Spearbound Ch. 71

A whole day had passed as over ten thousand people traveled to Chicago. It was slower than expected, but that was about to be fixed.

Kade watched from afar as several survivors with newly recovered limbs ganged up on a single, upright reptile, which he had recently learned was called a kobold.

“Jeremy, it’s your turn,” Danny said, motioning for a middle-aged man with a missing right leg.

Jeremy looked comical as he hopped on one leg to the pinned kobold. “Thank you, everyone.”

A crude iron spike pierced the kobold’s neck, causing it to screech and struggle against its captors. Jeremy pulled the iron spike out with a grimace and drove it into the kobold’s skull, mercifully ending its life and reducing it to white powder.

Jeremy collapsed to the ground with a groan and clutched the stump of his right thigh. He was clearly in severe pain and was doing everything in his power to stop himself from screaming.

It made for a strange sight.

Hundreds of people gathered on one end, and thousands on the other, all staring at the man struggling in the middle. It would look like a sadistic gathering for the uniformed.

“You’re a little too interested in this, Hellion,” Kade said to the bird on his shoulder.

Hellion chirped, leaning forward as if to get a closer look. Kade wondered if his own fascination had infected the bird through the bond.

The process of a human regrowing limbs was so strange that even seeing it hundreds of times didn’t erase the desire to gape at the oddness.

Eliza: Check the leaderboard.

Kade frowned, wondering if Anita had somehow overdone herself.

North American Rankings:

1. Tugan Baikalov (Berserker) – 1,722,928 points (+38,921)

2. Anita Shah (Archivist) – 377,845 points  (+5)

3. Kade Beckett (Arcane Lancer) – 257,823 points

…

…

He stared at the new name at the top. Ignoring the absurd number, the accompanying change was only about forty thousand. This Tugan should have always been number one.

Kade was about to ask Eliza if she knew more when he recalled the last global message. Tugan Baikalov was the man from the Asian region who destroyed a Class C rift zone, which activated the Universal Shop.

He wasn’t sure how Tugan traveled from Asia to North America, but he could guess why, looking at the accumulated points.

“It looks like the other safe zones might have extra help if needed.”

Eliza: Maybe. Luckily, we cleaned up the monster wave before this guy could steal the points.

Kade wouldn’t admit it, but he agreed with her. If Tugan could destroy a Class C rift zone, there was little chance anyone could put up resistance.

Cheers exploded around him, taking him out of his worry about Tugan. He saw Jeremy stumbling onto his feet with a stupidly wide smile on his lips.

Kade didn’t get the chance to join the cheers since Jeremy jumped at him and wrapped his arms around him.

“You’re the kindest man I’ve met, Kade,” Jeremy blubbered. “Danny said everyone will get their turn, but I couldn’t help doubting it until it was my turn.”

Kade felt surprised by the thirty-something old man sobbing in his arms, but he needed to make sure Hellion didn’t burn the guy for invading his space.

“Really, it wasn’t a big deal. If anything, thank Danny and the others for teaming together,” Kade said, slowly pushing Jeremy away.

“It’s really all because of you, Mr. Kade!” Danny piped from a distance, the others nodding eagerly in agreement.

It was obvious they were trying to suck up to him, and he had every intention of letting it happen. He was in no rush to—

Finn: Kade, we need you back in Chicago right now! There’s something that’s absorbing all the remaining monsters and heading right to the city!

Kade’s pleased expression fell as he quickly instructed Hellion to fly. “All of you stay here. Don’t get closer to Chicago until Hellion returns!”

Hellion closed his claws around his hands and soared into the sky, leaving thousands of survivors behind, all of them with concerned about the sudden departure.

“It’ll be there in less than ten minutes. Hold on until then,” Kade said, sending a message to Finn.

He urged Hellion to speed through the bond, blaming himself for leaving the safe zone prematurely. He had underestimated what the city could face because the average level of the monsters was too low to threaten the increased level of the city’s combatants.

Finn: … It looks like it won’t be a problem to hold on. Whatever this thing is, it’s not getting too close. I’ve moved the strongest we have to the front, just in case.

That did not comfort Kade. The voice in the most recent rift zone practically fed him easy kills to fatten him up for sacrifice. There was nothing strange about the possibility of a monster that cannibalized others to get stronger.

“Let me know if something changes,” Kade replied.

Streaks of flame trailed behind Hellion as he cut through the air. Kade could already see Chicago rapidly approaching on the horizon.

He had a thought of sending Hellion back to the survivors, but quickly dismissed It. He had a strange feeling about this.

Hellion descended until they were a few hundred feet above the ground, close enough for Kade to see the severely depleted battlefield.

He could make out the ‘thing’ Finn was so concerned about. It was a metallic humanoid with completely smooth, tearing through the few remaining monsters, but it wasn’t the usual way. Finn truly meant it when he said it absorbed the monsters.

The metallic humanoid seemed to draw in nearby monsters before absorbing them, leaving no trace, not even the signature white powder.

Kade’s senses were already haywire at the oddities, and it jumped to a critical level when a perfectly smooth, silvery glinting head tilted up to look at him. He tensed, and rightfully so when the thing jumped, cracking the ground beneath it and launched itself at him.

Kade forced Hellion to release him and yelled, “Fly out of range!”

He turned his attention to the metallic humanoid and confirmed that he was the target, not Hellion. He plummeted to the ground, closing the gap between him and the humanoid at an even quicker pace.

Kade waited to act until the distance between them was several feet.

He gained a murderous glint in his eyes as he summoned his [Soulrend] and thrust the blade at the humanoid’s head with [Armor Break] activated.

Kade sensed this monster was more powerful than him, but also severely injured. He didn’t know how that was possible, but it was something to think about after he killed it and eliminated the immediate threat.

His [Soulrend]’s blade was about to pierce the featureless head when an axe appeared out of nowhere and blocked it with ease. The jarring clash of metal was nothing compared to the shock he felt at the familiarity with the axe.

Kade forced his [Soulrend] down, breaking the momentary stalemate in the air. The metallic humanoid’s momentum broke as it fell back to the ground, with him following from above.

He tore his eyes away from the axe as his wariness jumped to new heights. He swept his [Soulrend] and used [Flame Arc], unleashing a blade of fire that shot towards his target.

A simple chop of the humanoid’s axe broke it, dissipating the fire without issue.

Kade narrowed his eyes as he grasped his [Soulrend] with both hands as they rapidly closed the distance to the ground. He didn’t follow up his failed [Flame Arc] with another.

It wouldn’t work, anyway. He would need to use something more substantial, but that had to be saved for the correct time, not when he had little control over his body.

The metallic humanoid slammed into the ground, creating a small crater from the impact, with Kade following suit a short distance away. The freefall from hundreds of feet in the air felt like nothing.

Kade stared into the featureless face for several seconds, and it looked like the stare was being reciprocated.

He broke the silence. “Are you Tugan?”