Is it Wrong to Copy Abilities in Apocalypse?

"Grrrr..."

The moment Alex heard the growls and saw the bloodthirsty, frenzied eyes of the smilodons, he knew one thing.

'I don't have time.'

His body trembled again, due to the effect of adrenaline as well as fear, as the emotions that had been pushed away for a while were now slowly settling in again.

But be it his nervous, alert, fearful, or calm thinking, every one of them told him to do just one thing.

*Inhale**Exhale*

Alex looked away from the beasts; his gaze turned to look at the tree in front of him as he took a deep breath, trying to momentarily pause the shivering of his body.

His gaze turned determined as he balled up his trembling fist, and then...

*Baam**Crack*

He punched the tree with all of his might; the tree, unfortunately, didn't completely break free.

*Hah**Hah**Hah*...

Nervousness started to creep up as he saw this, but his eyes remained resolute as he punched the tree again.

*Boom**Crack—*

The half-attached tree, which seemed like it would break free any moment, still didn't budge, causing Alex's eyes to quake.

"ROAR!"

Especially when he heard the commanding roar of a smilodon, it was clear what that beast was doing; his beast liaison made it easy for him to understand.

'Attack!'

That's what it had ordered one of its subordinates, but just then...

*—Snap*

The cracking of the tree's trunk turned into a sharp snap, causing Alex to widen his eyes in shock and surprise before...

"Haha..."

A shocked, relieved, and disbelieving chuckle left Alex's lips as he loosed his fist that was about to punch the tree once again.

His trembling body relaxed, but just as he was celebrating the fact that he had crossed a hurdle...

"Roar!"

Another roar was heard, and his body froze; he didn't even have to look back to tell what was happening.

The roar clearly said, 'Yes!' as if accepting the command given to it.

*Squish*Squelch*...

The squish squash of the wet grass only made it clearer as Alex's eyes widened in urgency.

His cold and calm persona was nowhere to be seen right now; all that was left was a human desperately trying to save his life.

Yes, it was under the influence of the adrenaline, but even if it wasn't, no one could actually call it wrong; he was a human trying to survive, after all.

Alex's body moved as quickly as he could, and he pushed the tree truck to the ground.

*Thud—Scrape*

It was a large log of wood—long enough to not get swept in the river even though it was completely cut off from the ground and had half of its body in a flowing river—so it fell to the ground with a thud.

*Squelch**Squish*

Alex, however, didn't pause; he only fastened his movements, pushing the tree trunk into the water as he could hear the sound of the smilodon's paws nearing him.

*Slapsh*

Finally, with a loud splash, it fell into the river, and Alex, who saw it, hurriedly jumped on it.

*Woosh*

He could feel the water droplets of the splash from earlier crashing against his body, his fresh wound, giving a cooling sensation before he stood up on the large wooden log floating in the water.

"Hah…."

Finally, only after he felt the wood under his foot, did he release the large puff of air that he had been holding in his lungs.

His shoulders slumped as he thought of resting on the log, but just then...

"ROAR!!"

Alex's head snapped back toward the spot he had jumped from and he saw the smilodon that had rushed toward him, mid-air with its paws stretched out and its jaw wide open.

He froze.

The whole world froze from his perspective.

'What if I duck?'

'No, it will just slash its claws at me, pulling me into the water.'

'What if I punch it with full force?'

'... I don't have enough time.'

One after another, multiple scenarios played in his mind; in some, he had his head chopped off, in some he would just be pulled into the water by the beast, only to be killed by it underwater, and in some, he wouldn't even be able to move before he would have his face crushed between its jaws.

In that small second interval, he thought of many things, and after not finding anything he could do to get away from the situation, his eyes turned dim, and his limbs grew colder.

'Am I really going to die this time...?'

He questioned inwardly as a sad smile slowly started to make its way to his lips...

'I guess this is it…'

His body loosened as he stared at the jaw of the beast slowly moving closer to his head.

He wanted to live; his will to live was so strong that up until now, even with his body battered to its limit, and even after losing so much blood that would render a human unconscious, he was still standing, but not everything would follow his wish.

Things wouldn't always go as he wants them to...

The bloodthirsty red eyes of the smilodon reflected his face, which for the first time, had an expression other than the usual cold one he used to wear.

His face right now looked like someone who was unwilling to accept his fate yet couldn't do anything against it.

But just as Alex was staring at things going down in slow motion, some system notifications flashed past his eyes faster than he could completely read them.

[A certain god is sighing.]

[A certain god is waving their hand.]

[A certain god is wishing you luck.]

All Alex saw was some words, but from those words, he could make out what the notifications would be, and a certain glint passed through his eyes.

But before he could even have a change in his expression or even completely understand the situation...

*Swoosh–Slosh–Splash*

A series of sounds of water waves clashing against each other was heard before the river trembled.

The sound was distant, so far that Alex wouldn't even be able to tell, but the next instant, his eyes, and the smilodon's eyes slowly turned toward the edge of the river.

*Splash!*

There, they saw it.

Their movements didn't pause—not at all; Alex was still about to have his head crushed by the smilodon's jaws, and the beast was still rejoicing at the fact that it was about to kill Alex.

Their eyes, however, widened as they saw the waves that sounded distant were now just next to them.

It was as if the wave had teleported next to them.

Both of their eyes reflected the view of the 10-meter-high wave that seemed to want to take everything down with it.

The next moment...

*Splash**Boom*

The wave crashed into them even before the beast could bite off Alex's head; it all happened in just a second, and the next thing Alex saw was the wooden log that he was standing on, getting closer and closer to his face, and...

*Baam*

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