Chapter 168

  Rift gates ripped open not far from the gates of the bandit pound, and mutants immediately began to crawl out. As soon as Jake saw them, he realized they weren’t ex-humans. Instead, they were altogether different creatures. Usually, he entered mutants of some kiher ex-humans wandering throughout the city or mutated animals lurking in the gloomy underground tunnels. He also recalled a time whetled a magical creature known as a Wood Golem, which had the ability to create strange and grotesque minions from the very pnts around it.

  But the creatures crawling out of the magical rifts opening all around the bandit base were somethiirely different. So far, he had noticed three different types of creatures. He summoheir stats one by one.

  Spider (Voidspawn) - Level 175

  This type of creature possessed a human-like upper body with two elongated arms that ended in sharp cws, apanied by six crab-like segmented legs that tapered to a point. Its head was devoid of hair, featuring numerous bck eyes and a rge mouth filled with triangur teeth.

  The void spiders scuttled on their crab-like legs with surprising speed and agility. Upon reag the pound’s perimeter walls, they easily climbed them, stig the tips of their pointed legs into the surfad moving up sideways.

  Fiend (Voidspawn) - Level 155

  This type of creature moved on all fours and was the size and the general shape of a German Shepherd. It was furless and had pale skin. It didn’t have a tail, and its snout was X-shaped, sisting of four jaws that appeared disproportionately rge pared to the overall size of its body.

  It soon became clear that the fiends were not only capable of running at remarkable speed but also of jumping incredibly high. They vaulted over the perimeter walls effortlessly, nding ihe base to unleash chaos and instill panic among both workers and bandits. Chaos quickly erupted within the base: workers scurried in all dires, while bandits struggled to fend off the fiends, firing their ons in a desperate attempt to repel them.

  Sky Raptor (Voidspawn) - Level 160

  This creature was a winged reptile equipped with long jaws brimming with sharp teeth and two legs ending in curved talons. As soon as they emerged from the magical portals, sky raptors took to the air, s over the perimeter walls. They circled the pouh them, occasionally swooping down to poun humans, adding to the panic within the pound.

  Jake g to the building’s wall, watg the fierce battle unfold before his eyes. It was clear that the inhabitants of the base weren’t prepared to front such powerful and high-level creatures. However, the situation wasn’t as dire as it might seem at first gnce.

  The void spiders had no trouble sg the perimeter walls, but not many of them actually succeeded in reag the top. The bandits on the walls fired their ons down at the spider-like monsters. The guns they were armed with cked the firepower to inflict serious damage oackers, but their tinuous fire at least mao slow the enemy’s advance.

  Most of the damage dealt to the void spiders came from the mae gun turrets positioop the watchtowers. As it turned out, they were incredibly powerful. Their aim was nothing short of perfect, and the torrents of heavy-caliber rounds they unleashed sent the attackers flying off the walls. Jake could see workers climbing to the watchtowers to reload the turrets that had run out of ammo.

  One by ohe spider-like creatures fell to the ground below, bleeding from numerous wounds and stumps of limbs severed by the pierg turret fire. Jake was sure those mae gun turrets proteg the base were the most powerful ons he had entered so far. On more than one occasioorrents of bullets literally tearing a void spider in half with startling ease.

  Only a handful of araids mao reach the top and jump into the base, but they didn’t get much farther after that. The mae gun turrets could rotate 360 degrees, log enemies in any dire. Ourret locked onto a target, it didn’t divert its attention until the enemy was dead. The void spiders that mao scale over the pound walls were swiftly taken down by the turrets before they could infliy damage on the base or harm its octs.

  However, the bandits did take casualties. More than once, Jake saw a void spider reach the top of a wall and swing its cws at a bandit who was unfortunate enough to be nearby, killing the hapless human instantly. While the mae gun turrets were powerful, they could do only so much as the sheer number of attackers made it impossible for the turrets to kill void spiders quickly, which resulted in some of the bandits on the walls being killed. heless, overall, the turrets did an excellent job of defending the base. Without their support, the situation would have been far more difficult for those inside.

  Within the base, the bandits fought against the fiends and sky raptors. Although these creatures were somewhat weaker than the void spiders and came in smaller numbers, they still mao deal substantial damage to the defenders. One by ohe bandits were picked off. While they possessed higher levels than most of the regur survivors, it was evident that they weren’t prepared for an assault by such high-level monsters.

  Jake couldn’t help but wonder where those voidspawn monsters had e from so suddenly. How e such high-level creatures targeted survivors who were much weaker than them? It didn’t feel right. Such things shouldn’t happen in a woverned by video game logic.

  Jake remained fixated on the se before him as the battle raged on. The chaos within the base was intense and brutal. The fiends pounced on the bandits, knog them to the ground and mercilessly tearing the unfortunate humans apart with their X-shaped jaws. The sky raptors occasionally pounced on the defenders, seizing them with their cwed legs so tightly that their talons broke through the victims’ bodies. The winged creatures asded rapidly into the sky, carrying their terrified victims with them, only to drop them back down. The unfortunate humans screamed at the top of their lungs as they plummeted down to the ground to meet their deaths.

  The monsters primarily targeted the bandits, but occasionally, they also went after the workers who tried to stay as far away from the battle as possible, hiding in various pces. Both the workers and the bandits were in a state of panic. The only person who seemed pletely unfazed by the chaos unfolding within the pound was the leader of the base, Miller. The power suit he was made him nearly invincible. The monsters attempted to attack him, but aside from leaving some scratches and small dents in the power suit, they failed to infliy signifit damage.

  Equipped with an energy on on one wrist and a massive saw oher, the power suit transformed Miller into a one-man army. The psma gun unleashed devastating damage, inflig severe burn marks on the monsters and dispatg them almost instantly. The fiends and sky raptors were no match for him, aook them down one by oh remarkable ease. Without Miller and the turrets statioop the watchtowers, the bandit base would have been doomed.

  Jake was astonished when he summoned Miller’s stats and discovered he was now at level 195. The st time he had checked, Miller had been at level 185. How had he mao gain ten levels so rapidly? Even Jake, at level 78, found it difficult to level up iy. Wherever Miller had been gaining experie clearly wasn’t in this city.

  Suddenly, an enormous rift gate ripped open not far from the entrao the base. A few seds ter, a massive monster emerged from it. Standing at least three meters tall, it had a humanoid body with powerful legs and arms. Most of its form was covered by peared to be armor ptes made of bone.

  Death Knight (Voidspawn) - Level 200 (Elite)

  There was no doubt that this was the boss orchestrating the attack. Ohe death knight stepped through the portal, all the other rift gates disappeared, preventing any additional monsters from arriving. The giant approached the gate, violently striking it with its enormous fists, creating deep dents in the surface. It was obvious that the gate wouldn’t hold against the onsught for much longer.

  Something glinting on the death knight’s body caught Jake’s attention. Upon closer iion, he spotted a metal key dangling from a bony loop on the massive monster’s hip. With a thought, he summos description, and two words immediately emerged in his mind: Skeleton Key.