Chapter 93

  Seeing him approag, Isra scrambled to get away. She hurriedly crawled on all fours without attempting to stand up. Her upper arms were still bleeding from where his cws had cut into them when he grabbed her. She robably also bruised from the fall after he threw her away. Her face torted in pain. It ossible she had suffered a couple of busted ribs, but then again, maybe not. By that point, she had likely ied several skill points into her stitution attribute, toughening her body and making it more durable.

  Jake wasn’t sure what exactly happened when a survivor put a skill point into stitution. Their body somehow became more resistant to damage, but how this was achieved, he had no clue. The only expnation he could e up with was that in this world with magic, perhaps after allog a skill point into stitution, the System ihe survivor’s body with a perma dose of mana, enhang their resistao damage.

  It was as good a theory as any, and he didn’t dwell on it any further.

  Before Isra could grasp the double-barreled shotgun she was trying to reach, Jake closed in on her. Realizing it was futile, she sat on the ground, fag Jake who towered over her. The woman stared up at him with a mix of fear and defian her face.

  “e on,” she said angrily. “Just do it already. What are you waiting for?”

  Jake stared down at her, making no attempt to attack the woman. He had no actual desire to kill her, just like he hadn’t wao take Frank’s life. It wasn’t his true self that had guided his as at that moment. When the group leader had shot him in the back, Jake had momentarily lost trol. After killing him and somepeasing his inner beast’s bloodlust, he was able to tinue resisting its dark urges. Standing over Isra, he persisted ially battling his inner beast until he finally succeeded in putting it back to sleep.

  Jake wheeled around and started to make his way to the door. Passing by the lifeless body of the group leader, he paused. Croug beside the corpse, he searched it, hoping to find a mana able. Yet he found made sense. Survivors typically didn’t carry items like mana shards and magic scrolls sihere was no point in holding onto them instead of using them immediately.

  Upon reag the door, he gnced over his shoulder at Isra. She had mao get to her feet but stayed put, showing no sign of wanting to follow him. He gestured for her to e, but she remaiationary. After a brief pause, he started desding the stairs.

  On the tenth floor, he walked toward the elevator shaft with the magic-powered ptform. When he reached it, he paused but didn’t step inside. Instead, he turned around to the other side of the corridor. Isra should e around and join him soon. She khat using the ptform was the only safe way to get down to the first floor.

  While he waited, Jake checked his remaining HP and mana. He only had 36% of his hit points left, and the number was slowly decreasing as mana tio seep out of his body through the numerous wounds he had sustained. Mana was also being utilized to mend the ragged holes in his body, further hastening the maion. Jake had a sinking feeling that he didn’t have enough magical energy left to both heal all his wounds and maintain his bodily funs. He couldn’t help but wonder what would occur if his mana levels plummeted to critically low levels. Would his body persist in attempting to heal itself, depleting his remaining mana until there was no, ultimately leading to his death? Or would the familiar safeguard meism ki, halting the healing process to preserve the little ma within him?

  Jake didn’t know the answer, but ohing was for sure—he had to get his hands on some mana ables ASAP. There was no time to lose, so he resolved to wait no more than a minute. If Isra didn’t arrive by then, he would leave her behind to find her own way down.

  However, he didn’t have to wait even that long. Just a few seds ter, the woman showed up, clutg her sawed-off double-barreled shotgun tightly. When she halted a few feet away from him, he pantomimed breaking the gun open. She uood his gesture and did what she was told.

  “It’s not loaded,” she said, demonstrating the empty barrels of her shotgun. “I guess if you wao kill me, you would’ve do already.”

  Jake nodded and motioned for her to ehe elevator. She hesitated for a sed, then did as instructed, moving to the far end of the ptform to be as far away from him as possible. As soon as he joined her oform, it immediately began to desd.

  He was well aware she could try to finish him off ohe ptform reached the first floor. With less than forty pert of HP left, Jake wasn’t going to take any ces. He stood fag Isra, watg her every move. He didn’t trust her o, and he wanted her to know that.

  At first, she appeared unfortable but then rexed a bit when she realized he was not going to attack her.

  “Why did you kill Frank?” she suddenly asked. “You didn’t have to, you know. Sure, he shouldn’t have opened fire on you, but you could just have disarmed him. It shouldn’t have been too hard for you.”

  Jake didn’t rea any way.

  “Rid Archie died because of you, too,” Isra added quietly. “You simply used us to achieve yoal. We were just tools for you, nothing more than that. You’re a monster. You have no passion for people at all. Perhaps, a shred of humanity remains within you, but it’s buried too deep to reach.”

  Jake thought Isra was being unjust toward him. As a survivor, he had e across individuals who had killed others simply to take their belongings. Maybe, some of them killed others just for the hell of it. He had entered many who showed no respect for human life whatsoever.

  Yet, he came to the realization that Isra was right about him. He was a monster. He felt no fear, no anger, no joy, no passion, no nothing. All the emotions human beings usually experienced had been lost to him after his transformation. While he was still a se being, his otion was a clear indication that he was no longer entirely human. This realization had a profound impa him. Throughout all this time, he had been tending with his inner beast out of fear that giving in to its darker impulses would lead to the loss of his humanity, ultimately transf him into an actual monster.

  However, as it turned out, he had been mistaken all along. He was already a monster. While he regretted losing Archie and Rick, it only bothered him because it diminished his ces of pleting the challenge on time. Apart from that, he felt no attat to them. His absolute otion was far from normal in human terms. It wasn’t until Isra poi out that he truly reized the uhiature of using the four survivors as mere tools. The transformation into a mutant had altered him far more than he had previously realized. The mutation had not only ged his physical form but had also altered his way of thinking.

  The realization deeply armed him. He didn’t want to be a monster. He o do something to fix that. But what could he do? He was at a total loss as to how tain his humaions and feelings. What steps could he take to achieve this? Jake was clueless.

  The ptform reached the first floor at st. The fils stopped glowing, the magical power that had animated the ptform now dissipating as the challenge finally cluded. As soon as they stepped out of the elevator shaft, the ptform disied into crete pieces, reverting to its inal state before the challenge was initiated.

  Jake g Isra o time to make sure she wasn’t about to attack him. She wasn’t. She had even lowered her on. Even though the multiple wounds on his body clearly indicated his low health, she had no iion of attag him. Fully aware of how dangerous he was, she wasn’t going to risk her life trying to avenge her friends’ deaths, even though he was severely wounded.

  “Hopefully, I’ll never get to see you again,” Isra whispered.

  Without showing aion to her words, Jake spun around and dashed out of the building.