam!*

He then kicked a nearby rock and sent it flying, which only fell after traveling several meters through the air.

The reason why he had taken Mark's smart watch was because his partner, whose name was Chuck, hadn't paid the internet service bill for his own smart watch, so if he wanted to have internet, he had to use Mark's watch.

"That damn bastard...he's probably not even in the bathroom and he's just lazing around...!"

Although it might seem that he was quite angry with his partner for being lazy or for taking his smart watch, in reality it wasn't for none of those reasons, but something else..

*Tak*

Just then, Mark heard the sound of a small but solid object falling to the ground.

"!?"

He quickly turned in the direction he had heard the noise, a tree a few meters away that was nearby, assuming a position ready to fight...or to flee.

"W-w-w-who's there!?" He asked as he shook with fear, looking at what had made that noise. "...Ah."

It was a small apple.

'...It was just an apple...haaa, damn...' He thought, clutching his chest and sitting on a nearby bench because of the fright.

That's right, the reason he was so angry wasn't because Chuck had taken his smart watch or something like that, but because he had left him alone in such a scary place!

Mark had always been very fearful, and this park specifically was a very scary place for him.

Unlike a neighborhood which had at least some street lights and if not, the moonlight provided some light to the surroundings, in this park there was only 1 working street light, located right in the center of the park, and what was worse, the moonlight was blocked by all the trees that were there, giving instead many more shadows than illuminated places.

"...I-I don't think I'll be able to leave the park until Chuck returns..." He said as he sat on a nearby bench and hugged his knees, a small tear forming in the corner of his eye.

Another reason he was acting so angry before was because he was really afraid of this place and wanted to give himself courage acting that way.

After all, he had been trapped in the center of the park for a long time because he was afraid to go into the darkness of the park.

Normally, a person like him could never become a guardian...but what made him special was not his character, but his ability.

"It's getting very cold...well, since it looks like I'll be here for a while, I'd better do something..." He said as he rubbed his hands together in the cold.

Then, he took a lot of air and blew on his hands.

*Woosh*

At that moment, something strange happened, Mark's breath, instead of being transparent like that of normal people, was of a visible purple color with some golden sparks in it, in fact, more than wind, it seemed to be dust...

Slowly, the "dust" began to surround his hands, quickly hardening and taking the form of gloves made of what appeared to be a purple soft material with golden sparks.

"There, with this my hands will no longer be so cold..." He said with a small smile as he looked at his gloves that served very well against the cold.

That was Mark's esper skill, "Stellar Dust", this skill allowed him to turn his breath into what he called stardust, a substance that would take the form of whatever Mark wanted, although with certain limits, of course.

For example, if Mark wanted a ball, then the dust would take the shape of a ball, imitating the physical properties of the ball, on the other hand, if he wanted a knife, that could also be done.

The limits of his ability was that he could not create anything too large or complex, so if he tried to create a car or a smart watch, he would fail miserably.

That was also why the boss had paired him with Chuck, since Mark's physical ability was deplorable, his role was to be a support to Chuck, who specialized in pure attack, by making him shields, armour or weapons.

*Shuu*

"Hm? Another apple...?" he said as he looked at the bush from which the noise had come.

Because he had been frightened enough by the other apple before, this time he was calmer...although only a little bit.

"!!!"

However, the calm he felt quickly faded as he saw what had come out of some nearby bushes.

A hooded man, looking directly at Mark from inside a bush with his dark face wrapped in shadows.

'I... I think I'll have to make myself some new pants after this too....' He thought before collapsing onto the bench out of fear.