Chapter 131

The moment the challenge began, a bluish, semi-transparent wall appeared, enclosing the rooftop. Standing a few feet tall, the wall flanked the rooftop on all sides. Jake knew that it wasn’t real and that it was visible only to him, marking the boundaries of the Wave Survival challenge.

He knew he could pass through the bluish wall, and if that happened for any reason, it would mean falling off the roof and tumbling all the way down to the street. He would surely survive the fall, but whether he could get back up before the thirty-second countdown reached zero was anybody’s guess.

The rooftop was about to become an arena where he would have to battle through ten waves of mutants. Sure enough, the Electro was still hovering above the center of the rooftop. Jake had hoped the challenge would take place somewhere else, but no such luck. He would have to take on the challenge right next to the dangerous anomaly.

In the next second, vertical rift gates began to tear open in the air just above the surface of the roof. The first group of ex-humans started to crawl out of the fully formed portals. Fortunately, none of them materialized anywhere near the center of the roof, where the Electro was positioned. So far, all the mutants that crawled from the portals were low-level walkers.

Jake checked his current XP count.

XP: 235/5375

The first ex-human fully emerged from a portal, emitting a piercing shriek. Jake immediately sprang into action, wheeling toward it and breaking into a run while morphing his hands into claws. Before the walker could raise its own deadly claws, Jake slashed at the mutant’s throat with his talons, plunging deep into the meat, easily slicing through muscle and cartilage. Dark blood poured from the torn flesh, and the walker collapsed, dead.

A system notification flashed through his mind.

Wave 1 has started!

Targets killed: 1 of 25

Jake quickly scanned his surroundings. A dozen or so walkers were closing in on him from various directions, and more ex-humans continued to crawl from the rift gates. The portals were likely to remain open until all the mutants from the first wave were released.

He cast a quick glance at the Electro. The anomaly was relatively small, only a few feet wide, and it hovered a few meters above the roof’s surface. The Electro resembled a warped spheroid, bending light and space around it. The anomaly motionlessly floated in the air and was barely visible. While he himself could see it easily thanks to his Enhanced Senses, for regular humans, it would be nearly impossible to spot it.

Some of the walkers passed directly beneath the anomaly without setting it off. From its description, he had learned that it would activate if a living being came within a foot of it, but none of the mutants were tall enough to get that close.

Also, according to its description, another way to trigger the Electro was by disturbing it, but Jake wasn’t quite sure what that meant. Throwing objects at the anomaly would certainly cause a disturbance. However, the mutants were unlikely to hurl anything at it, especially without any reason. Besides, there were even no objects on the roof to throw.

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Another thought crossed his mind: could loud sounds disturb it? As more ex-humans emerged onto the roof, the noise they made grew louder, their combined sharp shrieks piercing the air, blending into a piercing cacophony. As the clamor grew louder, the anomaly appeared to pulsate slightly harder, but not by much.

Therefore, under current circumstances, it seemed that the Electro wasn’t going to activate. It could be set off if a living being came within a foot of it, but it had to be several meters tall—none of the ex-humans he had faced before were anywhere near that size. Disturbing the anomaly by throwing objects was also an option, but neither Jake nor his enemies would likely do that. So, it appeared that his earlier concern about accidentally setting off the Electro during the Wave Survival challenge was unfounded.

Jake slashed his claws across a walker’s throat. Yet another ex-human lunged at him with a clawed hand, but he brushed it aside with one hand while using the talons on his other hand to strike back, tearing a piece of flesh out of its throat. Jake had a couple of other weapons at his disposal—swords and smashfists—but he didn’t feel the need to use them at the moment. His claws were more than sufficient for handling low-level walkers and leapers.

At one point, he sprouted three bladed tentacles from his back. Though there was no urgent need to use them, he enjoyed occasionally bringing them into play. Besides, he wanted to progress and level them up to the next rank. Even during the fight, Jake maintained perfect control over all three tentacles at once. Even when they were behind him, in his blind spot, he was always aware of their exact positions and could easily direct them wherever he wished.

While fighting three walkers in front of him at once, Jake used one of the bladed tentacles to slash across the throat of another ex-human flanking him on the right. He whipped the second tentacle through the air toward a leaper that was about to pounce at him. The pointed blade at the tip of the tentacle stabbed the leaper into an eye, going deep enough to reach its brain. With the third bladed tentacle, Jake cut open another walker, slashing its torso from the crotch to the bottom edge of the sternum, disemboweling the creature.

Ex-humans surrounded him from several directions, but he deftly avoided their strikes without taking a hit. His claws, on the other hand, always found their marks with ease. Most of the ex-humans attacking him were walkers, but there were several leapers among them as well.

It didn’t take him long to deal with all the targets of the first wave.

Multiple enemies killed! +825 XP

Wave 1 complete!

Wave 2 will initiate in 5 seconds.

Jake took a second to check his current experience count.

XP: 1060/5375

Since all the ex-humans he had just defeated were low-level walkers and leapers, he hadn’t gained much experience, even with the active Increased XP booster.

He then checked the status of the challenge.

Wave Survival

Waves: 1 of 10

Remaining time: 54 min 23 sec

He breezed through the first wave in just a few minutes. However, it was obvious that the difficulty would ramp up with each subsequent wave, and probably at an exponential rate.

The Electro anomaly remained dormant in the same position, motionlessly hovering several meters above the center of the roof. It hadn’t been activated even once, and it seemed unlikely to do so, which was a relief. He had no desire to dodge multiple bolts of electricity while fending off waves of ex-humans.

What had him concerned, however, were the sleek, futuristic helicopters circling overhead. He could only spot two in the distance, and they were currently too far away. Yet, there was a chance that they might come closer to his position at some point. If they interfered with his progress on the Wave Survival challenge and prevented him from completing it, he would be so freaking pissed.

Then the second wave started, and Jake shifted his attention to a fresh bunch of mutants emerging from the newly formed rift gates.