Chapter 89

  Upon pleting the final floor, Jake checked the status of the challenge.

  Tower Climb Progression

  Floors: 10/10

  Boss: 0/1

  Remaining Time: 13 minutes, 48 seds

  All the floors were cleared, and the only task remaining was to defeat the boss on the roof. He had less than fifteen mio aplish this. While Jake was unsure of the type of mutant he would be fag, he was fident he could ha pretty quickly. None of the elite mutants he had entered so far, no matter how powerful, had taken him more than a few mio deal with. He was certain this situation wouldn’t ge.

  As he was about to rush toward the room’s exit, he heard a cry of anguish from behind. Turning around, he saw Isra standing over what remained of Archie. Frank, standio her, said something quietly. Isra didn’t reply. Instead, she looked across the room at Jake with a fierce expression. She started shouting something, but he didn’t pay attention. Knowing he couldn’t waste time, he hurried out of the room.

  “Wait,” he heard Frank yell behind him, but he ighe man.

  Now that he only o defeat the elite mutant on the rooftop, he no longer he survivors’ help. The battle against the boss would be a one-on-one fight, so Frank and Isra would only get in his way. They should remain on the current floor for the time being. After pleting the challenge, he would e back for them ahem to the ptform to transport them to the first floor.

  It only took him a few seds to reach the elevator shaft with the magic-powered ptform inside. However, he hesitated to step in because he khe ptform couldn’t asd any further, as it was already oop floor of the building. Instead, he moved toward the openio the elevator shaft. The door was gone, and through the open doorway, he could see the remnants of a staircase.

  Since all the steps leading down were disied, it was mostly just ay shaft now. However, one flight of stairs leading to the rooftop remained intact, providing access to the roof. The nding artially destroyed, with a rge hole in its ter. There was enough crete left for him to walk around the hole and reach the steps. Despite some intact crete surrounding the gap, he chose not to tread that path. Effortlessly leaping over the hole, he bounded up the steps and, a moment ter, emerged on the rooftop.

  In the ter of the roof stood a lone ex-human. It immediately spotted Jake but didn’t attack. Jake khe mutant would hold its ground and only charge at him whe closer. After taking a few small steps toward the elite mutant, Jake stopped, taking a moment to study his foe. The creature was devoid of skin, exposing its muscle tissue. As a result, the mutant’s face sported a disturbingly wide grin filled with yellowish poieeth. Its fierminated in curved cws that were signifitly longer and more menag-looking than those of a regur ex-human.

  He then summohe mutant’s description.

  Ex-Human Chaser – Level 20 (Elite)

  Special abilities:

  Flurry of Swings – The mutaers a frenzy state, swinging its cws violently for a few seds.

  Pursuit – The mutas a target and pursues it relentlessly for some time, disregarding any other distras.

  Just like the bloater, the elite mutant in front of him, the chaser, had two special abilities. He had already faced mutants with Flurry of Swings before, so he knew what to expect. The mutant’s sed ability didn’t appear to be all that threatening. If he still had the two survivors with him, it could have been a problem. If the chaser had used its sed ability tet one of them, it would likely have been nearly impossible to save the survivor. The chaser would likely op pursuing its prey until it was dead. Since he was alone now, there was no issue. With this fight being a one-on-one enter, the chaser would be trating solely on him anyway.

  Jake hesitated for a moment. He had retly leveled up to 12. The level of the bloater he had entered oenth floor was 15. He hadn’t participated in killing that enormous mutant, though. It took some hits from the three survivors and was finished off by Archie alone. However, Jake had faced a handful of level 15 sshers before. Although those elite mutants were tough oppos, he had little trouble defeating them. The level of the mutant before him, however, was 20, surpassing him by eight levels. It was the first time he had entered an enemy so much more powerful than himself, causing him to pause and sider his options.

  He thought about going back to the tenth floor to get the two remaining survivors but quickly dismissed the idea. After losing Archie, they probably wouldn’t be willing to aid him with the tower-climbing challenge anymore. Jake wasn’t sure about Frank, but he knew Isra wouldn’t lift a fio help him. Besides, the chaser’s sed ability could be deadly for them. If the mutant locked onto one of them, it wouldn’t switch to aarget until its initial prey was dead. Not that it mattered all that muow. With all the floors cleared, keeping survivors alive was no longer all that important. He had only hem to help him reach the rooftop as quickly as possible.

  Jake pushed the thoughts of Frank and Isra out of his mind. He was on his own now, and there was no time to lose. He took a few more steps before the mutant suddenly luoward him. Jake froze momentarily, astonished by the chaser’s speed—it was almost as fast as him. Before he could react, the mutant on him.

  The chaser unleashed a series of violent attacks on him, f Jake onto the defehe mutant was lightning-fast, and he could barely dodge and block his foe’s strikes. At first, he thought the chaser had already activated its first special ability, Flurry of Swings. However, as it turned out a little ter, he was dead wrong. When the chaser actually utilized its first special ability, its attacks became even faster, and Jake found it impossible to dodge every one of them, feeling its cws sshing at his flesh now and then.

  He realized he was severely under-leveled for this elite mutant.

  Hey guys, thanks for reading! I'm currently dealing with some health issues, which is why I'll be publishing two chapters instead of five for the couple of weeks. Sorry about that! So my schedule will be Wednesdays and Fridays for now, and I’ll do my best to add another chapter on Mondays as well. I’ll get back to five chapters per week as soon as I !