Chapter 482
As he trotted toward D, his counterpart wheeled and darted back into the alley he had emerged from a moment before. It took Jake only a second to get there as well. He paused at the mouth of the alleyway, peering in.
He saw D standing halfway down the narrow passage, facing him, obviously having been waiting. When he saw Jake, he turned again and continued running down the alley. After a moment, Jake followed suit.
As he ran, he tried to figure out what D’s strange behavior could mean. Until now, every encounter with his counterpart had followed one of two patterns: if the monster side was in control, they fought, but if the human side was in charge, D fled, unwilling to start another fight.
But what was happening now was definitely different. D was clearly trying to lead him somewhere. But where? What did he want?
Sure enough, he couldn’t help but wonder if his counterpart tried to lead him into some kind of trap. But Jake didn’t really believe it. After all, D wasn’t capable of that. That is, when his monster side was in charge, of course. The monster within him had no capacity for thought and complex planning, or any kind of planning for that matter. He just charged into the battle headfirst.
And when Owen was in control, he simply didn’t view Jake as an enemy. At least, that had been the case until now.
But what was on Owen’s mind right now was hard to tell. If he wasn’t trying to lead him into a trap, which Jake didn’t really believe, he didn’t know what else could be on his mind. He guessed it could be anything, so he simply decided to follow him and see how things played out.
After emerging from the alley, Jake quickly looked around and located D standing in the middle of the street. Upon seeing him, D waved again, urging him onward, and took off through the city.
For the next several minutes, Jake tailed him while D occasionally glanced back to make sure he was still there. The longer the chase continued, the more convinced Jake became that wherever D was leading him, it wasn’t some kind of trap.
That was until they reached a large four-way intersection, in the middle of which stood a group of powerful ravagespawn. And D was running right toward them. The sight of the monsters didn’t seem to surprise him. That had clearly been where D had been leading him all along.
Jake couldn’t believe it. Was he wrong all along? Had D actually been leading him into a trap? But on the other hand, if that was the case, the trap was poorly arranged. Jake had spotted the monsters from a distance, giving him more than enough time to prepare for a possible confrontation.
But then D surprised him once again. He stopped about thirty yards from the group of ravagespawn. He then looked back at Jake and raised a palm toward him in a clear signal to stay where he was. Jake came to a halt, wondering what it all meant. D held his gaze on him for a moment longer, as if to make sure Jake remained stationary. Then he turned to face the group of ravagespawn and charged right toward them.
These were not just regular ravagespawn but the most powerful ones Jake had encountered so far. Most of them towered over seven feet tall and had bulky frames. Almost all of the monsters had a generally humanoid shape with various insectoid features.
Among them, Jake spotted a couple of bladecrawlers, huge creatures that looked like a nightmarish fusion of centipede and mantis, with massive forelimbs resembling curved blades. From the tips of their legs to the tops of their heads, each bladecrawler was at least seven feet tall. Jake had once dealt with such a creature in the past, so he knew just how dangerous they were.
At the center of the pack stood the largest of them all. The monster was humanoid, with two powerful legs supporting a heavy frame and a long, strong tail. Its arms were as thick as tree trunks, and its upper body resembled that of a shark. Its snout, however, was longer and far more terrifying-looking than a shark’s head. It was one of the crossmaw variants of ravagespawn, and at roughly ten feet tall, it was even bigger than the bladecrawlers. It was definitely the strongest monster in the group.
But the worst thing was that every single ravagespawn in the group was elite. Since there were so many elite monsters, Jake didn’t even bother checking their descriptions.
For a second, he couldn’t understand how so many elite monsters had gathered in a single spot. Usually, they were fairly rare and accompanied only by a group of regular monsters. It was quite uncommon to encounter two or more elite monsters in the same place, sticking together. Then the answer hit him.
D had gathered them here.
And now he was charging straight at them.
He suddenly began to change, transforming into a different shape. The transformation was almost instantaneous, and a second later, instead of D running toward the monsters, a massive obsidian sphere was barreling across the street at terrifying speed.
The ball slammed through two or three ravagespawn, pulverizing them and leaving only heaps of broken bodies behind. They weren’t quite dead yet, but they were clearly done.
D then slammed into one of the bladecrawlers, snapping several of its legs and forcing it to buckle sideways. But the massive creature managed to remain upright. Not for long, though. D rolled to a stop beside it and immediately reverted to his normal form.
Immediately, scythe-like blades erupted from his shoulders, and claws sprang from his fingers. In the next instant, he tore into the creature with a storm of slashes, carving it into hundreds of pieces in a matter of seconds. The bladecrawler never stood a chance.
However, the rest of the ravagespawn finally reacted and rushed toward him all at once. One of the monsters emitted a powerful sonic wave that slammed into D, causing him to stagger. Other than that, he didn’t seem affected, though.
The other bladecrawler activated one of its special abilities, unleashing a flurry of lightning-fast slashes and stabs at him. D was fast, but not nearly as fast as Jake was. While he managed to dodge some of the strikes, many still landed. But what he lacked in speed, he more than made up for in power and durability, so most of the blows he failed to avoid simply glanced off his armor without causing any visible damage.
Then the huge crossmaw punched him from behind, causing D to lose his balance and crash to the ground. It lifted a heavy foot to crush him, but D rolled away just in time, and the stomp smashed into the spot where he had just been lying.
Just as D leaped to his feet, the bladecrawler attacked him again, and this time, one of its blows managed to pierce his armor, causing mana to seep from the wound. The crossmaw capitalized on the opening, landing another hit that sent D stumbling into a nearby ravager, which immediately locked its arms around him and pinned him in place.
At first glance, D seemed to be in trouble. Jake considered coming to his aid, but as soon as he took a single step toward the battle, D spotted him moving from the corner of his eye and sharply shook his head. He didn’t want assistance. Jake stopped moving.
In the next instant, D took another form, morphing into the form of a towering golem. The ravager restraining him lost its grip instantly. Once the change was complete, D began tearing apart the elite monsters one after another. They retaliated with a variety of special abilities, but while D took damage here and there, it was obvious who was going to emerge victorious from that battle.
As Jake watched his counterpart deal with the monsters, he couldn’t help but wonder what the point of this display was. Why had D brought him here? Why gather a pack of elite ravagespawn just to slaughter them in front of him? He had clearly gone out of his way to bring them all together and fight them while Jake watched.
Did he simply want to show off? Or, perhaps, after losing the previous battle to Jake, Owen now wanted to reclaim some pride, to save face in his own strange way? Or maybe the reason was much simpler. Perhaps he just wanted to have fun, hang out with one of his own, and what better way for a morphus than to fight some powerful monsters was there?
Sure enough, D finished off the remaining ravagespawn without much trouble. Standing among the bodies of the monsters he had just slain, he turned to Jake. For a moment, they just locked eyes.
Then Jake gave him an appreciative nod. D nodded back. He couldn’t talk, and his face was just as emotionless as Jake’s, but Jake had the distinct impression that he was pleased by the recognition from one of his kind.
Then D waved again, turned, and took off once more. He clearly expected Jake to keep following. Whatever this was, it wasn’t over yet.
For the next several minutes, they kept navigating through the city. This time, they reached their destination faster. Which was another huge four-way intersection. Which was also occupied by a group of elite ravagespawn.
But this time, his counterpart stopped well short of the monsters, with Jake halting a few yards behind him. D turned, pointed at Jake, and then gestured toward the group.
The meaning was obvious.
This time, D wanted Jake to be the one who fought the group of powerful elite monsters he had gathered, while he stood back and watched the show.