Chapter 497
Chapter 497
The creature was huge. Its armored head alone was about seven feet long, and its tentacles were even longer than that. Now that it had forced its body, including all its tentacles, into the helicopter, it felt incredibly cramped inside.
Its tentacles whipped through the air, slicing it with sharp whooshes and whistles. One of them struck Jake from the side, sending him hurtling into the back of the helicopter. He crashed to the floor but immediately jumped to his feet.
As he spun to face the creature, another tentacle lurched toward him. It seemed to be part muscle, part cable. The weapon fused to its tip began to glow as it charged. In the next instant, it fired a bolt of energy at him. Jake jerked his head to the side, and the energy projectile flashed past. It slammed into the rear wall, burning a hole through it, the edges melting and glowing.
Jake grabbed the tentacle and cut through it with a chainsaw he had extended from his other arm. The tentacle strained and thrashed, trying to tear itself free, but he held a firm grip on it. A moment later, the rotating blade of the chainsaw cut through, severing the tentacle clean in half. Glowing green liquid sprayed from the stump everywhere as it thrashed around.
Several more tentacles lunged toward him. Those that ended in blades lashed out at him, but they simply glanced off his armored body without dealing any damage. The ones fitted with energy weapons began to line up their shots. Jake knew that he wouldn’t be able to dodge all of them, as his maneuverability was limited by the cramped confines of the helicopter’s cabin.
But before they could fire, Owen launched himself from the far side of the cabin. He tore into the synth stalker with claws and scythe-blades, shredding tentacles with brutal ease. Screeching in pain and rage, the creature twisted, turning to face Owen with surprising agility.
The stalker rammed into Owen, sending him hurtling into the cockpit and crashing him against the instrument panel. The creature angled two of its still-intact tentacles forward and fired twin energy bolts at Owen. From his position, Jake couldn’t see if they hit his partner or if he had been able to dodge them. Given the little room to maneuver inside the cockpit, it was likely that at least one of the projectiles had found its mark.
Its back was to Jake now, allowing him to take advantage of that. However, the helicopter suddenly banked starboard as Mick likely threw the aircraft out of the enemy’s line of fire. Luckily, Adhesive Secretion kept Jake in place. The moment the helicopter leveled out, he darted toward the creature before him, shoved what was left of its tentacles aside, and drove the rotating blade of his chainsaw into the back of the synth stalker’s head.
The creature shrieked as he pushed the chainsaw deeper and deeper, the jagged teeth of the rotating blade chewing through the flesh with horrific ease. The synth stalker thrashed and convulsed, then spasmed one last time and dropped to the floor.
Enemy Killed. +2,767 XP
XP: 222,287 / 262,800
He received less XP than for the previous stalker because Owen had also dealt some damage to the creature. Considering Owen couldn’t level up or gain XP, his share of the experience reward was likely simply lost, given to neither him nor Jake.
He glanced over the body of the fallen synth stalker at Owen and saw a glowing hole in his chest armor where one of the shots had hit him. The hole was deep enough to cause mana to flow out, but the damaged area was already knitting itself back together.
As Jake darted around the fallen foe and slid the door fully open, Owen grabbed the corpse, heaved it up, and hurled it out into open air. Jake immediately slammed the door shut before any more synth stalkers could force their way inside.
But the battle with the flying creatures still raged on. Jake lunged to the front of the helicopter to look out through the transparent canopy. He saw another synth stalker closing in from the front, cutting through the open air like a living missile. For a moment, it seemed like it was going to hit the canopy head-on.
However, it then veered upward, and a moment later, its bladed appendages raked across the rotor housing, throwing off a shower of sparks. Jake watched it through the feed from an exterior camera. Mick threw the helicopter sharply to the side, barely avoiding a second strike. The rotor blades chopped through empty air as the agile creature got out of the way just in time to avoid being cut to pieces.
The synth stalkers kept attacking the helicopter. From the front, another one opened fire from a distance, peppering the fuselage with energy blasts while others flanked the helicopter from both sides. Several more hovered above, as if waiting for a signal. Then, all at once, they dropped.
One of them twisted and landed on the cockpit, its tentacles spreading wide. Its ranged weapons discharged at the same moment, energy projectiles slamming into the glass. Surprisingly, it didn’t shatter immediately. But it was clear it wouldn’t be able to hold much longer.
Mick opened fire, sending energy rounds tearing into the synth stalker that was unfortunate enough to come directly in front of the helicopter. The creature jerked violently as its semi-transparent tentacles burst apart in sprays of glowing matter. A second barrage hammered through the metal plating on its head, and the creature finally began to spiral toward the ground far below.
Its death seemed to enrage the rest of the creatures. Energy bolts burned glowing holes through the fuselage. Alarms screamed nonstop, mixing with the thunder of rotor blades and the shriek of tearing metal. Jake was sure it was just a matter of time before the helicopter lost control. However, the synth stalkers suddenly stopped their assault on the aircraft.
He saw two of them latched onto either side of the hull. At once, the helicopter’s nose pitched downward toward the ground.
“They’re trying to bring us down,” Mick shouted over the comms. “I’m losing control. You’d better brace for impact, guys!”
The creature clinging to the nose kept firing blasts at the cockpit, and finally it shattered, sending shards of glass inside. Jake wasted no time, morphing both arms into rotary blade launchers and opening fire at the monster. Thanks to the third upgrade of the ability called Serrated Shred, the blades had micro-serrations, increasing their cutting efficiency. They could tear through even armor, making them deadly against heavily protected enemies.
Jake fired one saw blade after another at the monster. Each one chewed through its armor and cut into the vulnerable flesh within. They had even less trouble cutting through the creature’s tentacles, depriving the stalker of its weapons.
Finally, the monster realized it was taking too much damage and attempted to pull away from the chopper. But it was too late. Just as it detached itself from the hull, Jake fired two more rotary saw blades, dealing fatal damage to the creature.
Enemy Killed. +3,345 XP
XP: 225,632 / 262,800
A sudden energy blast hit the chopper, and the engine coughed. The nose dipped even lower.
“We’re losing power,” Mick shouted. “Guys, if you can fly, it’s time to bail out!”
He even laughed at his own joke. He didn’t sound especially worried, probably because he wasn’t physically in the helicopter with them. More importantly, he likely knew Jake and Owen had decent odds of surviving the crash.
As the helicopter continued to fall, the synth stalkers followed, their radiant tentacles trailing behind them. The engine gave one last choking whine, and the helicopter plunged harder.
“Brace! Brace!” Mick shouted, then laughed again. He sounded like he was having a bit too much fun, as though this were some kind of video game. From his perspective, it probably felt like one.
Mick shouted something again, but the words were barely audible over the chaos. Alarms kept blaring, and acrid smoke filled the cabin. Sparks spat from damaged components. Outside, the synth stalkers stayed with them, following the helicopter as it kept losing altitude.
Suddenly, one of the synth stalkers fired a shot at them for seemingly no particular reason. The blast of energy struck the tail. The helicopter was thrown into a chaotic spin, spiraling downward. The world became a blur of motion.
“We’re spinning!” Mick laughed. “Yahoo!”
Yes, fun, fun. He did sound a bit deranged at that point.
Below, the outline of jagged ground rushed toward them. It was just a matter of time before they slammed into it. Jake noticed that this part of the Scarlands didn’t have many chasms, so there was only solid ground below them. At least they weren’t going to vanish into one of the ravines. But the crash would surely be devastating. Jake was sure he and Owen would survive, but there was no way they could emerge unscathed. So it was time to bail out.
Jake grabbed the nearest support strap, hurling himself toward the side door. He gripped the handle and slid it open. A blast of air rushed into the cabin. The world outside was a spiraling blur of shapes. Those synth stalkers that had clung to the hull earlier had already peeled away. There was no need for them to drag the chopper down any longer, as the aircraft was going to crash on its own now.
Jake glanced at the jagged ground rushing up toward them and looked at Owen. His partner gave him a nod, realizing what was on his mind. Jake returned his attention to the outside. He waited for the right moment, then jumped out of the helicopter. Owen followed a heartbeat later.