Jake assessed the situation once again, but nothing had changed during the time he had been observing the events unfolding in his ir. The three allseers and one ironsh he had been fighting were still in the street below, aimlessly wandering around yet never straying more than thirty yards from their nest.
Jake then turned his gaze to their nest, located just across the street on the opposite side of the road. It had once been a regur, boxy five?story building. Now it looked very different.
Every surface was covered in organic matter, which, while not appearing particurly impressive at first gnce, was actually surprisingly damage?resistant. It also possessed an incredible regenerative ability. Upon taking damage, it could heal damaged parts of itself almost instantly.
The Ravage Contamination spread outward from the nest, gradually extending in all directions. It had already reached the two buildings fnking it, beginning to crawl up their walls as well. In less than a day, they too would become nests.
There were plenty of such nests throughout the city now. For several days, he had concentrated on a nest much like the one in front of him, trying, if not to destroy it, then at least to determine what kind of damage could actually harm it. He used not only his natural weapons but also various elemental attacks granted by magical gemstones he always carried in his inventory.
However, he had yet to discover any attack capable of damaging the organic material that formed these nests. Strangely enough, the ravagespawn, creatures seemingly made of the same substance, could be killed. The nests, on the other hand, seemed completely invincible.
Still, Jake was sure there had to be a way to destroy those nests. He just had to find it. He figured he probably wasn’t powerful enough to deal with them yet. For that reason, a few days ago, he had begun working on a secret project in one of his irs. So far, the project didn’t have a name, as it was still far from completion, so he simply referred to it as his secret weapon.
He felt a strong urge to return to the ir where it had been developing to check on its progress. Technically, there was no need, as he could link to any of his irs through his mind, regardless of the distance, and observe their inner workings. Still, there was something deeply satisfying about being there in person, seeing the intricate systems at work with his own eyes.
Before heading back to check on his secret weapon’s development progress, he intended to spend a few more hours battling the ravagespawn. Just a few thousand more XP stood between him and his next level, and he was confident he could earn it before nightfall. The sun was still high, but by the time he reached his goal, evening would have settled in, an ideal moment for returning to his ir. His creation would be nearing a critical stage in its development by then, offering the perfect opportunity to evaluate its status and fine?tune it for the next phase of progression.
With that pn in mind, Jake deactivated Cloak and pushed off the wall. He dropped to the ground like a boulder, his hands already transforming into massive smashfists. Upon nding, he struck down one of the allseers, his momentum so immense that his punch pulverized the creature’s head into a cloud of dust. The headless body of the ravagespawn remained intact for a fleeting second before it suddenly crumbled into millions of particles, as if it had been turned into dry sand.
The ironsh swung its tail like a whip, the spiked ball a blur as it rushed through the air. Jake dodged, feeling the dispced air rush over him as the spiked ball swept past. Before he could fully turn his attention to this formidable opponent, the other two allseers attacked him at the same time. The numerous eyes adorning their triangur heads stared at him with an unnerving, emotionless gaze. Just as one of them lunged within striking range, Jake transformed one of his arms into a chainsaw and thrust it deep into the creature’s body.
The spinning bde sawed its way through the creature’s body, emerging from its back. Exerting all his might, Jake pushed the spinning bde up the monster’s form, bisecting it. The ravagespawn proved surprisingly resistant to damage, but it was still no match for Jake’s enhanced strength. Within a second, the bde pierced through and emerged from the crown of the creature’s head. The monster was cleaved in half, the fracture starting from the middle of its body. No blood or any other fluid leaked from the creature’s split remains, as all the ravagespawn seemed made entirely of some dark, unyielding substance that disintegrated into sand upon its death.
Surprisingly, the partly bisected monster still clung to life, somehow managing to hold itself together. But as it took a shaky step toward him, Jake swung the rotating bde of this chainsaw downward in a vertical line, sliding it into the existing gap between the parts of the monster’s body that had already been sawed open. The rotating bde then bit into the still-intact flesh. The bde whined as it gnawed its way through the tough material until it emerged from the bottom of the monster’s pelvic region. The two halves, now completely separated, thudded to the ground before shriveling and dissolving into a swirling cloud of dark powder.
Suddenly, Jake felt as though he’d been hit by a freight train. It was the ironsh, which had just smmed into him with incredible force. As the monster carried him across the street, Jake wrapped his free arm around its neck. In a moment, the ravager crashed him into the concrete wall behind with tremendous force, the impact carving a deep crater into its surface. Fractures burst outward from the center like a spiderweb, splintering the wall with jagged lines.
The ironsh stepped back, but Jake didn’t let go, still clinging to the huge monster. Aware that this beast was far more resilient than any allseer, he transformed his chainsaw into a powerful drill, ready to pierce through its defenses. He then drove the spinning tip into the side of the monster’s head, making use of the upgrade called Structural Weakness. This attack was capable of leaving behind a weakened spot for a limited time, which could be exploited for increased damage, amplifying the effectiveness of follow-up attacks.
The ironsh clearly wasn’t pleased about a hole being drilled through its head. It tried to wrench Jake away from its body, but he held fast. As soon as he felt the weakened spot fully form, he morphed his hand back into a smashfist and began pounding relentlessly at the weak point. His enormous fist connected with the side of the monster’s head once, twice, and on the third impact, cracks spiderwebbed across the ironsh’s head. In the next instant, when he struck again, it crumbled into several pieces. Jake jumped down to the ground, taking a step back from the now headless monster. For all its power, even the ironsh couldn’t survive without a head. Now that it was gone, the monster’s body fell apart, each piece disintegrating into dust the moment it hit the ground.
Only one allseer remained by that point. Dealing with it proved to be little challenge for Jake.
Multiple Enemies Killed. +3,375 XP
XP: 138,535 / 177,355
Jake turned his attention back to the nest. Sure enough, it was already spawning more monsters. Numerous lumps formed on the five-story?high structure, quickly growing in size before detaching. While plummeting toward the ground, the shapes twisted and reshaped themselves into mostly humanoid figures. The metamorphosis happened so fast that anything dropping from the third floor or higher was already fully formed by the time it hit the ground.
About a dozen ravagespawn were already ready to fight, closing in on him. Most of them were allseers, armed with sharp cws, but among them were also several ironshes, their massive forms towering over the smaller creatures. Jake sprinted straight toward the pack, eager to gain more XP.
