Chapter 561

Chapter 560

Flynn took another hasty shot at the crystallized mutant charging at him at full sprint. The blast of energy erupted from the rifle with a sharp crack and obliterated one of the crystals jutting out of the creature’s left shoulder. Shards of green crystal sprayed into the air before scattering across the cracked asphalt.

However, several more were still embedded in its body, glowing faintly beneath the translucent armor and invigorating the mutant. The creature barely seemed to notice the loss of one of its crystals. It kept coming, its heavy footsteps hammering against the pavement as it charged straight toward him.

Flynn racked the charging handle of his rifle and fired another hasty shot at the quickly approaching mutant. He aimed for its head, but in his haste, he missed, the shot harmlessly zipping past its target and disappearing somewhere behind the creature. His grip tightened around the rifle.

Getting increasingly nervous by the second, Flynn found it harder and harder to hit what he aimed for. His heart was pounding in his chest, and the mutant seemed to grow larger with every step it took. Doing his best to keep his cool, he worked the bolt once more, transferring some energy from the cell to the capacitor and getting the rifle ready for another shot.

The mutant was almost on top of him. He knew he couldn’t risk missing again. If he did, he might not get another chance to fire. So instead of trying to hit the creature’s head, he aimed his rifle at the middle of its torso. It was a much larger target. He squeezed the trigger, and a bolt of energy erupted from the emitter with a bright blue flash.

The blast slammed into the creature’s chest with enough force to make it jerk backward, punching through the crystal-like armor that covered most of the mutant’s body. Green fragments exploded outward, and for an instant, the blue glow of the energy shot illuminated the creature from within.

But sure enough, the damaged shell almost immediately began to restore itself. Crystals spread across the damaged area, knitting the broken armor back together. Hitting a crystallized mutant in the chest wasn’t nearly enough to bring it down, that was for damn sure. However, the hit stopped the mutant’s momentum, causing the creature to stumble a few steps backward.

It was all Flynn needed. He knew the mutant would recover and charge back at him in a moment, but he wasn’t going to give it the chance. He ratcheted the rifle, readying another shot, and immediately fired, this one aimed at the creature’s head. And this time, he didn’t miss.

The shot punched through the creature’s crystallized armor and struck its skull. The mutant jerked violently. For a moment, it remained standing, swaying on its feet as if unable to understand what had happened. Then it collapsed to the ground.

Flynn barely spared the fallen mutant a glance. He knew his rifle was almost out of juice by that point. A quick look at the weapon’s indicator confirmed his suspicion. The cell was nearly depleted.

He pressed a button to eject it. The spent cell dropped free, and Flynn caught it before it hit the ground, immediately replacing it with a fresh one. He slammed the underside of the rifle to push the cell into the well, and it locked into place with a sharp click.

After that, Flynn brought the rifle to eye level again, ready to engage another enemy. But he saw that he wasn’t in any immediate danger. So he used this opportunity to take a quick look around the ruined street that had become a battlefield.

His people were still locked in a fierce battle with a horde of crystallized mutants. And from the look of things, they were still losing. The street had turned into a chaotic battlefield, with energy bolts flashing through the air and the occasional burst of green crystal scattering across the pavement.

His people were seasoned and battle-hardened survivors. They had fought their way through countless dangerous situations and had learned to work together. But there was only so much his small team could do against an overwhelming force of mutants coming at them from everywhere.

Flynn gritted his teeth in frustration as he watched another one of his people fall under the assault of several crystallized mutants.

He had made a terrible mistake. It was he who had suggested they stop hiding in their relatively safe zone and try to do something to improve their situation. Instead of simply waiting for somebody to extricate them from their predicament, they needed to take matters into their own hands. At the time, it had seemed like the right thing to do.

Now he wasn’t so sure. The small section of the city where they were holed up was free of any aether crystals. It wasn’t much of a safe zone, but compared to the rest of Lastlight, it was practically a sanctuary. The mutants rarely ventured into it, and they had managed to hold their position there for quite some time.

But they couldn’t stay there forever. Their supplies were running low, and sooner or later, they would have to leave anyway. If they wanted any chance of surviving, they had to fight their way out of there.

Luckily, once you shattered a cluster of crystals, it never got restored. That was one of the few advantages they had. The aether crystals had spread over the city, infecting everything around them, but once a cluster was destroyed, the area remained clear. So they had to try to fight their way through the city, destroying any crystals along the way and basically carving a safe route through the ruined streets.

Instead of hiding in their small safe zone and hoping for some miracle, they needed to fight their way out of Lastlight. The city was hopelessly lost, smothered beneath layers of aether crystals. Buildings, streets, wrecks, and even entire sections of the city had been swallowed by the green crystals. There was seemingly no hope of restoring Lastlight to its previous state.

All they could do was try to get out of the city. Unfortunately, his people had agreed with him, and that was what had brought them to the situation they were currently in.

For the past hour, they had been carving their way through the crystallized streets, shattering every green cluster of crystals along the way. Whenever possible, they kept their distance and fired at the crystals from a safe position, watching the energy bolts tear through the glowing formations before moving forward.

And at first, their plan worked without a hitch. They advanced slowly but steadily, clearing one section of the street after another. Sure, they were occasionally jumped by groups of crystallized mutants, but they managed to take care of them without much trouble. The mutants were dangerous, but in small numbers, Flynn and his people could handle them.

For a little while, it almost seemed like they might actually make it. But the gunfire kept attracting more and more mutants, and eventually, their luck ran out.

While the energy weapons were much quieter than the regular guns the survivors had used during the early stages of the city’s development, they still made quite a lot of noise when numerous energy weapons were continuously discharged in the same area. The sharp cracks of the weapons echoed between the ruined buildings, carrying much farther through the empty streets than Flynn would have liked.

Sure enough, the mutants heard them. They kept emerging from the surrounding ruins in greater numbers, drawn toward the sounds of battle. Every time Flynn’s group stopped to destroy another crystal cluster, more of the creatures appeared.

Eventually, they had no choice but to retreat. They couldn’t keep moving in the same direction because there were crystals ahead of them that they hadn’t shattered yet. But the way back was safe now, thanks to them shattering every crystal cluster along the way. The route behind them had been cleared, leaving a path through the crystallized streets that they could use to return to their temporary safe zone.

So they decided to fall back and continue another day. Unfortunately, the mutants had other ideas. They chased them. At first, Flynn noticed only a handful of them following behind. Then more and more appeared. The creatures began emerging from side streets, alleyways, and the dark interiors of abandoned buildings on either side of the street. His people turned and fired, trying to keep the creatures at a distance while the rest of the group continued moving.

But there were simply too many of them. Every time one mutant fell, another appeared to take its place. The sounds of energy weapons filled the streets, joined by the pounding footsteps and guttural noises of the approaching creatures. More mutants were emerging from the street ahead of them as well, cutting them off. Before Flynn and his people realized it, they were completely surrounded.

So the battle raged on. Flynn kept sweeping his gaze around the street that had become a deathtrap for them. Everywhere he looked, there were crystallized mutants. They poured out of side streets and ruined buildings. Energy bolts flashed through the air, briefly illuminating the street before slamming into their targets.

Several of his people had already been killed. What was left of their bodies lay scattered in torn pieces across the asphalt. One had been torn nearly in half. Another lay face down beneath a pool of blood, one arm completely ripped off.

Those of his people who were still kicking were doing their best to keep the mutants at bay, firing constantly and moving from one position to another to avoid being surrounded. But it was an impossible task. There were simply too many of them. Flynn could tell that within a minute, perhaps even less, his entire group would be dealt with, and there was nothing he could do to prevent it.

Suddenly, from the side came a bone-jarring boom, followed by the heavy sound of feet hammering against the asphalt. Flynn’s head snapped toward the direction the sounds had come from and saw a shambler barreling through the chaos. The enormous mutant pushed its way through the smaller creatures, sending several of them stumbling aside as it charged forward.

And it was heading straight toward him. Flynn felt his heart sink. The shambler was huge, easily towering over the other mutants. Thick layers of crystallized armor covered its body, forming jagged plates across its chest, shoulders, and head. Each heavy step made the ground seem to tremble beneath Flynn’s feet.

He swung his rifle around and opened fire. The energy shots slammed into the huge monster one after another. Bright blue flashes erupted against its crystallized armor, sending fragments of green crystal flying, but the impacts did nothing to slow it down, let alone stop it completely.

The shambler kept coming. Flynn fired again and again, but the mutant continued barreling toward him. It was getting closer and closer, its massive frame growing larger with every passing second. There was nothing he could do to prevent it from reaching him.

So this was the end for him. On the other hand, it might be a good thing. At least this way, he wouldn’t have to witness the rest of his people being torn apart by the crystallized mutants. He had brought them here, leading them into this mess. Perhaps he could at least spare himself the sight of watching them die one by one.

The shambler was almost on top of him now. Flynn could see the jagged crystals covering its face. The creature raised one massive arm, preparing to strike. Flynn didn’t bother to take another shot at the approaching monster. There wasn’t any point. He lowered his rifle and simply waited for the shambler to reach him.

But the blow never came, and the shambler never reached him. From behind came a shot in a flash of bright blue light. The energy bolt tore through the air with a sharp crack and slammed into the shambler’s head with enough power to punch right through its crystallized armor and bone alike. The impact was so violent that the mutant’s head jerked sideways, its charge coming to an abrupt end.

The shambler came to a sudden stop, the force of the impact halting it in its tracks. For a second, the hulking mutant remained standing, almost as if it hadn’t yet realized it was dead. A huge hole gaped in its head, the edges of the shattered crystal falling apart and tinkling to the ground.

Then its legs gave out, and the shambler collapsed face-first onto the asphalt with enough force to leave a sizable dent in the pavement. Cracks radiated outward from the point of impact, spreading beneath the mutant’s massive body. Flynn stared at the fallen creature for a moment, hardly able to believe what he had just witnessed.

Then he spun around to see which of his people had just saved him. As it turned out, it was something else entirely. A person was running toward the battle from the direction his team had come from, one arm extended forward, a strange-looking sidearm held in his hand.

Whoever the person was, he was a complete stranger. Flynn was sure he had never seen the man before. There was nothing particularly special about him. He had a rugged appearance, scraggly hair, a short, messy beard, and old, worn clothes. In other words, he looked much like practically every other survivor Flynn had encountered in the city.

Just an ordinary survivor. But as Flynn learned in the next several moments, the stranger was anything but ordinary.

The man kept running toward the battle, and as he did, the strange energy weapon clutched in his hand kept launching bolts of energy. The weapon gave off a bright blue flash with every shot, briefly illuminating the stranger’s face. And each shot hit its mark. Every single shot the stranger fired hit a mutant square in the head, killing the creature instantly.

Flynn watched in disbelief as mutants kept dropping like flies. It was a surreal sight. The stranger kept running while the mutants moved chaotically through the battlefield, but none of it seemed to matter. Somehow, every single shot the stranger fired found its mark. Flynn could only stare.

At some point, the man came to a stop some distance from where the battle was taking place, but he never stopped firing. He planted his feet firmly on the ground, his strange sidearm rising and falling with each shot. Mutants fell like flies under the stranger’s precise fire, each striking them squarely in the head. Crystallized bodies collapsed onto the asphalt one after another, some of them still twitching as the faint green glow of the crystals faded.

Some of the creatures noticed the newcomer and attempted to make a move toward him, but they never stood a chance against such a sharpshooter. Before they could get anywhere close to him, a bright blue bolt would flash through the air, and another mutant would crumple to the ground.

Thanks to the barrage of shots fired by the stranger, the mutants’ ranks began to thin out, and surprisingly fast at that. With every passing second, there were fewer of them pressing against Flynn’s people. The constant pressure that had nearly overwhelmed them began to ease. After that, it wasn’t long before the tide shifted.

Now that Flynn’s people were no longer being picked off by the monsters, they started to fight back in earnest. Their weapons became more effective as they no longer had to worry about being surrounded, and the mutants were now dropping dead at an even faster rate.

And then the battle was finally over. For a moment, his people just remained where they were, looking around incredulously, as if they couldn’t quite believe they had survived. Moments ago, they had been teetering on the edge of being overwhelmed, and now there was nothing left to fight. Only the bodies of the dead mutants littered the street, mixed with shattered pieces of green crystal and the remains of their fallen friends.

Some of his people noticed the stranger and stared at him. A few lowered their weapons but didn’t put them away, still unsure what to make of the newcomer.

The stranger himself remained where he was, his weird firearm now lowered and pointed at the ground. He didn’t seem particularly concerned by all the attention. His breathing was steady, and his posture remained relaxed, as if he had just finished an ordinary shooting exercise rather than single-handedly turning the tide of a desperate battle.

Flynn took a quick look around. It was all quiet now. No more crystallized mutants appeared from the surrounding streets. The battle was over, at least for now.

He slung his rifle over his shoulder and started toward the man, raising his hands to show he meant no harm. He kept his movements slow and deliberate. The stranger had just saved his team, but Flynn wasn’t about to forget that the man was a sharpshooter and was also armed with a weapon he had never seen before.

The stranger’s clear blue eyes watched him calmly. His posture remained still and relaxed. Flynn stopped a few steps away from him.

“You showed up at just the right time, friend,” Flynn said, offering a tired smile. “Without your assistance, we would’ve been dead by now.”

He paused for a second, studying the stranger.

“Who are you?” he then asked.

“Name’s Mark,” came the answer from Jake. “Glad I could help.”