Chef in the Apocalypse

Jayce swore inwardly, yet he tried to keep his face expressionless. Despite knowing that Baran was an alien and thus not human, it had only been after he saw his spine contort in such a horrifying fashion that the fact had hit home.

His gaze fell upon Baran who had now completed his transformation. His skin was no longer green, nor was he thin like a twig. His body had morphed into something like a sculpture of art, entirely lacking impurities.

The definition of his bulging muscles looked as if they were carved by the best artisans of the universe, depicting a graceful yet powerful visage on his pale white skin.

If it weren’t for the feeling of grave danger causing his intuition to scream, Jayce could have appreciated the specimen in front of him.

However, he was forced to pay rapt attention to the being in front of him, ensuring he wasn’t caught out by the newly transformed enemy.

Baran glanced at his new transformation in wonder for a few moments, opening and closing his fists as he tried to adjust to the newfound power that filled him.

But instead of being happy, there was outright anger and annoyance written on his face afterwards. Jayce’s spirits soared at the sight, thinking that perhaps the transformation hadn’t increased his strength as much as the enemy hoped.

However, he was forced to discard that theory not long after.

Baran let out a sigh, finally turning his annoyed gaze to Jayce.

"I can’t believe you forced me to use my trump card. If it wasn’t for this stupid Illusion Formation, I could have just killed you with my High Frequency Palm’s."

The deep voice all but threw away any hope Jayce had been holding that the transformation didn’t go as planned. It seemed that he was the source of Baran’s annoyed expression.

Yet in the next moment, Baran’s face brightened. "Oh well. I’ll still be able to turn over a profit if I can take you out. Thankfully I don’t have to worry about outside, as backup has arrived."

Jayce was finally unable to keep his poker face upon hearing confirmation that the disturbance outside was actually the invaders backup. His expression fell and his mind began to race.

"Ke ke ke kekeke keke"

Seeing his expression change finally, Baran let out a hearty laugh. The polyphonic and harsh tones seemed as if they were plucked from the scariest of nightmares.

"Good. I want to see more of those kinds of expressions. Let’s see if I can bring out even more interesting ones." Baran mocked, his face turned up in a crooked smile.

With that, he charged forward like lightning, appearing instantly in front of the still stationary Jayce. Before he even had a chance to react, Baran’s fist clashed against his ribs, producing a loud dull sound.

Jayce felt the air whoosh out of his lungs as he was sent flying backwards with great speed. The trees within the illusion formation broke one after the other as he was sent barreling through the forest uncontrollably.

Yet Baran did not stay idle. He chased down the figure of Jayce who had yet to recover from the initial blow, stalking him like a predator who was ready to tear into their prey.

His speed was much faster than the rocketing Jayce, allowing him to appear behind him. Baran lifted his leg high into the air, showcasing a remarkable flexibility despite his now bulky frame.

All Jayce could do was cross his arms in front of his body and watch on as a heel came down and sent his body into the ground with tremendous force.

The Axe kick was beautifully executed. Despite landing in the middle of Jayce’s guard, the power behind it almost broke both of his arms before sending him directly into the Earth.

The space within the Illusion realm began to quake from the impact, sending out large ripples from where Jayce’s body had hit the ground. Unlike the one’s Baran had created earlier, these ripples were almost 3 times the size and seemed as if they would tear open the entire realm.

Thankfully for Jayce who was now in a miserable position, the Illusion realm was a high level one which could even keep out an Early Stage Nascent Soul cultivator at bay for some time.

Of course Jayce did not have time to rejoice at this fact, as he was fighting to get air back into his lungs after the initial strike to his ribs.

As Baran retrieved his fist and was about to swing down at his exposed body, Jayce finally managed to grab onto his formation disk and teleport his weary figure elsewhere within the formation.

The moment his body disappeared, a flurry of heavy punched landed on the ground, causing the formation to tremble once more.

"You slippery son of a bitch." Baran spat out, yet he seemed to be having fun. He stood upright and looked around the vicinity, a playful smile etched onto his face.

"I’ve got all the time in the world Jayce... But I can’t say the same for your friends out there." He said mockingly, casually walking through the forest.

Jayce who had appeared on the other side of the large formation, fell to his knees and began to cough violently, causing some spatters of blood to appear on the ground beneath him.

He cursed inwardly as he tried to recover from the earlier blows. The powerful punch that landed on his ribs had caused the most damage.

Despite activating his Divine Body Arts, his ribs were almost broken, not to mention his forearms from the earlier Axe Kick which had forced him brutally into the ground.

Due to the hardiness of the formation, the impact on the solid ground had increased the damage he took from the kick, sending a shock wave through his body and dazing him.

"Damn it, he’s too strong." Jayce mumbled, finally feeling some of the pain recede from his body.

The two pills that Baran had popped were mysterious. Although the spatial ring that Rubick had left him did have some manuals about Alchemy and even a pill furnace, he could not recognize those pills.

The effects of the first pill was rather obvious, considering it had healed all of the wounds Jayce had created with his ambush. Yet the second pill was a mystery to him.

The dark and ominous red color of the pill led him to believe that it was some sort of taboo pill which increased the users strength for a temporary amount of time. But he had no way of verifying if this was true or not.

Of course he had the option of waiting it out and seeing if Baran’s strength would decline after a while, but as his enemy had said earlier, he was on a strict time limit.

If what Baran had said earlier was true, then all of his friends were in grave danger. He knew that the new arrival was at least of the Core Formation level, and that it was unlikely it was a human. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

However, it could also be a ploy from the enemy in order to lure him out while the effects of the pill were still active.

Jayce frowned deeply in contemplation.

He was left with two choices; Wait out the effects of the pill and possibly let his friends die, or risk his life to take down Baran while he was at his strongest.

If he was to look at the problem objectively, with the goal of protecting the Earth then it would make more sense to wait out the effects of the pill. He was currently the strongest warrior, if he were to die now then the overall result would be set in stone.

However, Jayce had already made up his mind. These scenarios had already been played through his head many times leading up to this moment.

Despite being given the heavy task of protecting the Earth by Rubick and the other Humans, he had always told himself that he would prioritize his friends and family if these goals ever conflicted with each other.

This moment happened to be one of those conflicting moments which could potentially alter the fate of the entire planet.

Yet Jayce did not hesitate for long.

Now that his body had recovered somewhat, his mind began to race, thinking of ways that he could turn the tide of battle. He already knew that physical attacks would not work against Baran, evident by the spine twisting action he had been privy to earlier.

This meant that 80% of his attacks would be negated by the weird defenses of the alien, leaving him with not many options. Not to mention the blistering speed and power within Baran’s body that threatened to destroy him within seconds.

Therefore, Jayce placed his purple sword within his spatial ring and clenched his fists tightly. In the next moment he revealed his palm in which a dark and ominous flame danced wildly.

"Time to start cooking."