Chapter 287
He pushed off the wall, dropping to the ground and landing right on top of one of the ex-humans, sending it sprawling. He stamped down on its head, causing it to burst apart. The nearest mutants shifted their attention from the energy shield to him.
Since there was no longer a point in keeping
Cloak
up, he deactivated it. In his peripheral vision, he noticed the four humans inside the energy bubble staring at him. Jake chose to ignore them for the moment. With both lower arms transformed into chainsaws, he swiftly plunged into the heart of the mutant swarm.
He swung one of his chainsaws at the nearest walker, cutting deep into its shoulder. He pushed the spinning blade all the way through the mutantâs body, cutting it diagonally in half. Without slowing down, he attacked another ex-human, delivering a powerful slash with one of his weapons. Once it was dead, he immediately charged another, driving his chainsaw through its body and causing the spinning blade to burst from its back in a spray of gore.
He continued to cut through the mutant ranks, slaying one after another, relying on sweeping strikes as well as precise thrusts. He moved around the energy shield, carving a path through the mutants with broad strokes of his chainsaws. Using sweeping movements, he cut his way through the mutants, slicing off limbs, severing bodies in half, and spraying blood everywhere.
It was a gruesome sight, for sure. The four survivors watched him with wide eyes from within the safety of their energy shield. They had their weapons up, tracking his every movement, but they didnât open fire on himânot yet, at least.
They knew he was considered their ally, but he could feel their confusion. It was understandable. It wasnât easy to accept the fact that a seemingly bloodthirsty monster could be intelligent and on their side to boot.
They were right to be wary of him. If he himself wasnât sure how he viewed them, either as mere prey to hunt or as someone to protect, then they especially should keep their guard around him at all times.
Just before the energy shield vanished, Jake killed the last of the mutants, severing its body into two uneven pieces. The ground was littered with severed limbs and pieces of flesh, abundantly stained with dark blood.
Even though the four survivors should have been well accustomed to the sight of gore by that point, they all looked shocked by the massacre that had just taken place before their eyes. Two of the humans seemed on the verge of throwing up, desperately fighting to keep it down.
Multiple enemies killed. +25,750 XP
He killed quite a lot of ex-humans but hadnât leveled up, so he took a second to check his current experience.
XP: 135,150/165,000
He was getting close to a level-up and wanted to check if any of his current abilities had reached 100% and were ready to be upgraded to the next rank. But before he could do so, he noticed one of the survivors nudging another, asking what the hell they should do about him.
Jake turned toward the four survivors. Seeing him shift his attention to them made the humans tense up even more. One of them, noticeably more nervous than the others, began to inch the barrel of his assault rifle upward. The woman beside him shook her head and whispered for him to stay calm.
Jake scanned the four humans to learn their names: Jasper, Simon, Clara, and Malik. Simon was the one sweating bullets. There seemed to be no distinct leader among them. The weapons they wielded were top-notch and high-level, capable of doing a number on him should the survivors choose to attack. Whether they could get off a single shot before he reached them was a different question altogether.
Jake remained where he was, unsure of how to proceed with them. Sure, he had killed the mutants, but he did so only to keep the humans for himself. They were his quarry.
However, now that the fight was over, the same doubts he had before resurfaced. It would be extremely easy for him to kill three humans and drag the sole survivor to his lair. After all, he was a monster and a predator. However, he wasnât completely sure if he should actually go down that path.
Before he could decide what to do, one of the four humans, Malik, stepped forward, letting go of his assault rifle so it dangled on its sling.
âThank you for helping us out,â he said. âWe were in quite a fix. If it werenât for you, weâd be dead by now.â
Malik took another step toward Jake, obviously believing he was no threat. If he had any idea of the thoughts racing through Jakeâs mind, he would have fled in terror.
Malik took another step toward Jake. As soon as he did so, another human, Jasper, whispered urgently to him from behind, âMalik, what the hell are you doing? Donât get near it!â
âThatâs fine, man,â Malik replied as he glanced over his shoulder. âHeâs on our side. Melissa told us about him, remember?â
âStill, we should be careful,â Clara interjected. âWe donât know whatâs going on inside its head. That monster did kill a group of people in the past who werenât part of
Los Demonios
.â
âAccording to what Iâve heard, they were the first to attack him,â Malik responded.
âYou have no idea what might be going on in its head,â Clara said. âIt might be thinking how to best enjoy its mealâyouâraw or cooked.â
âHe doesnât need to eat, you silly,â Malik remarked before turning his attention back to Jake. âDonât mind my friends, please. Theyâre being rude, but they are not always like this.â
After he said that, he slightly tilted his body to one side, freeing one strap of his rucksack from his shoulder while keeping it secured on the other. He then reached into the rucksack, rummaging through its contents to find what he was looking for. A second later, he retrieved a mana crystal and held it out to Jake.
âYou donât eat, but you do need mana to survive, right?â he said. âPlease take this as a token of gratitude for helping us out of our predicament.â
Jake remembered a time when he had stolen a mana item of this rarity from a survivor in the middle of the night. He had been really glad to get his hands on such a valuable mana item. However, a mana crystal with only 5,000 MP was no longer a big deal to him. He could obtain much more MP simply by absorbing a mana cloud. Hell, he could probably get more MP by absorbing the mana contained within these four humans.
Malik was looking at him with trustful eyes and a smile on his lips. As Jake met his eyes, he suddenly snapped out of it, realizing he had nearly committed a terrible act. These survivors were not prey for him to hunt. They were human beings he had seriously contemplated slaughtering in cold blood, intending to use one of them as resources in his lair.
A sense of dread and fear washed over him. He felt he was regressing. Not long ago, some of his human emotions had returned, allowing him to empathize with others. However, after spending some time aloneâfirst exploring the dungeon, then the upgraded city, and building a lairâhe seemed to regress to his previous predatory nature.
And he didnât like it. He didnât like it at all. He was aware he would never be human again, but at least, he had to do everything possible to avoid becoming a complete monster. He really needed to achieve some kind of balance between his human and monster sides.
He remained rooted in place, his hands dangling at his sides. A confused expression crossed Malikâs face.
âWhatâs wrong?â he asked. âWhy wonât you take it? Is it too little for you? Iâm sorry I donât have any more mana items. But this is the largest one Iâve ever had, by the way.â
Malik stepped even closer. He was now so near the mana crystal in his outstretched hand almost touched Jakeâs chest. Suddenly, Jake got angry. He had just been considering slaying three of them and bringing the last to his lair, but Malik was none the wiser, getting so comfortably close to him! Sure, he didnât know what was going on in his head, but that was beside the point. Come to think of it, it was exactly why he and other humans should be wary of him. Even Jake himself feared himself sometimes, worried about what he might unleash if he didnât keep his internal desires in check.
âThis is for you,â Malik said again. âYour abilities work on mana, right?â
When he took one more step forward, Jake suddenly lunged at him, pushing Malik hard in the chest. Losing his balance, the survivor fell on his butt.
Donât freaking trust me so blindly,
he wanted to yell at the stupid human but couldnât.
âWhat the fuck?â one of the three standing survivors snarled as all three of them pointed their weapons at Jake.
He looked down at Malik who was still seated on the ground, gazing up at him with a what-did-I-do-wrong expression on his face. The mana crystal rested on the ground nearby, having slipped from the survivorâs grip during his fall.
âDonât you dare touch him!â Clara yelled at Jake, misinterpreting his stare at Malik as an intent to attack. âOr weâll shoot you!â
Jake looked up at the three survivors pointing their guns at him. They hadnât fired yet, but he could see their fingers turning white as they tightened around the triggers. He turned away from the humans and sprinted down the road. No shots were fired after him.
Suddenly, three walkers charged at him from the side, seemingly appearing out of nowhere. He wasnât sure where they had come from, but it didnât really matter. He extended one hand toward the nearest walker and launched a cinch net at it.
A lump of flesh instantly grew in the middle of his palm before detaching and shooting forward like a missile. It transformed in mid-air into a large cinch net that tightly wrapped around the walker, causing it to collapse to the ground. It took Jake little time and effort to deal with the other two ex-humans.
He then stepped toward the ensnared walker. It writhed on the ground but couldnât break free, as the cinch net enveloping its body greatly restricted its movements. Jake leaned over, grabbed the walker, and hoisted it onto his shoulders.
The mutant snarled and struggled, but it didnât cause him much trouble. Turning in the direction of his lair, he resumed running, the weight of the mutant over his shoulders hardly slowing him down.
âWhat the hell?â Malik exclaimed from far behind. âDid you guys see that? What did he capture a mutant for?â
âHell if I know,â another voice responded.