Chapter 511
Chapter 511
Jake watched the lump grow. It expanded in every direction with incredible speed, becoming larger and larger. It rose to the height of two stories in just a few seconds.
After that, while continuing to grow, its progress slowed down significantly. While the swelling grew much more slowly, it continued to take the shape of a nightmarish creature. Jake could already tell that this Titan was going to be insectoid.
He wondered what would happen if he destroyed the swelling before it even finished transforming into a Titan. Would it actually kill the Titan? If so, he would be able to deal with the remaining Titans without even having to fight them.
Eager to test his theory, he leaped toward the developing monster and unleashed a flurry of slashes. His claws tore through the organic matter without much trouble, and a few moments later, the swelling was reduced to nothing more than thousands of shreds.
He then quickly summoned the status of the Ravage Contamination and saw that there were still four Titans remaining, meaning that destroying the developing one didn’t count. From the corner of his eye, he spotted another lump appear at a different spot.
It began to grow quickly, reaching the height of the third floor in just a few seconds. As before, its growth then slowed as it focused on transforming itself into a Titan. Jake saw that it bore the same insectoid features as the previous one.
So apparently, in order to reduce the total number of Titans in Dead City, he needed to slay them after they had fully developed. Destroying the swellings that were transforming into Titans obviously didn’t count, as it didn’t actually kill them.
At that moment, Jake lost his mental connection with the last remaining wingclaw of those he had sent into the nest earlier. Over the past several seconds, he had lost one wingclaw after another. By now, they had all been killed.
He didn’t know how much damage they had managed to inflict on the core. But whatever damage they had dealt was clearly nowhere near enough to destroy it, because the nest was still standing.
Jake turned his attention to the developing insectoid Titan. He saw four wings, similar to those of a dragonfly, take shape. The creature was going to be able to fly.
He wondered whether another swelling would appear if he destroyed the current one before it finished transforming into the insectoid Titan. Considering that the nest’s core was no longer under attack, the Ravage Contamination likely wouldn’t bother attempting to deploy the Titan again.
He wasn’t one hundred percent sure of that, though. However, he decided not to destroy the swelling to test his theory. He wanted to test the Saurian Prowler against a Titan, so he let the swelling finish its transformation into a monster.
After the process was complete, Jake gave the fully developed Titan a quick look-over. It indeed looked like a bizarre insect. It resembled an ant to an extent, but it had eight limbs ending in hand-like appendages with curved claws, four dragonfly-like wings, and a segmented tail culminating in a stinger.
The Titan wasn’t as large as the one he and Owen had fought before. This one was only about half the size of the Saurian Prowler. The Titan’s chitinous exterior didn’t look all that sturdy and could probably be shattered fairly easily.
But since it was a winged creature, it was clearly going to take full advantage of its ability to fly. And its gnarled tail and wicked-looking stinger appeared dangerous. It could likely deal a lot of damage, so Jake knew he had to avoid being stung.
He wanted to summon the Titan’s description to see what its special abilities were, but before he could do so, the monster’s huge dragonfly-like wings buzzed to life, and the creature launched itself into the air. It soared skyward and stopped ascending only when it reached the height of the tenth floor of the surrounding skyscrapers.
For a second, the Titan simply stared down at him, its wings a blur of motion. Then the monster dove, dropping like a meteor toward the Saurian Prowler. Jake waited until the last moment before darting aside.
However, the Titan still managed to catch him with two or three of its clawed hands. The sharp talons scraped against his armored scales, doing little more than leaving superficial scratches. Jake lashed out with his own claws in retaliation, but the winged beast immediately soared back out of reach.
The Titan immediately plunged toward him again. This time, Jake didn’t let it get too close. Just as the winged beast approached, he swung his tail at his opponent, catching it in the side. The blow was brutal, sending the Titan flying across the street and crashing into a building. The structure shook, but the organic matter coating it in thick masses held it together.
The winged beast clung to the wall and began crawling upward. Jake leaped toward his opponent, but before he could get within striking distance, its wings whirred into motion, and the Titan soared skyward again.
This time, the monster didn’t immediately dive at him again. Jake could feel regular ravagespawn crawling all over his body, trying in vain to pierce his armored scales with claws and teeth.
One of the creatures repeatedly thrust its stinger into his foot. Jake lifted it and stamped down on the bothersome pest. He then set about ripping ravagespawn away from his body and crushing them in his fists.
Suddenly, taking advantage of his distraction, the Titan lunged at him from behind. Since his abilities didn’t work while he was merged with one of his creatures, Feral Instincts hadn’t alerted him to the attack.
The winged beast crashed into his back, causing Jake to stumble. But he didn’t fall. The creature clung to his back. Jake slammed his tail against the Titan, but it held fast.
Suddenly, the Titan’s stinger plunged into his shoulder, punching through his armor. In quick succession, the monster stung him two more times. Furious, Jake slammed his tail against the winged beast again and again until it finally detached itself.
He spun around to face the Titan, but sure enough, it had already soared out of reach. Jake wasn’t willing to let it go, though. He leaped skyward, easily reaching the winged beast. The Titan darted to the side, barely avoiding Jake’s sweeping claws.
He crashed back to the ground. When he looked up, he saw that the winged beast was far too high above him to reach by leaping. Suddenly, it emitted a high-pitched shriek, clearly using one of its special abilities. Immediately, multiple swellings began growing all around Jake.
Each of them quickly transformed into a scorpion-like monster the size of a grizzly bear. They charged toward him from all directions. He crushed some underfoot, but most managed to reach him and quickly began crawling up his body.
When they started stinging him, he realized something. When the Titan had driven its stinger through his armor, it must have used one of its abilities, significantly weakening his defenses. Because of that, nearly every time a scorpion-like ravagespawn drove its stinger into him, it managed to pierce through. As a result, his Kaiju was now taking a considerable amount of damage.
Furious, Jake set about crushing the ravagespawn one after another while the Titan simply hovered high in the air, watching.
After dealing with the scorpion-like monsters, he checked his health.
HP: 918,386 / 1,775,500
The Kaiju had taken quite a lot of damage. Jake decided to end the fight as quickly as possible.
Before the Titan could do anything else, he employed Void Siphon. Luckily, even though the winged beast hovered at the height of the tenth floor, the beam was long enough to reach it. Caught in the beam, the creature was pulled downward. It beat its wings tirelessly, but no matter how hard it tried, it couldn’t break free.
Floor by floor, it was drawn closer to Jake. As soon as the Titan was within reach, he sprang into action. He broke its wings and then tore into its chitinous exterior with his claws. No longer able to fly, the beast was utterly helpless. It didn’t take him long to finish it off after that.
The fight was over. First, Jake made use of the Kaiju’s Transfer Maw ability, deploying several managatherers. He instructed them to transfer mana to the Saurian Prowler, replenishing its reserves. After that, he transported the managatherers back to the lairs from which they had come.
He then deployed a wingclaw, had it take a piece from the fallen Titan, and teleported it back to the Apex Hollow. After the unique genetic material was harvested, he checked it out. He learned that this particular genetic material could drastically enhance one of his creatures’ special abilities.
So he now had two genetic materials extracted from Titans. The first, harvested from the Titan he and Owen had defeated, could significantly increase the speed at which a Kaiju developed. The second, which he had just acquired, could improve one of a Kaiju’s special abilities, either Transfer Maw or Void Siphon. He didn’t see much point in enhancing the former, but boosting the latter seemed like an excellent idea.
However, since genetic materials could only be applied when a creature developed or evolved to the next stage, he had no use for either of the two materials at the moment.
Now that the Kaiju was healed and its mana replenished, Jake checked its current XP.
XP: 67,120 / 125,655
The Saurian Prowler had gained quite a lot of experience by slaying the Titan and all the ravagespawn it’d spawned. He decided to let the Kaiju continue hunting ravagespawn and gaining XP on its own. After all, Jake also needed to gain experience and level up. He was more than confident that his Kaiju would be fine on its own.
So he detached from its body. He summoned a wyrmcaller and merged with it. After instructing the Saurian Prowler to keep hunting monsters for XP, Jake beat his wings and soared skyward.