Chapter 96

Chapter 96

With horror in his eyes, the neutralized human watched Jake approach him, his fingers still wrapped around his severely wounded throat. Knowing that the survivor would bleed to death within minutes, Jake saw no need to deliver the final blow. His priority was to acquire the human’s mana consumable as soon as possible.

He crouched down beside the survivor’s rucksack and extracted the mana consumable from it, which turned out to be quite large.

Mana Crystal: 5,000 MP (Rare)

For a moment, Jake was entranced by the mesmerizing dance of mana within the crystal. The bluish mist swirled inside the large mana consumable, emitting a soft glow that seeped through the transparent crystal.

He was incredibly lucky to stumble upon another mana crystal. This particular type of mana consumable was the largest he’d ever encountered, boasting a whopping 5,000 MP. It marked the second time he’d come across a mana crystal. The first instance was when he encountered a group of survivors who had taken refuge in a building for the night. One of them, a guy named Erick, had a crystal stowed away in his rucksack.

Twice now, Jake had acquired mana crystals from other survivors, yet he’d never found one himself. He couldn’t help but wonder where survivors came across these crystals. Did they simply stumble upon them by chance? Or perhaps there was a special mission for survivors that awarded them with mana crystals upon completion? Jake didn’t know for sure, but he remembered hearing Erick say he’d found it by chance.

Another thought occurred to him. The survivor with the slit throat was at level 17. From his experience of taking a mana crystal from Erick, Jake remembered that a survivor needed to be at least level 15 to be able to extract magical energy from a mana crystal. Considering the dying human lying beside him was at level 17, Jake wondered why he hadn’t utilized the mana crystal yet. Maybe his level was below 15 when he found the crystal, preventing him from extracting mana? Or was he keeping it intact for some specific purpose?

Not that it really mattered to Jake. The reason behind the survivor carrying the crystal instead of using it held little interest for Jake. Dismissing the matter from his thoughts, he gave the mana crystal in his hand a gentle squeeze, but there was no immediate reaction. This particular mana consumable, being of a higher rarity, was more robust than others. Not that he couldn’t break it. He exerted more pressure, causing the crystal to easily shatter in his hand. The bluish energy immediately floated from the crushed consumable toward his hand. His body eagerly absorbed the precious magical energy, which fueled him with its power.

Now with an abundance of mana within him, his body quickened the rate at which it healed. The healing booster he had gained upon completing the tower-climbing challenge remained in effect, further accelerating the healing process. In just a few seconds, all of his wounds were completely healed, including the hole the survivor had blasted open in his chest with his shotgun. Back to full health, Jake felt invigorated. His strength and agility returned, once again making him the most dangerous predator in this world.

“H–Help,” he heard the dying human croak. “Puh… Ple—”

Jake glanced at the survivor, surprised to see him still clinging to life. He’d expected the man to have bled out by now. However, this world was governed by video-game logic. The survivor must’ve invested heavily in his Constitution attribute, granting his body a level of durability far beyond that of an ordinary human.

“H–help–p. I don’t… wanna—”

Watching the human bleed and listening to him pleading for help, Jake felt nothing. No emotions or feelings whatsoever. He didn’t feel any compassion toward the dying survivor, nor did he feel any hatred toward his enemy or satisfaction upon seeing him defeated.

The memories of Isra’s words during their descent on the magical platform, along with his subsequent contemplations, remained vivid in Jake’s mind. He knew very well that his inner beast woke up during conflicts with humans. To prevent becoming a full-fledged monster, he’d decided to avoid unnecessary confrontations with humans. However, after what Isra had said to him, he’d realized he was already a monster, not only physically, but mentally too. His lack of empathy toward others served as stark evidence of this unsettling truth.

That was exactly why he decided to help the survivor. While searching through the survivor’s rucksack, he noticed several healing autoinjectors inside. Selecting one, he summoned its description, which indicated that the stim was powerful enough to heal severe wounds. Jake wasn’t sure if it could heal the extreme wound on the human’s throat, but he was willing to give it a chance.

He pressed the autoinjector’s business end against the side of the human’s neck and triggered it, delivering a mix of healing medications into his bloodstream. With the survivor’s fingers still clutching his throat, Jake couldn’t immediately see the stim’s effects. However, a moment later, he saw the bleeding slow down and then stop altogether. The survivor’s expression brightened, and his breathing eased, indicating that the medication was indeed working.

Despite rescuing the survivor, Jake didn’t feel any better. Saving a human’s life didn’t bring him any joy or satisfaction. He figured his human emotions wouldn’t resurface that easily. Maybe he would need to do a lot of good deeds before some part of his humanity would return. Or maybe it wouldn’t return at all. For all he knew, he’d been turned into a monster both physically and mentally for good and wouldn’t be able to regain any of his humanity anymore. Anyway, he was going to try to become better, mostly for his own sake rather than anything else.

Jake rose and picked up the survivor’s PDA. Since the human had unlocked the device, he could now make use of it. He decided to take a moment to browse the available information and see if he could learn anything new or find something useful.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the survivor, still lying on his back, cast a suspicious glance in his direction. The human had withdrawn his hands from his throat, revealing it had already completely healed. Suddenly, he rolled to the side toward where his shotgun rested on the floor. He likely believed his actions went unnoticed, but he was mistaken. Jake could see him in his expanded field of vision without even having to turn his head.

Jake dropped the device and leaped to the side. Grabbing the shotgun and rolling on his back, the survivor pointed the weapon at where Jake had stood a second before. Only he was no longer there. Jake came rushing at the human from the side. Still lying on his back, the survivor swept his weapon around toward the threat as fast as he could and squeezed the trigger.

A fraction of a second before he fired, Jake leaped to the side, having spotted the human’s index finger whiten as it curled tightly around the trigger. The survivor’s face twisted in horror as he realized his now-fully healed enemy could move with much greater speed than before. Before the human could fire another time, Jake wrenched the shotgun from his hands and flung it away.

The survivor lying on the floor looked up at the mutant looming over him, realizing he’d just made a huge mistake.

“No,” he begged. “Please…”

There was going to be no mercy from Jake this time. Instead of pouncing down on the supine form of the survivor, Jake extended a sword from one wrist. The human’s eyes went wide at the sight.

“Please, no… Argh!”

Jake swung his weapon at the survivor. The tip of his blade cut so deeply into his flesh that his head almost got detached from the neck. The survivor lived only for a second longer before his wide-open eyes glassed over, and his body went stiff.

For a moment, Jake stood over the dead body, looking down at the survivor he’d just killed. He had let that stupid human live, but he had wasted it. He had nobody but himself to blame for that. Giving the matter no more thought, he retracted his blade and turned away.

Locating the PDA lying on the floor where he’d dropped, Jake picked it up to resume reading the survivor’s diary from where he left off.