Chapter 29

  Jake wasn’t proo panic. This trait had retly been acquired through experieher than havied in him from birth. In the past few days of surviving in this world, he’d learned how to trol his emotions and keep his cool.

  However, when he found himself surrounded by dozens of ex-human mutants verging on him from several dires, he almost freaked out. His first rea was to whip up his shotgun and train the on on the quickly approag mutants. As his index finger instinctively ed around the trigger, Jake hesitated, realizing he couldn’t risk firing his on and triggering the anomaly. With that option off the table, his only choice was to flee. His pn was to put some distaween himself and the anomaly before engaging the mutants in bat.

  Yet by the time he arrived at this realization, it was already too te to take any a.

  Out of the er of his eye, he spotted a huge shambler barreling toward him. Its huge body rammed into Jake, sending him flying backward. He crashed into a bench that happeo be a few feet behind him. A moan of pain escaped his lips. The shambler had collided with him with the force of a freight train. If he somehow made it out of this predit alive, it seemed likely that he would end up with a nasty bruise on his chest. However, aside from that, the collision with the shambler had left him unharmed, with no broken boo speak of. His iment in increasing his stitution attribute had undoubtedly paid off, rendering his body far more resilient and durable than an average human’s.

  Ex-human mutants tio verge on Jake from multiple dires, creating a menag cacophony of sounds as they closed in on him. They growled like wild animals, their jaws g open and shut in a rhythmic pattern, while their cwed feet scraped against the tiled floor. The anomaly above the fountaied to the increasing s presence shimmering and dist the air. As more mutaered the atrium, the anomaly grew more animated, mirr the esg chaos unfolding around it. Jake was acutely aware that it was only a matter of time before the noise level reached a critical point, triggering the votile magical phenomenon. From the er of his eye, he could see the straill standihe sed-floor railing, watg the chaos unfold below. The stranger should’ve fled a long time ago, but seemingly paralyzed with fear, he was uo run away from the impending threat.

  Jake knew he had to get as far away from the atrium as possible. However, as it turned out, he only had enough time to stand up. As he leaped to his feet, the shambler directed a fierce gaze at him before unleashing a deafening roar. Jake’s gaze shot toward the anomaly as it erupted in a blinding fsh of light. He knew what it meant. He had just enough time to turn and grab hold of the upper edge of the bench, brag himself for the impending effects of the anomaly.

  He felt his legs being swept out from under him as some invisible force pulled him backward. In his peripheral vision, he saw mutants fly toward the anomaly as if they were made of iron and were being attracted to a huge powerful mag. Ditto for the dead bodies of survivors and other mutants. Anything that wasn’t anchored to the floor was affected by the anomaly’s pull. It felt like a depression se from a Sci-fi movie where characters and various objects got thrown into the vacuum of space.

  Jake g to the bench’s edge with all his might, his body suspended in midair, relentlessly drawn toward the anomaly. The force he was being pulled with was so powerful that his grip on the bench was gradually weakening. The bench itself wouldn’t yield to the anomaly’s pull, though. The atrium was rown with vegetation, and the roots bursting through the flhtly ed around the bench’s legs, anch it securely in pce. Despite the bench holding firm, Jake felt his grip slipping. He was acutely aware that he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.

  As the mutants were pulled into the anomaly aheir demise with agonizing screams, Jake g the stranger who was also being affected by its force. He inned against the railing on the sed floor, likely having crouched down in time to avoid being fully ensnared by the anomaly’s pull. If the stranger hadn’t taken that precaution, he would’ve been catapulted over the railing and drawn into the anomaly’s grasp.

  Uhe forturanger, Jake found himself in a more dangerous position with nothing to stop him from beilessly drawn toward the anomaly. His fingers, gripping the edge of the bench like a lifeline, were the sole barrier preventing him from being sucked in. But his grip was slipping, and he was running out of strength. He only o hold on a little longer, just for a few more seds, but eae like ay in the face of the impending danger.

  As Jake cast a fearful gnce over his shoulder at the ominous phenomenon behind him, he was chilled to the core by what he witnessed. Every mutant pulled into the fined space above the fountain was suspended in midair, gripped by the unseen power of the anomaly. Their limbs were twisted a at all the wrong ahe bones snapping as easily as dry twigs. The flesh was being ripped from the bones as if being torn by huge cws. The sight was so terrifying Jake quickly looked away, not willing to make out all the gruesome details of the mutants being killed. The horrifying realization that he could suffer a simir fate if pulled toward the anomaly only fueled his determination, causing his grasp on the bench to tighten.

  Suddenly, the pull of the anomaly disappeared, and he fell to the floor with a resounding thud. A sed ter, something nded o him with a wet smack. He g it and saw it iece of flesh. Still lying on his stomach, Jake looked over his shoulder at the anomaly. The phenomenon was disg what was left of the mutants, pulpy lumps of torn flesh raining down all around the atrium.

  As a metallik echoed nearby, Jake shifted his gaze to discover his shotgun lying on the floor nearby where it had just nded. Uhe mangled remains of the mutants, the on had not been shredded but twisted into a torted shape, rendering it irreparable. However, his trusty assault rifle remained slung over his shoulder.

  As Jake rose to his feet, the sharp report of gunfire shattered the air. The anomaly remained i, still in a state of recharge, unrespoo the deafening shots. For the minute or so, it would be harmless. The bullets hailed from above, unmistakably aimed at him. In a heartbeat, Jake reized the identity of the shooter.

  He turned and looked up. Sure enough, the straill stood at the railing on the sed floor, the on held in his hands and pointed down at Jake. He must have decided to seize the opportunity to kill him while the anomaly was temporarily dormant. Only the bullets the stranger had just fired never reached their target. Jake had a passive spell proteg him against enemy guhe mystical barrier intercepted the bullets within a few inches of him, suspending them in mid-air through the power of magic, effectively creating an invisible shield that enveloped him from all dires.

  Jake took a few steps to the side, and the invisible magical field followed his movement. However, the bullets remained suspended in their inal spots. Once Jake had distanced himself suffitly from the suspended bullets, the magical field ceased its influen them. The bullets instantly resumed their trajectory, streaking forward and ripping into the tiled floor. The Prote spell had been automatically activated when Jake had read the scroll earlier that day. With the spell nered, it would remain effective for approximately one more minute. Ohe time epsed, the invisible magical field safeguarding Jake would dissipate, leaving him vulnerable to any ining bullets once again.

  The stranger readjusted his aim and unleashed another barrage of bullets toward him. Just like the previous ohey halted inches from his face due to his protective spell. Jake stepped aside so as not to stand in their path before aiming his own assault rifle at the stranger above. In that tense moment, the realization struck the man that, unlike Jake, he cked any form of prote.

  He half-turned and made to run out of sight, but before he could save himself, Jake squeezed the trigger, stitg his enemy across his tors out in pain, the stranger dropped his on and grabbed the railing to support himself. Losing his banyway, he swung over the railing and plummeted to the tiled floor below. The eg sound of impact reverberated through the empty space, marking the abrupt end of the frontation. The stranger seemed dead, but Jake fired another burst of bullets at the body just food measure.

  He then looked around. There were no more mutants anywhere in the viity; otherwise, they would already have been drawn by the sounds of gunfire. With a cautious sigh, he allowed himself to rex just a little bit. Sliding the rifle over his shoulder, he turo face the anomaly. The enigmatitity was currently dormant, devoid of aale signs of being active such as sparkling or ing the air. While it currently posed no immediate threat and dispyed no observable effects, it was still there, quietly h above the fountain, biding its time until the cooldown period ended.

  Jake cast another cautious gnce around the atrium to make sure he was indeed aloepping closer to the invisible entity h above the basin, he cast the closing spell on it, eager to ralize the deadly anomaly food and finally plete his mission.