Chapter 34: Explosion

A few hours passed as the night deepened; mutant growls resounded through every street, building, establishment, or highway of the world; only areas very sparsely populated, land masses not frequented by humans, or simple vast-distance commuting routes were left void of both humans and mutants, except for the occasional passing of speeding vehicles relocating to places not as infested to secure their lives.

As for major cities or places where human activity was concentrated, these places were overrun with a sea of transformed mutants, still scouring through the dead of night to secure whatever unfortunate prey who still haven’t found shelter or were displaced and forced to run from where they felt safe by mutants.

As the first day of the Trial came to a close, with most in the penthouse already fast asleep, a subtle vibration was felt through buildings in at least a couple of kilometers’ radius, followed by an explosion that sounded muffled inside the penthouse, but was still powerful enough to be heard as everyone was jolted alert, going for the tempered floor-to-ceiling windows—

"My god.... What in the world is that ?"

Hazel was the first to utter in shock. Before her, and before all who witnessed this scene, in the far distance, a blooming of vibrant orange flames, several meters in diameter, reached for the skies, clearly visible from their location even though it looked to be at least a full city distance away.

And as they all watched in a shocked daze, wondering what fresh hell had descended, all of a sudden, a familiar notification resounded through the system of everyone living human on the planet.—

[✦ GLOBAL MERITORIOUS ACHIEVEMENT✦

✦ 1000 INSTANT KILLS✦

✦CONGRATULATIONS @CelestialGoddess92 ✦]

"Wait....don’t tell me...."

A few minutes ago—somewhere else.

Inside a cramped shack of a clothing store, right at the heart of a busy street now swarming with feral mutants, with a large population of these mutants crowding around the small shack, clawing at the front, the back, and the sides, growing in murderous hunger as if possessed by a visceral urge to feast upon what lay behind the confines of the now unstable walls.

Inside, Gaius looked around him, at his trembling, unstable enclosure, the walls slowly caving in, and the metal of his security railings bending from the combined mass of the mutants outside—

"Sigh... that won’t hold," he remarked in defeat. As he spoke, a mutant’s arm broke through his wall, its claws reaching with mindless persistence to locate the much-desired prey as more arms began to break through his walls in succession, bending through metal protectors. The continued gathering of mutants around his clothing store had since drawn more mutants eager to get a taste of Gaius.

"This is it for me then. I wonder if Liora is okay."

The chat had ended strangely. There were thousands of people in the regional chat channels, but only about a hundred or so were active, recognized commenters, mostly those in favorable situations where their lives are not on the line; mostly, others are too busy surviving to bother chatting, while the rest comment asking for help, or simply watching and reading comments for information.

Liora was one of the most active in comments and conversations, knowledgeable and making wise interpretations of this trial; her opinion held weight, and her last comments were bizarre and frightening.

Gaius didn’t even want to think about anything else, and just hoped that whatever she was facing, she would somehow survive, even as he was about to meet his own end.

[EXPLOSION (ACTIVE)

~ YOU EXPLODE

~ MP COST: 20

~COOLDOWN: 24 HOURS

]

Gaius was out of options, and his will was locked onto his class skill, a forlorn expression on his face.

"I will die.... But at least I will take you guys along."

He murmured with a defeated smile as the first mutant finally broke through his wall; it didn’t take a second for the rest to follow along like a swarm of grotesque-looking monsters, barreling towards Gaius in the darkness where he sat like a homing beacon.

"Hope this works.... Lets go out with some fanfare, my friends"

Rrrrggghh!!!

"Explosion."

BOOOOOM!!

The small clothing store shack, the mutants flooding, as well as every mutant in a radius of five meters, was blasted apart with a shockwave of immense proportions, consumed in an inferno of almost sentient flames, burning everything around to cinders.

The shack was gone; the mutants converging on the area had now become a pile of burnt corpses, blown out, scattered and lying around in every direction.

In the center of this settling destruction, a crater had been hollowed out, and right inside that crater, a naked body rose together with the settling flames and smoke, looking around him and back at his body that was engulfed in said flames but had no visible traces of burns or the supposed accompanying pains of anguish.

"I... didn’t die ?"

Gauis intoned, his eyes slowly taking in his environment, and what appeared to be the result of his so-called suicidal skill. The skill description had been concerning, and when he did activate said skill, he actually felt himself spontaneously combusting..... Yet he was alive, though, naked and exposed.

"A slow laugh escaped Gaius, that quickly transformed into a hearty, boisterous one, before settling into a mix of panting inhales, with his eyes watering from the thrill of joy, and the reprieve that came with redemption after giving in to the painful fact that he had met a horrific end.

Rrrrggghh!!

The growls came again from the distance, only this time louder and more beastly, resounding through the flames around Gaius.

Gaius realized such a loud explosion must have drawn in far more mutants than were present before. So, wasting no time, he crawled his way out of the flaming crater and trudged as fast as his shaky legs could carry him in the direction of the nearest building still standing. he realized a heavy weakness was upon him, but that was small price to pay; at least he could still move.

This skill might have saved him, turning out to actually be incredible; but it was currently on cooldown, and he was still very much in danger.

Ignoring the notifications from his system, Gaius ran for desperate cover, his face contorting in a combination of an ugly joyful smile, teary eyes, and nervous palpitations.

Hope was returning..... Hope that someday he might just get to see his loved one’s again.