Chapter 120

Jake spent the rest of the night searching for mana. During the morning, he hunted mutants in the sewers. Once he cleared out the underground tunnels, he returned to street level to look for anomalies, eager to find some challenges to tackle. He confronted every group of ex-humans he encountered, earning some XP. The rain from the previous night had finally stopped, and the sun broke through the clouds, casting a soft light over the streets and sparkling off the puddles left by the downpour.

As Jake roamed the city, battling ex-humans and searching for anomalies, his mind drifted back to the events of the previous night. He remembered watching a woman named Catalina, who was riding a motorcycle, and her companions in two pickup trucks chase and capture a group of survivors. This wasn’t the first time he’d witnessed Los Demonios launch an ambush against fellow survivors.

However, their attacks weren’t motivated by the desire to rob other survivors. Los Demonios had access to high-quality equipment as well as top-notch weapons and vehicles—far more than most. They even operated helicopters. The chopper Jake had brought down recently was just one of many in the gang’s possession. Over the past few days, he’d spotted similar-looking helicopters flying over the city on multiple occasions. Many of the vehicles in their possession had a futuristic design, like Catalina’s bike and the chopper he’d brought down.

Clearly, the Demons didn’t lack resources. They ambushed and attacked other survivors not because they wanted to rob them, but rather because they aimed to take hostages. For some reason, they were collecting people, and they needed them alive. Even though Jake had long since decided not to get involved in human affairs, he found himself pondering the meaning behind it all. Where did Los Demonios acquire their high-quality equipment and vehicles? Why did they relentlessly keep capturing other survivors? What was their purpose? Were they forcing the captives to work for the gang? It seemed that Los Demonios grew stronger with each passing day. While it didn’t bother him personally, for other survivors, it surely posed a big problem.

While pondering this, Jake kept wandering around the city, killing all the ex-humans he encountered to farm XP. He ventured into a high-rise building and cleared it of all mutants from the top floor down to the first, before returning to the roof and leaping to another building. He was currently on the first floor of yet another building, having cleared all the upper floors of mutants. He was surrounded by a group of walkers and leapers, with a massive shambler looming behind them. Jake had his hands morphed into smashfists. While he preferred using claws or swords in battle, he occasionally switched to smashfists to practice and improve this ability.

Just as a walker lurched toward him, Jake threw his right smashfist at the mutant. It hammered into the ex-human’s lower jaw, shattering it. Blood and broken teeth flew from the mutant’s ruined mouth, leaving the walker stunned for a moment. While the first ex-human was out of it, Jake shifted his attention to another mutant. His huge fist landed at the bottom of its ribcage, its ribs collapsing inward with a sickening snapping sound. He then returned his attention to the first walker. His smashfist caught it beneath what remained of its lower jaw and tore its head free from its neck. Its head went bouncing across the floor as a geyser of blood sprayed from the stub of its neck. Both mutants were dead within three seconds.

While Jake preferred his claws, he couldn’t deny that his smashfists were extremely powerful, especially in combination with his Body attribute being at 32 and the recently acquired second upgrade for his Enhanced Strength, which greatly increased his punching power.

There were several more mutants attacking him from several directions. He punched one of them, knocking the mutant from its feet. Jake brought one of his balled-up smashfists downward onto its head, smashing it open like an overripe melon.

He immediately turned toward another mutant just as it lashed out at him with its claws. Jake blocked the attack with his massive fists. The mutant’s claws scraped against them, inflicting minimal damage to his rough, textured skin. He then threw a punch with blinding speed, his fist plunging into and through the center of the mutant’s body, emerging through its back in an explosion of gore. Jake pulled his clenched smashfist free of the ex-human’s body, letting it topple to the ground.

Suddenly, the shambler reached him, shoving aside two walkers that stood in its way. The massive mutant swung its enormous arm at Jake, but he ducked just in time, and it passed harmlessly over his head. Without wasting a moment, Jake retaliated with a punch to the shambler’s stomach. His smashfist easily broke through the shambler’s protective organic layer. When his fist pulled out of the mutant’s body, coils of squashed intestines came out, flopping onto the ground. Jake immediately attacked again, his massive smashfist sweeping through the air to make contact with the shambler’s skull. Despite the protective layer covering it, the mutant’s head exploded from the brutal force of the impact. With a tremendous thud, the huge mutant collapsed to the floor. Just like that, the shambler was dealt with.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Jake quickly spun around, surveying his surroundings. A handful of weak walkers and leapers were still alive. It didn’t take him long to kill the remaining ex-humans.

Multiple enemies killed. +435 XP

Immediately, another notification flashed through his mind.

You have gained enough XP to level up. Your level went up from 38 to 39. You have gained 5 SP.

As he’d intended, Jake spent three points to unlock all three upgrades for the combat ability he was currently using.

Ability: Smashfists

Upgrade Options:

1 - Increase the impact strength to shatter tougher materials.

2 - Enhance the blocking capability to absorb and deflect incoming strikes.

3 - Significantly reduce the transformation time to morph hands into smashfists.

He then checked the upgrades for Bladed Tentacles. He’d already acquired one upgrade for this ability to reduce the time needed to grow tentacles, so there were two more available.

Ability: Bladed Tentacles

Upgrade Options (Common):

1 - Increase the number of tentacles that can be sprouted at the same time to three. Cost: 1 SP

2 - Increase the length of tentacles by several feet for increased reach. Cost: 1 SP

3 - Significantly reduce the time needed to grow tentacles. Cost: Already Owned

He used the remaining two skill points to acquire the first two upgrades as well.

The next time he leveled up, he planned to acquire all four upgrades for Mind Reader. He would likely use his last skill point to obtain the fourth upgrade for Claws to extend their reach. However, he then recalled that he actually didn’t want to increase their length, because he was content with their current reach. When he needed greater reach, he could always switch to his swords instead. So he would probably allocate the fifth skill point to something else. He would decide when the time came.

After that, he opened his eyes, and all the information disappeared. He looked around once more. There were no ex-humans left in the building, so he transformed his smashfists back into normal hands. Now, it was time to head back to the rooftop. However, instead of returning to the staircase, he thought of something else. Staircases were for humans. Maybe he could scale the building’s wall to reach the roof instead? He knew his claws weren’t very suitable for that, but perhaps his enhanced agility and excellent acrobatic skills would assist him. He decided to give it a shot.

As soon as he left the building, he looked around. Some of the shorter buildings had vines cascading down their walls. Jake knew he wouldn’t have any trouble scaling a wall covered in vines, but he wanted to find a tall building that wasn’t covered in vegetation. Even a “naked” building wall should offer plenty of handholds, like window frames, cornices, and other features, for him to grab onto. His enhanced agility and impressive acrobatic abilities should allow him to scale any building wall, but since he’d never actually attempted it before, he wanted to try it.

Jake jogged down the street, scanning for the perfect building. Soon, he arrived at a four-way intersection and heard a strange humming sound. He paused, taking a moment to look around. At one corner, he spotted a half-destroyed one-story diner, with an anomaly hovering above its roof, emitting a low hum. Intrigued, Jake decided to check it out and see if it had a challenge for him to tackle. His search for a building to climb could wait a little.

Next to the demolished diner stood a multi-story building, with long vines cascading down its front wall. Jake jogged over to the building, grabbed hold of a vine, and began to climb. He reached the height of the second floor and was about to jump down onto the diner’s roof when he suddenly heard the rumble of a powerful vehicle.

Jake looked around and saw a pickup moving toward him, quickly closing in on his position. A machine gun was mounted in the bed, manned by a person clinging to it for dear life. Within seconds, the pickup truck reached the intersection. The vehicle moved so fast Jake was sure it would shoot past him without its occupants even noticing him. However, the truck came to a sudden stop, its tires screeching in protest, halting not far from his location.

Jake noticed the driver, a man with a red scarf wrapped around his neck, staring at him through the windshield.

“There it is!” the driver exclaimed, his voice easily reaching Jake through the rolled-down window. “It’s the freak!”

The person operating the machine gun also wore a red scarf around his neck. He aimed the weapon at Jake and snarled, “Finally found you, you sonofabitch. You made us search the whole city for you. Now you’ll die, motherfucker.”

The hell? Jake thought. Why had these guys, who obviously belonged to Los Demonios, been looking for him? However, before he could give the matter any more thought, the Demon manning the machine gun unleashed a volley of bullets in his direction.

The guy aimed a bit too high, though, and the heavy-caliber bullets he fired struck the vine Jake was gripping above him. The vine snapped, sending Jake tumbling down onto the sidewalk.